Up Close: Author Anna Murray

By Adam Gerchick (Contact)

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

For hundreds of western Loudoun residents, Anna Murray's is a familiar face. As a hostess and former chef at Upperville's Hunter's Head Tavern, Anna regularly chats with diners about their meals, the weather, and her seemingly English accent.

Yet the Winchester resident has an extraordinary past. Born on a Friday, November 13 in Malindi, on Kenya's Indian Ocean coast, Anna lost her father to illness at age 6 and her mother to breast cancer when Anna was 15. After returning to her family's native Britain, Anna found herself pregnant at 19, giving birth to her only son, Anthony, on another Friday the 13th.

Anna soon began an extraordinary job working for an aristocratic English family, and Anthony excelled in sports and athletics. Yet, just as Anna began to write a happy-ending memoir about her and Anthony's lives, tragedy struck again: Anthony died in a farm-related accident at age 15, just weeks short of his first day at the prestigious Sandhurst Military Academy.

Years after her son's death, Anna finally put herself together in earnest. In 2001, after working successfully as a caterer and private chef in France, Anna flew to the United States to visit an online friend in Bluemont, beginning a love affair with the region and, one year later, a job at Hunter's Head.

Encouraged by the pub's inquisitive patrons, Anna has finally written the story of her life. Born on Friday 13th, her self-published memoir, appeared on shelves in December of last year. Anna speaks with LoudounExtra.com about the experiences of writing and her life.

Q. Please give us an overview of the book you have just written, Born on Friday 13th, and tell us what inspired you to write it.

A. Because of my life – losing my parents when I was young – I was a bit of a… I was 16 and I thought I knew it all, and I went to England, and by 19 I was pregnant and had a baby. Nobody would let me keep it, and I said, "No, I'm keeping it." And in those days it was very 'no-no,' you know, so I really went against everybody.

I eventually had to put my son into a foster family because my aunt was helping me out and said, "You've got to have him adopted." They were very traumatic times. I eventually got him out of a foster home, and I put him into a private school, and he was a boarder so that he could get some stability. Whatever happened to me, he had some stability.

And he did so well, and I started building up a life. In the end, I had a fabulous job, he got into public school, doing really well –was on all the school teams. And I thought, wow.

We had the most beautiful place to live, where I was cooking for the family - that was Sir Neville and Lady Bowman Shaw. I just couldn't believe it, so I just started writing about it.

[Anthony] had gotten a scholarship at Sandhurst, the military academy, and they were going to pay for his next two years of school. And I just said, "This is just too much. After all the terrible times we've had, this is absolutely fantastic." And so I started writing.

It was 1985 – he was 15 – and everything was going so well. In fact, it was almost too good to be true. And then, suddenly…

He wanted to go skiing. Well I was paying for school uniforms, school fees, and God knows what. And I said, "Well, I can't pay for skiing as well."

He said, "Well, Mum, if I work, and you paid for the pocket money and I paid for the trip, could we do it that way?"

And I said, "Well, sure." He'd need 150 pounds for ski lifts, for going out to eat, to be like everybody else, so he wouldn't be broke. So that meant that he would have to work on the farm, which was fine. The Bowman Shaws had three sons, and they all worked on the farm, during the harvest. And Anthony always did as well, but usually he used it to buy a stereo or something, and this time he was saving it.

It was August, and it had been raining, … [but then] the rain stopped, and they went back to work.

That evening we had a really important dinner for Sir Neville, and we were busy getting it ready. And I usually had off between 3:30 and 7 when I went back to cook dinner for them. And every evening, I'd cook tea for the family, and I'd put the remainder in a thermos and take it up to Anthony … he'd work 'til it was dark, which could be 11 at night. And I'd go up with a bun or something for him to eat and a cup of tea.

Now, the year before, I saw this grain coming out of the silo, and they said, "Could you go park at the back," and when I came down, I said, "What's happening," and they said, "There's a fire in the silo. They're trying to save the grain."

[This time,] I could see the grain pouring out, and they said, "Could you go park in the back," and I said, "Another fire?" And they said, "No, they can't find him." And I said, "Can't find who?"

And they said, "Anthony. He fell in the silo."

I flew to the silo, I ran up the ladder, and I looked down, and there were all these men in the grain trying to find him. And the farm hand just said, "Come with me, come back to the house, and we'll have a cup of tea."

And they found him an hour later, dead.

I was a wreck. Complete wreck. For three years.

I left [the Bowman Shaws] after a year because I couldn't face another harvest there. Now, we're great friends; I see them whenever I go home. But I couldn't work there any longer.

[So] my agent [got] me three really good interviews … So I went out for these interviews, and they didn't interest me, but it was an excuse to get out. And then they flew me to Paris for this interview in France, and I went there, and they offered me this fantastic job.

So that's where it sort of led. When I went to France, that's when I started writing the book. And I decided, because I was born on Friday the 13th, and he was born on Friday the 13th, I thought, "I'm just gonna call it Born on Friday the 13th."

Q. You said that you initially gave little thought to the fact that both you and your son were born on Friday the 13th, and that you resented your aunt for expressing some superstitions about that. Since those losses, do you share any of your aunt's superstitions?

A. I did for six months. I knew that she was superstitious. She wouldn't drive a green car. She wouldn't wear green. She wouldn't go under a ladder. Friday the 13th was just a no-no with her.

And she was so stubborn, and I was stubborn. And I told [my family,] "Don't let her come near me for a while." I didn't want to say something I regretted – you can't take things back. So I didn't see her for awhile. My initial thing was, you have to blame somebody for that. She was 300 miles away, there was no way she had anything to do with it. But, in my mind, she had killed him.

