My guest today is historical fiction author, Sharon Maas. Sharon is going to talk to us about her writing journey, and her latest book. So grab yourself a cuppa, get cosy and let’s get chatting to Sharon.

Sharon’s Bio

Sharon Maas was born into a prominent political family in Georgetown, Guyana. 

After leaving school, she worked as a trainee reporter with the Guyana Graphic in Georgetown. She later wrote feature articles for the Sunday Chronicle as a staff journalist.

Her first novel, Of Marriageable Age, was published by HarperCollins in 1999. Sixteen more were published by Bookouture since 2014. She writes historical fiction, and the settings of her novels are a reflection of the places she knows best: Guyana, Germany/France, South India.

Contact:

Website, www.sharonmaas.com

Blog, www.sharonmaas.blogspot.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sharonmaas51/

Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/sharonmaasauthor/

Welcome back to my blog, Sharon. Your historical fiction books are very popular. Can you tell my  readers about your writing journey?

Thanks for inviting me over, Karen. Let me tell you about The Wild Adventures of the Red Silk Sari Girl, my latest book.

In the book trade, hardly anything could be worse for a newly published book than the accusation of plagiarism; a few newly published books have been removed from sale and shredded after such an allegation. And so, when I first read this one-star-review of my latest book, Girl in a Red Silk Sari, alarm bells rang out. Would I be the next author at the centre of a furious plagiarism kerfuffle?

  ‘This is really disappointing’, the reviewer wrote. ‘It is simply a rewrite with a few of changes to the original book “Peacocks Dancing” printed in 2001. It is as though someone took the original book, shortened it, gave it a different twist then copied the exact words into a new book! Not sure how this book managed to pass the copyright law.’

But this ‘plagiarism’ story has a twist: the reviewer is right – mostly. But had she taken a closer look, she’d have noticed: I’m the author of both books. In fact Girl in a Red Silk Sari has had the most adventurous journey, and it’s now in its fourth incarnation.

And yes, that journey started with Peacocks Dancing. That came about almost by accident. I’d started writing Peacocks Dancing with much enthusiasm: it was my second book with HarperCollins. I couldn’t wait to write a book set entirely in Guyana, my home country, and I plunged right in. When I was about 200 pages down, I sent the manuscript to my brilliant editor. She fired right back: ‘it’s good, but it’s not what we want. We need a book set in India. Nobody buys books set in Guyana.’

Rather than start again and scrap what I’d written, we decided that I’d send the two main characters, a pair of step-sisters, off to India and plunge them into an adventure there. Brilliant, I thought. I already had an idea for a book set in India: I’d read an article about a Nepalese girl sold into the sex trade, and I had saved that knowledge mentally for a future novel.

Now, I just had to manipulate this story to get them off to India… But it didn’t work. After publication, my editor acknowledged: Peacocks Dancing had a ‘broken back’. The two halves didn’t fit together. I wrote it off as a failed book, it went out of print, and that was the end of that.

Ten years later, I had second thoughts. Child trafficking is such an important subject, and I knew I had a good story there. And so I tore the two halves of Peacocks Dancing apart and rewrote the second half, making it a novel of its own, which was then published as The Lost Daughter of India by Bookouture. Eventually that, too, went out of print; I self-published it as Girl in a Red Silk Sari, Storm Publishing decided to publish it, and that’s where we are now!

And by the way, the first part of Peacocks Dancing is also published: it’s called The Faraway Girl!

What a fascinating story, Sharon! Thank you for sharing that with us. I hope your book flies!

Blurb: 

Madras, India. Caroline steps off the plane into the searing heat, senseless with worry. So much has changed since her first visit. This time, a piece of her heart is missing. This time, she is here to find her daughter…

Caroline Mitchell has never truly made peace with her past—and the circumstances that led to her separation from her beloved child. And when thirteen-year-old Asha vanishes without a trace, she faces every parent’s worst nightmare.

Desperate to find her, Caroline returns to India determined to do whatever it takes. The search will mean reconnecting with her estranged husband Kamal, and burying the memories of everything that happened between them. It will lead to the darkest corners of Mumbai’s infamous red-light district—a world of shadows, secrets, and unspeakable horrors. There, she discovers her precious daughter has been caught in a trafficking ring that preys on vulnerable children.

As Caroline navigates the labyrinthine streets and corrupt systems of Mumbai, she must find the strength to become the mother she has always wanted to be. Her mission will test her in ways she could never have imagined—but can she reach Asha in time, and save her from a terrifying fate? And if so, will she finally be able to heal the wounds of the past.

Book Link: https://bookgoodies.com/a/B0F2VCD4JQ

More of Sharon’s books