International Best Seller, Lesley Pearse is in South Africa

International No. One best-selling U.K. novelist, Lesley Pearse has landed in South Africa for the month of May.

The renowned storyteller has sold over 10 million copies of her books worldwide with her talent in literature earning her a global audience.

Lesley’s latest paperback release, Dead To Me, hit bookshelves on May 4.

The historical fiction follows the resounding friendship of Ruby and Verity.

Two girls from two different lives who meet in the spring of 1935 and develop a “firm friendship.”

The novel explores the various adversities and triumphs that would together challenge the strength of their friendship through impending betrayal and hardship.

“It is a story about two girls who weren’t loved, so they love one another,” says Lesley.

The author acknowledges that friends are the family you choose and believes that inevitably, a strong friendship can overcome anything.

“My friends have always been everything to me and I’ve had friends since I was 11 and 12 who I’ve still got.

“I don’t let them go,” she says.

Lesley believes that people want to hear stories about individuals who have overcome adversity, “We want to know about people who can overcome stuff and see the struggle and rejoice when they make it to the happy place,” she says.

Lesley has often demonstrated the strength, resilience, and triumph of women in times of adversity, through the stories of all 24 of her previous novels.

“In the shops in England you can get a magnet for your fridge which reads, ‘a woman is like a teabag, you never know how strong she is till you put her in hot water,’ and I think this is very true,” she says.

Lesley has continued to showcase the strength of female will and the power of strong friendship in her latest novel, Dead To Me.

The book aims to demonstrate the power of love and the transformative influence it has in changing people for the better, “It’s all to do with love,” says Lesley.

Lesley was inspired by her own life experiences within Hampsford, Hither Green and Babbacombe Devon (England) to set the book and the lives of the characters within those locations too.

When it comes to writing and remaining steadfast in realising your dream as a successful and potentially publishable author, Lesley believes that persistence, as well as determination, is the key.

“Back in the day it took me seven years to get my first book published and I’d been writing for a long time before that,” she says. “I do believe you’ll get there in the end if you’re determined enough.

I think determination is everything.” Even in the face of negative or adverse circumstances and demeaning or unsupportive family members and naysayers, Lesley believes that you should use those negative attitudes to spur you on. Lesley endured homelessness and deprivation in her younger years.

“I had plenty of that in the beginning, a number of people who said to me, ‘Oh let’s face it, you’re never gonna get published, nobody gets published.’ You just have to carry on,” she says.

“I do believe that writing comes from within, and you just have to find the strength in you to go ahead and do it.”

Lesley doesn’t want people to fall into the trap of not writing because they may not have the time. In the beginning, she would write at night, after putting her children to bed and working a full six-day week.

“I found time to write because I wanted to do it,” she says.

In the end, the same negative parties who aimed to dismantle Lesley’s drive, apologised to her once she had realised her goal of becoming a published author, several books over. Lesley was 48 when she first got published.

In becoming a better writer and developing your ability, Lesley says that the more you write, the more you improve.

She credits self-help books as good sources of information and support for improving one’s writing skills and finding ways to get published, “And of course, reading, reading, reading, reading,” she says.

Lesley believes that the more you broaden your mind through reading the more you learn, “You can be anything, you can learn anything by reading,” she says. 25 books later, the author still admits to having self-doubt about the work she produces, but her Editor’s validation always reassures her.

Lesley has been attending events throughout Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town during her tour in SA.

Her final appearance will be at the Franschhoek Literary Festival on May 21 in Cape Town. Lesley has always felt heart-warmed by the appreciation and fondness of her South African fans, “So much affection and fun and laughter,” she says.

Lesley’s newest novel, The Women in the Wood, is set for release in June this year. The author has described the book as a very dark story and quite a tearjerker at the end.

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