Yorkshire author Linda Green shares her determination to succeed

These were people who had been living and working in this country for years and then suddenly they were being regarded as public enemies. I was also hearing from some of my friends of colour that they were having “go home!” shouted at them on the street. I thought – this is not acceptable and I don’t think any of us should stand by and allow this go unchallenged. I just felt it was a story that needed to be told.”

At the same time, her son was studying Romeo and Juliet as part of his English GCSE and Green began to consider the contemporary resonances of Shakespeare’s great romantic tragedy.

She felt that its story of two families in opposition to each other and a young couple whose fledgling love attempts to cross that divide reflected the current socio-political climate in many ways.

“Re-reading the play made me think about the divisions in society that we are experiencing at the moment and especially how some families have been fractured recently – I’ve had conversations with friends who have gone through that, especially with differences of opinion over Brexit. So, I thought I could reimagine the Romeo and Juliet story for modern times.”

The novel is a compelling, thought-provoking read about love and hope, loss and hate. Green’s teenage protagonists – Rachid Mastour and Jodie Cuthbert – are from two very different worlds. Rachid’s French parents Sylvie and Bilal are middle-class medical professionals who have been settled in England for many years.

Rachid and his younger sister Amina are, like their father, practising Muslims. The family are materially comfortable and they are the kind of people who read the Guardian and listen to Radio 4. Jodie’s parents Donna and Neil are both from white working-class backgrounds – they are decent, hard-working folk but Neil has a tendency towards casual racism, which Donna and Jodie abhor, and his views appear to have influenced Jodie’s younger brother Sam who is in danger of being radicalised by far-right extremists. Both families have their own internal difficulties.

Jodie and Rachid meet at college and there is an instant connection between them, which gradually blossoms into love. The narrative is presented from the perspective of the two mothers and the teenage lovers who, aware that their families will not approve of their relationship vow to keep it secret which, inevitably, leads to complications.

Green’s background as a journalist on local, regional and national publications means that her novels often have an element of reportage about them. Her themes frequently reflect issues of the day which she explores with great skill and sensitivity.

The epigraph for In Little Stars is a quote from Yorkshire Labour MP Jo Cox who was murdered by a far-right terrorist in June 2016 during the EU referendum campaign. In her maiden speech In Parliament Cox had made a plea for unity, diversity and understanding saying: ‘We are far more united and have far more in common than that which divides us.’ It is a phrase which inspired Green while she was working on the novel. “I kept thinking about that quote and had it pinned up on my wall throughout the writing of the book,” she says. “I wanted to show the many similarities between the two families I was writing about, and people in general, as well as the differences.”

Green has a loyal readership and her previous novel One Moment was a Radio 2 Book Club pick while her 2018 novel The Last Thing She Told Me was a Richard and Judy Book Club selection. She is well established and respected, deservedly so; she has certainly earned her place at the table. It takes an awful lot of resilience and determination to cope with more than a hundred rejections over the course of seven years, as she did with her debut novel.

And as an author who is not easily pigeonholed – the subject matter of her novels is wide and varied – there have been some challenges along the way, but she will always quietly stand her ground.

“One of the things I find frustrating about the publishing industry is the unwillingness to back something that is hard to categorise. I am a fairly stick to my guns kind of a person, but it is a fine line to tread,” she says. “My books don’t tend to fit into a particular genre. I have written a couple of psychological thrillers and I could have just carried on writing those and perhaps made a lot of money, but writing a book takes a long time and a lot of dedication and I can only do that if it is something I feel really passionate about.”

She says that she feels “very fortunate” to be in the position she is now – although talent and hard work have clearly played a huge part in her success. “I absolutely love what I do – it is my dream job,” she says. “But one thing you learn as an author is that there are peaks and troughs.

A recent Society of Authors survey found that only 19 percent of authors earn a living solely from their writing, most have to do other work to supplement their income. So, you always have to be on your toes in the sense that you are only as good as your last book sales. It can feel like a bit of a battle sometimes but I am determined to go on writing – I consider myself to be a storyteller, that is what I do, and I just want to write stories that draw people in and engage them emotionally.”

She is already working on her next novel – and it is not a surprise to hear that it’s “unlike anything I have written before”. She continues to challenge herself creatively and to take her readers with her. “As a writer you want to make people think, to write books that stay with them and that might change a few hearts and minds along the way,” she says. “That, for me, is a really good reason to write.”

In Little Stars, published by Quercus, is out now. Linda Green will be signing copies of her book at Leeds Waterstones, February 16 from 6.30pm. She appears at Huddersfield Literature Festival on March 30th. huddlitfest.org.uk