You often refer to the book as Dogs; why?
It’s less of a mouthful than From Where We Threw Dogs and having lived with it for so many years the familiarity is hard to ignore.
What are the dogs being thrown?
They’re not real dogs. No animals are thrown, anywhere in this book. The dogs are traitors. Where they are being thrown from, and why, you’ll have to read the book to find that out.
You say you’ve lived with this book for many years?
I started writing From Where We Threw Dogs in 1995.
Why has the book taken so long?
Sometimes life got in the way, sometimes I wasn’t happy with it, sometimes the voices within it weren’t ready to be thought of as complete.
There is a disclaimer at the beginning of the book?
Yes. Again, the familiarity with the story means I perhaps don’t see, or am not shocked by what others might be shocked by. The violence throughout the book is explicit and dispassionate but it fits to the historical period in the story and I believe it’s never handled in a way to deliberately shock, or horror, or offend. For me it was essential, it acts as a counter balance and an added poignancy to the journey being undertaken, and to the romance.
The romance?
For me, From Where We Threw Dogs is a love story. You have characters that are learning to love themselves again, learning to be loved, learning to love someone else and within their journey is redemption and romance. Also, throughout, because the focus is often elsewhere you don’t necessarily see what is coming.
The dark with the light?
Absolutely. Much of the story takes place in a mentally very dark place. It has an unashamed focus on the potential toxic nature of male grief, but I believe it is in human nature to travel towards light, not turn away from it.
Is the book available to buy?
Yes, right here
