Meet Batya Casper, Author of Hidden
BBB: Tell us about yourself.
BC: I was born in Scotland, lived in northern England as a small child, and grew to adulthood in Israel. By profession, I am a teacher, actor, and director of theater, trained to manipulate conflict for dramatic effect. What a futile act that is compared to the constant conflict of actual life? I have seen friends and family send their children off to war and lose their loved ones to such conflict.
BBB: What inspired your book, Hidden?
BC: I am usually propelled into writing by some epiphany, an image, song, or sentence that I realize will live with me---or has lived with me---for many years.
Hidden is comprised of two novellas: Hidden and Hanover Gardens.
The image that propelled me into writing Hidden, was a childhood memory of the house next door to ours. Neighborhood children claimed that a woman had lived for years in an upstairs bedroom of that house, and that she refused to come out.
The image that inspired me to write Hanover Gardens was an old cream-colored suitcase covered with stamps from multiple destinations.
BC: I was born in Scotland, lived in northern England as a small child, and grew to adulthood in Israel. By profession, I am a teacher, actor, and director of theater, trained to manipulate conflict for dramatic effect. What a futile act that is compared to the constant conflict of actual life? I have seen friends and family send their children off to war and lose their loved ones to such conflict.
BBB: What inspired your book, Hidden?
BC: I am usually propelled into writing by some epiphany, an image, song, or sentence that I realize will live with me---or has lived with me---for many years.
Hidden is comprised of two novellas: Hidden and Hanover Gardens.
The image that propelled me into writing Hidden, was a childhood memory of the house next door to ours. Neighborhood children claimed that a woman had lived for years in an upstairs bedroom of that house, and that she refused to come out.
The image that inspired me to write Hanover Gardens was an old cream-colored suitcase covered with stamps from multiple destinations.
BBB: Tell us about your main character.
BC: My main character in Hidden (the first novella) is an orphan girl raised in a house of tired, old people who refuse to tell her who she is or who her parents were. We watch her struggle with her need of an identity she can claim until events occur which change her, which plummet her into adulthood.
The central characters in Hanover Gardens (the second novella) are two German Jewish girls who find refuge in an English home during WWII. The girls struggle with the longings and fears that they harbor for the parents they have left behind, just as they struggle with the mixed emotions they have for the other annoying refugees who clutter up their home of refuge. Over the course of the story, the girls learn to relinquish their nightmares, take ownership of their situation, stand and be counted---all while waiting to see which of their family will survive, and who will come to take them home.
BBB: What are you currently working on?
BC: I am working on a new work of fiction about a family in conflict, and s trsgedy that ensues.
BBB: How can readers discover more about you and your work?
BC: My readers can check my website, http://Israelathebook.com for background and reviews. They can also Google my name: Batya Casper, or look for info and reviews at Barnes&Noble and Amazon Books.
BC: My main character in Hidden (the first novella) is an orphan girl raised in a house of tired, old people who refuse to tell her who she is or who her parents were. We watch her struggle with her need of an identity she can claim until events occur which change her, which plummet her into adulthood.
The central characters in Hanover Gardens (the second novella) are two German Jewish girls who find refuge in an English home during WWII. The girls struggle with the longings and fears that they harbor for the parents they have left behind, just as they struggle with the mixed emotions they have for the other annoying refugees who clutter up their home of refuge. Over the course of the story, the girls learn to relinquish their nightmares, take ownership of their situation, stand and be counted---all while waiting to see which of their family will survive, and who will come to take them home.
BBB: What are you currently working on?
BC: I am working on a new work of fiction about a family in conflict, and s trsgedy that ensues.
BBB: How can readers discover more about you and your work?
BC: My readers can check my website, http://Israelathebook.com for background and reviews. They can also Google my name: Batya Casper, or look for info and reviews at Barnes&Noble and Amazon Books.
