I'm handing over to Robert Rees, author of A Season in the Sun today and he's going to tell us what inspired him to write his book.
Robert Rees was born in Berkshire and educated at Eton
College and Trinity College Cambridge. He retired from the City of London in
2007 and now works in the music and drama media industry. He regularly writes,
directs and composes music for local amateur productions. Robert lives with his
wife, bestselling author Deborah Lawrenson, and daughter Madeleine in Kent.
What inspired me to write my book “A Season in the Sun” –
The Evolution of Henry Fanshawe
I had never really intended to be a writer when I retired
from the City in 2007. By discipline I was a scientist, but not a particularly
notable one. At university it became clear that the queue in front of me for
Nobel Prizes was far longer than the queue behind me, and anyway, I couldn’t
stand the practicals. There was a wonderful subject for those disenchanted like
me, called History and Philosophy of Science, in the last year. It taught me,
after many years of figures, how to write again, and gave me an interest in the
subject which I have never lost.
Similarly, in my years of project finance and banking, (though
I loved the atmosphere) I found the area interesting only when there was
something new to be invented or some grand design to be funded. I remember upon
becoming a director of a major bank that we had to take a psychometric test, to
establish that we weren’t mad or likely to abscond to Brazil with everyone’s
life savings. The besuited man over the desk looked at me, then down at my
results, then up at me again, before telling me that of all the potential
candidates he had analysed, he could not remember one less suited to the job.
It is amazing what we will do for money.
So in 2007 I was looking forward to a complete change –
mainly on the music side, which I have studied and loved for years. I took
lessons, started writing music, and, as it turned out crucially, applied to
play piano for my local acting group. They were putting on “Aladdin” for the
Xmas panto and needed a pianist. Having looked through the script (average) and
the songs (dreadful) I wondered if I could not rewrite the songs using the words
already there. It was the first time I had tried this since my university days,
but seemed to go OK. The show was successful and I tasted the utter pleasure of
hearing something I had written performed and appreciated. It was an addictive
cocktail.
The next year, having been unable to find a decent script for
“Jack and the Beanstalk”, I left for the summer hols having decided to try and
write one. Plans for a book on the History of Science were shelved in exchange
for bad puns, silly names and slapstick. I found myself enjoying this anarchy
enormously, though my wife and daughter, regularly forced to listen to
excerpts, may have been less enthusiastic. Still, by the autumn, Giant
Underpants, Jack O’Bean (geddit?), and Baron Landscape were ready to be unleashed
upon the poor unsuspecting public of Penshurst, with original songs and a new
script. This has become a biennial event, and three pantos later I still enjoy writing
and performing it immensely.
So to the more serious art of novel writing. Many years back,
I and my wife honeymooned in the Seychelles, which I still regard as the most
beautiful of islands. We have been back there a few times, and in about 2010,
we visited again. On one jaunt in a jeep around the island, I noticed something
new – a group of boys playing cricket on a square of grass rough-hewn from the
surrounding rain forest. It set me thinking – how new was this sport to the
Seychelles? Was there a league? A little research confirmed its novelty, and
the germs of idea began to spout. In its nascent state, could a village team
ever win the national trophy (all Brits love an underdog!). Could the cloud of
match fixing drift over from India to complicate proceedings? Could a pompous
and grumpy old banker and cricket nut from England somehow find himself in the
position of having a team of talented amateurs to manage?
Like all ideas, this was initially put aside and relegated to
the unconscious, where it lay for some years, making bad friends and generally hanging
around in dubious company. Then one summer when a pantomime was not required, I
was chatting with my wife (who is a proper novelist!) about the idea, and she
suggested I give it a try. I started to piece together how it could work. Maybe
the scientist in me enjoyed the pattern forming that is at the base of all art
and science. Maybe it was the practice doing pantomime that led to pleasure of
writing dialogue. It was certainly the characters, so wonderful and varied, that
I had met in the City of London, who contributed to the main hero. Henry
Fanshawe, a middle aged, slightly overweight banker with a love of cricket and
fine wine. Apt to be gruff, with the messiest desk in the city, but full of
bonhomie and generosity for his fellow travellers. So many of my friends went
into this melange that I slightly worry about returning to the City in the
future.
The novel was completed a few years ago, and then handed to
parents (they liked it, but of course they would say that!), brother (disturbingly
quiet reaction), daughter (corrected my punctuation with an industry that marks
her out as a pedagogue of the future) and lastly my wife, who having ripped the
first section to shreds, then gave me the most valuable and constructive
criticism I have had. It took around six months to recast.
All that was last year, and after the new draft attracted
positive comment from friends and family, I took the plunge and sent it to
Troubador, with whom we have a previous connection through one of my wife’s earlier
novels. They select, so there is an element at least of some standard being
applied. But the printing is paid for by the author, so it is a slightly hybrid
approach. This suited me, as I am well aware of the extreme difficulty of
getting a publisher nowadays, and of the time and trouble taken. With the
limited market for a first time author (hopefully not too limited) it was just
not worth toiling round the market. Troubador will also edit, copy edit and
market. If it works, it may get taken up by someone. If not, well I enjoyed
every moment of it.
I must go
now, Henry Fanshawe is on the phone. He was at Taunton yesterday watching
England lose narrowly to South Africa, and it seems that the qualities of
Somerset Cider have worked their usual magic on him. Apparently he was escorted
from the ground after haranguing the umpire on a decision, and he wants me to
nip down and pick him up from the local constabulary (and no doubt pay the
fine). Honestly, I can’t take him anywhere!
* * * *
I love it when the authors character's drop by and interrupt their creators and Henry certainly sounds like a character!
If after reading that you're intruigued and want to know more about A Season in the Sun here's the blurb:
Henry
Fanshawe, the last family member of Fanshawes Commodities in the City of
London, leads a quiet life trading spices in a large dealing room. His day
consists of ignoring requests to tidy his desk, making money and spending it on
his three great loves: French landscape paintings, fine wine, and cricket. But
the new City does not agree with him, and he finds himself falsely accused of
financial chicanery, and summarily dismissed. In a stroke of extremely good
fortune, a legacy from an elderly aunt allows Henry to move to the Seychelles -
though there are strings attached. He must manage her Village Cricket Club, and
propel it through the formative years of the Seychelles Cricket league to the
position of greatness it deserves. For his colourful and talented team of
amateurs, who include a depressive ex-county opener, a drug-taking fast bowler,
and the local Chief of Police, this would be difficult enough a task. But in
addition there are darker forces within Seychelles cricket, forces from the
murky world of gambling who wish to twist the beautiful game to their illicit
ends. Henry's first season in the sun becomes a high stakes contest of amateur
talent against organised crime, leading to a thrilling climax...A Season in the
Sun combines cricket, crime and comedy in the beautiful surroundings of a south
sea island. Similar in style to PG Wodehouse and William Boyd, it will appeal
to fans of suspense and sporting pursuits alike.
You can find out more about Robert and connect with him using the links below:
I'd like to thank Robert for taking the time to stop by today and for writing a great guest post. I'd also like to wish him every success with A Season in the Sun.
