Wednesday 15 December 2010

Aussie Author Book Review No 8 - Belinda Alexandra's Silver Wattle plus author interview.

I've just finished reading Belinda Alexandra's Silver Wattle. It didn't take me long as I was rivited! I love her emotive style of writing. She leads me right into the story through her wonderful settings and characters. I loved her two previous novels - White Gardenia and Wild Lavender and have had Silver Wattle sitting on my bookshelf for months.

Belinda brings her love of other cultures to her books, and Silver Wattle begins in glorious Prague. It’s the story of two Czech sisters, Adela and Klara, whose nefarious stepfather murders their mother – and plans to murder them too so that he and his fancy woman can have their inheritance.


The girls flee to Sydney, Australia to live in safety with their uncle and his wife, an Indian who had been saved from committing sete. Indian culture and early Australian bigotry is explored through Ranjana. Things go smoothly enough for awhile. Klara is a talented but highly strung pianist, while Adela turns out to be a gifted photographer who eventually makes a career in film. There is an interesting sub theme about the early days of the film industry in Australia and how American distributers sabotaged the development of Australian cinema which was flourishing, but Adela marries one of these distributers (a) because he clandestinely supports her career and (b) because Beastly Beatrice cons Adela’s beloved Dr Philip into marriage and Adela is on the rebound. Unrequited love is a powerful theme throughout the novel.

Adela's character is the most interesting I think. Belinda Alexandra draws on her own love of wildlife to paint a picture of a character deeply moved by native animals (she raises a pet possum that she plucked from a dead mother's pouch) and wildlife is the major recurring theme in her photography. In real life, the author is a volunteer rescuer and carer for the New South Wales Wildlife Information Rescue and Education Service (WIRES.)

Alexandra keeps the tension going throughout the novel and I couldn't put it down. There were so many mysteries to be solved...

I'm re-posting an author interview from auslit. If you like the sound of this author, read on...
 
Belinda Alexandra – Author Interview

Posted on October 4, 2010 by auslit

For those not familiar with your fiction writing, how would you describe it?
Sweeping, epic stories usually with historical backgrounds. I’m very interested in how massive historical events such as wars impact on the individual lives of my characters. Each story is a journey of endurance, courage, love, tragedy and triumph. My style is clean cut with an eye for sensuous detail and a touch of magic realism.
You have depicted a number of early to mid twentieth century settings in your novels, from the border region of Japanese occupied Russia and China during World War 2 in White Gardenia to provincial France at the outbreak of the war in Wild Lavender, to 1920s Sydney in Silver Wattle, to Tuscany during Mussolini’s rule of Italy in Tuscan Rose. What kind of research do you do for your novels?
Apart from the academic research to understand the history of those times, I pore over as much first hand material as possible – almost like an actress preparing for a part. I read the newspapers, learn the language of the culture I am writing about, read the interior design magazines, popular novels of the day and listen to the music. I even research cookbooks of the country and era to make sure any recipes given are true to the times. For Wild Lavender I learned to dance the tango, which is how I ended up meeting my husband.
You have written, “I’d studied modern history for my HSC but had been bored mindless by the endless essays on the political causes for war. I was interested in the impact these catastrophic world events had on individual people.” What advantages, in terms of storytelling, does concerning yourself with particular characters offer over trying to make your characters symbolise political ideas?
It’s very important to me that my characters live and breathe authenticity – that they are never wooden. Therefore I do spend time focusing on their particular beliefs and mindsets so everything they do and say (even when they contradict themselves) makes sense to their point of view of the world. I obviously have very passionate ideas about world peace, the nature of human beings and animal welfare and some of my characters do too … but as I don’t have all the answers myself and am constantly learning, I put my characters on a search for their own truths. This way they can be inspiring (or dreadful) but they are always human – as opposed to one-dimensional characters voicing political points of view.
Who is one of your favourite fictional characters, and what makes them stand out for you?
Sydney Carton from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. I first read that book when I was 16 years of age and the ability of Carton to transcend life and death through love made a huge impact on me.
You have written, “The end of my novels always comes to me first – I see the end of the story and then I have to work out who these characters are and how they all got to the position they are in.” Could you give us an overview of how you worked back from the ending to develop the story for one of your novels?
This is a bit tricky to do without spoilers. But I can say that working this way gives my work a sense of narrative drive. I see a character that has been through a lot, who has learned something very important, on whom truth and knowledge weigh heavily … and I have to answer what’s happened to them and how they got there.
If you could attend your ideal 2-day fiction writing workshop next weekend, what would that involve?
Not doing any work, I need a rest! Seriously, I love improving my technique and although I do spend time working on exercises most of my improvement comes from studying books where the story grabs me from the opening sentence and gives me plenty of ‘ah-ha’ moments by expressing life through the characters. But my style always has to be my own … so my ideal weekend would be talking to other fiction writers about life, about what inspires them and absorbing the energy that I get from being around other creative minds, but basically being left to work on my style and technique on my own.
Do you read much fiction by Australian authors, and do you have some favourites?
I am always hanging out for the next Kim Wilkins and Kate Morton novels. I love how their stories unfold. I have always admired the styles of Helen Gardner and Drusilla Modjeska. Their styles are different to mine – I often find Gardner’s work a challenge to my vision of beauty, but that’s good. It’s always good to be challenged.
What is the one piece of advice you would most like to offer for new fiction writers?
That good writing is all in the rewriting – whether you do that revision on paper or in your head. Keep working and layering a scene until it is just there so clearly before you in every sensual detail. A scene that breathes with life has a lot of thought behind it, whether conscious or subconscious.
What is next for your fiction writing?
I am constantly challenging myself to become a better and better storyteller. I’m currently working on a novel set during the Spanish Civil War.

