Local author Bronwen Griffiths has just published her latest book Here Casts No Shadow and will be at the Rye Bookshop on Friday May 11 6-7:30pm to talk about her work and sign copies. “I wrote Here Casts No Shadow partly as a result of my work supporting a young Syrian refugee. Although the story and the setting is complete fiction, many of the ideas in the book come from the war in Syria and the resulting refugee crisis,” she says.
When not writing, travelling or gardening, Bronwen volunteers for SyriaUK, a campaigning group which aims to provide solidarity for the people of Syria and support their struggle for freedom. Her story tells of 15-year-old Mira, who has grown up in the small town of Zazour. Her country of Lyrian has been under the grip of a ruthless dictator for decades. Mira and her family have always lived a quiet life but everything changes after a protest in town. With Zazour under siege, they are forced to flee to a refugee camp across the border, eventually settling in Neeland, thousands of miles away. Now, in adult life, as Mira’s father begins to fail in hospital, the secret she and her older brother Kaz have kept for years, threatens to explode – just like the bombs that fell on Zazour – and destroy the life Mira has built for herself.
Bronwen Griffiths is the author of A Bird in the House (2014) and Not Here, Not Us – short stories of Syria (2016). Her flash fiction and short stories have been widely published. She lives on the Sussex/Kent border.
The book was published on April 28 (Matador) price £8.99.
Photo: Bronwen Griffiths