Introduction
Art Quill Studio is the Education Division of Art Quill & Co Pty Ltd. I'm a director of the parent company, and I also head Art Quill Studio.
The parent company and its division, Art Quill Studio, mainly focusses on artistic endeavours, especially in the area of ArtCloth and ArtCloth Installations, Commissioned Artworks, Fabric Lengths, Wearable Art and Prints on Paper etc. However, the parent company, Art Quill & Co Pty Ltd, also publishes artist printmakers' books (e.g. Not in My Name and Beyond the Fear of Freedom).
Marie-Therese Wisniowski's Artist Printmakers' Book - Not in My Name.
Limited Edition: A total of 10 editions only, five of which are held in the collections of: University of Queensland Library (6/10), National Library of Australia (7/10), University of Sydney Library (8/10), State Library of New South Wales (9/10) and NSW Parliamentary Library (10/10).
Recommended retail price: AUstralian Dollar (AUD) $1550.00 (plus shipping).
Editions for sale: 2/10, 3/10, 4/10 and 5/10.
ISBN 0 646 42979 5
Online sale currently available from Art Quill & Co Pty Ltd.
To purchase this limted edition printmakers' book please email: admin@artquill.com.au
Marie-Therese Wisniowski's Artist Printmakers' Book - Beyond The Fear Of Freedom.
Limited Edition: A total of 15 editions, seven of which are held in the collections of: Indiana University - Purdue University, Indianapolis (USA) (9/15), Beau Beausoleil (USA) (10/15), Department of Art & Design, University of Western England, Bristol, UK (11/15), The National Library of Australia (12/15), State Library of NSW (13/15), University of Sydney Library (14/15) and NSW Parliamentary Library (15/15).
Recommended retail price: AUD $2,000 (plus shipping).
Editions for sale: 2/15, 3/15, 4/15, 5/15, 6/15, 7/15 and 8/15.
ISBN 978-0-9873013-7
Online sale currently available from Art Quill & Co Pty Ltd.
To purchase this limited edition printmakers' book please email: admin@artquill.com.au
The company has recently published a puzzle solver that is available for purchase from the company.
Dr E I von Nagy-Felsobuki, The Sudoku Solver.
Recommended retail price: AUD $14.99 (plus shipping).
ISBN 978-0-9873013-1-4
In the collection of the following libraries: National Library of Australia, University of Sydney Library, State Library of New South Wales and NSW Parliamentary Library.
Online sale currently available from Art Quill & Co Pty Ltd.
To purchase the solver, please email: admin@artquill.com.au
The company has recently published the first novel in the 'Magrete' trilogy titled - 4 Steps To Freedom. The novel has been set in a historical context in Germany between 1935 to 1949. The first novel in the trilogy can be ordered via a retail bookstore such as booktopia or directly from the distributor: John Reed Books.
Kalle Gayn, 4 Steps to Freedom (Front Cover).
Recommended retail price: AUD $24.99 (plus shipping).
ISBN 978-0-9873013-2-1
The first novel is held in the collection of the following libraries: National Library of Australia, University of Sydney Library, State Library of New South Wales, NSW Parliamentary Library, East Gippsland Shire Library (Vic), Monaro Regional Libraries (Bombala, NSW) and Cessnock City Library (NSW).
Distributor: John Reed Books.
It can be ordered via a retail bookstore such as booktopia or directly from the distributor: John Reed Books.
Kalle Gayn's second novel in the 'Magrete' trilogy, Reign of the Mother, has been set in a historical context mainly in Australia between 1949 to 1954.
Kalle Gayn, Reign of the Mother (Front Cover).
Recommended retail price: AUD $24.99 (plus shipping).
ISBN 978-0-9873013-3-8
The second novel is in the collection of the following libraries: National Library of Australia, University of Sydney Library, State Library of New South Wales and the NSW Parliamentary Library.
Online sale currently available from Art Quill & Co Pty Ltd.
To purchase this novel, please email: admin@artquill.com.au
The company has recently published Kalle Gayn's third novel in the 'Magrete' trilogy and it is titled, 'A Phoenix Rises.' This novel has been set in a historical context mainly in Australia between 1954 to 1959.
Kalle Gayn, A Phoenix Rises (Front Cover).
Recommended retail price: AUD $24.99 (plus shipping).
ISBN 978-0-9873013-4-5.
The third novel in the Magrete trilogy is in the collection of the following libraries: National Library of Australia, University of Sydney Library, State Library of New South Wales and the NSW Parliamentary Library.
