When I am writing, I try not to think of anything else except for the characters ...

INTERVIEW WITH LUCINDA RILEY

BY AGNES A. ROSE

Lucinda Riley was born in Ireland and she lived for the first six years of her life in a tiny village called Drumbeg. Lucinda and her family moved across to England where she started school. Being a child, if she wasn’t reading and writing stories or at ballet lessons, she was dressing up in her mother’s old ball gowns the moment she came home from school and becoming a princess, with a storyline that could last for weeks. When she was nine years old, she played a child murderess in “The Bad Seed”. At fourteen, she went to London to full-time dance and drama school. At sixteen, she got a leading role in the BBC television series called “The Story of the Treasure Seekers”. And for the next seven years, she acted professionally in theatre and TV. She also got married to an actor. At twenty-three, she fell ill. Then she turned to her imagination to help her through and while in bed, she wrote her first book, “Lovers and Players”. One of her friends read it and passed it onto an agent. Finally, she was offered a three-book contract. So far she has written many books but the most popular seems to be “The Seven Sisters Series”. A few weeks ago “The Butterfly Room” was released in Poland.

Agnes Anne Rose: Thank you so much that you accepted my invitation to take part in this interview. I am very honored that I can host you here and talk to you. As most of authors you also started writing stories when you were a child. Could you tell us something more about it?

Lucinda Riley: Writing has always been a passion of mine since I was a small child — I was always making up stories, and when I later worked as an actress, I would re-write my character’s plot in my head. However, I didn’t start writing in earnest until I was 22.

© Roni Rekomaa

AAR: As I mentioned above, “The Seven Sisters Series” seems to be the most popular of all your books. How did you come up with the idea for this series?

LR: In January 2013, I was searching for my next story but wanted to find an overarching angle to add another element to my past/present writing, something that would challenge and excite me – and my readers. I had always watched the stars – especially the Seven Sisters in the belt of Orion, and on that frosty night in North Norfolk, I looked up to the heavens, and, thinking also of our own children, came up with the idea for a seven book series based allegorically on the legends of the Seven Sisters constellation.

AAR: Which part of the above novel series did you write the easiest and which one was the most difficult to write?

LR: The easiest book in the series was the first – Maia’s story. The most challenging has been the most recent one, ‘The Sun Sister’, Electra’s story. With each book, the series gets more complex, not only in terms of the themes and the historical content, but also in terms of the plot itself – there are so many strands that I have to mentally keep hold of, and now at Book 6, the mysteries are all beginning to come to a conclusion… although I can’t give any secrets away just yet. You’ll have to wait for Book 7!

This is the Polish edition of 

The Girl on the Cliff

Published by ALBATROS

Translated by Marzenna Rączkowska

AAR: I have read most of your books published in Polish. The first one was “The Girl on the Cliff”. What inspired you to write such a moving story?

LR: My inspiration is always sparked by an evocative location that begins the 'feeling'. I was born in Ireland and lived in West Cork and loved its windswept rawness. Extreme locations are always exciting to me because they are dramatic and of course, romantic. The thought of a vulnerable child, barefoot and alone during the Atlantic storms that used to break with such fury when I lived there with my own small children, gave me the character of Aurora, the narrator of the book.

AAR: Your next book that left the greatest impression on me was “The Angel Tree”. I couldn’t stop thinking about it for a very long time. In this book, you focus on very difficult relationships between a mother and a daughter. Why did you decide to tell your readers this kind of story and how much difficult it was for you to create Cheska?

LR: I met some fascinating characters during my time as a young actress, on the London stage and in film and television. Actors, in particular, tend to be a tortured bunch, with the ‘public’ face often very different to the reality of the human being behind it. Unless of course, they start to believe their own myth and the fantasy world they inhabit, as Cheska does. When I met my husband Stephen some years after I wrote the book, I found out that he had known someone very much like Cheska… I’d also experienced being in the spotlight and have a number of close friends who are famous in their field or married to someone who is, so I’ve learned first hand how fame can affect people. The whole concept of fame terrifies me, so when I was writing about Cheska and the extremes of her fame and lack of freedom, I put a lot of my own fears into that. To be honest, I have no idea why anyone would go out of their way to seek fame for its own sake like today’s reality TV stars seem to do. I treasure and protect my private life and my family – they’re what keeps me sane.

AAR: Your first book “Lovers and Players” you wrote as Lucinda Edmonds. It tells about the lives and love of three young women. What made you write your first book? Can your readers still buy it even though it was published almost thirteen years ago?

