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 Suzi Stembridge, the
author of, CAST A HOROSCOPE 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.
What inspired you to
write about the 1960s?
I
am glad you caught me Pauline because I was just thinking of plunging into your
inviting pool! But hush, because I don’t want the whole world to know: yet in
1960, World War Two had only finished fifteen years previously and I had just
left college. The world was at our feet and in my case on my wings because I
had just been accepted as a trainee air hostess for a small airline flying out
of Southend. Many years later, married and with children, but before I studied
with the Open University and started my travel business, I decided to write a
novel based on these extraordinary times. But I promise the story is fiction!
Tell us little about
the story and its plot without giving too much away
It
is a story of a young woman who has been brought up to expect that her life
will be fulfilled only when she marries well and has children. This was very
much the mind-set of this generation where educated women were ‘expected not to
work’ but to become full-time mothers and wives. Also, I suppose in many ways
this story is moralistic. In those days sex was not acceptable outside
marriage, (although of course it had been going on for millennia.) Because
contraception in the early 60’s was still virtually non-existent the horrifying
penalty could be childbirth out of wedlock or abortion. The naïve young girl in
the story was as aware of the pitfalls as anyone and looking for genuine
romance not a ‘good-time’. Hugely careful she soaked up the atmosphere of the
Mediterranean countries and everything seemed wonderful, until ….
as
we grow up we discover that there are very dark places in the world.
Several
years later the heroine is married, outwardly happily and back home in
Yorkshire. The story is again about chance encounters, except past events look
likely to catch up with her.
Is any part of the
story based on facts / real events?
The
spirit of place of the countries visited and the descriptions of some of the
wonderful sites such as the Acropolis, the Dead Sea, or Egypt are very much as
they were back then. I believe it is very much a novel of its time. Flying in
those days in 30 seater Vickers Viking or slightly larger Viscounts was a
magnificent experience, when air-crew seemed to enjoy it as much as the
passengers!
Are any of the
characters based on someone real or are they pure fiction?
The
characters are pure fiction! Although the story is fiction the experience of
childbirth can go very wrong and some of the staff are not always as caring as
we would expect these days; my second experience of childbirth was pretty
horrific. We did have a young woman rooming with us in our air-crew quarters
who was expecting a baby. Her secrecy as she tried to protect her job upset us
all. Some aircrew at this time were perhaps typical of the characters, but by
no means all.
If research was
necessary what did this involve?
My
other novels have been centred around vast amount of research but CAST A
HOROSCOPE took off almost on its own highlighting how vivid were my memories of
those fabulous times. Obviously where dates or descriptions are involved these
have been checked in libraries (not as much on the internet because of the dates).
I am planning to write a memoir, perhaps with my husband, about our travels in
our travel business simply because, as with the writing of CAST A HOROSCOPE, it
is such a joy to write from experience rather than from imagination.
Thank
you Pauline, for dissuading me from that swim, I have much enjoyed sipping this
lovely bubbly and going back to some fortunate times.
Website: www.greco-file.com
Twitter: WriterOfGreekNovels@zaritsi
Suzi Stembridge@SuziStembridge
Facebook: Suzi Stembridge
https://www.facebook.com/suzi.stembridge.9
Pennine Writers & Landscape Artists Capturing
Greece
GREECE IS THE THEME
https://www.facebook.com/search/str/greece+is+the+theme/keywords_search
Jigsaw: Greek letters & Coming of Age – Two
Quartets
http://bit.ly/2N93m5p
Wordpress: authorofgreeknovels.wordpress.com
suzistembridge.wordpress.com
Linkedin: Suzi Stembridge at Freelance Author and
Writer
The Open University: BA. Hons (OPEN)
Member of the Institute of Journalists: M.C.I.J
http://amzn.to/1nKE5wR
Full Amazon page co.uk
http://amzn.to/1pfOulj Full Amazon page.com
http://amzn.to/ZSpdvZ CAST A HOROSCOPE
Thank you for stopping by and meeting Suzzi
Next Tuesday Julia Ibbotson talks about...
Until next time, I hope the sun is shinning on your face and in your heart.
Pauline
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