Today I am taking part in the blog tour for the book “Transfer” by Apple Gidley, organised by Love Book Group.
TITLE: TRANSFER
AUTHOR: APPLE GIDLEY
GENRE: HISTORICAL FICTION
BLURB:
Transfer traces the lives of those on Anna’s Fancy, the Clausen estate on Saint Croix in the Danish West Indies, handed down through three generations. A historical novel and the sequel to Fireburn (OC Publishing 2017), Transfer sees Niels Clausen, the illegitimate child of a Danish landowner and his black mistress who both died as a result of the 1878 worker revolt, leave his adoptive mother’s sugar plantation and sail to England to continue his education.
With the help of Toby, a British aristocrat, Ivy, a lady’s maid turned lady and her botanist husband, Timothy, Niels challenges the perceptions on the streets of London of a black man at the turn of the 20th century. His development as a writer and political protagonist continues as he travels to Denmark and France where he meets up with childhood friends, Javier and Fabiana Gomez, before returning to Saint Croix.
The Danish West Indies face an uncertain future as the declining sugar industry lessens Denmark’s interest in their colonial outpost. Niels becomes increasingly involved in the future of the islands as war looms and concerns grow that Germany might covet a presence in the Caribbean. Will the islands’ security be guaranteed by the transfer of power to America?
The highs and lows of Niels’ life are punctuated by the crossing of oceans and cultures as well as the political manoeuvrings of a turbulent time in Europe, the United States and the Caribbean.
EXCERPT:
Chapter 4 – December 1890, Niels
His neck tucked deep into the same paisley scarf, Niels blew on his hands hoping for warmth to seep through the leather of his gloves into his frigid fingers. The ride through Hyde Park had been exhilarating in the early morning, a weak sun glimmering off a fresh snowfall. Once again on foot, he hurried home for breakfast along slushy roads, the cold rising through the soles of his boots.
He hoped Mrs MacLeod would have cocoa warming on the stove. A pity there wouldn’t be any of Emiline’s Toto bread to go with it, but he was getting used to the heavy fruit cakes that came out of the Aberdonian woman’s kitchen. And her shortbread, which melted in his mouth with a rich buttery crunch, had been known to bring forth a slap across his reaching hand.
The first time Mrs MacLeod had rapped his knuckles, a few months after his arrival, they’d looked at each other in surprise before Niels had burst into laughter, to be followed a few moments later by the housekeeper-cum-cook. It had marked the turning point from feeling a constant visitor in a sometimes-baffling place to feel, just every now and then, as if he could manage this strange and cold land.
He’d become used to the curious stares and, for the most part, ignored them. He knew he was protected to some extent by Anna’s wealth and Timothy’s patient and insistent introductions to society. His agile mind and ready wit had helped him face down comments from a few fellow students who had wished him back to the African jungle – though not in so many words.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Apple Gidley, an Anglo-Australian author, whose life has been spent absorbing countries and cultures, considers herself a global nomad. She currently divides her time between Houston, Texas and St Croix, in the US Virgin Islands.
She has moved 26 times, and has called twelve countries home (Nigeria, England, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, Papua New Guinea, The Netherlands, Trinidad and Tobago, Thailand, Scotland, USA, Equatorial Guinea), and her experiences are described in her first book, Expat Life Slice by Slice (Summertime 2012).
Her roles have been varied – from magazine editor to intercultural trainer, from interior designer to Her Britannic Majesty’s Honorary Consul. Now writing full time, Apple evocatively portrays peoples and places with empathy and humour, whether writing travel articles, blogs, short stories or full-length fiction.
Her first novel, Fireburn, set in the Danish West Indies of the 1870s, will be launched on October 1st, 2017 (OC Publishing).
THANK YOU.