LR: I began to write ‘Lovers and Players’ at 22 when I became ill with glandular fever. As I was not able to work, the novel was completed in one fell swoop and was mainly inspired by my experiences of living in London and the people I had met. It’s currently out of print, although I do have a copy of it on my shelf… perhaps one day I’ll take a look at it again and re-write it.

AAR: Why did you stop writing books under the name Lucinda Edmonds?

LR: I got married in 2000 and decided to focus completely on my family of four children… although that didn’t stop me from simply writing for myself! During that time, I wrote a few manuscripts, some of which eventually became ‘The Olive Tree’ and ‘The Butterfly Room’, and used my married name of Lucinda Riley from that point.

This is the Polish edition of 

The Butterfly Room

Published by ALBATROS

Translated by Anna Esden-Tempska

AAR: A few weeks ago “The Butterfly Room” was released in Poland. I read on the Internet that some of your readers even compare it with “The Forsythe Saga”. In their opinion, your novel is layered, complex, fascinating and deeply satisfying. How do you remember your work on this book?

LR: ‘The Butterfly Room’ began its life as a manuscript I wrote almost ten years ago called ‘Red Admiral’, which is a type of butterfly. I decided to revisit it after finishing ‘The Moon Sister’ in 2018. At first, I thought it would be a ‘light’ summer project – something to take my mind off the more challenging Seven Sisters series. However, as ‘The Butterfly Room’ developed, I found myself rewriting the entire manuscript, adding and deleting characters and plotlines. Since writing the initial manuscript, I realized I had grown a great deal as an author, and many of the characters gained more depth and complexity.

AAR: On the pages of some of your books, you invite readers to visit some exotic countries. I mean “Hothouse Flower” or “The Midnight Rose”. Could you tell us something about the research? Did you visit Thailand and India?

LR: I travel to all the places that I write about. In the case of ‘Orchid House’, we were actually living in Thailand at the time – for a while, our family had a house on Koh Chang, the island where a part of the book is set, and it is one of my favourite places in the world. For ‘The Midnight Rose’ I travelled to India and visited the Moon Palace in Jaipur where I’d imagined Anahita living. I also stayed at the amazing Rambagh Palace which is now a hotel, still owned by the royal family of Jaipur and where they are regularly seen playing polo. I also went to Mumbai, where Ari lives, Cooch Behar up in the north and New Delhi. The architecture and landscapes in India are truly breathtaking!

AAR: I know you have very close contact with your readers living all over the world. How important for authors is to be online?

LR: The world is becoming more technology-based year by year and I think it’s incredibly important to find different ways of reaching your audience. Social media allows direct contact with readers all over the world. When I was an author twenty years ago, there was no such thing as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or even private websites, and I would do a lot of my publicity in bookshops and during book tours. Today, however, my 2-minute inspiration videos can reach readers all over the world, and the feedback I get is amazing and is a constant inspiration to keep writing. I also did the first ever live ‘Google Hangout’ Q & A in Brazil which was watched over 200,000 times.

AAR: What is the greatest challenge you have faced in your career as an author?

LR: In 1998 I moved publisher to Pan Macmillan with a two-book deal and released ‘Seeing Double’ (now re-written and published as ‘The Love Letter’), a book which involved a story about members of the British royal family, in 1999. At the time Pan Macmillan was going through ‘restructuring’ and it was not a good time for them to publish anything. In addition, many people felt that the story was not welcome by ‘the Establishment’, and the book did well in Ireland, but all the orders were cancelled in the UK. We will never know what really happened!

This is the Polish edition of 

The Angel Tree

Published by ALBATROS

Translated by Jan Kabat

AAR: When you are writing in your study, do you imagine what your very large audience will think about a character or an incident?

LR: When I am writing, I try not to think of anything else except for the characters and the setting – I can’t allow myself to be swayed, or to feel pressured by the knowledge that millions of people will be reading what I’m writing! The characters live in my head and tell their stories through me, so dictating the first draft into my trusty Dictaphone is a very private process.

AAR: How long does it take you to complete a book, from the time the idea for the book is conceived, to when you submit it to your editor?

LR: I realised that from conception to giving birth, all the books take nine months, just like a pregnancy. Weird, but true. I start with the research process, which includes reading all the books I can get my hands on and travelling around the location. Then I dictate the first draft and pass it on to my editorial assistant to type up. Once the first draft is complete, I begin the editing process, which is the most intense part – I go over each sentence dozens of times, playing Rubik’s Cube with the words to make sure everything is perfect.

