The Villa (52 page)

He let his hands rest on her shoulders. ‘Time to put the past to rest,’ he said. He bent closer. Almost touching. ‘I do not think that we live in such different worlds,’ he said, ‘you and I.’

Tess realised what he was trying to tell her. ‘You mean …?’

Even closer. ‘That is exactly what I mean,’ he said.

I read lots of fiction and non-fiction around the subject of Sicily to prepare for this book and have done my best to be historically, geographically, culturally and linguistically accurate. However, this is a work of fiction and I have adapted some things for the purpose of the story. Any errors I have made are my own.

Heartfelt thanks go to my lovely agent Teresa Chris for her support and belief in me as a writer. Thanks also to everyone at Quercus, especially to Jo Dickinson who is a brilliant and sensitive editor.

I’d like to thank Grey Innes for his help throughout the writing process, particularly for providing his expertise on diving matters and for his perception and listening skills … Thank you also to Margaret and Leo in Castellamare for help with matters Sicilian. Thanks to my lovely friend Jane for advice on psychotherapy, and also to friends who have read sections of my work for me – Sarah Sparkes, Caroline Neilson, June Tate.

I would also like to thank my dear friend Alan Fish, who is always supportive, always interested and always willing to read my work and tell me what he really thinks! In this novel
he also helped me with some research when I was in danger of running out of time and energy …

I wrote a lot of this book whilst travelling around Europe, and so special thanks go to my dearest friend Caroline Neilson who looked after things while we were away. She has been a fantastic support in very many ways.

Love and thanks to my beautiful daughters Alexa and Ana and to my son Luke. And much love to Grey who is the best travelling companion and ideas-stormer a writer could hope for!

Reading Guide

Do you think Flavia made the right decision to leave Sicily?

How does Rosanna Ley explore fundamental human relationships, i.e. the relationship between mother and daughter, lovers, etc?

Who is your favourite/least favourite character and why?

What do you feel is the central theme of the book?

Landscape is used to portray emotion in this novel – how successful do you feel this is?

How did you feel Ginny changed over the course of the book?

How would you compare and contrast Tess and Flavia’s experiences of love?

How did you start writing?

From a young age I wrote poems about everything – from my parents not understanding me to my feelings about my teddy bear! I wrote a play at school in history about Henry II and Thomas A Becket that filled a whole exercise book. I poured out teenage angst in verse. And I dabbled with creative writing as part of a college course when I was eighteen.

Some years later, in my mid-twenties, writing grabbed me again, quite by chance, when I tried to sign on to an adult education pottery class that was full. Flicking through the brochure I found creative writing. Why not?

In a matter of days I was hooked again. I poured out poetry, articles, short stories, journals, you name it. The first article I had published (in
Mother and Baby)
was about my four-year-old son’s unshakeable belief that he could fly. As you might imagine it was funny but scary at the same time … he seemed so
sure
! I went on to write short stories for women’s magazines and eventually a novel and after a couple of years it was me tutoring that creative writing class! My first novel was typed on a manual typewriter and returned by a literary agent as reading more like a psychological dissertation. Hopefully, I’ve come on a bit since then …

What is your working day like?

My main aim is to avoid looking at e-mails and social networking sites until I’ve got some work done!

If I am in the middle of writing a novel, I deal with anything urgent first thing and then try to work in the mornings planning a scene – often longhand – or thinking something through. This might involve going somewhere like a cafe or a beach (depending on the weather) to write in a notebook. Then I get on to the computer and do a long stretch until lunchtime.

After lunch I try to have a walk – it’s too easy to sit hunched over a computer all day; it’s important to stretch out, exercise and take some thinking time – and then I’ll either do some revisions or some research, depending on what stage I’m at. The internet is incredible useful for research but it is a distraction. Sometimes you can lose hours that way!

If I’m doing mentoring work I’ll spend a lot of time reading and also writing up reports for authors or chatting with them. If I’m travelling and doing research then I’ll be out and about with my notebook all day and I’ll try to write things up in the late afternoon or evening.

Once I feel I’ve achieved a day’s work (and this doesn’t always happen!) I’ll sort out post, admin work, e-mails and so on. I usually have a list of tasks to be achieved that day and I take great pleasure in crossing off each one when it’s done.

Last thing at night before I go to sleep I try to think about the scene I’ll be writing in the morning so that it can start
composting in my head … Unfortunately, I’m often so tired that I don’t get very far with that one. But who knows what’s going on in your subconscious while you sleep?

Where do you write?

Wherever the mood takes me. I love writing longhand into a notebook and so I’ll take that to a cafe or a park bench or a clifftop and just get inspiration that way. It’s especially important for me to write scenes in the actual setting of the novel. If I’m working on my computer I’m at home at my desk and then I’m fully focused on the words rather than the inspiration.

Have you been to Sicily?

Yes. It’s a magical landscape. I was fascinated by the contrasts: the darkness and light; the tranquil with the undercurrent of menace; the beauty next to the, undeniably, rather seedy. These contradictions intrigued me. When I read up on the history of the island and the Sicilian fairy tales and myths it all started to make sense and I decided to use Sicily as a setting for the novel. And then of course there was the Sicilian food …

Your novel describes the bonds between mother and daughter beautifully – how did you approach writing this?

Thank you. The mother and daughter bond is very special to me. I’ve always had a good relationship with my own mother
and I have two amazing daughters with whom I’ve always been very close. I’m lucky in that they have talked to me a lot over the years about their lives and their feelings, and I suppose I’ve absorbed a lot of that and been able to express it on the page. Not that any of the characters are based on my daughters, but you do get a general sense of voice.