I, for one, can't wait to read it.
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18 comments:

Jules said...

I just turned my roommate on to the author with your post :)

BTW, your blog is one that is not updating on my dashboard. PLEASE, if I miss more than 2 posts come by and smack me :D
Jules @ Trying To Get Over The Rainbow

Gail said...

I shall have to give her a try...sounds very good.

Jai Joshi said...

Sounds like an interesting story! Thanks for the interview.

Jai

Denise Covey said...

Jules: Oh, that's horrible, no updates! I don't know about smacking you, but I'll pop over...

Gail: She's worth it!

Jai: You're welcome!

Unknown said...

I'm taking part in a global reading challenge and this will be my Australian choice.
CD

Nas said...

Thanks for the great interview. She sounds interesting!

Denise Covey said...

Clarissa: Great choice!

Nas: My pleasure!

Su said...

The best thing about modern life is getting to do all this international reading! :) Thanks for posting the review & the interview!

Samantha Vérant said...

Ahhh! I have so many books on my TBR (to be read) list. What's another one? right?

Joanna St. James said...

oh good to know am not the only one blogger is acting like a jerk to.
The book sounds really deep and interesting - now tell me, that word "fancy woman" was that all you?

N. R. Williams said...

A brilliant interview L'Aussie and for Belinda, I enjoyed hearing about all your discipline to come up with the right story. I connected with you especially when you spoke of meeting other authors and then working on your craft yourself. Last September I had such an experience at a writers conference. It was truly memorable.
Nancy
N. R. Williams, fantasy author

notesfromnadir said...

I always enjoy reading fine books by authors I've not heard of. Thank you for the recommendation & for the interview. What a great way to meet her husband -- research does pay off!

Denise Covey said...

Su: That's right!

Samantha: Read it. you'll love it!

Joanna: I love 'fancy woman.' Very common term for 'mistress.;

Nancy: Glad you enjoyed it and related to it!

Lisa: Yeah, wasn't that great!

Kittie Howard said...

When you have a chance, I've a little somthing for you at my blog.

Rachael Harrie said...

I hadn't heard of this book, so thanks for the review (and author interview) :)

Rach

Anonymous said...

Great interview and post. Sounds and intriguing story :O)

Anonymous said...

I really like Wild lavender and this one sounds really intriguing. I love Prague and I've always wanted to go there. They say it is like Paris was a very long time ago. I am also a huge fan of Kate Morten. The Secret Garden is excellent! Thanks for the interview.

Summer Ross said...

Sounds like a book I need to get my hands on. Thanks for posting!