AAR: You’ve achieved so much as a writer and career woman. Is there any goal you feel you have yet to attain?

LR: I absolutely love what I do, and having had my time in the wilderness as a writer, I appreciate every single moment of what’s happened now. I work 24/7 and gain enormous satisfaction from putting the stories in my head on paper and seeing them published around the world – even if I get rich I would still always write. Currently, all my energies are devoted to the Seven Sisters series, but I already have a lot of ideas in mind for future projects. My goal is simply to write until I drop!

AAR: How can you be so productive with so many outside and family obligations? How do you keep a balance between home and work?

LR: I have to take myself off for two or three weeks and live like a hermit, working eighteen hours a day writing the first draft. Once this is finished and I’m onto the technical editing stage rather than the ‘creative’ part, I’m able to work from home and spend time with my family. However, like any working mother, I’m permanently exhausted and perform the usual juggling act that any mother with kids and a full-time job will recognize!

AAR: You told me that you are working on the seventh part of “The Seven Sisters Series”. Could you tell us something more about it? What can your readers expect from this book?

LR: I’m very secretive about the future of the Seven Sisters series – readers write to me all the time asking to have their theories about #whoispasalt and the ‘missing’ sister confirmed. All I can say for now is that I have just begun the research process on Book 7 – in fact, I have recently been on a journey, following in the footsteps of the ‘missing’ sister…

AAR: Lucinda, thank you so much for this interesting and pleasant conversation. This is very important to me because I know you are very busy at work, so thank you very much once again. Is it anything you would like to tell your Polish readers? In Poland, you have a lot of fans who always look forward to each of your next books.

LR:  Thank you so much for all of your insightful questions! And I’d like to say DZIĘKUJĘ CI to all of my Polish readers for your support and kind words – I receive so many messages from Poland and they motivate me a great deal in my writing. I’m wishing you all a peaceful winter and a happy new year!

This is the Polish edition of Seven Sisters series

(The Seven Sisters, The Storm Sister, The Shadow Sister, The Pearl Sister & The Moon Sister)

Published by ALBATROS

Translated by Marzenna Rączkowska & Maria Pstrągowska 

 If you want to read this interview in Polish, please click here.

Even if I was never published, I would still be writing stories...

Interview with Elizabeth Chadwick

by Agnes A. Rose

Elizabeth Chadwick was born in Bury (Lancashire). When she was three years old she moved with her family to Scotland where she spent her childhood. Aged ten, she came to Nottingham and she has lived there ever since. She says of herself that she was born a storyteller. She remembers that before she could read and write, she would open her picture books at her favourite illustrations and make up some new tales. But she did not write anything down until she was fifteen. Her first foray into historical fiction, a work of fiction about the Holy Land in the twelfth century, led her to realise she wanted to write historical fiction for a living. After years of writing and rejections she was finally published in 1989. The novel was titled The Wild Hunt and won a Betty Trask Award. Elizabeth Chadwick has gone on to become one of Britain's foremost historical novelists and has been called by The Historical Novel Society “the best writer of medieval fiction currently around”. She is published internationally and her work has been translated into many languages. The author is renowned for her extensive research into the medieval period and particularly so in the area of the Marshal and Bigod families. Her novels about the 13^th century magnate William Marshal, The Greatest Knight (2005) and The Scarlet Lion (2006), have brought her international acclaim. Recently her trilogy about Eleanor of Aquitaine has been published in Poland.

Agnes A. Rose: Thank you so much that you accepted my invitation to take part in this interview. I am very honored that I can host you on my blog and talk to you. You create stories set in the era of the Middle Ages. Why? What is special in this epoch that you decided to write about it?

Published by SPHERE
(4 Dec. 2008)

Elizabeth Chadwick: It’s pure chance that it came to be the Middle Ages. I became interested in the period after I watched a couple of historical dramas on the television. The first was “The Six Wives of Henry VIII”, starring Keith Michelle and I began writing a Tudor story. I was 14 at the time and it was the school holidays. When school began again, I put the book away. The next year the BBC put on a children's historical adventure series that was titled “Desert Crusader”. It was dubbed from French. The original was titled “Thibaud ou les Croisades” and you can find episodes these days on YouTube under that title. I fell in love with the hero and began writing my own form of fan fiction. However, the story developed a brand-new life of its own and became very from the character in the TV programme. Writing the book in between my school lessons made me realise that I wanted to write historical fiction for a living. I was only 16 years old, but I knew my career path. I wanted my story to feel as real as possible and that meant doing the research. The more I researched, the more interested, I became in the medieval period and the more I wanted to write about it. It was never ending circle, one interest feeding from the other.

