I was born in London during the war and grew up in a town called Brighton on the south-east coast of England where I lived on and off most of my life. I’ve two sons, one of whom lives in Boston in the US and the other lives in Sydney, Australia. After the death of my mother five years ago I emigrated to Sydney, Australia. Olga – A Daughter’s Tale is my first book and although I’ve always enjoyed writing little bits and pieces I never seriously considered writing until my mother nearly died in 1994.

What Inspired you to write ‘Olga – A Daughter’s Tale’.

In 1994 my mother was admitted to the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton, UK, seriously ill. As she slowly recovered I realised had she died so too would the chance for me to find out about our past, her family in Jamaica and, of great importance to me, who my father was information she had resolutely refused to share with me. So I decided to find out for myself. What I found out filled me with such admiration for her that I decided to write a book so that future generations of my family would know about my Mum. And now I want the world to know about herJ

Did you do any major research or traveling for your novel?

Initially I started out to try and trace my mother’s family and discover more about my heritage because there were so many missing pieces. I had no intention of writing a book at that stage. When I did manage to trace some of my mother’s relatives I flew to Jamaica to meet them and they gave me a lot of information I was unaware of before and that visit planted the seed to write Mum’s story.

Once I’d decided to write the book I did a lot of research for Olga – A Daughter’s Tale. I knew nothing, or very little, about the history of Jamaica and in researching that I learnt about Jamaica’s social mores, her folklore and culture and, of course, I learnt about my family - in particular my mother. I did research in my local library, archived newspapers both Jamaican and UK, the UK National Archive Centre in Kew just outside London.

What authors have inspired you or or work?

I like inspirational stories such as Shawshank Redemption, The Power of One and, my all time favourite, Harper Lee’s Too Kill a Mockingbird and that’s what I consider my book Olga – A Daughter’s Tale to be….a great human interest inspirational story. 

If you could pick a song that fit the mood of your book, what would it be and why? 

It would have to be You’ll Never Walk Alone from the musical Carousel by Rogers & Hammerstein. It’s a song I grew up with and remember my mother singing many times to boost her morale when times were tough for us. And sometimes we’d sing it together. It’s about maintaining dignity in times of adversity. And, no surprise I suppose. during my life I’ve found myself singing it too when I’ve been very down.

What are you reading right now?

For the second time I’m reading Isabel Allende’s House of Spirits.

Any future plans you can share with us?

Yes. I’ve just started the sequel to Olga – A Daughter’s Tale. This book will take up from where Olga left off and I hope to have it finished towards the end of the year.

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Olga – A Daughter’s Tale is Marie’s first book and is self-published. It is available either as a download or paperback:  Amazon Find out more info at www.lulu.com/mariecampbell