00:00A Birmingham-based debut author has turned her own family history into a new historical novel, set during the city's
00:07industrial rise.
00:08Sarah Fox's A Legacy Forged follows a young boy who escapes an abusive home in Shropshire in the 1820s before
00:15building a life and business in Birmingham.
00:17The book looks at family loyalty, ambition, betrayal and the communities that helped shape the city's identity through its people,
00:25work and heritage.
00:26Earlier, Nick D caught up with the author.
00:28You made an incredible promise to your late parents to tell this story.
00:33How long did it take before you actually sat down and started writing?
00:3730 years.
00:39Wow.
00:39I'm not one to rush.
00:42It was because originally my dad was going to write it.
00:45And then, you know, I just think things got so hard for him that he really couldn't face it.
00:53You're digging into a lot of your family secrets.
00:56So tell everyone what the book is about.
00:59And it's the story, really, of Matthew, like so many other businesses in Birmingham that started from the backyard in
01:05a back-to-back near Aston.
01:08And just like Joseph Lucas, who set up business from a cart, wasn't it?
01:13I think he was selling paraffin or something.
01:15But while Seller & Son weren't as globally massive as Lucas became, Seller & Son is just the reflection of
01:24an ordinary business in Birmingham that evolved out of the back-to-backs and really how they impacted on the
01:31community.
01:32And then it starts to grow into the social history of Birmingham people, how Birmingham industry grew, how the wars
01:41impacted them.
01:42I'm going to toss in a bit of the suffragette movement as well, just to keep the strong women alive.
01:47And it will end in the 1990s and it will tell the story of small family businesses with four or
01:57five generations behind them and the difficult decisions they had to make.
02:01And into all of that will be the experience that I had watching my parents deal with industrial espionage, really,
02:11and conflict from within the family.
02:14So I know the end of the story.
02:17And what I'm trying to do is weave in relevant pieces of information throughout the trilogy so that the reader
02:23starts to get some really nice aha moments as they get towards the end.
02:27But, you know, Seller & Son's no different from any other business that grew up from a kitchen table.
02:33I understand your mum was the rightful heir to the business.
02:37Was it nice to finally give her a voice?
02:42I'm a little bit conflicted, actually, around that.
02:45She really wanted this story told, and in particular, I don't think she'd given it thought about Matthew.
02:51My dad will have thought about Matthew.
02:55But mum just wanted that story from the 70s, 80s and 90s told.
03:00And I'm really pleased to be telling it.
03:03But my mum didn't know certain things that I now know because I've worked with my brother who has opened
03:12up to the whole story and his perspective.
03:15So everybody has a different view and a different perspective.
03:18And there is information that I have that my mum and dad never knew.
03:22And that is going to be lovely to be able to write.
03:25Probably a bit painful, but really good to write.
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