Losing Touch by Sandra Hunter Interview, Excerpt & Giveaway

Losing Touch

by Sandra Hunter

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

After Indian Independence Arjun brings his family to London, but hopes of a better life rapidly dissipate. His wife Sunila spends all day longing for a nice tea service, his son suddenly hates anything Indian, and his daughter, well, that’s a whole other problem. As he struggles to enforce the values he grew up with, his family eagerly embraces the new. But when Arjun’s right leg suddenly fails him, his sense of imbalance is more than external. Diagnosed with muscular dystrophy, he is forced to question his youthful impatience and careless cruelty to his family, until he learns, ultimately, to love them despite — or because of — their flaws. In a series of tender and touching glimpses into the shared life of a married couple, Sandra Hunter creates strikingly sympathetic characters — ones that remind us of our own shortfalls, successes, hypocrisies, and humanity.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Excerpt 

The early spring sun shows petulantly behind breaking clouds as they walk slowly to the local shops; Arjun with his walking frame, Sunila with the pull-along bag. His walking frame catches on the smallest pebble, the tiniest crack. A dog ambles by and stops to sniff his shoes. He is delighted with the insult. ‘See this fellow? He has no respect. Get along with you, you old tramp.’ His voice is fond over this attention. The dog salutes him with a cocky glance and a half-laugh, coral tongue dragging out of the left side of its mouth. It trots off, its liver and white markings jogging under the deep green of the privet hedges flanking the road.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Sandra Hunter’s fiction has been published in a number of literary magazines and received awards including the 2014 H.E. Francis Fiction Award, 2012 Cobalt Fiction Prize, 2011 Arthur Edelstein Short Fiction Prize and three Pushcart Prize nominations. Her debut novel, Losing Touch, was released in July (OneWorld Publications). She lives in Simi Valley, CA, with her husband and daughter, and is always on the look out for the perfect gluten-free cupcake.

Author links: http://sandrahunter.strikingly.com

Amazon.com: http://ow.ly/zDmuH

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sandra.hunter

Twitter: @sandrajhunter

Interview:

Where are you from?

I was born and brought up in England. We lived all over the place because my father was in the Royal Air Force. So – I’m the equivalent of an army brat!  I was born in Ely in East Anglia. That’s the big bumpy bit on the right side of England is East Anglia.

We moved about quite a bit and finally settled in North London. That’s where I grew up from age 8 to when I left for college.

Tell us your latest news?

In my ‘other’ life as an artist, I’m off to Florida to present some of my art at a conference. You can see more of my art here: http://sandrahunterportfolio.strikingly.com

After that, I’ll be going up to Sacramento for the California Capital Book Festival for a reading of Losing Touch. This is a new festival, and I’m excited to meet some Sacramento readers!

I’ll also be visiting a number of book groups in Southern California. I really love visiting students’ classes and book groups. Some people tell me they dislike both Arjun and Sunila. I can’t blame them—they’re not sympathetic characters! Some say they start out by disliking Arjun but then feel sorry for him in the end. Others say they feel for Sunila because she’s stuck in a difficult marriage. I’m so looking forward to hearing what these readers think about the book!

When and why did you begin writing?

From the time I was little, I was intrigued by words and how they defined things. If I saw an orange, I immediately saw the spelling in my mind. I used to write terrible poetry as a child—really embarrassing stuff: “Plop plop splash splash down they come/tiny little raindrops wetting everyone”. I also used to talk to myself a lot. I’d make up whole conversations on my way to school, imagining that I could actually use them in real life situations. Of course, that never happened, but the habit stuck with me—very useful for writing dialogue!

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

In the final year of my graduate degree, I went to India for research on a play. Here I was in Pune: writing postcards to my writing tutor, recording people talking, manically scribbling in notebooks. I suddenly realized, I’m a writer. It came as a shock. I’d been writing for a number of years but this was the first time when I actually felt it. I said it out loud after checking to see no one was around!

What inspired you to write your first book?

Back in 2005, I wrote a short story about Arjun and Sunila that won a Glimmer Train award. I kept writing stories around this couple and finally decided, “Hey – maybe this might be a novel.” It’s set in North London, where I grew up. Arjun has the disease my father had. I wanted to explore loss of identity first through immigration and then through degenerative disease. Okay, so this seems a bit cruel. But even so, Arjun also develops other characteristics such as patience, humor, and a redeeming self-awareness.

It was also fun to revisit places I knew, especially the toy village of Beconscot. If you visit to England you must go. It’s magical!

What would you like my readers to know?

Thank you! Without you there would be no writers. Often, you, the readers, see things about characters or themes or plot that writers miss completely! Because of you and your feedback, books grow and become something bigger and wider. Books then belongs to the community. It’s so incredible to see this happen.

I’d love to hear from you if you’d like to drop me a line. You can ask questions or leave  comments: tinyhuntress@roadrunner.com.

Sandra will be awarding a  luggage tag, mini book necklace and a $15 Starbucks GC

a Rafflecopter giveaway