Online sale currently available from Art Quill & Co Pty Ltd.
To purchase the solver, please email: admin@artquill.com.au
Back Cover.
To read my interviews with Kalle Gayn about his first two novels in the Magrete trilogy, click on the following links: 4 Steps to Freedom and Reign of the Mother.
All three novels in the Magrete trilogy have been written so they can be read independently. However, reading the three novels will yield a greater insight and understanding of the main character of the trilogy, namely, Magrete.
I was involved as a proofreader as well as being the design and layout artist for the trilogy and so the author, Kalle Gayn, has dedicated each novel in the trilogy to me. I'm hardly an unbiased interviewer!
Today's post is an interview that I conducted with the author about his third novel in the Magrete trilogy, A Phoenix Rises.
I hope you enjoy the interview!
Marie-Therese Wisniowski
PS. If you wish to send an email to the author, Kalle Gayn, email the author at: Kalle Gayn.
A Phoenix Rises
Author Interview: Kalle Gayn
M-T: Welcome back to my blogspot Kalle and thank you for dedicating the trilogy to me.
KG: Thank you for interviewing me after the publication of each novel in the trilogy. Your layout and the design of the covers is such an important ingredient in attracting a readership. To paraphrase an old adage: most novels are initially judged by their covers!
MT: Very droll Kalle! The trilogy falls within the genre of a historical literary fiction. Give our readers an inkling of what that entails?
KG: Briefly, the characters find themselves in a true historical context over which they have little control and so the trilogy centres on how they react and interact to these circumstances as well as with each other. A standout novel in this genre is Dr Zhivago.
I'm not claiming that the trilogy is of the same standard as this brilliant novel. All that I am asserting is that it belongs to the same genre.
MT: We need to give the readers a background to the first two novels of the trilogy. The first novel - 4 Steps to Freedom - centers on a historical context in Germany between 1935 to 1949. Magrete, the main character in the trilogy, comes from an upper middle class background since her father is the Deputy Commissioner of the Vienna Police and a staunch anti-Nazi. Both her parents commit suicide when Austria is invaded by Hitler, whereas her first husband, Herbert von Appen is a staunch Nazi - in fact, a friend of Himmler! Her first husband dies prior to the Second World War, when Magrete is pregnant with their first and only child, Ilse.
During the Second World War, Magrete harbours a girl who is Jewish, Anna, and protects her identity from the Nazis throughout the war. In 1943 Magrete marries Herbert's best friend, George Nagy, and they have three children together, namely, Elisabeth, Eva and Francis - in that order.
Anna and Magrete have a terrible misunderstanding immediately after the war, and so Anna feels estranged from Magrete. Just prior to Anna's departure for America, Magrete and Anna reconcile and so their affection for each other is rekindled when Magrete's family is finally placed in a displaced person's camp in Tailfingen (West Germany).
Displaced Person's Camp.
MT: Phew! Have I left anything out?
KG: No, you have succintly covered the storyline. However, we need to mention that her first husband's family, the von Appens, were extremely wealthy and so they cleverly cashed in their wealth early during the Second World War in order to hedge it against a possible Nazi defeat. The person who is instrumental in organizing the transfer of wealth to Switzerland is Helmut Gruen, who was the CEO of the von Appen's company during the Second World War.
MT: The second novel spans the time from 1949 to 1954 and is mainly centred in Australia. It begins with Magrete's family falling on hard times and being forced to move to a displaced person's camp in Tailfingen. After a few years there, they are finally accepted as displace persons (DPs) because her second husband, George Nagy, is a Hungarian scientist stranded in West Germany. They are accepted in the Australian immigration programme and they arrive in Australia in December of 1949 on the transport ship, General R L Howse.
Transport ship USS General R L Howse, which transports Magrete's family to Australia (fiction) but in reality the ship did serve that purpose after the Second World War.
Anyway I'm digressing. They meet a young woman immigrant on the ship, Wilma, who they befriend. Magrete's youngest son, Francis, becomes seriously ill during the voyage, causing Magrete to be stranded in Melbourne, because her son is hospitalized there. Wilma, Magrete's husband George and their three daughters travelled to Bonegilla Migrant Camp (a real camp in Victoria) without Magrete and Francis.
Bonegilla Migrant Camp (Victoria, Australia).
In Magrete's absence, Wilma and George become lovers. After reuniting with her family in Bonegilla it is obvious to Magrete that her husband had an affair with Wilma.
