Building Character with Claramina Dart from True Haven
It’s Friday! Time for my blog feature, Building Character
in which you get to meet characters from a book. Talking to a character outside
of their book is fun! Huge. Amounts. Of fun.
This week Strands of
Thought plays host to Claramina Dart from True Haven. Thank you for joining us,
Claramina. We’d love to hear more about you.
Let me introduce myself.
My name is Miss Claramina Dart. I am now 14 and after my parents died, I
managed to find a position as a tailor’s apprentice for Mr Thrums in my
hometown of Mudwells. I know what you’re thinking, but it wasn’t that bad – at
least to start with. It used to be rather grand in the old days, when people
came to the spa to take the waters. Now it’s all crumbling rather, and it’s
ever such a trial delivering garments to our customers by wheelbarrow. No sedan
chairs for the likes of us! Life would have been bearable, if only our new
assistant, little Barley Spindle, hadn’t got himself arrested by the evil
Flugelcrampers who patrol the streets ...
Aw, a shame! What is the main conflict are you up against now?
Well, I tried to save
Barley, but ended up getting arrested myself. Imagine my surprise when I woke
up after a long voyage and found I was in True Haven, a faraway colony. And if
that wasn’t enough, they’d put me in a fearful workhouse with a dozen other
orphans. Luckily, Barley was at the same institution, run by the vile Mrs
Bellyband, but he’s hurt his arm and looks terribly pale. They say there’s no
way out of True Haven, but I refuse to believe them. I’m working on a plan, but
I know I have to hurry. It doesn’t help that even when I can slip out of the
workhouse for a while, the streets are dark and foggy, and I swear I saw giant
monsters lurking in the shadows ...
Is there anything about you that people
are always giving you a hard time about? How do you feel about it?
You might think
Claramina is a pretty name, but the other children shortened it to Mina, making
it sound like ‘meanie’. I am a bit small for my age, so they called me ‘teeny
weeny Mina’. I refused to cry, but it hurt. As I got older, I began to stand up
for myself, but I still hate it when people think I can’t do something because
I’m shorter than they are. Being tall doesn’t put you in charge, does it?
Instead of getting angry, I try to think of ways around the problem – which
seems to work. A particular gentleman called Florian Cabochon who I came to
meet said I had the mind of a soldier! Well, that was a fine compliment and I
tried not to let it go to my head. Still, I think years of being teased has
made me stronger than I realised – and independent, too. There’s not much that
can frighten me now. Which is perhaps just as well ...
Tell us, Claramina, what do you want to be when you grow up?
Before I’d ever heard
of True Haven, I planned to become a proper tailor. It crossed my mind that Mr
Thrums might retire and leave me his little shop. I dreamed that a dashing
young courtier would arrive one day to order a new jacket, and would end up
buying me a bridal gown, and we’d live in one of the fancy townhouses in the
square. I knew how many children I wanted, every detail of the silverware we’d
own, even the colour of the dinner service. (Actually, it was all based on my
favourite book The Struggles of a Seamstress by Agnes Lavinia Stourmont which
Mr Thrums leant me.)
But then everything
changed with True Haven, and I found out there was much more to life than being
a seamstress. So, I haven’t decided, to be truthful, but perhaps, after all the
excitement is over, I might go back to a nice school and learn more about the
real world before I decide.
So, that’s me. Miss
Claramina Dart from Mudwells, but you can call me Mina. I’ve got used to the
name.
Very well, Mina, it sounds like you have an exciting adventure indeed. We
wish you the best of luck and hope your story has a happy ending! Readers, here
is more about Mina’s book, True Haven.
Young seamstress Miss
Claramina Dart of overpopulated Mudwells is unfairly arrested and thrown into a
workhouse far away in the city of True Haven. She befriends Barley, another
orphan, and they plan to escape, but the city is not what it seems. Elegant on
the outside, it is run by cruel childmongers while the youngsters do the hard
labour. Worse, it is infested by mysterious giant creatures that prey on the
children.
After a close shave,
they are rescued by Otto, a clockmaker, and discover the scale of their plight,
at the whim of the evil twins, Dandy and Dinmont Mortescue, the leaders of
Mudwells.
Despite their efforts
to escape, they are swept up in even more dastardly plots and counter-plots
between Mudwells and a rival city state as the ruthless twins use True Haven
and Otto’s devices in a deadly struggle for power.
At Crooked Cat Books - http://www.crookedcatbooks.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=153
Readers, you can learn more about
Claramina’s author here:
Pam Kelt has worked in publishing and journalism,
including Bath, and is now the author of seven novels, some for adults, some
for younger readers. She now lives in Kenilworth with her husband Rob and
enjoys long walks with Chester and Lottie (her two lovely rescue dogs),
watching her windowsill orchids grow and keeping up with the best fantasy
fiction around.
Find out more about
True Haven and the story behind the story on the accompanying blog.
You can follow me on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest. Find out all the latest on my author website and blog. See my author pages on Amazon.co.uk. Amazon.com. Goodreads and Smashwords. There’s a book trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&feature=vm&video_id=X4SaOu6_SGw
Sounds like an interesting read and this is very cool blog post!
ReplyDeleteHi, Margaret,
ReplyDeleteThanks for this. The book was so much fun to write - especially as I based it in Bath where I used to live, so I could use a lot of genuine Regency details, albeit with a bonkers fantasy twist. I loved doing the interview in Claramina's voice. I've never done a blog like this before - glad you enjoyed it. And thanks to Kai for the suggestion, too!