Author Peter James: “I was bullied for being a Jew”

Bestselling author Peter James, one of the UK’s most treasured crime and thriller novelists, has revealed how being bullied for being Jewish as a child spurred him on to become a success. [divider]

His detective Roy Grace novel series have sold over five million copies in the UK alone, and total 13 million worldwide.

Last year, Not Dead Yet even knocked the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy from the No 1 paperback fiction slot, ending its 25-week domination at the top of the chart.

The Jewish author’s latest title, Dead Man’s Time, is out today and largely focuses on one of the UK’s original hotspots for criminals – Brighton – and it’s underground antique trade.

In the video below, James reveals that his mother was a Jewish refugee from Vienna, who arrived in Dover in 1938 with nothing but the clothes she stood up in and a suitcase full of gloving leathers because she studied glove design in her native Austria.

He also reveals how his mother kept her Jewishness “hidden completely” and only discovered what it meant to be Jewish after his first week at Charterhouse.

James says: “I arrived there and ten guys sat on the wall going “Jew, Jew, Jew” at me. I wanted to hit back at those guys by proving to them that this little guy that they’d sat on the wall and shouted Jew at could actually do something with his life that maybe they couldn’t – and that was a massive drive for me.”

Watch the video below to hear James speaking about his Jewishness and his new book, Dead Man’s Time