Helmut Gruen, who is now known as Howard Green, owns an import/export company called the Howard Green Group. He saves Magrete from a life of poverty, and throughout the course of this novel, she regains her wealth by owning numerous hotels and finally creating a hotel company called Brew House Hotels from her wealth that Howard Green stashed in Switzerland for her, during the Second World War. She creates an executive group to run the company and so after many trials and tribulations she regains her wealth in Australia.
Her personal life is initially battered, since the first man she is seriously attracted to, is in fact married. Magrete dumps him before she gets deeply involved. Finally, she meets the man of her dreams, Christian. They fall in love. Of course, Anna vists Magrete in Australia with or without her American husband, Eugene, a few times in both the second and third novels of the trilogy.
One of Magrete's assets, the Essendon Hotel.
Her ownership of this hotel is totally fictious.
MT: How am I doing?
KG: I couldn't have captured the storyline for the first two novels as accurately as you have done, in such few words. Great work!
MT: I really don't want to get too far in the storyline of the third novel, but I want to tackle certain themes within the storyline. In another section of your third novel, the Catholic priest in Beveridge, Victoria, sexually assaulted one of Magrete's children in his church when its relatively empty, namely her son, Francis. Magrete physically assaulted the priest when she witnessed the act and when she reported the priest's sexual assault to a local policeman she was threatened with arrest, because the policeman disbelieved her and moreover, wanted to protect the priest from such accusations. It's a theme that unfortunately is very well documented these days throughout the world.
KG: The Royal Commission into 'Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Australia' revealed some very harrowing stories of children that were abused within the Catholic Church and other institutions in Australia. It saddens me that so many complaints that were made by children and adults alike to police and church authorities about sexual abuse by clergy were dismissed. I believe that some of the clergy are psychopaths; that is, they have a personality disorder characterized by persistent antisocial behavior, impaired empathy and remorse, and bold, disinhibited, and egotistical traits.
A church is a place where clergy are dealing with sinners and so this naturally places priests in control, since they are charged with absolving sin. Such an institution would appeal to people with mental disorders. Many archbishops, ministers etc have little empathy or sympathy for abused children, teenagers and young adults that were molested and some were either themselves actively involved in the molestation, whereas others buried their heads in the sand, hoping the accusations would go away. Either way, those who suffered the assaults were blameless, but were made to feel as if they were to blame. This situation won't change unless churches psychoanalyse applicants who wish to join the clergy as well as put in place far more stringent safeguards to protect their vulnerable parishioners.
Pedophile priest Gerald Tisdale jailed for 34 years.
MT: You also touch on the devastating effects that scientology and scientologists can have on individuals. When Ilse becomes trapped into the Church of Scientology, Magrete and Christian (Magrete's third husband) isolate her from the church and arrange for her to go to America to destroy the Church's hold on her. Clearly you see the Church of Scientology as being a sect.
KG: Scientology was banned in Victoria, Australia in the 1950s for good reason, but unfortunately the so-called church was allowed to resurface. I encourage everybody to read Steve Cannane's book,'Fair Game', just to understand why it is a sect.
All I can add to that insightful work of Cannane's is that if Scientology is a religion then so is the Church that I belong to - Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster!
Weddings will be performed by the head of New Zealand’s Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, Ministeroni Karen Martyn.
MT: You also touch on the flip side of the coin, so to speak, gypsies or Romani, and how they are viewed by so many people throughout the world as the lowest of the low. They were also targeted by the Nazi's for extermination but they have never gained the sympathy or recognition that others have.
Very Variegated Vardo
KG: It's sad, isn't it? Some have got recognition for their suffering, whilst others who the majority still has predjuices against, disappear into the background. All lives matter, but some lives barely matter as is evidenced by the number of black Americans who are shot by American police.
MT: You also delve into royal politics and in particular, with the many reported tryst that Prince Philip had in and around the 1950s. It is relevant to the storyline since Magrete's third husband is in fact a Prince of Denmark and so Magrete is not only wealthy in her own right, but she now has royal status and yet she still wants to be away from the public glare.
KG: Where to begin with Prince Philip and his many affairs? You have probably guessed that I'm a Republican! The Queen is powerful and important whereas when Prince Philip married her, he was obscure and unimportant but with an unhealthy ego. Of course there was in Prince Philip's life a “showgirl” and actress Pat Kirkwood, 27, the West End’s biggest star, famous for her shapely legs and amongst many others that the Queen had to ignore.
