INTERVIEW BY LESLIE S. LOWE
Charles Ambrose is the pen name of the visual artist, writer and art historian Chris Meigh-Andrews. He was born in Essex, England and lived in Montreal, Canada from 1957–1975. He studied photography, film and fine art and has worked as a photographer, film animator and video editor and began working with video in a fine art context in 1977. In parallel with his art practice, he has had an academic career, latterly as an art historian and writer.
How would you describe The Grandfather Paradox and its themes in a couple of sentences?
Wounded while on active service during WW1 and after briefly serving as a policeman in Ireland, Charles’ grandfather Alexander “Jack” Ambrose leaves his new wife and baby son in England intent on starting a new life farming on the Canadian prairies, only to return to his family empty-handed four years later. A century later, his grandson Charles attempts to understand and connect to a man he had met only briefly, trying to reconstruct those “lost” years by writing a fictionalised account of this period in his grandfather’s life, hoping to find out more about who he was, and what he had experienced and to write about it. But as Charles begins to piece together the lost fragments of the story, unexpected coincidences, parallels and connections between them are revealed and become woven into the fabric of the narrative.
What inspired and attracted you to writing historical fiction?
I think it was initially the desire to connect to someone I had only met briefly, but who’s early choices in life interested and had directly affected me. I hoped by attempting to research, reconstruct and tell his story, I might gain a better understanding of my own roots and ancestry, but also, I wanted to extend this to write something which would resonate with others who may also have lost connections with their own ancestors and family members.
What are you working on now, and is it related to this in any way?
I am working on a new novel which is set in contemporary times, but that draws on historical characters, events and connections to individuals and situations from the past. As with The Grandfather Paradox, there are references to photography and to the experience and impact of time.
What difficulty did you have in writing this one, especially since it was on a more personal level, since it relates to your grandfather?
The main challenge was in attempting to understand the motivations, attitudes and outlook of someone living over a century ago. I also sought to portray my grandfather when he was in his mid-twenties, when I had only a brief experience of him as a man of seventy.
Is there a key historical event you found in researching that inspired you to write this story to convey a key message for now?
There were three key historical events: 1) Homesteading on the Canadian prairies; The possibility of being granted a parcel of land of 160 acres to establish a farm in a new country; 2) The impact and aftermath of WW1 on those who survived and attempted to move on from the trauma; 3) The attempt by the KKK to establish a foothold in Western Canada in the 1920s.
What kind of research did you do for this story? Did you get to do any interesting interviews?
Initially on-line: ancestry, census, military records, ship passenger lists, etc. But then I had a writer’s residency in Eastend, Saskatchewan and was able to meet and talk with relatives of my grandfather’s original contact, visit the places he had been and experience the landscapes and environment first hand.
How do you feel readers will connect with Alexander “Jack” Ambrose?
I hope they will empathise with him and his situation and be interested to discover and understand his motivations and actions. I also hope they will be able to relate to Charles and his attempts to connect with “Jack” and his story.
Every author has their own publishing journey. Tell me about yours.
My academic publisher was not willing to consider my fiction and so I made a sustained attempt over several months to find a literary agent and contacted a considerable number of them (20–30) via e-mail, sending them a synopsis, “elevator pitch”, biography, sample chapters, etc. I received a few replies, though none were interested in the story or at least in my approach. Most did not respond at all. I was initially discouraged, but as I was committed to the idea of telling “Jack’s” story, I persevered. I then approached two or three self-publishing companies and of these Troubador seemed the best choice and were recommended on-line by other writers who had self-published. I have found them helpful, professional and efficient and I am happy with the result. However, it was relatively expensive.
What advice would you give to other aspiring historical writers?
Try to find ways to experience the settings, location(s) and environment(s) of your main characters. First-hand observation will add crucial authenticity to your story and help to create a more credible narrative.
What is the last great book you read? Why?
First Love by Ivan Turgenev (which I had the pleasure of reading aloud to my wife recently). Turgenev’s poetic evocation of the protagonist’s, Vladimir Petrovitch’s, recounted experience of unrequited love as it shifts from innocent passion and obsession to tormented despair.
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