WC: How did you transition from law to writing?

JB: I always wanted to write, but I graduated from Warwick University when the U.K. was in cultural and economic gridlock. I read law in order to get a job. Quite soon after qualifying, I responded to a request for English lawyers to work for the Hong Kong government. I applied and was accepted and my life changed.

WC: What were your impressions and experiences when you first visited Thailand? Is it any different now that you live there?

JB: I first stayed at the Oriental, which was all about orchids and nostalgia and full-blown Asian luxury. Sure, the rest of Bangkok is not like that, there is a lot of poverty, pollution, corruption and inefficiency. But the Thai character is very welcoming and, once you know the city, you can have a good time almost anywhere.

WC: Your novels partially revolve around prostitution; you stated at a recent reading that you think prostitutes are “kind of heroic.” What do you mean by this?

JB: We have always to distinguish between different “markets.” I don’t like to use this word, but in a capitalist society it seems the most appropriate. There is a very great deal of prostitution in Thailand, and more than ninety percent is Thai to Thai. Only about five percent involves the farang or Western market. It is this last which I have focused on. In this limited market, I have talked to hundreds of girls, almost all of whom tell a similar story. There was no direct pressure for them to sell their bodies and they do not work for pimps. They decided on their careers for a number of reasons. The first is poverty, but there is also the degrading and depressing factor of very poorly paid manual work, which is the only alternative available to them. Some working girls enjoy the “game,” others dislike it, most are pretty indifferent, but everyone agrees it’s better than a factory or a building site. I find the girls heroic because they do this work cheerfully, usually manage to get some fun out of it, and share a huge percentage of their earnings with their family. Often such girls are the only protection families have against financial disaster. “Family” here includes extended family, so often a girl will be paying the medical and educational expenses of a number of nephews and nieces.

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