Date Published: May 1, 2020
Publisher: Eiffel Tower Press
What happens when you mix Britain’s new prime minister and her secret past; a writer whose new book seems all too real; his former roommate, now a French cultural attaché; and a young gay man who needs to escape from his mother and her abusive boyfriend? Prepare for intrigue as all of their paths converge.
Set in London, Paris, and Vienna, A Dragonfly’s Wing is the new novel by the bestselling author of My Memory Told Me a Secret.
Interview with Jeremy
Bradley-Silverio Donato
For those interested
in exploring the subject or theme of your book, where should they start?
A
Dragonfly’s Wing is a novel
that I hope readers can delve into right away because its themes are universal:
homelessness is butted against political elitism and the reader is left to judge
which side wins out. LGBT people comprise up to 24 per cent of the youth
homeless population in Britain. In other countries, including the United
States, LGBT young people are often disproportionately likely to become or
remain homeless due to overt discrimination. Organisations such as the National
Coalition for Homelessness in the United States and akt (formerly The Albert
Kennedy Trust) in the U.K. work to ensure people live in safer homes, free from
fear.
How did you become
involved with the subject or theme of your book?
The
inspiration for this novel came after I read an interview that Maya Angelou
gave where she referenced Terence, the Roman playwright, when he said ‘I am
human; nothing human is alien to me.’ I wanted to explore how people from
different ends of the social and political spectrum would mesh in a political
thriller that had a strong social or moral backstory.
What were your goals
and intentions in this book, and how well do you feel you achieved them?
I
almost never go into writing something with a specific goal in mind. Rather, I
have an idea or some generic concept and then I let the writing and the
characters take me on a journey. To that end, I’m happy with how the story
ultimately turned out.
Anything
you would like to say to your readers and fans?
I’m grateful for my fans and readers,
particularly those who have come back to read my work again after picking up my
first novel, My Memory Told Me A Secret, in 2019.
What
did you enjoy most about writing this book?
The book is set primarily in three different
cities: Paris, London, and Vienna. It was fun to shift the cultural lens from
chapter to chapter.
Can
you tell us a little bit about your next books or what you have planned for the
future?
I’m currently working on my third novel,
which I envisage to be a bit longer and to span a more significant scope of
time and space than my first two books. I won’t say more than that, since the
writing process is a mystery until the book is fully edited.
How
long have you been writing?
I’ve been writing as long as I can remember.
I would write short stories and poems as a kid, making up characters as I went
along. My grandmother used to tell me stories about a boy called Timmy. I took
that character and created a whole imaginary universe for him. Timmy eventually
had a best friend called Gege. The adventures of Timmy and Gege shaped my early
understanding of and thirst for fiction. Later, in my career, I had to write
professionally and academically. It’s a joy now to write fiction full-time.
Can you tell us a
little bit about the characters in A Dragonfly’s Wing?
The main
characters are Britain’s new prime
minister who has a secret
past; her long-suffering husband, John, who
handles her PR; a writer called Terence whose new book seems all too real;
Jean-Pierre, Terence’s former roommate, now a French cultural attaché; and a
young homeless man called Milo needs to escape from his mother and her abusive
boyfriend. All of their paths converge to disastrous effect.
If
you could spend the day with one of the characters from A Dragonfly’s Wing who
would it be? Please tell us why you chose this particular character, where you
would go and what you would do.
That’s a really interesting question! I
think I’d like to spend time with Jean-Pierre Mokrani. He’s a character that
shapes a lot of what happens in the novel, though he disappears about half way
through the narrative, only to remerge in some way later on. I’d visit all of
J.P.’s haunts in Paris, and see it from the eyes of someone with such a vivid
interest in French culture. I live in Paris, but as an expat, it’s always
interesting to see things from a local’s perspective.
About the Author
Named 2020 Writer of the Year, Jeremy C Bradley-Silverio Donato’s debut novel, My Memory Told Me a Secret, reached number 1 on the Hot New Releases chart. Jeremy lives in Paris. He has visited fifty countries and writes wherever he happens to be.
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