After I had cooled down, I just let it pass. [There are] loads of people born on Friday the 13th. I've spoken to so many people who say, "My father was," and "I was," and I'm say, "Yeah, I know." And so many people were also born on November the 13th, when I was born.

I don't actually think it's superstitious. I'm actually writing the screenplay right now, and I'm changing the name because, if you look on Amazon.com, if you look up that, you get all these horror films, books, and it's not a horror. It's a memoir. And I've got several ideas for the screenplay, and one of them is "Daughter of the British Empire," but my cousin in Florida said, "No, no. No American will read it." "Daughter of the Empire" is already a film, and it's also a thing like "Friday the 13th," so that doesn't appeal to me. So I'm not sure what the film's going to be called, but it's not going to be "Born on Friday the 13th." It's going to have a different name.

Q. Describe the emotional impact of actually writing the memoir. Did you find it to eventually be enjoyable?

A. Yes. I just felt a lot better. I felt... like I'd had a baby. I felt like I'd had this 23 years of pregnancy, and then, suddenly, it just popped out, and there it was, there was my book. And so it was that sort of relief, of getting it out.

And that's what I loved about the computer: when I had the mood to write, I'd write and write and write and write. And then I'd come to a bit that I really struggled with, and I'd say, "Okay, well I can't write this bit at the moment." So I'd stop and I'd carry on with the nice bits, you know. Then I could go back and when I could get in the mood to write the really bad bits, I could add them, which was really good about the computer. Because those were my stumbling blocks, writing the really bad bits in there.

And then with my editor, she was wonderful, she was really good. She dragged stuff out of me that I would never have mentioned in there. She said, "We need those highs and lows." And I wasn't going to make it so high and low. She made me; she pulled it out of there.

Q. Describe your promotional efforts and your experience doing literary publicity.

A. Well, it's all been on my own. I published it with CreateSpace.com, which is Amazon.com's publisher. So everything I've sold, it's all been on my own. I've done all the work.

I belong to an organization called Authors' Den. And they sent out an invite in April for any of us to go to L.A., to the L.A. Times Festival of Books for $150 for a book signing on Saturday and Sunday.

I jumped at it. I sent the $150, I booked my flight, I booked my hotel. I thought, 'Lets get over to the West Coast.' They had a big stand, and I had 200 bookmarks and lots of cards and loads of books. I didn't sell that many; I got rid of all my cards. But at least the book was showcased and I was there during book-signing, and it was a great experience. But that was through Author's Den, and they are going to do more around the county. If they do Charlottesville, I'll go there, but it was quite expensive, the whole thing. But [L.A.] was wonderful.

And this did this in the Scranton Sunday Times the week before. It was fabulous. They were absolutely fabulous. We had about 55 people there, everybody bought the book. They were provided with tea, it cost them nothing to go there. They didn't have to pay; they just went for the lecture. I'm signing books, my friend was taking the money, and everybody said, "Gosh, we feel like we know you." Very complimentary. They really seemed to enjoy it.

I did a book signing at the Three Foxes Winery, and I did one at Home Farm Store in Middleburg in January. And then I'm doing one at Books and Crannies in Middleburg on Saturday, June 20 between 2 and 4 p.m. And I'm doing another one at the Union Jack in Winchester, the new English pub there, on Thursday, the 25th of June, between 4 and 7 [p.m.]

Q. How did you find Hunter's Head Tavern?

A. It's all in the book! I play bridge online. I have met a lot of the people I play bridge with.

And I played bridge with a person in Bluemont, and the four of us – there were two in Canada – I decided to come to the U.S. to meet them all. And [my bridge partner] Paul met me at the airport, and we drove up to Canada to meet them all. And we fell in love, Paul and I. And I went backwards and forwards to France and here, and then he eventually asked me to move here.

I moved here, sold up my company in France – I had a catering company – and I thought that I'd probably retire.

But I was bored. So I found a job in the Winchester Star as a line cook. And I went for an interview, and the chef at the time actually rang me that night, and said, "Thank you, but I've got my people now." And so I took a job at the Embassy, to cook for the British ambassador in Washington. I just worked there for a three-week trial, but I really didn't enjoy the commute from Bluemont to Washington. And they offered me a flat, and I stayed there for three nights a week or something, but I really didn't like living in the city; I'm a country girl.

But then, Hunter's Head rang me and said, "Would you like to come for another interview." And they offered me a job and I just said, "Yes." And that appealed to me much more than working for the ambassador.

Q. How have your patrons at Hunter's Head reacted to your newfound role as an author?

A. They've been wonderful, I'm telling you. They were the people that made me finish the book, because they'd say, "Where are you from? Where abouts in England are you from?" I'd say, "I'm not from England, I'm from Kenya." And they'd say, "You should write a book about it," so I said, "Yeah, I am." And they'd ask, "Well, when are you finishing it?"

So when I got it finished, that's why I sold so many at the book-signing. And I sell a lot, still, because people come in. And just yesterday a man came in while I was receiving some people, and he gave me a big kiss and said, "I've just read your book. Absolutely incredible!" So, I'm getting fabulous responses. I have not had one negative response. Not one.

Q. In writing Born on Friday 13th, you have certainly opened yourself up to the world. Is there anything you can share about yourself that you didn't share in the book?

A. Well, I'm writing another book, as well as doing the screenplay. It's going to be a whole load of anecdotes, and every chapter's going to start with a recipe.

In fact, the person that I went to in Scranton – I was going to do [the book] mainly on France because I've got a lot of things that happened in France that I didn't mention [in Born on Friday 13th]. But she said, "No, no, no. You need to go back to Kenya and your mother's favorite recipes," so I'm going to do all that.

Tagged: Bluemont, book, entertainment, Hunter's Head Tavern, reading, Up Close

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