AAR: Before you published “The Wild Hunt”, you couldn’t find a literary agent. Your books were rejected for many years. What were you feeling at that time? Were you furious because you knew that you were writing well but no one wanted to appreciate your work?

EC: Not in the least. I knew it was what I was meant to do and that at some point I would get there. Basically, I was serving my apprenticeship and those hours at the typewriter and in front of the screen had to be done. I never saw rejection as a personal thing. It just made me all the more determined that the next book I wrote would be so good that people wouldn't be able to refuse it. Even though it happened many times, it never put me off. I had been telling myself stories of one kind or another since small childhood so it was actually a part of who I was. Even if I was never published, I would still be writing stories. You need to be lucky to be published, but you also need to be good enough and the times I was being rejected, I was still learning my craft, but had not reached a high enough standard. Toward the end of my apprenticeship. If that is what you want to call it, I was recognising that I was becoming as good as the published novelists out there. I began winning competitions and I had faith that I would succeed. So no, I never felt furious. If I wasn't being published, then I wasn't good enough. I recognised that reality without beating myself up about it. It just gave me the determination to be better.

AAR: After having published “The Wild Hunt”, you wrote the continuation of that story. What motivated you to take on this challenge?

EC: My motivation was that I was interested in the family I had written about and wanted to continue their story for a while at least. The main drive to me is the writing and being curious about history and about the people who lived in that history, whether real or imaginary.

AAR: I must admit that I have been interested in the history of England for many years. I am still discovering something new in it. I also write and read a lot about the United Kingdom’s history. Three years ago I wrote an article about William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke. I know that in your literary output you have also books related to this character. Could you tell us something more about them? What motivated you to write about William Marshal and his family?

The Polish edition of
 "The Greatest Knight"
Published by AURUM PRESS (2010)
Translated by
Anna Krawczyk-Łaskarzewska

EC: William Marshal was the fourth son of John  FitzGilbert, who was the Royal Marshal at a time of great upheaval in England. He was of the middle rank of the aristocracy. But William was destined for greater things. He was nearly hanged as a small boy when he was a hostage during a siege. However, the king could not bring himself to do the deed and William was later returned to his family. He grew up to become an expert in the military arts, with a particular talent for the tournament when he made a name for himself.

He entered service with the Angevin kings, first as a tutor and Marshal to King Henry II’s eldest son, also called Henry. When young Henry died rebelling against his father, William swore to take the young man's cloak to Jerusalem and lay it on the tomb of the holy sepulchre. Having achieved his goal, he returned and continued to serve Henry II.

Following Henry's death, William entered the patronage of Richard the Lionheart, who granted him a hand in marriage of a young heiress, Isabelle de Clare. William now became a magnate of the realm and when Richard went on crusade he left William as one of the co-governors of the country. Following Richard's death, William also served King John and was one of the senior barons involved in issuing Magna Carta. For a while, he was also Regent of England for the young King Henry III.

His lifetime was one of high drama. He was a great fighter, sportsmen, statesman and politician. In his domestic life he was father to 10 children, five boys and five girls and his marriage seems to have been a long and loving partnership of 30 years. I have written several books about him. “The Greatest Knight” covers the part of his life as a young knight and leaves him in 1194 with his wife and the beginnings of his family and looking to expand his horizons. Its sequel “The Scarlet Lion” takes him through the rest of his life when he became a great politician and statesman and took on his wife's Irish lands. There is a prequel to these two novels titled “A Place Beyond Courage” that tells the story of his father John FitzGilbert. “The Time of Singing” is the story of a family related to the Marshals, the Bigods, and its sequel “To Defy A King” is the story of William Marshal's daughter Mahelt, who married into this family. My most recent novel in the UK is “Templar Silks”, a stand-alone novel covering the time that William spent on pilgrimage to the Holy Land. 