The Prince once crashed drunkenly into Patricia Kirkwood's dressing room with a friend. Him engaging in love affairs is par for the course. It shocked the world that Prince Andrew had slept with groomed teenagers. Is he still avoiding the US authorities who are investigating what occurred? When Dianna said she was sharing her husband with another woman, the British royals made her appear as if she was the problem! Their recent attempts to paint Lady Dianna as a flake and her husband Prince Charles as "her victim" is just another example of distorting the truth to protect their wealth and their throne. Give me a break! How can a man who admits he talks to flowers because they understand his chatter, have any credibility at all when it comes to understanding reality!Art Quill Studio is the Education Division of Art Quill & Co Pty Ltd. I'm a director of the parent company, and I also head Art Quill Studio.
The parent company and its division, Art Quill Studio, mainly focusses on artistic endeavours, especially in the area of ArtCloth and ArtCloth Installations, Commissioned Artworks, Fabric Lengths, Wearable Art and Prints on Paper etc. However, the parent company, Art Quill & Co Pty Ltd, also publishes artist printmakers' books (e.g. Not in My Name and Beyond the Fear of Freedom).
Limited Edition: A total of 10 editions only, five of which are held in the collections of: University of Queensland Library (6/10), National Library of Australia (7/10), University of Sydney Library (8/10), State Library of New South Wales (9/10) and NSW Parliamentary Library (10/10).
Recommended retail price: AUstralian Dollar (AUD) $1550.00 (plus shipping).
Editions for sale: 2/10, 3/10, 4/10 and 5/10.
ISBN 0 646 42979 5
Online sale currently available from Art Quill & Co Pty Ltd.
To purchase this limted edition printmakers' book please email: admin@artquill.com.au
Limited Edition: A total of 15 editions, seven of which are held in the collections of: Indiana University - Purdue University, Indianapolis (USA) (9/15), Beau Beausoleil (USA) (10/15), Department of Art & Design, University of Western England, Bristol, UK (11/15), The National Library of Australia (12/15), State Library of NSW (13/15), University of Sydney Library (14/15) and NSW Parliamentary Library (15/15).
Recommended retail price: AUD $2,000 (plus shipping).
Editions for sale: 2/15, 3/15, 4/15, 5/15, 6/15, 7/15 and 8/15.
ISBN 978-0-9873013-7
Online sale currently available from Art Quill & Co Pty Ltd.
To purchase this limited edition printmakers' book please email: admin@artquill.com.au
The company has recently published a puzzle solver that is available for purchase from the company.
Recommended retail price: AUD $14.99 (plus shipping).
ISBN 978-0-9873013-1-4
In the collection of the following libraries: National Library of Australia, University of Sydney Library, State Library of New South Wales and NSW Parliamentary Library.
Online sale currently available from Art Quill & Co Pty Ltd.
To purchase the solver, please email: admin@artquill.com.au
The company has recently published the first novel in the 'Magrete' trilogy titled - 4 Steps To Freedom. The novel has been set in a historical context in Germany between 1935 to 1949. The first novel in the trilogy can be ordered via a retail bookstore such as booktopia or directly from the distributor: John Reed Books.
Recommended retail price: AUD $24.99 (plus shipping).
ISBN 978-0-9873013-2-1
The first novel is held in the collection of the following libraries: National Library of Australia, University of Sydney Library, State Library of New South Wales, NSW Parliamentary Library, East Gippsland Shire Library (Vic), Monaro Regional Libraries (Bombala, NSW) and Cessnock City Library (NSW).
Distributor: John Reed Books.
It can be ordered via a retail bookstore such as booktopia or directly from the distributor: John Reed Books.
Kalle Gayn's second novel in the 'Magrete' trilogy, Reign of the Mother, has been set in a historical context mainly in Australia between 1949 to 1954.
Recommended retail price: AUD $24.99 (plus shipping).
ISBN 978-0-9873013-3-8
The second novel is in the collection of the following libraries: National Library of Australia, University of Sydney Library, State Library of New South Wales and the NSW Parliamentary Library.
Online sale currently available from Art Quill & Co Pty Ltd.
To purchase this novel, please email: admin@artquill.com.au
The company has recently published Kalle Gayn's third novel in the 'Magrete' trilogy and it is titled, 'A Phoenix Rises.' This novel has been set in a historical context mainly in Australia between 1954 to 1959.
Recommended retail price: AUD $24.99 (plus shipping).
ISBN 978-0-9873013-4-5.
The third novel in the Magrete trilogy is in the collection of the following libraries: National Library of Australia, University of Sydney Library, State Library of New South Wales and the NSW Parliamentary Library.
