With just a week to go until the publication of my next book – The Art of Escapology – I thought it was high time I talked about it a bit.
I’ve mentioned before about always having a flash collection or novella-in-flash on the go so that I feel as productive as I can. And that’s really how The Art of Escapology came about. Whatever theme was mentioned for a competition or submissions window, I would add the idea of escape to and, slowly, over time, a whole collection appeared. I tried to be as broad and creative with the idea of escape as possible. I didn’t just write about people physically escaping but mentally too. It’s probably not that shocking that I wrote much of this collection during the first wave of the pandemic. I also considered different ways of escaping – for example from expectations heaped on a person by gender or sexuality or circumstance. Some characters are not escaping from terrifying circumstances but from an unbearable emptiness. I considered imagined scenarios like being able to grow your own escape pod, or sea creatures who wanted to live in space. Some of the stories are more realistic than others. It’s probably ironic that, while trying to navigate a global pandemic and my own mum’s illness and death, I was writing so much about escaping, when really, I was probably writing to find that emotional escape myself. It’s like those pictures of a picture of a picture. It’s hard to say what caused what. There is one particular story in the collection, ‘Maria Hopes For a Future’, that is very personal to me and very caught up with the loss of my mum. The story is loosely based on the true story of what happened to my grandmother (my babcia), my mum’s mum, during the Second World War. It’s told through letters she writes to the future while held in a concentration camp. I think there’s something about losing your mum that makes you think of your whole lineage and your culture and the things that have conspired to make you you. I know that’s what I was thinking about when I wrote this piece. The story of how The Art of Escapology then went on to be published feels quite incredible given the story I’ve just told. Bearded Badger Press, a very proud Derbyshire-based press opened a submissions window for anyone with links to the Midlands. Now, I was born in Melton Mowbray and that fact alone allowed me to submit The Art of Escapology and ultimately have it accepted for publication. It could theoretically have been picked up by any publisher, anywhere, but it was Bearded Badger in the midlands that saw its potential. Back in 1945, my Polish grandmother, having escaped from/ been liberated from the concentration camp met my grandfather, a soldier, who took her to safety. They quickly became a couple and shortly afterwards, in 1946, had my mum. When she was months old they immigrated to the UK and settled in the midlands town of Melton Mowbray where they lived for the rest of their lives. My parents stayed with them while they got on their feet and I was born there. It’s like my lineage runs straight through me, through the book and back to the place it all began - one of those weird, slightly unexplainable life happenings and clear evidence I’ve been blessed with the most perfect publisher for the book. Whilst Maria Hopes For A Future is born from traumatic events – the concentration camp and the loss of my mum – it is ultimately a hopeful tale. Maria can’t see her future in the story, she isn’t sure she can see a future at all, yet she does eventually escape her seemingly hopeless circumstances. She does have a long and happy future. This book would not have existed if she hadn’t. And that strength she had to persevere through impossible times wove its way through my mum, becoming even more apparent in the stoicism with which she faced her illness, and on to me, allowing me the strength and resolve to find a way through recent challenging times. Those traits are core to my personality and are only reinforced by being able to recognise them in the generations of strong women before me. I hope that this book could be similarly galvanising for anyone else feeling trapped. Perhaps it can offer some hope. And if not, a temporary haven at least. Pre-orders open: www.beardedbadgerpublishing.com/
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September 2023
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