As far as what prompted me to write the Marshal stories – it is always about interest and curiosity with me. I go delving and then I want to know more. Originally I was just going to write about William Marshal because I felt he had a really interesting life that would translate well into the medium of the novel, but I discovered when I began researching that it went far beyond that and I had enough material for several novels and a passion to keep me interested for the rest of my life. I have been studying the marshals now for 15 years, and I'm still learning new things every day. I have a deep admiration for William Marshal. He was a man of his time, certainly, and operated within the norms of that society, but underlying that is a powerful integrity of which I feel there isn't enough in the world today.

The Polish edition of
 "Daughters of The Graal"
Published by AURUM PRESS (2009)
Translated by
Anna Krawczyk-Łaskarzewska

AAR:  Apart from the trilogy about Eleanor of Aquitaine and “The Greatest Knight”, your Polish readers can also read “Daughters of The Grail”. Could you tell us something more about this book? What prompted you to write this story?

EC: I was commissioned to write “Daughters of The Grail” by a film producer who had written a treatment and wanted it fleshing out into a novel. The film never got made but the book went on to be published around the world. It’s a sort of medieval “Da Vinci Code” with a slight fantasy element and covers the story of the persecution of the Cathars, among them the descendants of a certain bloodline.

AAR: Now let’s talk about your trilogy related to Eleanor of Aquitaine that has been published in Poland recently. It is said that Eleanor was the most prominent woman of 12^th century Europe. She was recognized by Time magazine as one of the most influential and powerful women of the past millennium. Do you think that the Queen deserved to be called “the most influential woman of the millennium”?

EC: I think she was an amazing woman. Strong, forthright, resilient, very intelligent. I think there must be very many women of that period who have the same qualities, but Eleanor has been the one to stand in the spotlight. Yes, she deserves it for all that she was, but she could be part of a much greater chorus of women.

AAR:  What most surprised you while working on the trilogy?

EC: What really astonished me was how difficult it was to find a decent biography of Eleanor. There are numerous works an interested reader can study about her, but many are highly unreliable. They state opinions as facts and are very loose in their interpretations. Given that the only representation of Eleanor is her tomb effigy, a stylized stained glass window and a grey-haired lady in the Fécamp Psalter who may or may not be Eleanor, it’s astonishing to find her biographers calling her a black-haired, black-eyed beauty with a curvaceous figure that never ran to fat in old age. Or a saucy hot-blooded blonde, or a humorous green-eyed red-head. None of these can be taken as accurate because there is no existing physical description of Eleanor from her own lifetime. Basically most of her biographers cannot be trusted. I did find a couple of books that were grounded and gave good information but overall it was difficult to find decent factual works about her that didn’t leap off a cliff into flights of fantasy. I know I am writing fiction, but I like to have a strong grounding in a factual historical background and it was hard despite – or perhaps because of the numerous nonfiction works that have been written about Eleanor.

AAR: How much time did it take you to prepare to write the story of Eleanor of Aquitaine? Did you have any problems with researching?

EC: I have been writing medieval fiction for several decades, so I already had a base line awareness. Writing the William Marshal novels I had become familiar with Eleanor too, so I already had some research under my belt. I always research as I write, so probably the intensive research took about 18 months, but I already had a strong background awareness. My problems as above mentioned is that many of her biographers could not be trusted. I tried as much as possible to go back to primary source research, but that in itself is a difficult project. I can get by in Latin and Old French but I do prefer to read works in translation.

AAR: If you could travel back in time and meet Eleanor of Aquitaine, what would you like to tell her? How do you generally imagine meeting such the powerful Queen?

EC: I would tell her to run away from Henry II! What I would say from the research I have done is that anyone striving to know Eleanor better should read a book called “Inventing Eleanor” by Michael Evans, which shows how much has been made up about her down the centuries and how the image we have of her today (especially if we read some of her popular biographies) is nothing like the person who inhabited the 12^th century.

Here is the Polish edition of the historical trilogy about Eleonor of Aquitaine:
The Summer Queen, The Winter Crown & The Autumn Throne.
They were published in 2017/2018 by PRÓSZYŃSKI I S-KA
Translated by Magdalena Moltzan-Małkowska

AAR: It is said that Richard the Lionheart was the most beloved child of Eleanor of Aquitaine. Could you tell us how you perceive this King? Have you written a novel about him? If not, do you have such a plan?

EC: No, I haven’t written about Richard the Lionheart nor do I plan to. My good friend Sharon Penman has written two excellent novels about him – “Lionheart” and “A King’s Ransom”, should anyone want to read a work of fiction about him. I would say that he was Eleanor’s favourite, but this was partly because from birth he was the son destined to inherit the maternal lands. He was raised to be her heir and so she was bound to gravitate to him. His skill was warfare. He was also an accomplished musician in his quieter moments and politically astute.  A complex and interesting man.

