Guest Interview with Judith Barrow
Today, I’m delighted to welcome back saga author, Judith Barrow. Those of you who read my blog regularly will know that I’m a big fan of Judith’s Patterns trilogy. Patterns of Shadows and Changing Patterns are set during and just after WW2, with Living in the Shadows set in 1969. Her latest book, A Hundred Tiny Threads was published by Honno in August.
Judith, welcome back. Please tell us a little about A Hundred Tiny Threads.
A Hundred Tiny Threads is the prequel to the Haworth trilogy. It’s the story of the parents of Mary Haworth, who is the protagonist in the trilogy. Her mother, Winifred, is a young woman eager to find a life beyond her parent’s grocery shop. She battles against her domineering mother. When her new friend, Honora, an independent Irish girl, persuades her to join the Suffragettes, Winifred defies her mother and seeks a life away from home. But her head is turned by her friend’s brother – and she finds herself in more trouble than she can handle.
Unbeknown to Winifred, she has another admirer, Bill Howarth, a troubled man who bears the scars of a difficult upbringing. Despite his determination to make Winifred his wife his experiences in WW1 and his time in the Black and Tans in Ireland make him bitter and his ability to find trouble wherever he goes affects his life, his work, his relationships and his health.
After completing your highly acclaimed trilogy about
the Howarth family, why did you feel the need to write the prequel that tells
us about the early lives of the parents, Bill and Winifred ?
Well, with the two characters screaming
out at me to tell their stories, I felt I needed to write more about the
Howarth family. I knew I wanted to explain why Bill and Winifred are as
they are in the first of the trilogy, Pattern of Shadows. I think that, when we
reach a certain, say, mature age, we are what we have lived through as much as
what we are through our genes definition. Does that make sense? Bill is mostly
not a nice father; he certainly is a hard man. I wanted to show what he has
endured in his early life; what has caused him to be so hard. As for Winifred –
I think she has used up all her spirit, all her determination to change her
life by the time we meet her in Howarth trilogy. She just accepts her lot and
any defiance she has is turned inwardly, against herself.
What challenges did that pose for you?
The only real challenge was the time
line; everything needed to fit into the timings within the trilogy; the ages of
Bill and Winifred, the births of Tom (Winifred’s illegitimate son) and Mary
(the first born of Bill and Winifred). But, as a writer this was an exceptionally
exciting challenge to be able to research and write about the world events that
is the background of A Hundred Tiny Threads.
When I was reading your novel, that's what struck me - how well you've researched those events. And that brings me on to my next question. Because the book is set in Lancashire in the 1900s and Ireland
at the time of the Black and Tans, how much research did you have to do for the
novel?
As with all my novels I have huge files
of each era I write about on the shelves in my study. It’s important to me to
immerse myself in the world my characters move around in, so I have folders on
the politics of that time, the world situation, what was in the news. The
research for the setting of A Hundred Tiny Threads was both fascinating and
time consuming; so much was happening at that time. And quite a lot of it was
so distressing I sometimes found myself crying; for the dreadful situations
those young men endured during the First World War; for the awful injustices
and cruelty that the people in Southern Ireland
had inflicted on them. And, as a woman, and knowing these were the years when
women were fighting for the vote, I felt it important I show their struggles as
truthfully as possible.
On a more prosaic level, it’s the kinds
of houses, furniture, fashions, hairstyles, children’s’ toys and games played,
music and films, radio or television programmes depending on the times, even
the weather if I have a scene where I’ve also put the dates in a certain
chapter. The list is endless but necessary, I think.
Well, it certainly paid off. Your novel has been described as ‘gritty’, 'laid bare in a language which is forthright and at times, brutal'. Even though you've said how you were often distressed as you were writing some scenes, how important was it for you not to
shy away from those horrors of WWI, the atrocities of the Black and Tans or the violent
punishment of the Suffragettes?
My genre is family sagas and what I try
to show is that in fiction, as in real life, none of us live in a vacuum. What
is happening in the world around us, affects us in one way or another. The
beginning of the twentieth century was a brutal and horrific time in so many
ways. I have to be true to myself with my novels; to put down what I feel, to
portray the truth of the world backdrop of my characters. If I don’t do that,
how can I show their feeling, their reactions as people dealing with real life?
It’s the only way I can write.
