A Journey Through Resilience, Creativity, And Unforgettable Tales
Lucinda E Clarke shares her extraordinary life, from surviving Africa’s challenges to crafting gripping novels, blending real-life experiences with fiction across multiple genres.
Lucinda E Clarke is a writer whose life reads like one of her own novels—filled with adventure, resilience, and a touch of the extraordinary. From being abandoned in the African bush with a nine-week-old baby to broadcasting under the threat of a bayonet, her experiences have shaped a storytelling style that is as vivid as it is compelling. Now retired in Spain after a career spanning teaching, media production, and scriptwriting, Lucinda has turned her hand to fiction, producing 18 books across multiple genres, including the thrilling Amie series and the gripping A Year in the Life psychological thrillers.
In this exclusive interview for Reader’s House Magazine, Lucinda opens up about her remarkable journey, from her early days in Africa to her transition into full-time writing. She shares how her real-life adventures have influenced her fiction, the challenges of balancing multiple genres, and the creative freedom she now enjoys as an author. With her trademark wit and candour, Lucinda also reflects on her writing process, the themes she explores, and her dreams of seeing her work adapted for the screen.
Join us as we delve into the mind of a writer who has lived a thousand lives and continues to captivate readers with her tales of adventure, suspense, and the human condition.
What inspired you to transition from teaching and radio to writing full-time, and how did that journey unfold?
I wrote radio and television scripts, then later when I ran my own video production company I was also producing and directing. What inspired me? I wrote for money, for example on Monday I eulogised about fresh meat and damned junk foods for the Meat Marketing Board and on Thursday praised crisps as the healthiest options for every meal for the potato people. I had two children, a Walter Mitty husband, a maid with 17 dependents, a St Bernard and a variety of other furies to support. I only began to seriously write books after I retired to Spain and got bored. So far, I’ve self- published 14 in 3 genres, plus 5 novellas. I did consider approaching my old editors in the Big 5 publishing houses. They had commissioned me in the late 1980s, but they are all elderly now too and probably retired, and frankly I’ve not got all those years left, if accepted, to wait for traditional publishers.
“I wrote for money… but now I write for the sheer joy of it.” – Lucinda E Clarke
Your experiences in Africa have clearly influenced your books—how do you balance fiction with the real-life challenges you’ve encountered?
I probably don’t, it’s all about the control I’ve lusted for all my life. Now I can do what I want with my characters. I’ve found myself laying a place at the table for my favourite heroine Amie. Having spent over 30 years in Africa it made sense to write about much of what I’ve seen, and I have had several life-threatening encounters during my time there. Life is a lot tamer back in Europe. I’ve had a tumultuous life, from royalty to rubbish dumps, millionairess to cleaning toilets, living on a sinking boat and much more and I guess that can reflect in my writing? But I’ve not had to climb a tree to avoid a hungry lion, nor been buried alive during a civil war. I’ve had my moments though, such as broadcasting live with a bayonet resting on my shoulder. Apparently, I sounded a little subdued that night.
Having worked in television production and written for major corporations, how does that background influence your storytelling style in novels?
I admit that I write as I speak or how my characters would speak. However, in one of my earlier radio plays, I was in big trouble for writing the character in dialect. ‘In a northern accent is quite enough’ I was told, ‘the actor will do the rest.’ I was devastated as it had taken me days to get it right! I’m told I have a style but I’ve never been really aware of it. Since I’ve interviewed dozens of people in my work, I guess I can copy their speech patterns as well. For example, what policeman ever says ‘I was strolling past the bakery the other Thursday when …’
Your psychological thrillers are gripping and intense—what draws you to this genre, and how do you develop such suspenseful plots?
I’m not sure this doesn’t label me as psychotic, though I’m kind and gentle in real life. I am very cruel to my characters, and put them through some appalling situations. My first Amie series is set in Africa, but I then noticed that Africa was no longer the flavour of the month, but psychological thrillers were in vogue. So thought I would try my hand at a new genre. I like reading fast-paced books with lots of twists so that’s what I went for. It’s a big secret, so don’t tell enyone, but when I finished the first in the Leah series, I sat for two days wondering who the villain was.
“I’m very cruel to my characters and put them through some appalling situations.” – Lucinda E Clarke
In When Polly Won the Lottery, the story explores the consequences of sudden wealth—what message or themes were you hoping to convey through Polly’s journey?
I have to admit here that much of my writing is about control. It feels so good to heap good and bad situations on characters. You can completely control their lives, for example chop off a leg or two and confine them to a wheelchair. I stole the idea for Polly based on a film called ‘Sliding Doors’ telling a scenario in parallel. Like many of us, I sometimes lie awake at night and plan what I would do after winning the Euro Millions. It’s not easy. It might even be a nightmare. I wanted to highlight this problem from both sides, and I used the one character from both points of view.
If you could see one of your books adapted into a film or TV series, which one would you choose, and who would you cast in the lead role? I’m going to be huge disappointment here as although I enjoy movies, it’s the plot and not the actors which hold my attention. Too many years of filming. If I see a phone on a table, I’m waiting for it to
