Only when we learn from historical mistakes can we avoid making such mistakes again today.

Interview with Eva Weaver

by Agnes A. Rose

Eva Weaver is a writer, coach, art therapist and performance artist; often exploring issues of belonging and history in her work. She is German and like many Germans, she is haunted by the events of the Second World War, which inspired her to write the debut novel “The Puppet Boy of Warsaw”. She moved from Germany to Britain and now she lives in Brighton.

Agnes A. Rose: Thank you so much for accepting my invitation to this interview. Your debut novel “The Puppet Boy of Warsaw” was published in Poland last year. I know that many of your Polish readers are very impressed by this book. Why did you decide to describe such a tragic story of Mika and Max?

Eva Weaver: Ever since I learnt about the Holocaust/Shoah as a teen, I have been struggling with this historical fact. How the Holocaust had been possible; what it means for Germans now and for my personal life; whether any true healing and reconciliation of such deep wounds can ever be possible and, indeed, what it means to create art and literature after Auschwitz – these questions have been with me for a very long time. After years of working with this through performance, I still felt a strong need to attend to this in a substantial way.

During a creative writing exercise the image of the oversized coat with a multitude of pockets came to me and then soon afterwards the puppets hidden within. I trusted these strong images and started to write and follow the story that unravelled, which took me to a young Jewish boy, the Warsaw ghetto and beyond.

“Puppet Boy” is an attempt to give those numbers and statistics of the Second World War a human face, to contribute to honour the dead so we won’t forget their heart-wrenching and so often heroic stories and of course to ask myself and my readers what would we have done living in those times?

Agnes A. Rose: Some of Polish readers point out that in your book you forget a little about the tragedy of Poles describing Polish people as living without any major changes outside the ghetto. Maybe we are a little touchy. But in spite of all I would like to ask you why you focused your attention mainly on Jews and Germans?

Eva Weaver: Oh, I have not forgotten at all about the tragedy of all Polish people, Christian Poles and Jewish Poles and do not wish to alienate or offend anyone. I created Mika and Jakob as Poles, not Christian Poles but Jewish Poles, and proud to be Poles, proud of the Jewish heritage.

As a German I found it particularly important to mainly focus in my book on the Jewish Holocaust – six million of Jews, children, women and men died in the Shoah, many in Nazi ghettos and German Nazi extermination camps located in Poland.

I am also very aware of the hardship that Christian Poles underwent throughout the war and occupation and especially during the Warsaw Uprising. I found that a lot of information exists about the Warsaw Uprising but not very much about the Jewish Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and found it important to write and educate about this tragic part of Warsaw’s history.  

Agnes A. Rose: The puppets are very important in your book. Could you tell your Polish readers, who have not read “The Puppets Boy of Warsaw” yet, what their role is?

Eva Weaver: The puppets are metaphors for the will to survive and the power of resistance. They are characters in their own right, and yet they need a human, Mika and later Max the soldier, to come to life and make an impact.

Like behind a mask, there lies a certain power in the position of a puppeteer – one can get away with being cheeky, pulling the audience’s leg and speaking the truth in times of oppression, which makes it an ideal tool for resistance. One can to some extent “hide” behind the puppets like the jester; the puppeteer through the puppets can speak truth without being held fully accountable.

The puppets come into play in times of biggest challenge and when most needed – then they comfort, entertain, exude authority and call for resistance. They support resistance in a practical way- the smuggling of the children out of the ghetto – and in a psychological way: because to still play and make art in times of adversity can be an act of resistance in itself. The puppets are also charming- they charm the audiences be it children or adult and show that there is still something else but brutality and devastation. In that sense they are holding a beacon of hope for the people of the ghetto and later, hope for reconciliation.

The prince puppet particularly is an important character in the book, a connection between the Jewish boy Mika and the German soldier Max.

The prince becomes a trusted comrade, friend and a kind of protector in the darkest hour. The prince is an unusual hero. He is like a mirror, a double of Mika’s deepest most courageous and honourable spirit. The prince puppet connects three generations and for me this puppet signifies hope for healing and reconciliation, a hope in the power of the arts and creativity to support us through the most horrific trauma.

Agnes A. Rose: How did you prepare for writing “The Puppet Boy of Warsaw”?

Eva Weaver: I did a lot of research: I read a lot of novels and non fiction about the Holocaust/Shoah, particularly about the Warsaw ghetto. Also lots of eye witness reports, diaries, articles and films. I worked a lot with photographs while writing- the Warsaw ghetto has been well documented, and large archives exist accessible online as well as even some films. I have had several exchanges with Antony Polonsky, professor of Holocaust studies at Brandeis during the writing of “Puppet Boy”.