AAR: During the Second Crusade where the first Eleanor’s husband, Louis VII of France, took part in, there were some rumors that the Queen was having a love affair with her uncle, Raymond of Poitiers. What do you think? Were there definitely just rumors, or maybe Eleanor really became the main character of the moral scandal?

EC: I don’t think she had an affair with her uncle. When you look at the evidence for and against in depth, it mostly emerges on the negative side. Some writers have suggested it happened, but I suspect it’s the sensationalism that draws them rather than admitting to the probable more prosaic truth. I have written a full blog about why I don’t think for one minute that they had an affair. Here’s the url.  http://elizabethchadwick.com/blog/eleanor-of-aquitaine-raymond-of-poitiers-and-the-incident-at-antioch/

AAR: As I mentioned above you live in Nottingham. According to the legend, Robin Hood was supposed to live near this place. He is also very strongly associated with two sons of Eleanor, Richard the Lionheart and John Lackland. I must admit that I have been fascinated by Robin of Sherwood since my childhood. Although I have read and written about him a lot, he is still a mystery to me. Could you tell us what the truth is? Did the Eleanor’s sons really have anything to do with Robin Hood?    

EC: No, I don’t think they did. Indeed, I do not believe that Robin Hood was every actually around so early. He’s a product of the ballads of the later Middle Ages and as such is a fictional character. He may be an amalgam of several outlaw types rife in the 14^th century onwards but in actuality the myth has grown out of itself and become the life that never was. Hollywood and modern fiction writers are the main instigators of Robin Hood in the late 12^th and early 13^th centuries I’m afraid.

Published by SPHERE
(7 Sept. 2006)

AAR: Let’s go back to your books for a moment. So far you have written a lot of novels. Do you have your favourite story among them; the one you love more than others?

EC: For me that would be a bit like asking a mother if she had a favourite child! Each book I write always has something unique about it that makes it special to me. My first published novel “The Wild Hunt” was the one that won a major UK award and that obtained me representation by a top London literary agency. “Lords of The White Castle” was my first attempt at biographical fiction and has been a bestseller, “The Greatest Knight” was a New York Times bestseller and started me on my journey with William Marshal. My Eleanor of Aquitaine trilogy has led me to think in very different ways about a great Medieval queen and who she might have been really under all the glitter and dust we have sprinkled over her life. Every book has taught me something unique about the people and their life and times as I research. So the answer has to be no they are all my favourites.

AAR: And what about the protagonists? Is there the one that you like most and you always smile when you are thinking about him or her?

EC: It’s the same answer as the previous one but with a couple of exceptions. John Marshal in my novel “A Place Beyond Courage” has always stayed with me because I feel history has written him a bad deal – or rather our modern interpretation of history and our laziness in not actually pausing to lift the sheets and look under the surface has given us a simplistic view of a complex man striving to survive in very difficult times. And of course, the great William Marshal. A legend in his own lifetime, and even more of one today. But underneath it all a flesh and blood man with flaws and merits, passions, preferences and dislikes. I’d like to have been in a position to have known him in his own lifetime.

AAR: Is there anything, any era or a character, you would like to write about, but you think that the right time has not come to do it?

EC: Yes, many, but I’m not going to tell you. That’s something that creatively stays under my hat until I’m ready!

AAR: How important are your readers to you? Do you have a good contact with them? How much do they help you while writing?

EC: If I didn’t have readers I wouldn’t have a job! I get on very well with my readers, many of whom have become good friends. I have an open Facebook author group for news and features and feedback – it’s not all about promotion.  I share my research with my readers and daily doings. We’re all people with all our particular interests and skills and it’s good to socialize while doing the day job. https://www.facebook.com/ElizabethChadwickAuthor/?fref=ts

AAR: You told me that there is a chance of publishing your next book in Poland. Could you tell us something more about it if it is not a secret?

Published by SPHERE
(13 Sept. 2012)

EC: I think “Lady of the English” is soon to be published in Poland. It’s about two women and the struggle for the English crown in the 12^th century. Matilda, daughter of the king, has had her throne usurped (as she sees it) by her cousin Stephen and she is determined to have it back for herself and her heirs. She is helped by her stepmother, who is actually Matilda’s own age and with a gentler personality, but nevertheless a steely determination to see that justice prevails.