Online sale currently available from Art Quill & Co Pty Ltd.
To purchase the solver, please email: admin@artquill.com.au
To read my interviews with Kalle Gayn about his first two novels in the Magrete trilogy, click on the following links: 4 Steps to Freedom and Reign of the Mother.
All three novels in the Magrete trilogy have been written so they can be read independently. However, reading the three novels will yield a greater insight and understanding of the main character of the trilogy, namely, Magrete.
I was involved as a proofreader as well as being the design and layout artist for the trilogy and so the author, Kalle Gayn, has dedicated each novel in the trilogy to me. I'm hardly an unbiased interviewer!
Today's post is an interview that I conducted with the author about his third novel in the Magrete trilogy, A Phoenix Rises.
I hope you enjoy the interview!
Marie-Therese Wisniowski
PS. If you wish to send an email to the author, Kalle Gayn, email the author at: Kalle Gayn.
A Phoenix Rises
Author Interview: Kalle Gayn
M-T: Welcome back to my blogspot Kalle and thank you for dedicating the trilogy to me.
KG: Thank you for interviewing me after the publication of each novel in the trilogy. Your layout and the design of the covers is such an important ingredient in attracting a readership. To paraphrase an old adage: most novels are initially judged by their covers!
MT: Very droll Kalle! The trilogy falls within the genre of a historical literary fiction. Give our readers an inkling of what that entails?
KG: Briefly, the characters find themselves in a true historical context over which they have little control and so the trilogy centres on how they react and interact to these circumstances as well as with each other. A standout novel in this genre is Dr Zhivago.
I'm not claiming that the trilogy is of the same standard as this brilliant novel. All that I am asserting is that it belongs to the same genre.
MT: We need to give the readers a background to the first two novels of the trilogy. The first novel - 4 Steps to Freedom - centers on a historical context in Germany between 1935 to 1949. Magrete, the main character in the trilogy, comes from an upper middle class background since her father is the Deputy Commissioner of the Vienna Police and a staunch anti-Nazi. Both her parents commit suicide when Austria is invaded by Hitler, whereas her first husband, Herbert von Appen is a staunch Nazi - in fact, a friend of Himmler! Her first husband dies prior to the Second World War, when Magrete is pregnant with their first and only child, Ilse.
During the Second World War, Magrete harbours a girl who is Jewish, Anna, and protects her identity from the Nazis throughout the war. In 1943 Magrete marries Herbert's best friend, George Nagy, and they have three children together, namely, Elisabeth, Eva and Francis - in that order.
Anna and Magrete have a terrible misunderstanding immediately after the war, and so Anna feels estranged from Magrete. Just prior to Anna's departure for America, Magrete and Anna reconcile and so their affection for each other is rekindled when Magrete's family is finally placed in a displaced person's camp in Tailfingen (West Germany).
MT: Phew! Have I left anything out?
KG: No, you have succintly covered the storyline. However, we need to mention that her first husband's family, the von Appens, were extremely wealthy and so they cleverly cashed in their wealth early during the Second World War in order to hedge it against a possible Nazi defeat. The person who is instrumental in organizing the transfer of wealth to Switzerland is Helmut Gruen, who was the CEO of the von Appen's company during the Second World War.
MT: The second novel spans the time from 1949 to 1954 and is mainly centred in Australia. It begins with Magrete's family falling on hard times and being forced to move to a displaced person's camp in Tailfingen. After a few years there, they are finally accepted as displace persons (DPs) because her second husband, George Nagy, is a Hungarian scientist stranded in West Germany. They are accepted in the Australian immigration programme and they arrive in Australia in December of 1949 on the transport ship, General R L Howse.
Anyway I'm digressing. They meet a young woman immigrant on the ship, Wilma, who they befriend. Magrete's youngest son, Francis, becomes seriously ill during the voyage, causing Magrete to be stranded in Melbourne, because her son is hospitalized there. Wilma, Magrete's husband George and their three daughters travelled to Bonegilla Migrant Camp (a real camp in Victoria) without Magrete and Francis.
In Magrete's absence, Wilma and George become lovers. After reuniting with her family in Bonegilla it is obvious to Magrete that her husband had an affair with Wilma.
Helmut Gruen, who is now known as Howard Green, owns an import/export company called the Howard Green Group. He saves Magrete from a life of poverty, and throughout the course of this novel, she regains her wealth by owning numerous hotels and finally creating a hotel company called Brew House Hotels from her wealth that Howard Green stashed in Switzerland for her, during the Second World War. She creates an executive group to run the company and so after many trials and tribulations she regains her wealth in Australia.
