Interview with Anne Ullah, author of Trouble At Toff Towers II: Another Heap
Trouble at Toff Towers II – Another Heap picks up the story of Louisa Toff as she does her best to adapt to a lifestyle which has been unexpectedly thrust upon her; in fact she’s seriously considering her future. A future in which her (second) ex-husband, the very bad boy of rock, Stu Pendous, seems to have something on the tip of his tongue; her cleaner, Edna Bucket, is keeping something very close to her chest; her (first) ex-husband, celebrated actor, Hugh Jass, needs a leg up and the most unlikely people will be dancing cheek to cheek. What’s more, someone has a very important question to ask our heroine and her old school ties with Audra Street-Walker, Bette Noir and Irene Prawn-Slaughter seem to be slackening somewhat. Confused? Louisa certainly is. However, Madame Cara Vin is helping her to make sense of it all…or is she? As Stu Pendous and The What On Earth Four embark on their 2013 World Tour of Trouble only one thing is certain; the plot definitely couldn’t get much thicker! Woah, that’s a huge cast of characters. Do we need to have read the first book (interview here) before we read this one? We love the names of the characters you’ve created. Which is your favourite? We prefer Stu Pendous and Hugh Jass. But let’s return to the main character, Louisa Toff; tell us about her. …It seemed to me that the time was right for a new kind of heroine. A heroine with “experience” and “maturity”, both of which Louisa possesses in spades of course. Louisa is at that age when some of us find we have become the “The Invisible Woman”. Well now “The Invisible Woman” has a face – Louisa’s. Ladies of a certain age will definitely identify with her. She’s reached that time of life where she is finally secure in her insecurities. Younger readers will identify with her too. After all they are experiencing exactly the same celebrity culture that she is doing her best to survive. And young people are absolutely mad on social networking, aren’t they? Well, you only have to look at Louisa’s large, loyal and lovely Twitter following to see that she’s pretty popular with all ages. Louisa makes no bones about being popular. But she doesn’t believe for one moment it’s because of her beauty, wealth or undeniable celebrity status. Oh no. Readers love her because underneath all that beats the heart of a woman who has bravely dug deep inside herself and shared some of her painful past with them. It’s easy to see why she is well qualified to write “neurotica”! The novel ends with a bit of a cliffhanger. Does that mean we can look forward to reuniting with these characters again? We hear that authors often consciously or unconsciously model one of their characters on themselves. Tell us about yourself; how much Louisa Toff is in you? Have you got a website? What about social media? I also have my own Twitter account, @FlyingAunt, but must confess that I’m not quite as popular as Louisa. You can also get into Trouble at Toff Towers on Facebook. Trouble at Toff Towers II – Another Heap contains the words to a song from Louisa’s school days: the St Thinnian’s School Anthem. You can sing along on Youtube. There’s even a Trouble at Toff Towers Pinterest page. How much can you tell us about the next book in the series? What else are you up to? Nope. Douglas Adams beat you to it with his Hitchhikers trilogy. You can be second though. …I’ll continue to practice my yoga (badly), and polish off the odd Pinot and plate of prawns. Oh wait! Perhaps there is something of Louisa in me after all! |
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