AAR: Finally, I would like to ask you about your next project? Are you working on a new novel?

EC: I have just begun one, but since it is the very early stages and has not yet gone to contract, again I cannot say, beyond the fact that it is set in the 13^th century and stars two very charismatic protagonists!

AAR: Elizabeth, thank you so much for this nice conversation. It was a great pleasure for me to be able to talk to you. Is there anything you would like to add or tell your Polish readers?

EC: Just thank you for reading my books and I hope you all continue to enjoy them! And thank you for interviewing me and asking such varied questions!

If you want to read this interview in Polish, please click here. 

It was a story I’d wanted to write for years...

Interview with Margaret Leroy

by Agnes A. Rose

Margaret Leroy is a British novelist. As a child she wrote elaborate fantasy stories but she never showed them to anyone. When she was about 12, she stopped writing and she did not start again till her mid-twenties. She went to Oxford to study music. In her twenties she tried all sorts of things – music therapy, play-leading with children with disabilities, work in a toy shop, teaching. Finally she found work as a social worker. At first, she wrote non-fiction and a book for children. Her first novel – TRUST – was published in 1999. This book was adapted for a British television film with a screenplay by Matthew Hall as LOVING YOU in 2003. Later she wrote POSTCARDS FROM BERLIN (2003) that was also published as THE PERFECT MOTHER, and THE RIVER HOUSE (2005). In Poland we can read two of the Margaret Leroy’s books: THE SOLDIER’S WIFE and THE ENGLISH GIRL which were published by GOLA.

Agnes A. Rose: A very warm welcome to you, Margaret, and can I thank you, for taking time to talk to me today. Because recently I have read your book called THE SOLDIER’S WIFE, I would like to start our conversation just with it. The main character of this story is Vivienne de la Mare who gets involved in a forbidden love affair with an SS-officer. It is very controversial. Could you tell us what motivated you to create this story?

Margaret Leroy: It was a story I’d wanted to write for years, ever since I first learned about the Occupation of the Channel Islands by the Germans in WW2. It was a hidden piece of history, and I thought it would make a wonderful setting for a story. But I didn’t feel the right moment had come until I’d already written five contemporary novels: I was quite nervous about writing my first historical novel!

AAR: While writing the history of Vivienne and Gunther, weren’t you afraid that you would create negative emotions both in readers and critics?

ML: I guess I don’t really think about critics when I’m writing a novel – I just have a story which I want to tell. For me, the Occupation was fascinating to write about, because people face such difficult dilemmas in their everyday lives when they live alongside the enemy. I was interested in the moral complexity of the situations my heroine would have to confront, and I hope that people will empathise with her as they read the story.

AAR: We all know how women who fraternized with the enemy were punished not only during the Second World War but also after the war. You mention that in your novel, too. Do you think that Vivienne would also deserve such a punishment? After all, she loves that German officer in a way, and besides, she meets him in order to be able to provide food to her family when her husband is absent.

ML: In fact, women who’d slept with the enemy weren’t punished in that way on Guernsey, but some were punished on Jersey, one of the other islands. That was one of the reasons I chose Guernsey as my setting, as that wasn’t essentially part of the story I wanted to tell. As to whether she’d have deserved such punishment, I guess that’s for the reader to decide!

AAR: While reading THE SOLDIER’S WIFE, I got the impression that Vivienne’s mother-in-law is also a very important character in this story. Despite the fact that she lives in her own world, in a certain way she understands the reality that surrounds her. Did you have any difficulties creating this character?

ML: I think you’re absolutely right in what you say about her. She’s someone whose mind is starting to go, but she also sometimes sees into the heart of things. I used to work as a psychiatric social worker, and that background was helpful in creating the character – I had some understanding of the way someone suffering from dementia might talk or behave. And I like creating characters who may seem strange or different, but who have their own wisdom.

AAR: Why did you choose Guernsey as the setting of your book?

This is the Polish cover of
 "The Soldier's Wife"
Published by GOLA (2013)
Translated by Anna Wojtaszczyk
& Olga Wojtaszczyk 

ML: Before I wrote the book, I went to Guernsey on a research trip as I knew I couldn’t write the book if I didn’t love the place. And I was enchanted. Though the island is quite small, it was easy to leave the crowded bits behind and to seek out peaceful places, like the deep lanes of St Pierre du Bois, where I decided Vivienne should live. I even chose a particular house where I could picture her living. I find it a huge help in writing a story if I can see the setting very precisely in my mind’s eye. And once I’ve created that world, it’s always such a joy to return to it every time I sit down to write.