Her personal life is initially battered, since the first man she is seriously attracted to, is in fact married. Magrete dumps him before she gets deeply involved. Finally, she meets the man of her dreams, Christian. They fall in love. Of course, Anna vists Magrete in Australia with or without her American husband, Eugene, a few times in both the second and third novels of the trilogy.
Her ownership of this hotel is totally fictious.
MT: How am I doing?
KG: I couldn't have captured the storyline for the first two novels as accurately as you have done, in such few words. Great work!
MT: I really don't want to get too far in the storyline of the third novel, but I want to tackle certain themes within the storyline. In another section of your third novel, the Catholic priest in Beveridge, Victoria, sexually assaulted one of Magrete's children in his church when its relatively empty, namely her son, Francis. Magrete physically assaulted the priest when she witnessed the act and when she reported the priest's sexual assault to a local policeman she was threatened with arrest, because the policeman disbelieved her and moreover, wanted to protect the priest from such accusations. It's a theme that unfortunately is very well documented these days throughout the world.
KG: The Royal Commission into 'Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Australia' revealed some very harrowing stories of children that were abused within the Catholic Church and other institutions in Australia. It saddens me that so many complaints that were made by children and adults alike to police and church authorities about sexual abuse by clergy were dismissed. I believe that some of the clergy are psychopaths; that is, they have a personality disorder characterized by persistent antisocial behavior, impaired empathy and remorse, and bold, disinhibited, and egotistical traits.
A church is a place where clergy are dealing with sinners and so this naturally places priests in control, since they are charged with absolving sin. Such an institution would appeal to people with mental disorders. Many archbishops, ministers etc have little empathy or sympathy for abused children, teenagers and young adults that were molested and some were either themselves actively involved in the molestation, whereas others buried their heads in the sand, hoping the accusations would go away. Either way, those who suffered the assaults were blameless, but were made to feel as if they were to blame. This situation won't change unless churches psychoanalyse applicants who wish to join the clergy as well as put in place far more stringent safeguards to protect their vulnerable parishioners.
MT: You also touch on the devastating effects that scientology and scientologists can have on individuals. When Ilse becomes trapped into the Church of Scientology, Magrete and Christian (Magrete's third husband) isolate her from the church and arrange for her to go to America to destroy the Church's hold on her. Clearly you see the Church of Scientology as being a sect.
KG: Scientology was banned in Victoria, Australia in the 1950s for good reason, but unfortunately the so-called church was allowed to resurface. I encourage everybody to read Steve Cannane's book,'Fair Game', just to understand why it is a sect.
All I can add to that insightful work of Cannane's is that if Scientology is a religion then so is the Church that I belong to - Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster!
MT: You also touch on the flip side of the coin, so to speak, gypsies or Romani, and how they are viewed by so many people throughout the world as the lowest of the low. They were also targeted by the Nazi's for extermination but they have never gained the sympathy or recognition that others have.
KG: It's sad, isn't it? Some have got recognition for their suffering, whilst others who the majority still has predjuices against, disappear into the background. All lives matter, but some lives barely matter as is evidenced by the number of black Americans who are shot by American police.
MT: You also delve into royal politics and in particular, with the many reported tryst that Prince Philip had in and around the 1950s. It is relevant to the storyline since Magrete's third husband is in fact a Prince of Denmark and so Magrete is not only wealthy in her own right, but she now has royal status and yet she still wants to be away from the public glare.
KG: Where to begin with Prince Philip and his many affairs? You have probably guessed that I'm a Republican! The Queen is powerful and important whereas when Prince Philip married her, he was obscure and unimportant but with an unhealthy ego. Of course there was in Prince Philip's life a “showgirl” and actress Pat Kirkwood, 27, the West End’s biggest star, famous for her shapely legs and amongst many others that the Queen had to ignore.
MT: There is a lot of Danish royal politics in the third novel that gives insight into the present Danish monarchy. What was the motive behind including the Danish family?
KG: The Crowned Prince of Denmark is Federick and he married an Australian, Mary Donaldson.
Hence, this enabled me to juxtapose the British and Danish royal households and so made Magrete's journey with a Danish royal more believable and lively.
MT: I will not go on to discuss how Magrete children's lives pan out and how the story of the trilogy ended. However, the ending may be unsatisfactory for some readers who might want to know what happens next? But for others, the ending will be consistent with the way the trilogy is written. Thank you for allowing me to interview you!
KG: Thanks for interviewing me.
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