Today I’m delighted to welcome fellow Just Write Bristol member Suzanne McConaghy (writing as M. G. de Grey) to tell us about her new novel Disappeared, a fast-moving action thriller set in Colombia.
(You can read my full review here)
I began by asking Suzanne – formerly a romance writer – what inspired her to write Disappeared.
Most people pass through a stage when young of wanting to put right the wrongs in the world. I felt exactly like that when I went to work in Colombia and saw the street kids of Bogotá. They hung around the food stalls, literally hung on the backs of lorries which was their preferred method of travelling through the city, often enough falling to their death. They stole to eat, took drugs, dealt drugs. They were killed by citizens annoyed at their presence around the shops and businesses and were trafficked by gangs to be sold for sex or slave labour. These were not only teenagers, but tiny creatures two or three years old. It was heart-breaking. But for me, visits to the capital were infrequent, and most of my time was spent on the coast 400 miles to the north. I wouldn’t have known how to start doing something about the situation. What I did do, was keep notes of what I saw.
How fascinating that the book came from your personal experience. What made you turn it into a novel?
Some years ago, a young friend went to Bolivia as part of her university course and encountered the same problem. She decided she could affect the lives of these children in a positive way and set up a charity, Alalay. The details are at the end of this article if you want to help. I didn’t know Bolivia, but everything Annie described was familiar to me from my time in Colombia and I began to research to bring things up to date.
What about the characters? I found Antonia very convincing and hope we’ll see more of her!
I’d been developing my main character, journalist Antonia Brooks, for some time, and now I knew where to send her for her first investigation. She’s driven by this issue because her sister was kidnapped by a child-trafficking gang when she was eight years old and was never recovered. Antonia is determined to do all she can to bring down the gangs who ply this disgusting trade.
It’s only a matter of time before Harry White, ex-undercover policeman from London, encounters her and the two begin to work together.
Antonia is attracted to Harry from the start, so romance is in the air. Did you plan a love story element?
Romance? Well, there’s just a little at this stage; let’s see how it develops in the next book. Antonia is already working on a new investigation.
Would you like to summarise your previous books?
All my books deal with issues, often those that affect women.
In Then the Earth Moved, a young woman rescues two children in an Italian earthquake, but the central question is whether she can truly realise her career ambitions if she allows herself to love.
Then Time Stands Still, tells the story of a young archaeologist who falls in love with a Spaniard on a dig north of Zaragoza. But when I created her character, I was thinking about my black colleague who could never fully accept her success because of the racism that still abounds throughout the West.
Thanks Suzanne – your books have such great settings and it’s great to hear more about them.
Do read on for where you can buy Disappeared and also for details of the charity that inspired it.
You can find Disappeared on Amazon and Good Reads.
Paperback https://amzn.eu/d/0aecH5X4
Kindle https://amzn.eu/d/03foIEZC
If you would like to support the street children of Bolivia
Please support Friends of Alalay (Santa Cruz) a charity that finds, feeds, houses, educates and loves
street kids in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Every penny raised goes directly to help the kids – there are no admin costs.
Support our work here.
Registered number 1123425 |website www.alalay.co.uk
Ali Bacon, Author 