Q & A

Why did you write the book?
Bobbie's childhood home, where parts of the book are set
It was too good a story to be left untold.. I still find it incredible after all these years of researching and writing…. spookily incredible.

In the book 'Stepfather' as you call him, is a frightening character. How sure are you about his parentage?
I’m 100% sure. Everything fits in.. I didn’t set out to try to make the lives of the various people fit together .. the research just revealed that they did. … it seemed to me that the documentation almost wanted me to find out the truth.


Why is it classed as a biography?
Yes - this is a strange thing to do with how publishers and booksellers classify books into strict categories. My publisher explained to me that all books have to have a BIC reference and the BIC category that this book fitted into best, was BGH (biography/historical & political) with a sub-category of BTC (biography/true story). I didn't set out to write a biography ... my book is across genres .. maybe the best way to describe Conspiracy of Secrets .. is to say it is a personal detective story. It’s an adventure into a time gone by. I unpick the events which were so closely guarded and hidden away.

A young Bobbie Neate with Graham Hill
Was writing the book a cathartic experience?
I can see I am going to be asked this question a lot…. but sorry the answer is no!
When you keep writing and editing your own memories .. it becomes more and more stressful as you have to make it as accurate as your memory allows you .. so no, I have not had a cathartic experience, just painful and I look forward to being able to bury the whole  saga. I would like the book to be known for the research into the parentage of my stepfather … nothing else. I have written quite a bit about him in the book to explain his strange character and the actions of those around him. It was certainly not designed to be vindictive. In a small way you have to feel sorry for him.

Why did your mother stay with Stepfather?
She stayed because she thought she had no option .. just as thousands of other women stay with abusive men.. the women are frightened.

Do you have an agent?
I am represented by the Robert Smith Literary Agency

2 comments:

  1. Ah, yes, the lure of the unknown that may be lying in that next archive, that next file, that next dusty record book. Fascinating read and loved the detail on the research involved.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ah, yes, the lure of the unknown that may be lying in that next archive, that next file, that next dusty record book. Fascinating read and loved the detail on the research involved.

    ReplyDelete