Good morning Folks!
Welcome to another new session of Author Interview and today I present you with the debut author whose compelling novel, The Trader of Saigon took us into a beautiful land where evil sustained over goodness. Lucy Cruikshanks is here at my blog to talk about life, Vietnam, books, and life beyond books, read on to know more about this amazing writer!
Read the review of The Trader of Saigon
Me: Hello and welcome to my blog, Lucy. Congratulations on your debut book, The
Trader of Saigon. Please tell us briefly about the story behind The Trader of
Saigon.
Lucy: Hi Aditi.
Thank you so much!
The Trader of Saigon is a
literary thriller, set against the backdrop 1980s Vietnam. It follows the story
of three seemingly unconnected characters as they navigate the chaos,
corruption and destitution of the post-war society.
Alexander
is a US Army deserter. He’s traumatized by his time at war, and falls under the
influence of a Russian pimp known as The Herder. He begins trading Vietnamese
women, deluding himself he’s helping the girls to a better life and atoning for
the wrong he’s done. Hanh is a rural girl who moves to Hanoi to escape poverty
and provide for her mother, and for whom Alexander seems like the answer to a
prayer. Phuc is a former businessman who lives in Saigon. He backed the wrong
side of the war and is now unable to pay his financial and political debts to
the government, and it’s his struggles that pull the narrative together.
The
context to the novel is incredibly bleak, but in a way, it’s a redemption story
really – and a story of self-determination. Each character is battling to take
control of their life when personal, cultural and political odds are stacked
against them.
Me: What was your inspiration behind The Trader of
Saigon, though you already mentioned about it in the back of your book, but
it'll be really great if you can tell us one more time for the readers who want
to read your book?
Lucy: Trader was
inspired by a chance meeting on a flight between Singapore and Vietnam in 2007,
when I sat beside a man who sold Vietnamese brides. He described himself as a
matchmaker; someone who helped aspirational young women find better lives with
Chinese or Western men. He told me how desirable Asian women were – they were
loyal, obedient and hard working – and how he was doing them a service by
helping them to find love. He was incredibly proud of how rich this had made
him. I was shocked by his arrogance and flippancy, but utterly fascinated.
Back in
Britain, I looked him. His business was licenced by the government of Singapore
and apparently operated entirely within the realms of the law. I started to
take a wider look, however, at the Asian marriage industry. It didn’t take much
digging to find that whilst some genuine matchmakers do exist, many more
‘legitimate’ companies are fronts for traffickers; groups that mislead, coerce
or kidnap women and girls and sell them into forced marriage, prostitution and
slavery.
The man I
met may or may not have been involved in trafficking, but he made me think hard
about where the line between matchmaking and trafficking lies – and who draws
it. This question became the basis for the novel.
I always
wanted to set the novel in Vietnam because my experience on the flight had
rooted the issue of trafficking there in my mind, but also because the country
has such a fascinating, turbulent history. American involvement in the civil
war – and the war itself – is well-documented, but what happened next, when the
soldiers, film crews and journalists left, is much less so. I felt there was
scope to explore what came after. From an author’s perspective too, it’s
exciting to write about somewhere so beautiful and diverse. There is so much to
play with.
Me: So that means you traveled extensively for the
purpose of research? How will you
summarize your journey to Saigon/ Ho Chi Minh City?
 |
Researching in Vietnam
|
Lucy: My
favourite place in Vietnam is easily Hanoi. It’s such an energetic city –
probably my favourite in Asia – and the Old Quarter has endless charm and
intrigue to spark the imagination. When I was researching Trader, I spent days sitting in Hanoi’s open-front cafes and
watching the world go by. That’s the beauty of revisiting a country. You don’t
feel obliged to ‘see the sights’ and can slow down, just sit, observe and
absorb it.
I found
Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) less overtly romantic than Hanoi, but just as
fascinating. For me, the point of travelling is to have experiences that are
different from those I’ll get at home; where I’ll meet different people, learn
something new, or be surprised. Places with strong political, social or
cultural context excite and inspire me – they are always so full of stories. Ho
Chi Minh City provides all these things by the bucket-load. There’s so much
variety.
I have a
real love affair with Asia as a whole for the same reason. Every time my
husband and I get itchy feet, we pull out the atlas and say “this time we’ll go
somewhere other than Asia” but we always seem to end up going back there.
Me: Tell us one trait of each of your primary
characters, Alexander, Hanh and Phuc, that intrigue you the most?
Lucy: The trait
I love most about each of Trader’s
main characters is the same; their moral ambiguity. It is easy to see the world
as very black and white, to filter what is right and wrong through a privileged
viewpoint, as – particularly in the West where I grew up – we generally live
such comfortable lives. With the characters in Trader, I wanted to show that for many people, decisions of
morality are not clear cut. Parts of the world are still incredibly poor, and
for some, the simple task of feeding your family on a day to day basis can
become an issue of life and death. When faced with genuine survival situations,
the boundaries of ‘acceptable’ behavior are stretched. Like nowhere else I’ve
been, Asia shows the world is full of moral grey areas. I hope the characters
in Trader encourage people to think
about that.
Me: Was it always your one true dream to be a writer? How will you describe your
journey so far an as author?
Lucy: My
husband persuaded me to write Trader.
Like a lot of people, I suspect, I had been saying ‘I want to write a novel’
for as long as I could remember, but without ever picking up a pen. I’d been
bouncing between jobs that I struggled to get excited about, and travelling as
far and as frequently as I could to try to escape them. He encouraged me to
think about writing and travelling differently, and to see that I could make
these things my career if I stopped procrastinating, took a risk and actually
wrote something. I left my job, enrolled on the MA in Creative Writing at Bath
Spa University in the UK, and gave myself a year to write a novel and get a
publishing deal. Of course, this was wildly optimistic, but at the end of the
year I had a first draft, and real drive to see just how far I could go.
