This month our Featured Author, Louise Dean, answers questions from The Masons Book Group. They are based in Worcestershire.
Q: What inspired you to write about the various themes of the book and what research did you undertake?
A: I was interested in schizophrenia and mental illness and came across some old theories which suggested that mental wellbeing is a product of the sense of being loved and belonging in ones place of birth and per Julian Jaynes book ‘The Origins of Consciousness in the Bi-Cameral Mind’ that the journey into new lands both stimulates and even requires an almost religious dementia, including hallucinations and visions. I was self-diagnosing perhaps. After many years abroad, away from my home (13), I was in distress.
Q: Have you ever spent time in France or Africa?
A: I have spent time in Africa, in all the places in the book, on a number of occasions. I lived in France for 6 years.
Q: Who is your favourite character in the book and why?
A: Maxence. Because he is so utterly lonely, and also a ‘seer’
Q: Maxence is an unusual character who is not likeable but ultimately by the end of the book we felt sympathetic towards him, have you ever known any children like him!
A: I am all my characters and all my characters are me. They are parts of me.
Q: What is your “idea of love”?
A: Home.
