I’ve known Jane personally during my time at Cambridge from our ballet class at the King Slocombe School of Dance. Over the past year, Jane has been a fellow dancer, mentor, and most of all, a friend. We would normally chat post-class to catch up on life. At the launch party for her book, Cry to Dream Again, at which she was surrounded by her supportive family and so many friends, I asked to interview her; ever the optimist, Jane agreed to discuss her newest novel, the path that led her to writing, and parallels between science and the arts. We also had time for some more light-hearted questions and personal anecdotes, which further revealed the perspective Jane adopts in her work.

How did you get into the arts and, further, into writing?

I was not very good at science in school but had a flair for languages, ancient and modern, so that was the direction in which my future seemed to be pointing. My father encouraged my study of languages by taking us abroad in those early days when foreign holidays were unusual. He also insisted on the clear and precise use of the English language and that was a great influence on me.

These were not dry facts, but an account of the hopes and fears, of the anguish and joy of real life as it happened to us.

Did you have an idea early on that you would be a writer or was it a role that you evolved into?

When I was little, I used to make up stories to keep myself amused after being put to bed and before going to sleep, often a very long time! I should have liked to become a writer much sooner but did not have the time or the opportunity. However, that opportunity came when eventually I had time on my hands and wrote a book for English readers called At Home in France, about buying and renovating a house in France, complete with a phonetic dictionary of useful terms and a basic grammar.

Writing a book is immensely difficult and being an author of three successful books even more so. What do you love most about the writing process?

The excitement comes when I sit down to write a novel and somehow from the basis of a simple plot the story develops and the characters grow into real people, my second family in fact!

What was the inspiration behind Cry to Dream Again’s character Shirley?

In Silent Music, the first novel in the Immortal Souls series, Shirley is an unpleasant character and treats little Ruth, her daughter and the heroine of the story, really badly. However, after the publication of Silent Music, I had a persistent voice in my head and it was Shirley’s voice begging me to tell her story and explain why she appears to be so difficult and harsh in Silent Music. So Cry to Dream Again came into being in answer to Shirley’s request. The novel is actually a prequel to Silent Music, but also stands alone in its own right.

I attempt to imagine living people with all their contradictions, their reactions, and their efforts to survive and fulfill themselves in challenging circumstances.

Why did you decide to make ballet so central to the plot?

I have loved the ballet since my parents first took me to Sadler’s Wells when I was four years old. In fact I love all forms of dance, but ballet, with its combination of glorious music, passionate expression, powerful emotion, and the possibility of fame, resulting from an urgent sense of competition and extreme discipline, lent itself more neatly to the story I wanted to tell.

How has your writing style evolved since your first book?

My first book was in fact my Ph.D thesis on the development of vernacular poetry in Medieval Spain. It was a delightful subject but I had to concentrate on the facts and modes of writing, rather than the emotional content, although the poetic expression moved me greatly. Then there was the book about property in France which was factual with a touch of humour. In Travelling to Infinity, I was again dealing with facts, the facts of my own life and those of my family; these were not dry facts, but an account of the hopes and fears, of the anguish and joy of real life as it happened to us. This was a good preparation for novel-writing where I attempt to imagine living people with all their contradictions, their reactions, and their efforts to survive and fulfill themselves in the most challenging circumstances.

As a writer, how do you balance an original creative, artistic style with an organized, analytical story line?

If you pursue your dream even as a hobby, you can gain great satisfaction from it - this is what I have found in the course of my own life.

Writing may flow easily but there is still a huge amount of research that is needed to make a book authentic within the bounds of artistic licence. I have been lucky in that I have been able to consult a vast range of sources and many helpful people, even simply to verify a small detail; I am not happy unless I know that what I am writing has at least a basis in fact. The creative style is the fun part and I don’t exactly know where that comes from!

Are are there elements from Travelling to Infinity that remain similar to Cry to Dream Again in your expression of the human experience?

In both Silent Music and Cry to Dream Again, the underlying message is that if you passionately want to do something, you should follow your dream. Talent is a big factor, but not everyone is blessed with the talent that will make him or her an acclaimed figure on the world stage. However, if you pursue your dream even as a hobby, you can gain great pleasure and satisfaction from it, which perhaps is what I have found in the course of the ups and downs of my own life. As far as Travelling to Infinity is concerned, the pursuit of a dream or an ambition features large in the memoir; it was the dream of my first husband, Stephen Hawking, to reveal the hidden secrets of the universe through the power of the mind, just as it was my aim to help him achieve that ambition.

From reading your narratives, there seems to be an idea of the divine and the soul, how has your spirituality been part of your life and writing?

Without spirituality and an awareness of our inner being, that is our souls, we are in danger of becoming robots.

Spirituality, I believe, is important in all aspects of life. Without spirituality and an awareness of our inner being, that is our souls, we are in danger of becoming robots, unable to appreciate all the wonders of our existence and driven only by the materialistic urge to become powerful or to make more money. I find overwhelming spirituality in music and in some forms of art, and I believe that science in unlocking the wonders of creation, also has a profound spiritual dimension. These life-enhancing experiences bring us close to the divine which is the expression of all goodness.

Having been considerably involved in the field of science, what do you think people in science could learn from people in the arts and humanities?

Perhaps it would be helpful if scientists could be less dogmatic about their work and their discoveries, and realize that not everybody is cut out to be a scientist. We all have our different gifts and our different ways of seeing the world. I would like to see a culture in which all talents are equally valued and respected. Science could benefit from the arts and the humanities, which essentially deal with the human experience, and learn to make its pronouncements more easily understood and less assertive. A touch of humility would not come amiss either in discussions of religion and faith: science may be able to tell us how we came into being but it cannot tell us why.

If you could have coffee with any author (even one posthumously) who would it be and why?

Tolstoy for his profound knowledge and his love for his characters. I find myself drawn into his story telling and the situations and people he creates, and imagine myself there with them, sharing their lives in nineteenth century Russia.

Are you hoping to write another book soon? If so, could you give us some hints as to which story you’d be interested in pursuing?

Immortal Souls is a trilogy: having published Silent Music and Cry to Dream Again, I now have to unite the strands from both novels and take the story forward in Book Three, which as yet doesn’t have a title but which I have sketchily mapped out in my mind and is just waiting for me to have the time to write is all down!

What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

To read, observe, listen, and persevere.