Interview with Julia Macdonell
by Joan McNulty Pulver

When did you first begin writing?

I invented poems and stories before I learned to read at five. I sang about flowers, trees, grass, the sea. At ten I kept a diary.

I understand your novel is based in part on real people that lived in Brazil in the 1800s. What influenced you to write this particular story?

My grandparents immigrated to Brazil in the late 19th century. The idea for the story came from a friend who told me the legend of the Caiara Rock. The cruel slave owner Caiara was a real person, and so was his slave Bento, but I built on this historical fragment to create the story.

Could you tell us about the main characters in your story?

Juan Caiara, the cruel slave owner, who repents of his ill deeds, leaves his plantation and takes the boy slave with him into the mountains. According to the legend, he disappears into a rock face and is never seen again.

His wife, Noemia, frees the slaves after his disappearance. I gave her an English background and a strong character. She becomes godmother to Bento, when he is born in her house.

Bento, the slave boy, sees his master disappear and later goes back in time to the lost kingdom of Palmares. Upon reaching maturity, he becomes a leader for his people.

Izabel, Bento's mother, accepts Noemia as her child's godmother, and enters  a special relationship. The two women call each "Comadre", (co-mother) and according to Brazilian custom, become family members.

Joaquina, Bento's child bride, waits patiently for her husband's return and proudly shows him the daughter he did not know he had.

King Zumbi of Palmares, a historical personage, who is now a cult figure in Brazil.

Tell us a little about your life and life in general in Brazil.

I was born on October 1, 1916. My father received part of his education in England, and my mother spent ten years of her life on the old family estate in Georgia, from age 4 to 14. As a family we spoke English, although we were bilingual.

Children of British and American families were good friends and enjoyed a privileged existence between the two world wars. Our parents were prosperous by the standards of the times, and we all knew each other. Either we went to the same school, or the same church or the same clubs. After leaving school our friendships continued. I wrote many articles for The Times of Brazil, a weekly English language newspaper, about our youthful activities.

I married an Englishman on September 9, 1939. The war broke out just before our Church wedding, so we sat on the beach in Santos and watched the ship that would have carried us on our honeymoon sail out of the harbor carrying soldiers. During the war a cohesive British colony worked together to support the war effort.

Many British firms closed after the war and the few new arrivals brought an entirely different life style with them. My marriage crashed in the aftermath of the war, in 195l. I took a secretarial job in an American firm, and other jobs followed until I decided to try English teaching, took the Cambridge Proficiency exam, and entered a new productive stage of working with the language I love.

In 1957 I married Colin Macdonell, a Canadian citizen, and entered a 31 year partnership, during which we gained economic security, acquired property, and traveled twice to the United States and Canada. Colin's engineering work took us to live in country towns, and I began to take a great interest in my native land, its country people, and its folklore. When Colin planned for late retirement we bought a five acre hilly farm with a waterfall and a river in the township where I now live. We built an American style wooden house, and my nephews and nieces brought their children to enjoy country life. We also entertained our Canadian family and friends. After Colin's death in 1983, I tried to keep up the farm alone, but nine years later I was forced to sell when even the sale of property failed to support it.

When 81 years old, I built a small town house and lived there six years until ill health persuaded me to move near my brother and his family. The hot climate led me back to the town which Colin and I chose as our home. I rented a small house, and have time now to follow my childhood dream of becoming a writer, as well as taking part in the town's activities.

What are your other hobbies and interests, besides writing?

I won a 40-year service star in Scouting. I ran children's camps for 25 consecutive years. When young, I enjoyed small boat sailing, hiking and mountain climbing. Now I walk short distances when I can, enjoy the Internet, read widely in two languages, and take part in my town's events. All my life I have worked in animal welfare.

I understand you have very extensive tastes in reading from non-fiction to the classics. Who are your favorite authors and why? 

I read Alice in Wonderland at 6, the Bible at 12 and most of my father's classics before I was 15, as well novels written for boys and girls. I enjoy modern novels, especially today's detective stories that are well written and based on solid research. I gave away most of my books, since I would not live long enough to read them again, but my shelves contain books on language, archeology, anthropology, cookery, farming and alternative medicine, as well as poetry. It's difficult to choose a favorite author, but I read Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings for the third time early this year.

What part of the writing process do you find most enjoyable? Most challenging?

I enjoy sitting down at my computer to write or rewrite family history or occasional fiction. I don't think I could cope with my shaky handwriting or a heavy typewriter keyboard. The most challenging, let's say the most frightening thing, is to make submissions. It's a bit like climbing over hurdles in an obstacle race. Recently online submissions beckon and are less intimidating.

The magical and inspirational theme of your story intrigued me when I read your book. Could you give our readers a little more information about the story?

The story almost wrote itself after I took the character of the young slave into my heart. He came alive to me, and I followed him from his first alarming adventure until his return from the lost kingdom of Palmares to become a leader for his people. Descendants of the slaves are only now asserting themselves, and I visualized Bento as beginning the long process of integration. I studied the history of Palmares for months and learned that the slaves in northern Brazil came mostly from cultured tribes in the north of Africa. Their civilization was more advanced than that of their captors.

I know you love poetry and wanted to be a poet at a very young age. Who in your life most encouraged you to write and supported your dream?

The person who most encouraged me to write was my High School teacher Ruth Mary Moore. She told me I should study literature and become a writer, but the practicalities of life got in the way. Over 70 years passed before I could take her advice..

Are you currently working on any other writing projects?

Yes, as soon as The Boy and the Warrior is published I shall return to the biography of my American grandmother, the bravest person I ever met.

What dreams have been realized as a result of your writing? Any special memories that you would share with us?

My dreams are coming true late in life, and are all the more exciting because of the long delay. One special memory goes back to age seven when my father had to sell our home and move to a house that was more than adequate but had only a tiny front garden. The day we moved I went from bush to bush in the spacious garden, saying tearful goodbyes to the flower fairies. My younger brother, though only five at the time, and I often spoke of that enchanted realm. When I learned about Eden in Sunday school I cried for Eve.

THE BOY AND THE WARRIOR
by Julia Macdonell

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