Today’s #AMA question comes from Liz Welch: Which of your characters would you most like to have dinner with, and why? And what would they make for you to eat?
I thought this would be an easy one to write about and actually I’ve sat here for ages thinking about it. There are so many characters and so many different things we could talk about over a meal.
Finally though, I’ve come to a conclusion. I’m going for Rob and Matty from Inheritance of Shadows.
Webber’s Farm
Sitting with Rob and Matty at the scrubbed wooden table on the battered oak chairs in the kitchen at Webber’s Farm would definitely be my first choice. Rob would cook something like sausages and mash. Straightforward, plain food. The range would be fired up hot to cook on and the kitchen would be warm and cosy.
We’d eat with our elbows on the table and to follow, because it would be Saturday and no-one had to rush back out to work afterwards, we’d have big slabs of the fruitcake Anne Beelock had baked that morning along with slices of sharp cheddar from the larder, and drink cups of tea out of the cups and saucers with roses round the rim—Matty would have got out his mother’s china for my visit—and talk about how the cattle were doing and whether the harvest was going to be a good one this year.
The Webber’s of my mind is a dim, warm, welcoming place, with slightly fraying thatch and a muddy track with the pot-holes filled in as and when they’re needed. It has a yard surrounded by low, ancient barns filled with machinery dating back a couple of hundred years, dusted with the red soil of the hills. The back door is always ajar to let the dogs in and out and the kettle is always almost-boiling on the range. As you knock on the door and go on in—the back door, no-one uses the front unless it’s a wedding or a funeral, or they’re a stranger—Rob looks up from the kitchen table where he’s standing next to a pile of potatoes, peering down at the newspaper he’s supposed to be using to peel them on, wire-framed glasses perched incongruously on the bridge of his nose. “Ah,” he says. “It’s you. There’s tea in the pot.” And he looks down again to finish whatever he’s reading. Something about the football, probably. “Where’s Matty?” you ask him, poking at the kettle. “Gone to town,” he says, taking off his glasses and folding them carefully in to their case beside him on the table. “Picking up the seed potatoes.” “Oh, yes, it’s Saturday,” you say. “Nothing for the market today,” Rob tells you, to explain why he’s at home and Matty’s gone by himself. “And I needed to get on with one or two things here. He’ll be back shortly though. Are you staying for dinner? He was going to the butcher. Sausages.” He grins and raises his eyebrows. He’s a big fan of sausages. “That would be lovely, if you have enough,” you say. “Shall I help you peel the potatoes?” You gesture to the pile. “No, no,” he says. “You sit down and pour us some tea and I’ll get on with this. There’s no rush. I just thought I’d get it done. Annie’s gone off to see her sister.” So you sit and make small-talk. Nothing big. Nothing of moment. Who’s working where. Who’s walking out with who. Whether Flo the big plough horse is in foal or not. And when Matty comes home it’s more of the same, all through the meal and into the afternoon.
That’s what I like about Webber’s and the stories I’ve set there. Both Inheritance and Taking Stock are about people finding a home. Inheritance has a paranormal element. But it’s still mostly about both Matty and Rob finding a way to be happy with themselves and exploring how they might fit together. I guess in these troubled times I need that security and if I can only get it by going back fifty or a hundred years then so be it!
Rob is the most reassuring of my characters I think. He’s so steady. You’re not going to get cordon-bleu cuisine or conversation about philosophy with your meal. But you’ll get nourishing, comforting food, insightful local gossip and some national political discussion. And maybe a bit of chat about what he’s been reading. He likes to read, but not a lot of fiction—biographies, that sort of thing.
Callum has narrated Inheritance of Shadows for me. You can listen to the first (long) chapter for free at Bookfunnel and hear his interpretation of Rob and Matty. I love them both, he’s got them exactly as I pictured them—Rob’s depth and steadiness really come through.
I hope this answer’s Liz’s question! I’m really enjoying having these thrown at me and I hope you’re enjoying reading them. If you’d like the chance to ask me something yourself, please pop in to my Facebook Group or join my newsletter–I will be regularly asking for questions!
Thanks for reading!