1) Tell us a little bit about yourself. How did you get into writing?

I started my working life as a chef, and after 6 years, went to university as a mature student to read law. I worked as a criminal barrister between 1992 and 1994 and then worked as an international construction lawyer until April 2022. I got into writing in 1995, when my wife came home one day and told me she had signed us up to write a book on arbitration law. I wrote two arbitration textbooks with her, and in 2004, I decided to write something more interesting and started on my first novel, Of All Faiths & None. When I gave up the law in 2022, I published that book and started on my second novel, A Remembrance of Death. 

2) What inspired you to write your book?

I visited Castle Drogo about twenty years ago. Work started on the castle in 1911 but was delayed by World War 1. The owner, Sir Julius Drewe, lost one of his sons in the war, and I thought it would be the perfect location to set an anti-war novel.

I wondered why Sir Julius wanted to build a castle in the first place, what it symbolised to him and how it must have felt to have your child die in the war. I also wondered what drove the architect Edwin Lutyens to design a Norman-style castle with all mod-cons, and how society viewed this folly. In my latest book, A Remembrance of Death, the Drewe family has to live with the loss suffered in World War 1, and the book is about living with grief and the loss of love.

3) What theme or message do you hope readers will take away from your book?

The main themes of A Remembrance of Death are love, loss, and the constraints of society. These themes are all part of the human condition and relationships. These are the books that stand the test of time because the subjects of love, loss and social constraint are as relevant now as they were a hundred or two hundred years ago.

4) What drew you into this particular genre?

Having decided to write an anti-war novel based at Castle Drogo, the genre chose itself.

5) If you could sit down with any character in your book, what would you ask them and why?

One of the characters that appears in Of All Faiths & None and A Remembrance of Death is called Jiddu Krishnamurti. Krishnamurti was a real person who Time magazine described as one of the five saints of the 20th century. In 1910, the Theosophy Society thought he would be the vehicle to carry the spirit of the World Teacher (i.e., the Messiah). In 1922, he rejected this idea and returned the wealth donated to him with the words, “Truth is a pathless land.” I would ask him whether he thought all religion was wrong, as it seems to me that to understand ‘life’, you cannot limit yourself to following an individual religion or path.

6) What social media site has been the most helpful in developing your readership?

Facebook is probably the most helpful because of the Facebook ads facility that allows a writer to market to readers with interests in similar books. 

7) What advice would you give to aspiring or just starting authors out there?

There is an old saying that if you want to be a writer, write. It’s true. Sit down five days a week and write.

8) What does the future hold in store for you? Any new books/projects on the horizon?

The third book in the Castle Drogo series will be out at the end of the year or early next year. The first draft of my new novel, Only Breath & Shadow has been completed, and I am at the stage where I am editing it. After that, I intend to take a break from the Castle Drogo series and start on a project about the Battle of Imjin River and the stand of the Glorious Glosters. I am not sure about what comes next, although I have two more ideas for novels in the Castle Drogo series and perhaps a play.

About the Author

Andrew has worked as a chef, a lawyer and is now an author. 

‘Of All Faiths & None’ was Andrew’s first novel, published in 2022, and tells the story of the Drewe and Lutyens families in the final years before World War 1. The novel is centred around Castle Drogo, the last great castle to be built in England. The castle is out-of-place in a modern world and its construction reflects the turmoil of the times. However, foremost the novel is a romance where relationships are shattered by an unrelenting war. Andrew’s second novel ‘A Remembrance of Death’ takes the story from 1917 to 1955 and deals with Basil Drewe and Celia Lutyens and their relationship during the darkest moments of modern history. Andrew is currently writing a third novel in the Castle Drogo series which he hopes will be publish in 2026.

https://www.ofallfaiths.com/

Links to purchase the books:

 Amazon link (UK) – https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/author/B0BDX43P8J             

Barnes & Noble – https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/andrew%20tweeddale    

Apple Books – https://books.apple.com/us/book/a-remembrance-of-death/id6738423011     

Social Media Links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61550014597188

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ofallfaiths/

X: (17) Andrew Tweeddale (@AndrewTweeddal1) / X