Crimson China live webchat Monday 5 December 1-2pm

spid

I would like to know - does Betsy know what happens to Lili after the book is finished?!

Hi Spid. This is a popular question! Lili's journey in this book is really about finding herself, rather than the man of her dreams, and like Wen, her character poses the question: to what extent do we locate our identity in our culture or homeland? And can we fashion an identity outside those realms? The central relationship for Lili in this book is with the child May, and it is May who ultimately shows her a path forward, and who helps her understand that identity comes from within. The final scene between the two of them, where May offers to teach her how to make cocoa, and leads her off by hand, is meant to suggest this.

Daphne

I really enjoyed 'Crimson China', but I wonder why Angie had to be an alcoholic? There are many other reasons why she felt driven to the point of suicide, which led to her saving one of the drowning men.

Hi Daphne. Good question. I think because the topic of alcoholism interests me. One of the great prerogatives of being a novelist is that you can dip in and out of subjects that intrigue you. The challenge is that the inclusion of these needs to be organic within the story and appear seamless. I hope that's the case for you here with Angie??? But perhaps not!

rosiemus

I am interested to know how one goes about researching a novel such as this? I would love to know where one starts after picking the basic story line

First let me say that I did not go undercover in the illegal Chinese community for months on end! No matter how much I would have liked to, this would not have been possible. Illegal Chinese in the UK operate so far be low the radar that they would never have agreed to speak with me -- writer is too close to journalist which is too close to police, immigration and authority. So what I did was read everything I could from three sources: news reports, academic studies and governmental reports. Apart from that I know quite a lot about China and the Chinese, so I was in a good position to write this story. I don't think it's one that would have come from within the UK Chinese community itself, but it was very well received by them.

skydiver

Was there something in particular that you wanted to say about China and its relationship to the West, or was the fact that several characters are Chinese almost incidental? - could they have been another nationality?

Hi Skydiver. You could have written this book about other illegal immigrants (viz The Road Home) but I dont think it would have had the same impact. The Chinese really occupy the lowest rung on the illegal immigrant ladder here. They are isolated both by language and culture, and really do move within a parallel world, in a way that I don't believe other immigrants, even illegal ones, do. They do all the worst jobs, for the worst pay: in Chinese they call it the 3Ds. Dirty, difficult and dangerous. And the deprivation, isolation and sheer hardship they experience here is extreme.

cheeriblegran

I found the book very moreish! Is that page-turning quality something that comes naturally to you? Or is it to do with plotting?

Many thanks Cheeriblegran. I am hugely big on strong narrative! Partly because I am a very fickle reader who abandons books too easily. So I really strive to write books that readers can't put down. That means strong plotting and characters that you really care about. I'm thrilled that Gransnet readers felt that way about this one.

Stansgran

I was also intrigued by the gardening -redemption through gardening? or creating a garden as a gift?-haven't been to China for about 15 years and it struck me then that gardening was really market gardening there(grow food or starve if you had a plot) or highly formal places for the wealthy or the tourist. It may have changed a lot. Surprised me how he got stuck in so easily

Yes I think the nature of gardening and gardens is very different indeed, and yet it was a place where I felt strongly that both cultures could meet. And it was definitely a way to make the relationship between them believable. In fact I had to consult a gardening authority about roses for this book, and it is he who was responsible for the title. I'd had no idea that our domestic rose breeds first came from China, as it isn't a flower that is particularly revered there.

notpastit

Welcome, Betsy. There is a theme of characters searching for themselves in another country in the book. I read somewhere that you are American, and I wondered if that came from personal experience?

Hi Notpastit. Yes I write a lot about identity and culture, and I have always attributed that to the fact that I left my own country to come to the UK in the late 80s. When I first started writing novels, I didn't feel comfortable setting them in either contemporary America or Britain, so I set them in the distant past, where I felt that I'd be on equal grounds with both my readers. It took me a long time to work up the courage to write about contemporary Britain, and even then I set the story in a different dimension. My next novel is set in the US, but again, I didn't feel comfortable setting it in the present, so have put it in the era of my upbringing! You have to feel at home within your settings, on some level.

florist

Have you always wanted to write, and how did you get going?

I thought I wanted to be a journalist so I took an evening class in my early twenties and was told my work was too literary! So that was the beginning really. Once I started writing fiction I became utterly beguiled by the process. Writing a novel is a long teeth-gnashing journey but when it comes together the feeling is extraordinary. Like no other.

pothole

When you write, do you have an image of an ideal reader? Do you always ask the same person to be your first reader? Does your family read your books and is that easy or difficult?

(Sorry, that's three questions!)

Hi Pothole. What I can say is that I'm incredibly mindful of my reader at every stage of the process, and am always thinking about how to make the book a more engrossing read. I don't really have an ideal, but I suppose I write more for women than men, because women read more fiction than men. My family sometimes reads my work -- my seventeen year old daughter has just helped me with my next book, as it features a protagonist of the same age. But none of them read Crimson China before it came out, tho a few other readers did. In general I don't use many readers -- a select few, as it can be difficult to reconcile their comments.

clovenhoof

I see there's already been a question about alcoholism - mine is similar. I found Angie's depression very persuasive and wondered if that was something you really wanted to focus on in the book, or whether you just needed her to be in the sea that night!

I'm pleased you found her depression believable Clovenhoof, as it is also a topic I did some research on -- tho not surprisingly it was very depressing to read about! In all honesty, I think Angie is a bit underdeveloped as a character, so I'm pleased she worked for you on the page. I didn't use the depression as a way to get her into the sea that night -- rather, it was more a way into the character for me.

Stansgran

so how do you feel about children being adopted here when china has become a very wealthy nation? We know people who are struggling to adopt from China at the moment.

I think the Chinese quite rightly keep close tabs on adoption of their nationals. China is a country where children are enormously valued and cherished, as are large families, so the one child policy was devastating for the country as a whole. Traditionally sons were valued over daughters (which stems from China's rural past as a nation of farmers) so in recent decades we have seen a surplus of girl children being offered for adoption. The one child policy is slowly changing in China, and so is the country's commitment to and treatment of orphans, both of which I welcome.