Author Interview: Joanne Clague

I am absolutely thrilled to be welcoming Joanne on my blog to talk about her Sheffield Saga series, and more notably book 1 The Ragged Valley.

Detangling the plot:

Determined not to waste his life toiling for his cruel brother, Silas, the second son of a farmer, arrives in town to seek his fortune. Harriet has reconciled herself to a life no better than domestic service for her austere uncle. And John Gunson, Chief Engineer at the Sheffield Waterworks Company, has just completed his crowning glory – the Dale Dyke dam.

But one stormy night, the unthinkable happens. The dam bursts. A wall of water is unleashed, destroying everything in its path.

The aftershocks of the flood reach far beyond that night, with consequences that could never have been foreseen. Fatefully brought together, Silas and Harriet must now contend with their families as new love blooms. Meanwhile, Gunson faces not only an angry community but also a court of inquest looking for a scapegoat.

The interview

Bobs and Books: What a fantastic start to a series you’ve created here! I knew nothing about the Great Sheffield flood. How important was it to you to tell a story that might educate readers on a real-life event?

It felt really important to me, on a personal level. I'm from Sheffield and had never heard of this terrible disaster. I was actually researching my grandparents' history as file cutters before World War Two when I stumbled across some information about the 1864 flood. I couldn't stop thinking about the people caught up in it, who would have been sleeping in their beds, or working night shifts in factories when the waters descended on them. I thought I would try to create a story around the event, and that became The Ragged Valley. It took me a long time to decide where to place the flood in the novel. Eventually, I followed my instinct to have it at the beginning, so the story could be about recovery and redemption, and love.

It works perfectly. As a historical fiction author. How do you decide how much historical truth to put in, and how much to fictionalise? Is this something you grapple with, or is there an obvious answer?

I read some great advice which was that imagination is more important than knowledge. I'm not writing a guide book. Having said that, I stick as close to historical truth as possible - that's the frame I work within, if you like - but the characters (with one or two notable exceptions) are fictional and obviously the story is about them. I'm sure I get lots of things wrong but I try to be accurate, which is why I disappear down rabbit holes researching minute details like when elastic bands were invented, that sort of thing. I could also build you a reservoir and replace the bands on a file grinder's machine.

Your writing is wonderfully immersive. Although historical, do you think having expert knowledge on a place has enhanced your novel?

I think that being born and raised in Sheffield definitely helped me find the right voice for the Sheffield saga series. I grew up with the dialect and it's so expressive and is integral to the novels. That northern voice comes naturally. The flood in The Ragged Valley happened in my neck of the woods, so I knew the geography well, which helped in a practical way to describe how that great wave came down from Bradfield, swept through Malin Bridge, Hillsborough, Owlerton - which were villages or hamlets back then - and right into the centre of the town.

It definitely shows. I can’t not ask about Silas and Harriet! I feel like we got more from Silas’ point of view than we usually do in Saga genre from the male interest, but I felt like it meant I was rooting for them more. (This could just be my interpretation!) Is this something you recognise or was it a conscious decision?

That's a really interesting observation! I started with an idea that a stranger would arrive in town, on the eve of the flood, seeking their fortune, and back then it was more likely this stranger would be male. I really enjoy writing from the male perspective, as well as the female, and especially in the setting of a love story. I think it does add an extra dimension. 

I liked it a lot. What can we expect in book two of your series? The series is complete now. Book 2 - The Girl at Change Alley - is based around a minor character in book 1 called Louisa Leigh who really seemed to me to want her story to be told. Again, while researching the flood, I stumbled across something else I'd never heard about - the Outrages, a murderous campaign led by a rogue union leader. That fired my imagination and underpins Louisa's story. Book 3 - The Watchman's Widow - relates to a murder that takes place in book 2 and completes this series. I'm absolutely thrilled to be working on a second trilogy now,  also Sheffield-set, and book 1 is due out in August this year.

How exciting, cant wait to see it! Thank you for answering my questions.

The Ragged Valley is out now, as are all three books in this series. The Ragged Valley: A page-turning and inspiring Sheffield saga (The Sheffield Sagas Book 1) eBook : Clague, Joanne: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store