Katie Ward discussing her character from the novel
The Pretender
It’s clear from the start of my debut novel ‘The Pretender’
that Sophia Lazarus has had a rough start to life but fear not she is a
survivor. In this guest post, we will delve further into Sophia and what makes
her the way she is.
Firstly, it is worth noting that ‘The Pretender’ is a modern-day
adaptation of the Mark Twain classic ‘The Prince and the Pauper’. Set in Tudor
England, the pauper comes from an abusive home, however, it is portrayed in the
original as almost an acceptable part of life. When I came to write the story,
I really liked the idea of having two characters at the extreme ends of the
scale so this is how Sophia came to have such a difficult start in life.
Sophia has a real strength of character, although she feels
her mistreatment keenly she uses it as her force to succeed not as an excuse to
fail. The more her father tries to stop her by belittling and abusing her the
more she stays firm. This leads to her being targeted by her father even more.
Despite her appalling parents, she has a very special bond
with her sister Mireille, whom she looks to as a mother figure. In turn
Mireille adores her baby sister, even a long separation can’t weaken the bonds
between them. It is her loyalty to her sister that brings her back to her
family home, it is her greatest wish to see them both out of that situation
once and for all.
Sophia is a very kind and gentle person, she isn’t brash or
aggressive but she can stick up for herself if she has to. Given her
background, she can’t stand to see people being bullied or harassed and her
inner strength means she will always stand up for others too.
On the fateful day she returns home, Sophia is confronted by
her father. Initially she tries to avoid a confrontation but when he pushes her
she tells him exactly what she thinks. This is Sophia to the core, she isn’t
one to cower even when she feels scared and she has a real defiance towards her
father. She knows how much he wants to see her scared so she makes sure she
stands proud, as she knows it will irritate him. While she is so scared of her
father, she won’t let him know that.
The one thing Sophia wants most out of life is to be happy
and to have the family she never had as a child. She places a lot of importance
on security and safety, that’s what her attraction to the Palace is. Ever since
she was a child she has idolised Princess Isabella, for Sophia it isn’t really
about the fact she is a Princess, when she looks at Isabella she sees the life
she always wanted. Not in terms of material possessions as these haven’t ever
been that important to her, but the fact that Isabella is from a family who obviously
love her. Isabella seems happy and contented in a way that Sophia would love to
be. Given they are the same age and born on the same day, Sophia has always
been curious about whether Isabella and herself would ever be alike and similar
in nature.
When Sophia comes to swap places with Isabella, she becomes
her protector and ends up trying to fix the problems that Isabella places her
in to. Sophia is the perfect counterbalance to Isabella’s tempestuous and
spontaneous nature. Despite being virtual strangers, Sophia cares a lot about
Isabella’s wellbeing and takes a lot of responsibility in the situation they
find themselves in, which causes her a lot of anguish that isn’t really of her
making.
You might think,
having such differing backgrounds to each other, that Sophia would become
jealous of Isabella and her Royal life but she doesn’t. While she does wonder
why things couldn’t have been easier for her, having seen how Isabella lives,
she never succumbs to jealousy. To the contrary, she believes in Isabella when
others don’t and sees the good in her when others only see her as selfish.
Sophia is the friend we would all want, she is truly
selfless and loyal. As her family life has always been so difficult, her
friends mean the absolute world to her, they are her rock and while she doesn’t
easily confide in them, she knows she is truly loved and that she has their
support which truly means everything to her.
The
Pretender
France 2000:
Two babies are born on the same day just two hours apart - but to very
different lives.
Isabella is a
Princess and heir to the French throne, while Sophia is born into a life of
poverty and abuse at the hands of her father.
At the age of
18, Sophia runs away from home. That same night, Isabella is also fleeing from
the burden of her royal life when she finds Sophia slumped at the palace gates.
Amazed by how alike they look, Isabella proposes a daring plot - to exchange
their lives for one week.
‘The Pretender’
is an emotionally intense and compelling story of friendship, love and the
strange power of destiny.
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Author bio
After realising she wanted to be an author, Katie moved to
Dublin where she worked her way up from receptionist to Executive Assistant at
Merrill Lynch. Katie continued to write in her spare time, submitting her short
story into the “Do the Write Thing” competition being run by Irish TV show
‘Seoige and O’Shea’. This story was originally written when Katie was 14 after
she was inspired by an article in her favourite teen magazine. Katie was the
only non-Irish author selected to have her story published in an anthology of
the same name which reached 19 in the Irish Best sellers List. Katie was also
shortlisted for a competition judged by MAN Booker Prize winning author Roddy
Doyle which was run by Metro Eireann newspaper.
Katie currently lives in Devon with her cat (aka ‘Her Royal
Fluffiness’) where she sings in a community choir and has recently taken up
Archery. Katie’s favourite author has been Roald Dahl since she was a child as
she loves the dark edge he brings to his books. On the flip side though, Katie
loves Disney, magic, unicorns and a good rom com film at the cinema with her
friends.
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Website - https://katiewardwriter.com/
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