Tony Wild and 'The Moonstone Legacy'

“In a sacred cave high in the mountains of northern India, a white-haired hermit sits cross-legged, and signs his final testament: “George Abercrombie, 1874…”
In present-day England, fourteen year old Lizzy Abercrombie’s mother dies in a tragic accident on the full moon. But was it really an accident? Lizzy discovers that her death may be linked to a mysterious family curse.
Determined to find the truth, her quest takes her from a splendid Anglo-Indian mansion on the Yorkshire moors to India, where she uncovers her ancestor's terrible past and a stolen inheritance. But her discoveries put her in mortal danger from a ruthless enemy...”

So reads the synopsis for a gripping new novel by Diana de Gunzburg and Tony Wild – The Moonstone Legacy – inspired by classic detective novel The Moonstone, by Wilkie Collins. Tony Wild has previously written popular histories for Harper Collins, including the best-selling Black Gold: A Dark History of Coffee, but this is his first venture into fiction writing – although The Moonstone Legacy does manage to incorporate elements of historical concerns within its fictional basis. In terms of particular interests, Tony has strong connections with York and the surrounding area, having grown up in Yorkshire himself. He is also the former director of ‘Bettys and Taylors of Harrogate’ – the company responsible for the classic Yorkshire Tea and our beloved Betty’s Tea Rooms. He even held the book-launch for The Moonstone Legacy in the Belmont Room at said tea rooms – a room that one of his relatives actually designed himself. This commitment to Yorkshire, and passion for the area, can clearly be seen throughout his novel.

This is due to the emphasis on geographical location within The Moonstone Legacy – obviously including our very own Yorkshire. Speaking to Nouse, Tony explains that, “the Yorkshire landscape is hugely varied and its beauty unrivalled” – something I’m sure we can agree with. This wonderful scenery clearly inspired part of the setting for the novel – and the Yorkshire influence can be seen to apply to more than just aesthetics, as Tony comments that “Yorkshire people have a gritty realism leavened by the driest of wits.” The novel is not only set in Yorkshire, however – it is also partially based in India, specifically the area of Gujarat, and the country holds a strong fascination for Tony. This attraction is demonstrated by his previous historical books, which include Coffee: A Dark History, and The East India Company Book of Chocolate. Diana de Gunzburg, the second author of The Moonstone Legacy, was born in Pakistan, and Tony has visited her and present-day India on numerous occasions. He feels that “the richness of its cultural and religious heritage is phenomenal, and the effects of the British period have been absorbed like so many conquerors before them”; these cultural remnants are explored in Tony’s historical book Remains of the Raj: The British Legacy in India. The beauty of India is clearly something that has affected both of the novel’s authors, as the images associated with The Moonstone Legacy demonstrate. At the book launch, a slide-show of beautiful Indian scenes was shown throughout the evening, as the visual elements are essential to the feel of the novel. However, aesthetics are not the only important aspects of the book - the cultural and spiritual elements of India, and indeed of The Moonstone Legacy itself, are obviously important to Tony, as he reveals that the novel was greatly inspired by “the grand cosmic dance of the earth, sun and moon”.

But why has this interest in Yorkshire and India led Tony to write a fictional novel, rather than the histories that he had previously been writing? And which does he prefer? “Fiction is fab and fun”, Tony explains, “although strangely much harder work than history.” When writing The Moonstone Legacy, he did find himself up against difficulties that he hadn’t experienced when writing his historical books. Specifically, referring to the construction of a novel compared to the writing of histories, he felt that “there is something truly liberating about making things up, but there is a huge responsibility to make sure an imaginary world can be felt as strongly as the real one.” Luckily, this is a responsibility that he managed to successfully achieve within the novel – and Tony intends to continue this in a further two novels, as The Moonstone Legacy is the first novel of a planned trilogy. Tony reveals that, “the second book is close to completion, and the third provisionally plotted” – and we’re looking forward to it.