Malibu Author Uses WWI to Unravel Dark Secrets in New Novel

Longtime Malibu resident David Stansfield's new book "One Last Great Wickedness" has made the best seller list at Diesel Book Store in Malibu.

The novel starts with a 13-year-old boy who discovers letters written by his father in the trenches during World War I. In the letters, he finds a side to his father he never realized, and begins a journey into his family's dark history.

In an interview with Malibu Patch, Stansfield shares his process of writing the book and why he loves Malibu:

Malibu Patch: How long have you lived in Malibu and what keeps you here?

David Stansfield: I have lived in Malibu for 25 years, having moved here in 1987 from Toronto, Canada with my wife Denise Boiteau and our three children, Claire, Pascal and Olivia (I was born and brought up in England, but lived in Canada for 20 years). What keeps me here? It's one of the most beautiful places on earth and our three grown-up children all have their own careers and families based here.

Malibu Patch: As a writer, how has your style evolved over the years?

David Stansfield: I started out as a writer, with Denise, of PBS television scripts, of which we wrote over 400. We also wrote half-a-dozen screenplays together. I have written six other books. I hope my fiction book-writing style has improved a bit over the course of doing this.

Malibu Patch: Your novel, "One Last Great Wickedness," has been praised for its research. How much time did you spend gathering facts and details for this book?

David Stansfield: Not that long, a few months total.

Malibu Patch: What was the most challenging part of writing this book?

David Stansfield: This was actually the easiest book of all for me to write. Much of it almost wrote itself. The most challenging part was not crying at certain bits.

Malibu Patch: Can you expand on why you had to hold back tears?

David Stansfield: I was crying for several reasons. First, at the buried memories that emerged from my subconscious as I was writing, memories that in some case paralleled if not mirrored those of my protagonist. I was also crying at the damage that the particular type of stultifying, inbred post-war British education and family upbringing I described in the book has inflicted on so many people who lived through that time. It was in many ways a pretty sick society, all carefully concealed beneath a patina of politeness, four o'clock teas and cucumber sandwiches. Not least I was crying for my father and the horrors he endured in World War One that destroyed his life. A war that was fought for no good purpose whatever.

Malibu Patch: Is the book at all biographical, if not, where did the inspiration come from?

David Stansfield: It's about 50 percent biographical. The real inspiration for the story itself came from the piece of music the little boy talks about at the beginning of the book. Everything stemmed from that. I had no idea where the book was going. I started every writing morning listening to this music and that almost always gave me the next few pages.

Malibu Patch: Do you have anything else to add?

David Stansfield: Lots of people have encouraged and helped me in my writing, most notably Denise of course. But I particularly want to thank the author and TV and movie director, Paul Almond, for having gone through the book with tremendous care at least three times, improving it immensely on each occasion. Neel and Jennie Muller also gave me excellent advice. And Neel designed the cover image. Cécile Moulard has encouraged me throughout.

Learn more about "One Last Great Wickedness" online.