Book: Tales from the Hamlet
Q1. Hello Ma’am, can you please introduce yourself? Readers would love to know more about you.
Hello, my name is Cassandra Campbell-Kemp, I’m 66, British and I live in England in a 350 year old coAage with my rescue cat, Felix. For over 30 years of my life I lived and worked in Europe – Italy, Greece and Spain – where I learnt the languages, fell in love with the people and their cultures and lived happily alone; though more oMen than not I was adopted by stray cats! I am fiercely independent, unafraid of being alone and I absolutely loved travelling and discovering new things.
Q2. What were the key challenges you faced while writing ‘Tales from the Hamlet’?
I’d actually wriAen my first book (Cauliflowers through the CaRlap) during the first Lockdown so I sort of knew how to put a book together. Writing Tales from the Hamlet, I think the key challenge was trying to decide what to put in and what to leave out, there was so much to tell. I am retired so I had all the time in the world to write and I loved sitting at my desk reminiscing about my time in Italy. In fact my biggest challenge was realising that I couldn’t get the entire story into one book, so I am about to start writing the sequel, which will finish the narrative off nicely. It will be published in the Autumn next year!
Q3. What books or authors have most influenced your own writing?
Eric Newby’s wonderful books – particularly Love and War in the Appenines (which was set in an area bordering the one I wrote about). He is so good at narrative, at presenting his characters and his life has been absolutely fascinating.
Peter Mayle and his A Year in Provence series, Frances Myles and her Under the Tuscan Sun series – the first of which was made into a movie. I like reading about the trials and tribulations of people living in a country that is not their own!
Bill Bryson, whose Notes from a Small Island (about Britain) and subsequent books were very influential. I love his writing style.
Q4. What’s your favourite spot to visit in your own country? And what makes it so special to you?
I think my favourite spot is actually the town where I live. We have a huge partly-ruined 11th century Abbey at the top of the High Street, which, in its time was a monastery and one of the greatest seats of learning in medieval Europe. I go and sit in the bit that’s still standing – which is now the church – and just chill. It’s so relaxing, so beautiful, so full of history and so inviting. I’m not religious but I certainly appreciate the sacredness of the space. The fact that it was also a monastery that produced some of the greatest thinkers of the early Middle Ages really appeals to me!
Q5. Are there lots to do before you start writing
Yes, I sit and stare out of the window a lot, I find my best ideas come from doing that. I then make many notes – I have notebooks full of usually indecipherable jottings. I also like researching the things that I write about so do a lot of fact-checking. Interestingly a number of people who have read Tales from the Hamlet have told me that they have fact-checked what I wrote, so it is important to get things right!
Q6. How long did it take you to write ”Tales from the Hamlet’ book?
About 5-6 months. I didn’t have a schedule, I just let it come. Sometimes my best ideas woke me at 3.00 in the morning. A particular event or word would reverberate around my brain, so I made sure to write it down as soon as I got up.
Q7. How did you decide to set the story in Italy?
I didn’t decide to set it there, I WAS there! The book is a Memoir. It is my story of my time inItaly.
Q8. Tell us about the process of coming up with the book cover and the title of your recentbook?
The book cover was illustrated by my very talented friend, Jill Bissenden. It is taken from a photograph of the Manor House where I lived. The title is as a result of how the book came about. While I was living in Italy I would write short blogs on my Facebook page called ‘Tales from….’ and it was my Facebook friends that encouraged me to turn them into a book. Blogs about my time in the Hamlet thus became Tales from the Hamlet. Though writing a blog and writing a book are very different things – as I soon found out!
Q9. When writing a book how do you keep things fresh, for both your readers and also yourself?
I think the main way of keeping things fresh is to stick to the rule ‘show, don’t tell’, to keep the chapters a manageable length and try to make each one interesting and where appropriate, amusing. Keeping it fresh for myself was more difficult, I’d lived it, so I had to make sure if it still interested me, then I could write about it.
Q10. Are there any secrets from the book (that aren’t in the blurb), you can share with your readers?
Yes – the Manor House was full of ghosts!
Book Is Available On Amazon
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