In the book, Flavia is a strong character who has suffered great disappointments in her life – some of them due to the behaviour of her own parents. I wanted to convey her strength and her vulnerability. She wants Tess to have a different life, one of her own choosing, and yet she still can’t help trying to protect her from things she perceives as dangerous due to her own experience. I think that this is one of the dilemmas that mothers face. Another dilemma is what happens when our daughters shut us out – because they think we won’t understand, or because they’re trying to assert their individuality and independence. As mothers we need to get through that stage – it’s a case of damage limitation really, and that’s what happens between Tess and Ginny. Ginny shuts her out, but equally, Tess doesn’t confide in Ginny. Lack of trust like this can often signal the beginning of a breakdown in any relationship. If we keep talking we’re communicating and there’s more chance of being understood!

Did the writing of
The Villa
bring any surprises for you?

The writing of every novel hopefully comes with its own surprises which is one of the things that makes writing such
fun! This one started off in my mind as being somehow linked with volcanoes – but that never really happened. I hadn’t intended Flavia’s recipes to feature, but after tasting the Sicilian food it seemed a great way of allowing her to pass on a legacy to Tess. The novel became more historical in flavour too and I became much more caught up in Flavia’s past story than I had expected. I got interested in Sicilian fairy tales during my research and I like the idea of myth and legend being used symbolically within a story – so that went in. And when we were travelling around Italy – while I was also writing the book – we came across a beautiful pink villa with a stuccoed mermaid above the front door, which gave me the idea for La Sirena – the mermaid’s villa. Finally, my husband began using sea glass as a material for his artwork (just like Tonino!) but in this case I’m not sure which came first – the chicken or the egg …

What are you writing now?

My new novel again weaves a contemporary narrative with a historical storyline and features three women discovering the truth about their shared past. The central theme is whether everyone has the right to know the truth surrounding their birth and it is based on the true life happening of the scandal of Spain’s stolen children –
ninos robados
. The novel is set in west Dorset, Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands and Barcelona.

Ruby discovers that her family is not what it seems and embarks on a quest to discover her true identity, Vivien has a
secret burden that is about to be revealed, and Sister Julia has to decide whether to hand over a document she has kept hidden for decades.

What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

Never give up! Write a bit every day. Listen to the feedback of others (preferably those who know what they’re talking about) but ultimately listen to your own heart.

DO
make time for writing every day. It will exercise all your writing muscles including the imagination …

DO
get to know your characters before you start writing. How would they feel in certain situations? How do they dress? What do they dream about? Do you know..?

DO
use all the senses when you’re writing description. Make your reader see it, feel it, hear it, smell it and taste it!

DO
listen to other people’s conversations. Real conversations are fragmented and people rarely give speeches.

DO
‘show’ rather than ‘tell’ by writing scenes of active dialogue, character action, and internal thought rather than using too much reported narration or passive verbs.

DO
remember the five Ws. Answer the questions:
Where? When? Who? What?
and
Why?

DO
keep your story moving. That way you’ll take your reader with you.

DO
kill your darlings … Purple prose and over the top imagery should be avoided at all costs. Be ruthless!

DO
keep characters doing something e.g. cooking dinner or weeding the garden during a period of reflection rather than just staring aimlessly out of a window.

DO
make your characters three dimensional and interesting.
Real people are rarely black and white – they tend to be complex shades of grey.

DO
read your work aloud to yourself. This will show you where the story sags and where dialogue doesn’t flow. You will also notice repetitions or over-use of ‘favourite’ words.

DO
go to creative writing groups or classes. If you ever want to get your work out there you have to let other people read it at some point. And you’ll get more honest feedback from a writing group (hopefully) than you will from your nearest and dearest.

DON’T
be in a hurry to start writing. Thought-storm for ideas, make notes, give yourself thinking time. And then go for it!

DON’T
finish the day’s writing with a piece that’s revised and perfect. It’s easier to start with a half-finished piece than it is to face a scary blank page straight after breakfast.

DON’T
lose the plot … (Remember, you’re in charge …)

DON’T
present description in indigestible chunks. Balance it out with actions and thoughts.

DON’T
switch viewpoint in the middle of a scene. Readers need time to empathise and understand a character’s motivation.

DON’T
lose your balance … It’s a tightrope. Include dialogue, character thought, action and description.

DON’T
let your writing become bland. Add drama and tension.

DON’T
forget to talk about the weather … Weather can add mood and atmosphere. It can reinforce the flow of narrative time and make your story real.

DON’T
forget to do research – but keep it unobtrusive. It should pull the reader into the world rather than make them think about how much research you’ve done!

DON’T
be afraid to experiment … With narrative voice, style, tense, story lines. That’s how you will find your own writing voice.

DON’T
allow destructive criticism to stop you writing. You don’t have to take all feedback on board. Other people don’t always know best.

DON’T
give up. Successful writers have drive and a stubborn will to get there in the end …

Can’t wait to escape to the sun? Look out for Rosanna Ley’s new novel

The Bay of Secrets

Weaving a contemporary narrative with an historical storyline, and moving from England to the tiny Spanish island of Formentera, three women must learn the truth about their shared past.

Vivien’s secret burden has finally been revealed. Ruby has discovered her family is not what it seems. Sister Julia has to decide whether to reveal a truth she has kept hidden for decades.