Books by Aly Monroe

Aly Monroe was born and educated in England, daughter of a mathematician and a mother of Italian extraction. Trained in linguistics, she specialised in phonetics. Amongst the things she has done recently are voice coaching for Spanish actors doing classical plays and a voice-over for a US special on female victims of the Atocha bombings. She has lived in several countries mostly Spain - and speaks several languages. She is married and has three children. Monroe is her maiden name, Aly is what she is called, short for 'Allegheny'. This is her first novel, part of a projected series that begins during the Second World War and follows the process of decolonisation and the aftermath of Empire. 'One of the most interesting parts of my life was watching the Spanish move on after Franco. Another was observing the extent to which Empire has influenced and continues to influence British attitudes even now. It has filtered through in fascinating ways. So my first impulse in my first book was to combine the two. There is history and there is personal history. I couldnt have made Ramirez without a real policeman in Cadiz who thought he was Clark Gable. I wanted to record the British cemetery there because I must have been one of the last to see it before it was made into a park. Even the Spanish cemetery is now gone the dead of Cadiz now go off to an American style park near Chiclana and silicone has replaced cement when sealing up the graves. As for influences for this book, I have read Graham Greene and Eric Ambler but a direct reaction here is Geoffrey Household. When he was twelve my son told me he really liked a book called 'Rug Male'. This turned out to be Rogue Male". It is an excellent book but for me it started a process not exactly of feminisation but towards something less cut and dried and more ambivalent, something less settled . I think it was Graham Greene who talked of the wavering men who mattered in the Second World War. I wanted to examine the nature of a particular wavering in an intriguing way.'