Louise Fein, author of The Hidden Child took some time out to have a chat with Beauty and Lace.
Get to know Louise in this interview.
Tell us about The Hidden Child…
It is 1928 and Eleanor Hamilton is happily married and mother to a charming four-year-old daughter, Mabel. Her wealthy husband, Edward, a celebrated war hero, is a leading light in the burgeoning Eugenics movement—the very ideology that will soon be embraced by Hitler—and is increasingly important in designing education policy for Great Britain.
But when Mabel develops debilitating epileptic seizures, Eleanor’s world fractures. Mabel’s shameful illness must be hidden, or Edward’s life’s work will be in jeopardy and the family’s honour will be shattered.
When Eleanor discovers Edward has been keeping secrets, she calls into question everything she believed about genetic inferiority, and her previous unshakeable faith in her husband disintegrates. Alarmed, distressed, and no longer able to bear the family’s burden, she takes matters into her own hands.
Where do you get your inspiration?
I’m very much drawn to eras of great social change and where ideologies clash, hence my books thus far have been set in the 1920’s, 1930’s and the next one is set in the early 1960’s. I like to start with a theme and the story develops around it, organically in my mind, well before I set pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard in reality! For The Hidden Child, my inspiration came really from two sources.
The first of these was my own daughter who suffered from a severe form of epilepsy as a young child. It was an incredibly difficult time for us, and we did experience some of the stigma still surrounding this condition. My daughter, fortunately, is now a healthy teenager, but had she been born one hundred years ago, her outlook would have been very different. In all likelihood, she would have been placed in an institution such as an epilepsy colony for the rest of her life.
The second source for my interest in this story came out of my research for my debut novel, People Like Us. I had always associated the eugenics movement with Nazi Germany, but had been shocked to find just how widespread it had been not only in the US and the UK, from where the Nazi’s drew most of their ideas, but all around the world. It was partly as a direct result of the eugenics movement that epileptics were institutionalised to stop them from having children.
In the story, Eleanor and Mabel are entirely fictional characters, but Edward is partially based on the real character of Sir Cyril Burt. Other well-known people of the day, all supporters of eugenics, also feature as minor characters in the book.
What is your schedule like when you’re writing?
I try to write during school hours as I’m definitely fresher at this time of day! It doesn’t always work out, and sometimes if I have a deadline coming up, I will work in the evenings too. In an ideal world, I would have a couple of hours a day to spend on admin and promotional work, but it ends up being a bit of a juggle.
I think it’s important to be flexible though, and I can honestly write anywhere – café’s, trains, the car if necessary!
How do you celebrate when you finish your book?
I might take a few days off and see some friends or in the non-covid world, go to a theatre or see a film. I also always celebrate by treating myself to a new book (or three) because I try not to read books that are in any way similar to what I’m writing at the time!
What is the most valuable piece of advice you have been given about writing?
I think making sure you don’t compare your own work, or your ‘success’ to anyone else. Every writer’s journey is different and seeing what someone else is doing or achieving is absolutely not helpful.
When writing a first draft and comparing it to a masterpiece in print, it is akin to self-torture! The masterpiece in print will have gone through multiple drafts and edits and many eyes before it reaches its finished form, and it is unfair to your rough first draft to measure it against that!
Who is your favourite author?
It is very difficult to narrow this down to one author as I have many! If I really have to whittle it down to one, I think I would have to pick Kate Atkinson. She is a fabulous writer, so clever, human, and also humorous in her work.
If you could spend a day with another popular author, whom would you choose?
I think it would be amazing to spend a day with David Nicholls. Not only does he write incredible books, but he seems to be a thoroughly nice chap who has been so supportive to new and upcoming authors all through the pandemic.
I think he would be a great guy to hang out with!
Where can our readers follow you?
I send out a quarterly newsletter and the occasional blog about my writing life. If you subscribe to my newsletter, not only will you receive these, but also the odd short story, or another writing-related goody! You can subscribe here. You can also follow my author page on Facebook or I can be found on Twitter, Instagram and I’m on TikTok.
What is next for Louise Fein?
I am currently working on a book set in the early 1960s that has a storyline going back to WW2. It’s about the unquestioned exceptions of how women – mothers in particular, as well as older women – should be, and also how their position in society can change in just a few short years, not necessarily for the better!
That is all I can say about it for now.
I am a mother of four beautiful children. I can’t leave a book unfinished which equals a lot of late nights! When I’m not reading you can find me in the garden, or helping out at Beauty and Lace.
I do love these insights to authors and how they more or less tick. I can’t say I have heard of Louise Fein but now I will take more notice. I like some historical stories and her storyline is intriguing and appealing to me after reading what the story is about.
Will love when her her 1960s story comes out as this is my era of growing up.