I was born
in Cairo, Egypt and came to Britain during a very cold winter. Quite a
contrast to the heat of Cairo and my first ever view of snow! My
father was from England and met my mother in Athens, Greece during the Second
World War, fell in love at first sight and married her at once. They had
to flee from Athens as the Germans were advancing steadily, having already
over-run the Northern Greek city of Salonika. Their marriage was a
romantic-tragic story and one I must write some day.
What are the things I love, besides of course, my family and close friends? Raindrops and roses, brown paper packages tied up in string! . . . .but seriously, my favourite things are in Nature and in the often small, but meaningful personal events that bring one a sense of wonder or laughter and happiness. The eager anticipation of the varying seasons and their colours, growing things, dying things and the symbolism of it all. The 'great rondure' as Walt Whitman put it.
You'll find nature plays a large part in my poetry and other writings but I also love art and images, ruins, and the great, passionate love stories, stories about complex and deep feeling women like Anna Karenina, Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, Madame Bovary, Therese Raquin, Gone with The Wind. I will re-read these till I die.
My first published novel The Long Shadow takes place mainly in the period of World War One and began to take shape in my mind as far back as 1973. It is set in old Salonika, Greece and tells the story of the Eastern Expedition, the Red Cross nurses who bravely risked their own lives to help the soldiers.
My second novel The Crimson Bed was inspired by reading Sarah Waters book Fingersmith. Her brilliant sense of style, realism and the clever plot with as many twists as a winding country lane, fascinated me and set my own imagination into flight. Thus the setting of The Crimson Bed is mid-Victorian London and the story delves into the often murky psychology of the repressed middle-class men and women of the time. However, because I like 'feel good'. my stories generally end with a sense of redemption and renewal for the characters involved. Since childhood I have been drawn to the themes of Pre-Raphaelite art and the stories of their lives, loves and inspirations. This formed the background to this tale and the character of Henry Winstone is based on Dante Gabriel Rossetti but with a dab of this and a dab of that to make the picture I create all my own.
Outside Cheyne Walk, the home of D.G. Rossetti.
I love to write poetry also and am rather proud of the fact that I am distantly related to the Victorian poet, Elizabeth Barrett Browning. She lived as a child at Hope End in Ledbury and it was wonderful to visit this house, now in private ownership. The original house where Elizabeth's father, Moulton Barrett built his gothic home is now demolished as the site was unhealthy. Another house was built on higher ground. Though not as unusual as the original one, it is still a fine house. It is now open for bed and breakfast and is a tranquil place to stay. (see links)
You can contact me on writer@lorettaproctor.co.uk
Or on my blog http://booksandotherthings.blogspot.com