The Cloths of Heaven - Sue Eckstein

(Note to reader: I’ve a copy of this book to giveaway and all details can be found at the end of this rather long post)

West Africa in the early 1990s. Isabel Redmond is tiring of her husband’s fondness for pendulous black breasts; the High Commissioner and his wife Fenella are both enjoying illicit affairs; an old English judge is wandering through the scrub following a tribe of Fulani herdsmen; Bob Newpin is about to make a killing in timeshares; and just what Father Seamus is up to is anyone’s guess.

Enter new diplomat Daniel Maddison on his first posting abroad. Rebelling against the endless rounds of cocktail parties, golf and gossip, he finds himself drawn to people and places that lie way beyond the experience of his High Commission colleagues – and specifically to the dusty warehouse in the heart of the city where a thin white woman is silently measuring out lengths of brightly coloured cloth.

For me this novel is about snippets, of lives, of dialogues, of experiences. The Cloths of Heaven is an impressive debut. Many characters are introduced quickly, but the reader is not left confused or overloaded. Rather it is a jigsaw, each character introduction a necessity and all skilfully pieced together.

Evocative, intriguing and with splashes of a modern Evelyn Waugh, The Cloths of Heavenis a pleasurable and a smooth read. I must admit that I was intrigued initially because of the number of ex-pat bloggers who I read online. And now I am left wondering if their lives are similar…

Asking: Sue Eckstein

When did you begin to write? Have you always wanted to be an author? I was always a great reader and English was always my best subject at school. I went on to study English Literature at Durham University and then taught English as a foreign language, and then English Literature for two years in Sri Lanka. I started writing in Sri Lankain order to obtain a visa to work. A school I approached for a teaching job wanted a traditional English pantomime written and agreed to sort out my visa (and give me a job) if I did that. So I wrote Cinderella (and was also the wicked stepmother – perhaps the prototype for Fenella in The Cloths of Heaven…) and after that I wrote Dick Whittingtonand Aladdin which were both produced after I left. Then I had a couple of poems published in magazines and finally stopped thinking about wanting to write and doing something about it by enrolling on a creative writing course about 10 years ago.

What inspired you to write The Cloths of Heaven? One of our assignments on the creative writing course was to write the opening chapter of a novel which we did as a class exercise; I wrote the first chapter of The Cloths of Heaven and that remains the opening chapter almost word for word. I’m still not really sure where that chapter came from though it was very much inspired by my years living and working in The Gambia in the early nineties where I was Programme Director for VSO. I decided after that to continue the novel to completion – both because I was enjoying writing it so much and because I was curious to see if I could write a whole novel.

How did you cope with the number of characters that you have? Each is so individual in voice and development, how did you control and keep track of them all? The novel is made up of series of short chapters, from different points of view, so in some ways that made it easier as I didn’t have to a sustain characters beyond that chapter – but I had to make sure that they somehow developed on their own during the time that they weren’t in the story so that the next time you meet them, they have moved on and are ready to take on whatever comes next. (Rather like the Archers!)

Which character gave you the most trouble? I think it was Daniel. He needed to be rather passive and generally a nice person but couldn’t be boring. Someone like Fenella – on the other hand – practically wrote herself – not sure what that says about me!

The postcards are an effective device. What gave you the idea to use them?I like novels that have sequels but did not want to write a real sequel. So I thought that using postcards would enable the reader to work out what happened to Rachel – and also, to some extent, to Daniel and even Father Seamus if you read them very carefully.

And the location is so vivid, did you write this book whilst in West Africa or did you draw on past experiences? I wrote the book in Brighton and in fact have not been back to West Africa since I left in 1991. I drew on my memories of living and working there, and on photographs I took during those years. It’s also one of the reason I fictionalised The Gambia – so that I could be freer to play with the geography of the country.

Who do you feel would be your ideal reader? Feedback from readers of all kinds has been incredibly positive so I don’t think there’s an ideal reader. I’ve had sixteen year olds and people in their eighties and everyone in between saying nice things about it so it doesn’t seem to just appeal to people of a particular age. People who have lived and worked abroad or who have travelled in the region may particularly enjoy it.

How did you come to be published? I sent the manuscript to Myriad Editions, a Brighton-based publisher which I’d heard of through friends. They were very complimentary about it but at the time weren’t thinking of publishing more fiction. I kept in touch with Myriad and when they came to re-think their publishing strategy, they decided to take the novel.

Did you submit your writing elsewhere and were you ever rejected? Oh yes! Very definitely. I think it’s a rare and very lucky author who is taken by the first publisher or agent they try. I had an agent for a while but she failed to sell it to a number of big publishing houses. She then stopped being an agent which left me in a very difficult situation. For the next few years, I tried a number of other publishers and received a number of mostly very nice rejection letters. I then put it back in my drawer and it was only by chance that I thought I’d try Myriad – and I’m so glad I did!

What do you plan to do next? What are you writing now? I’ve been writing radio plays for BBC Radio 4 – and have had three broadcast over the last couple of years. I hope to keep writing for radio and am working on my second novel.

Any tips for people wanting to be published? You need a thick skin. Dealing with rejection can be very hard indeed. You need to try to keep things in perspective. It’s helpful to remember that most writers have had to deal with rejection and that for many – even if they are published – things don’t always go the way they thought they would. I’m really lucky I think in that I’ve had a fantastically positive experience with Myriad but I have friends whose experience with other publishers has been very fraught.

My personal experience of being published has been a steep learning curve. Have you learned anything about the industry that has shocked you/surprised you? I have been shocked at the rudeness and arrogance of some agents. And how much money is spent by large publishers getting their favoured authors onto tables and displays in bookshops. And how that works against small publishers. And how reluctant most mainstream publishers are to take risks with an “unfashionable” book or genre.

What are you currently reading? Penelope Mortimer’s autobiography – About Time Too.

And finally, readers of my blog will know that I ask everyone I interview one, very important question. Do you know Simon Cowell?! Oddly, I have once stood a few inches from him! He was giving prizes at the RSPCA dog show in Brighton 5 years ago (where our dog one best puppy in show!) My then 12 year old daughter managed to get his (rather ungraciously-given) autograph which I think she has long since lost.

You can buy The Cloths of Heaven HERE.

About the author: Born in Turkey in 1959, Sue Eckstein studied English Literature at Durham University and then went on to work in overseas development for many years, firstly as a teacher in Sri Lanka and then as VSO programme manager in the UK and The Gambia. She is now a lecturer in Clinical and Biomedical Ethics at Brighton and Sussex Medical School. She is the author of The Cloths of Heaven (Myriad Editions 2009), of the play The Tuesday Group, and three radio plays for BBC Radio 4 – Kaffir Lilies, Laura and Old School Ties.

And, the rather nice people at Myriad Editions have agreed that I can give away a copy of The Cloths of Heaven by Sue Eckstein. All you have to do is leave a ‘please pick me’ comment by 3pm (GMT) July 31, then I’ll pop all names in a mug and ask a small child to select a winner. This competition is open to all.