Your characters are very real and come alive on the
page. How do you feel their experiences of life at the time and the awfulness
of what they saw influenced the kind of parents they were to become?
I think Bill is a father of his time;
the parenting of the children is the mother’s responsibility. But his
upbringing, his time in the army, his involvement in the Black and Tans, has instilled
in him a sense of angry inferiority; of questioning the unfairness of life. Although
he knows that it is his duty to obey, ultimately he can’t help rebelling –
often without thinking of the consequences. And this is what he struggles with
as a father; he demands absolute obedience and when it is not forthcoming he
acts on his frustrated reactions. He uses his fists. It isn’t that he doesn’t
love his children in varying degrees (depending on which one it is) but they
have to fit into his life the way he
wants them to – and when he wants
them to. Basically his innate sense of inferiority makes him defensive, even in
his relationship with them and he is forever striving to be seen as the head of
the family, whatever the circumstances.
And, as Bill is a father of his time, so is
Winifred the mother of her time. She has borne the children, looks after them
to the best of her ability, given her limited influence on them and the
financial situation. She especially strives to be the opposite of her own
mother, a bullying, self-centred woman, trying instead to emulate her loving
grandmother. But, at was often the case in that era, she knows it is in her
(and even her children’s) interest to put the well-being of her husband first
before anything else. If he is satisfied his needs are being met then there is
relative peace in the house. It’s a fine line that Winifred treads. And not one
her children always appreciate.
I have to ask. Is this the last of the Howarth
family?
Hmm, I’m not sure; there is one of the
younger generation who keeps mithering me to tell her tale. And I have written
eight short stories of the minor characters in the trilogy whose lives seem to
be taking up a lot of my thoughts. So the Haworths
could pop up as supporting characters there, I suppose.
What are you currently working on? Another family
saga?
For a long time I’ve been working on a
book that is slightly different. It’s a story of a mother and daughter – so is a
family saga in a slightly different way - and more contemporary rather than
historical. It keeps drawing me back. But at the moment I’m actually writing
the life story of one of the minor characters in the trilogy. Where it will
lead I’m not sure (which is rather unusual for me) but I’m going with it for
now.
Thank you so much for taking
time to chat to me, Judith. I wish you good luck and lots of sales with your
wonderful book.
My thoughts on A
Hundred Tiny Threads: 5*
As a lover of family sagas, I eagerly awaited the arrival of A Hundred Tiny Threads. I had thoroughly enjoyed all three of Judith's books in the Patterns trilogy and I was not to be disappointed! The story gripped me from the first page and I couldn't put it down. For me, the strength of the writing is the creation of memorable characters who come alive on the page. These are real working class people. I can hear the authentic dialogue in my head; I can imagine meeting them and having conversations with them. I particularly warmed to Winifred who wanted so much more than her sheltered life in her father's grocers's shop with a mother who clearly didn't love her. Although hard to read at times, I admire the way that the harsh reality of the violence and brutality Bill experienced wasn't glossed over. Getting both viewpoints throughout the novel allowed us to enter the psyches of both Winifred and Bill. This was a time of social and political unrest and, through what I know is very thorough research, Judith takes us right into the midst of it. I have no hesitation in recommending this novel that's raw, gritty and makes an excellent read. A superb 'must' for lovers of family sagas and historical fiction!
Thank you for reading. Do enjoy reading or writing family sagas and historical fiction? What is it about the genre that appeals to you?
Yes, it's that time of year again and many writers all over the world are asking themselves, 'Shall I?' or 'Shan't I?' For some, spending November taking part in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) has become an annual event but for others, it would be their idea of writing hell. Participants try to write a 50,000 word manuscript between 12 a.m. on November 1st and 11.59 p.m. on November 30th. In order to achieve this, they need to write an average of 1,667 words per day. Of course, this means that the emphasis on the length of the work and not on the quality and it is this fact that some writers can't cope with. The saying, 'Don't get it right, get it written', is the philosophy at the heart of NaNoWriMo. It encourages writers to finish a first draft so that it can be edited later. The project started in 1999 with just 21 participants; by 2010, over 200,000 people took part and wrote over 2.8 billion words! By 2015, this number had risen to 431,626 writers from 633 different regions and of those, 40,000 were winners, achieving the goal of 50,000 words. 
