This month on Yesterday Uncovered we slip back to the 1960s
Sitting,
in the shade, on a recliner at the side of my pool is Jackie Carreira, the
author of Sleeping Through War, so
please help yourself to a glass of chilled bubbly, a plate of tapas, then make
yourself comfortable and enjoy slipping back to the 1960s.
Tell us a little
about yourself
I
was born in England to Portuguese parents and grew up mostly in Hackney in the
East End of London. For a couple of years as a child, I was sent with my
brother to live with grandparents in Lisbon, and these two locations are the
settings for a large part of the book. Today I manage to earn a living as a
playwright, feature writer and crochet designer (yes, crochet!) but before that
I spent 12 years travelling the world as a musician with a variety of indie,
dance and rock bands - that's a whole other story! In 2014, myself and AJ Deane
(an actor, singer and poet who loves books and cats as much as I do) co-founded
QuirkHouse Theatre Company in Suffolk. Reader, I married him!
What inspired you to
write about the 1960s?
I
was born in the 1960s, and it's very sobering to discover that my birth decade
is now taught in schools as history (I can't believe I'm that old!). I'm at a
point in my life where I'm starting to reflect backwards and, with the
advantage of time and experience, it's fascinating to look at my childhood from
an adult's perspective and from a greater context. When we are children, we
just accept whatever our life and surroundings are as 'normal' and assume that
others are the same. Most of the photographs I have of myself as a child are black
and white, but I now see that in many ways my childhood was far more colourful
and interesting than I thought it was at the time - just like the 1960s
themselves. I'm sure there's another novel in me that will be set in that
decade. There's so much to say about it. I hope I get to write it one day.
Tell us little about
the story and its plot without giving too much away
The year is 1968: students and workers are striking
across the globe, civil rights are being fought and died for, nuclear bombs are
being tested, there are major conflicts on every continent, and war is raging
in Vietnam. Against this volatile background, we meet three 'ordinary' women. Rose must keep her dignity and
compassion as a West Indian nurse in East London. Amalia must keep hoping that her son can escape their seedy
life in Lisbon. And Mrs Johnson in
Washington DC must keep writing to her son in Vietnam. She has no-one else to
talk to. Three different women, three different countries, but all are
connected by their dignity, courage and compassion.
Is any part of the
story based on facts / real events?
Not
exactly the story, but the backdrop to the story. Interspersed throughout the
narrative are 'news' reports. These are real things that happened on those days
but I've rewritten them in a journalistic style. When you look at them
altogether, 1968 really was an extraordinary year.
Are any of the
characters based on someone real or are they pure fiction?
All
of the characters are composites, based on real women that I met during my
childhood, both in London and Lisbon. They were the mothers of my friends;
dinner ladies; baby sitters; cleaners; neighbours; women who worked in cafes. Their
stories are fiction but inspired by all of those women and the kind of
struggles they had to face every day. I tend to write character-driven stories
and enjoy finding the extraordinary in the so-called 'ordinary.' To me, women
like these are courageous and inspiring and I didn't want their voices to be left
out of our history.
If research was
necessary what did this involve?
Research
is one of my favourite things, which is lucky because I had to do lots of it! Sleeping Through War is set during just
3 weeks in May 1968, but I spent time researching the whole year. One of the
most fascinating things was hunting through the archives of national and
international newspapers to pinpoint specific events to the dates where they
appear in the novel. Much internet searching was done, as well as many hours
sitting in the British Library - one of my favourite places in the whole world.
1968 was an extraordinary year, and arguably one of the most tumultuous of the
whole 20th century, so it was a question of deciding what to leave out rather
than what to include. I was spoilt for material.
Now,
where's that chilled bubbly...?
Sleeping
Through War is published by
Matador and available via all major retailers.
In paperback - ISBN: 9781788038539
ebook - ISBN: 9781788034388
I
Website:
http://jackiecarreira.co.uk
Facebook:
@SleepingThroughWar
Photo
credits:
Jackie as a child in Hackney (late 1960s) - © J. Carreira
Jackie as a child in Hackney (late 1960s) - © J. Carreira
Jackie
today - © Andy Abbott
Thank you for stopping by and meeting Jackie.
Next Tuesday Dizzy Greenfield talks about
Please come back again soon and I hope the sun is shinning on your face and in your heart.
Pauline
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