Chat with author Anne Berry

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bookarmy
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bookarmy   
9 months ago
Leave your messages and questions for Anne Berry, here.
bookwoman
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bookwoman
9 months ago
The Hungry Ghosts sounds really interesting! Are there any plans for publication in the U.S.? I can't seem to find it here.
The Hungry Ghosts
The Hungry Ghosts by Anne Berry
A novel for those who loved Behind the Scenes at the Museum, The Poisonwood Bible and The Lovely Bones. Raped then murdered in Japanese occupied Hong Kong, 1942, Lin Shui's 'Hungry Ghost' clings tenaciously to life. Holing up in a hospital morgue,...
readwell
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readwell   
9 months ago
Hello
Congratulations on your publication. What a great idea for a story. How long did it take you to write and what was your initial inspiration? Do you believe in ghosts?
JenD
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JenD
9 months ago
Hi Anne! I'd like to second readwell's congratulations on 'The Hungry Ghosts'. I've nearly finished reading it and it's a wonderful achievement, especially for a new writer.

I've got a couple of things I would like to ask you. First of all, is 'The Hungry Ghosts' the first thing you have ever written? Did you practice (wrong word, but you know what I mean) by writing short stories and so on first or did you just go straight in there and write a novel?

I would also like to know about some of the more brutal scenes in the book. There were some very graphic parts, especially the section at the beginning where the rape and murder is described. Do you find graphic scenes like these harder to write? I think the reason I found it so difficult to read is that your way of writing is so descriptive that I could picture the situation very vividly indeed.
anneberry
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anneberry   
9 months ago
Thankyou so much. I grew up in Hong Kong and when I was nine a friend's mother mentioned to me in a very off hand way that their flat was haunted by the ghost of a young Chinese girl, and they thought that she had been murdered during the Japanese wartime occupation. It just stayed with me and all these years the character of Lin Shui has been incubating. Yes I do believe in ghosts and celebrate them in the way they do in chinese culture. The Hungry Ghost took me a year to write.
readwell said @ 2009-06-1710:15:47.687+01:00Reply
Hello
Congratulations on your publication. What a great idea for a story. How long did it take you to write and what was your initial inspiration? Do you believe in ghosts?
anneberry
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anneberry   
9 months ago
Writing has always been part of my life, but I was steered into a theatrical career. On my journey I have worked as a reporter for the South China Morning Post and for a local paper in Wimbledon, wrote numerous stories for my children and when I ran a drama school over thirty plays. But this is my first published novel.
Life is a mix of comedy and tragedy and I belive all good fiction should be the same. In order to understand Lin Shui's anger and her determination to cling to life, I felt it was essential to describe the violence of her death. The Wartime Japanese occupation of Hong Kong was a particularly brutal chapter in the island's history in which over 10,000 women were raped. When I write I live every emotion and feeling, but I find exactly the same amount of intensity and concentration is needed in writing some of the funnier narrations. But then it isn't really surprising. Comedy and tragedy are intrinsically linked.
JenD said @ 2009-06-1715:59:37.530+01:00Reply
Hi Anne! I'd like to second readwell's congratulations on 'The Hungry Ghosts'. I've nearly finished reading it and it's a wonderful achievement, especially for a new writer.

I've got a couple of things I would like to ask you. First of all, is 'The Hungry Ghosts' the first thing you have ever written? Did you practice (wrong word, but you know what I mean) by writing short stories and so on first or did you just go straight in there and write a novel?

I would also like to know about some of the more brutal scenes in the book. There were some very graphic parts, especially the section at the beginning where the rape and murder is described. Do you find graphic scenes like these harder to write? I think the reason I found it so difficult to read is that your way of writing is so descriptive that I could picture the situation very vividly indeed.
anneberry
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anneberry   
9 months ago
There are currently plans afoot but if you go to www.amazon.co.uk you can order it now.
bookwoman said @ 2009-06-1613:13:59.053+01:00Reply
The Hungry Ghosts sounds really interesting! Are there any plans for publication in the U.S.? I can't seem to find it here.
Terri
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Terri
9 months ago
My copy of the book is on its way to the U.S. and I can't wait to read it!
poeticbeauty79
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poeticbeauty79   
9 months ago
Your book sounds amazing. As soon as it is published here in the US I will buy a copy.
readwell
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readwell   
9 months ago
I'm also looking forward to reading your book. I'm not familiar with Hong Kong and the historical politics that you write about. Would you recommend wider reading on the subject from factual accounts or does your book cover most of the key facts within the fictional story?
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