AAR: Your second book we can read in Polish is called THE ENGLISH GIRL. This is the story of a seventeen-year-old girl who is offered the chance to study at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. Pre-war Vienna is very beautiful and makes Stella Whittaker an amazing impression. What made you decide to write this kind of book? Its plot also focuses on the Second World War.

ML: I’d visited Vienna in my twenties, and found it an amazing place. In terms of culture, it’s so rich: Freud lived there, and so many celebrated musicians – Beethoven, Schubert, Mozart. And the coffee-shops are wonderful! I chose the 1930’s because I find those years just before war broke out very fascinating – the way people maybe sensed what was going to happen and yet it couldn’t be stopped.

AAR: And now let’s talk about your debut, please. I read on your website that your first book called TRUST deals with an allegation of sex abuse. This is a very serious problem. Could you tell us something more about this novel?

ML: At the time I wrote it, I was working as a social worker, and the seed of the story was something that happened to some people I knew. The story is told from the viewpoint of a woman, Chloe: her lover is a child psychologist who has an allegation of child abuse made against him. The incredibly difficult dilemma she faces is whether to believe him when he says the allegation is false. Should she trust him?

AAR: What made TRUST be adapted for a British television film? Do you remember what you felt when you found out about it?

ML: I was completely thrilled! It was so exciting for me to see my story on the screen, and they made a beautiful job of it. It was so strange to think that one day the idea had come to me, to write this story, and now it had grown into a television drama that was seen by an audience of eight million people.

AAR: What motivates you to write about difficult life problems?

This is the Polish cover of
"The English Girl"
Published by GOLA (2014)
Translated by Anna Wojtaszczyk
& Olga Wojtaszczyk

ML: My first thought was to say that this is because of my experience as a social worker. But I think the answer is more complicated than that – maybe I was drawn to social work for the same reason that I’m drawn to write stories about difficult life problems! I think I’ve always been intrigued by the darker side of human nature, and I always want to understand why people behave as they do. And of course many stories do deal with difficult things: you need to put your characters into extreme situations and see how they react.

AAR: Before you published TRUST, you had written non-fiction and a book for children. Could you tell us something more about this part of your writing career?

ML: I wrote books about miscarriage and female sexuality. I enjoyed researching and writing those books, but if I’m entirely honest they were also a way in to what I really wanted to do – writing novels. Through my non-fiction, I met publishers and literary agents, and began to understand how publishing works, and all that knowledge was helpful when I wanted to offer my first novel for publication.

AAR: Your latest book is entitled A BRIEF AFFAIR. Its plot also focuses on the Second World War. Why do you write about the war so often?

ML: My first five novels were set in the present day, but I’ve since written three WW2 books, and very much enjoyed writing them. There are still so many great stories to be told about WW2, and readers continue to be fascinated by it. But I think A BRIEF AFFAIR will be my last WW2 book, and I’m writing something quite different now.

AAR: How do you find the perfect balance between dialogue and narrative?

 

ML: I find this quite a difficult question to answer, as it’s not really something I think about consciously when I’m writing. My approach is first to write a plot outline, and then to write a quick first draft of the book, which will have most of the dialogue in, but not very much description. Then in later drafts I’ll fill out the story, and there will be much more narrative and description, but the dialogue will probably stay much as it is.

AAR: Could you tell us how your typical working day looks like?

ML: I only write in the mornings – I can’t write for longer than four or five hours at a time. In the afternoons, I deal with all the other things – research, email and so on. I also try to fit in a bit of exercise – writing is the most sedentary of occupations. I’m a fanatical swimmer, and I’m constantly dragging my poor husband off on long walks!

AAR: You mentioned above that now you are working on a new novel. Would you like to tell us something about it?

ML: My new novel is set in the New Forest, which is a beautiful part of England where I grew up, and where my grandfather was a forester, so I know the setting very well. The story has two strands – one is contemporary, and one takes place a thousand years ago. So this is something quite different for me, and utterly fascinating to write.

AAR: Margaret, thank you very much for this nice conversation. Is there anything you would like to add or tell your Polish readers?

ML: I’m so glad that you enjoy my novels. Happy reading!

If you want to read this interview in Polish, please click here.