When the
MA ended, I spent the best part of two years editing and redrafting, and doing
the rounds at agents and publishers before getting my deal. All in all, it’s
almost exactly 4 years from first putting pen on paper, to publication.
I always
wrote Trader with the ambition of being published and trying to make writing a
career. I knew that giving myself a tangible goal was the only way I’d be able
to motivate myself over such a long process. I’m really proud of how the novel
has turned out, but I don’t trust myself to look at it too closely. I know I
will still find things I don’t like. I don’t think I’ll ever look at my writing
and think ‘that’s finished’. If I didn’t have an editor and a ticking clock to
stop me, I would never be able to stop tweaking.
The main
things I’ve learned are to persevere and not be precious about my writing. You
need a thick skin if you want to be published – not just for the slog of
getting an agent and publisher, but for facing readers too. Reading fiction is
a completely subjective, personal experience. I’ve been really lucky that Trader has had such a positive response,
but not everyone will like what you do. Some people will hate it. You have to
get over that.
Me: Your debut book, The Trader of Saigon was Shortlisted for the Guardian Not
The Booker Prize 2013 award? What was your initial reaction when you heard that
your book was nominated for such a prestigious award?
Lucy: Of course, I was thrilled! I’ve been thrilled with the reception Trader has had in general, in fact. It
was also shortlisted for the Author’s Club Best First Novel Award, longlisted
for the Waverton Good Read Award and voted a Top Ten Book of 2013 by the
Bookbag.
As a
debut novelist, publishing is a tough nut to crack. There are many, many great
books and great writers who sink without a trace, because getting people to read
your work when they haven’t heard of you and there are so many competing voices
wanting you to read their work instead, is incredibly difficult.
I think a
lot of people assume that getting a novel published is a mark of success – and
whilst I am very proud of what I’ve achieved so far, really getting published
is only the very beginning. Just because my book is sitting on a shelf, doesn’t
mean anyone will buy it. To be able to build a career as a writer, I need the
support of individual readers. I need to them to buy the book, hopefully enjoy
it – and then tell their friends and spread the word. As someone just starting
out, rather than a celebrity or other known name, the support of individual
readers is what will ultimately make or break me. That’s why being shortlisted
for Not The Booker and the other praise I’ve received is so important. It has
given me exposure I greatly needed and helped – and will continue to help – in
reaching readers I may otherwise not have found.
Me: What is your normal writing day like?
Lucy: My brain
works much better in the morning, so when I was writing Trader, I was up and at my desk as early as possible and would stay
for as long as the words came – be that two hours or ten. Now, as I’m finishing
my second novel, I have a toddler in tow and another baby on the way very
shortly, so all routine is out the window. It’s a matter of snatching precious
hours to write whenever I can!
Me: How do you get away from the stress of writing? And tell us about your other
passions apart from writing.
Lucy: I absolutely love writing, so other than when I have a deadline looming,
I don’t find it too stressful. If anything, having a young family means I’m
scrabbling for more hours to write, and though spending time with them is
always my priority, if anything, writing becomes my time to slow down and
relax. Aside from writing, reading and family, my other biggest passion is to
travel, so I’m thrilled I can combine it with writing and try to do so as much
as possible.
Me: What's next up on your writing sleeves? Please tell
us briefly about it.
 |
| Working on my second novel with some Burmese tea |
Lucy: I’ve
spent the last couple of years working on my new novel, THE ROAD TO RANGOON,
which will be released in September 2015. It’s a thriller set against the
backdrop of the ruby trade in 1980s Burma (now Myanmar) and looks at how the
battle between the ruling military junta and ethnic insurgent armies for
control of gem mines impacted ordinary lives, following three characters as
they navigate through the precariousness of a society suffering from
dictatorship and civil war.
Here’s
what my publisher has to say about it:
“In 1980s Burma, the British ambassador’s son goes missing. Taken north
from the capital Rangoon, Michael soon finds himself used as a pawn in a rebel
war against the government. His best hope of salvation is to trust Zeya, a ruby
smuggler with her own desperate past who offers to help him escape. Enigmatic,
deeply scarred and desperate to find her parents, Zeya has spent her entire
life in a frontier town between rebel and government forces, never choosing a
side but trying to make a living from both. For Zeya, the ambassador’s son is
her salvation. For Than, an ambitious military officer, rescuing Michael and
returning him to Rangoon offers an opportunity for promotion and distinction.
But as all three learn to their cost, in this exotic, mysterious and savage
country, everyone has a price. This is a tale of ambition, salvation and hope
that confirms Lucy Cruickshanks as a master storyteller.”
Me: Thanks once again Lucy for sparing time to have this interview with me for
my blog. I can only wish you luck in all your future endeavors and wish you a
very happy and glorious New Year.
Lucy: Thanks
for having me, and for reviewing Trader!
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Lucy's Bio:
Lucy Cruickshanks was born in
1984 and raised in Cornwall. She holds a BA in Politics and Philosophy
from the University of Warwick and an MA in Creative Writing from Bath
Spa University. She has traveled widely in Asia.
The Trader of
Saigon is her debut novel and was published by Heron Books, an imprint
of Quercus, on 4th July 2013. The story was inspired by a chance meeting
on a flight between Singapore and Vietnam, in which she sat next to a
man who presented his business card, and casually told her how he made
his fortune selling women.
She is currently working on her second
novel - a thriller about the ruby trade in 1980s Myanmar, due for
release in February 2015.
Visit her here