Another important part of my research was my visit to Warsaw and Krakow in October 2010. I have also researched about the Siberian Gulags and the banishment of German soldiers to Siberia, including literature and non fiction, eye witness reports via the web. 

The Polish book cover of
The Puppet Boy of Warsaw

Agnes A. Rose: What kind of feelings accompanied you during the writing of this novel?

Eva Weaver: It was of course a very emotional process! Exploring for months the theme of the Holocaust was hard, but what is this compared to having to live like Mika and his family in a ghetto, continuously threatened by death? It helped that as an Art Therapist I have already thought a lot about and witnessed the power of creativity to help us survive and work through deep trauma and this forms an important part of the book – Mika’s puppeteering, how the puppets become a means of survival and resistance. Creativity here is something like a delicate counter balance to the horror of the ghetto, something that still holds the beacon for humanness in the face of the unthinkable horror of the ghetto and the deportations. I doubt I could have written the book without including the puppets. I also had a lot of support through colleagues and friends, Jewish and non-jewish, English and German, writers and non writers, artists, my mentor and coach, my agent, editor and my writing group. Of course as writers we spend a lot of time on our own and it can be a lonely endeavour, but I also see this book as a big collaboration having very much evolved out of community and dialogue, from its first kernel to the epilogue and I am hugely grateful for this.

Agnes A. Rose: What is the most interesting or maybe surprising fact you came across in your research for “The Puppet Boy of Warsaw”?

Eva Weaver: The courage of the Jewish people inside the ghetto and especially the heroic acts of the Warsaw ghetto fighters, who, children, young people and adults alike, gave everything in the uprising despite knew that their fight would be futile in the face of the overwhelming German occupying power. Also people who managed to keep art and culture alive even within the terrible conditions of the ghetto.

The many acts of resistance be it by Jewish Poles as well as Christian Poles on the other side of the ghetto wall. Especially the story of Irina Sendler acts of resistance touched me deeply.

Agnes A. Rose: Was it easy to find a publisher for “The Puppet Boy of Warsaw”?

Eva Weaver: I had the good fortune to find a fabulous and enthusiastic agent based in a large agency who quite quickly found a good publisher and later sold the book to twelve countries.

Agnes A. Rose: I read that your mother had been bombed out in 1942 during the first air attacks on Nuremberg. Could you tell us something more about this tragic event if it is not too painful for you?

Eva Weaver: My mother was only eleven at the time. During the attack she did with her parents and some neighbours in a makeshift bunker. After hours of bombing when they emerged from the bunker in the morning, most of the houses in their streets were reduced to rubble and stood burning. The front facade of my mother’s house was ripped away and they could see inside as in a doll’s house. There was still a slice of bread on a plate and an egg in an egg cup in the kitchen, untouched, my mother tells me.

Agnes A. Rose: In Poland your book is promoted as the ravishing study of human courage and strength of forgiveness. Do you think that a contemporary man is able to forgive the atrocities of World War II to those who were responsible for that tragedy? Are we able to live without any prejudices to each other in successive generations?

Eva Weaver: The question whether the wounds of the Holocaust can ever be truly healed has been with me for many years and the prospect that healing as such might not be possible has haunted me. Hence, like a lot of my performance work before, this book is an attempt at exploring the human heart, at looking at survival, at the small human gestures that were present in every war, every catastrophe and in this way to “attend” to the wound in the best possible way I can.

Agnes A. Rose: As you mentioned above, you have already visited Warsaw and Krakow. Could you tell us about the places relating to World War II that you saw then?

Eva Weaver: I visited Krakow and Warsaw in autumn 2010, tracing the remains of the Jewish Warsaw and the ghetto, the Jewish cemetery, remains of the ghetto wall, Umschlagplatz monument, monument of the fighters of the Warsaw ghetto, Uprising and the Jewish Historical Institute, which houses the Ringelblum archive. The visit moved and impacted me deeply. Although I had read a lot I, like Mara in the book, was shocked to find hardly any traces of the former city and in particularly the fact that many of the modern housing blocks in the Northwest of the city had been directly built on the rubble from the completely destroyed ghetto, which had never been cleared away. This total absence of Jewish culture was devastating and haunting. In a different way the colourful old centre of town, which had been painstakingly rebuilt stone after stone after the war also felt very moving.

Agnes A. Rose: How much important is history for you? I mean not only World War II, but the history in its general sense.

Eva Weaver: I believe to know about historical events, to understand the complexities of history is crucial. Only when we learn from historical mistakes can we avoid making such mistakes again today. I understand Antisemitism is still a problem in Poland and other countries, and it is crucial that we continue to remember the Holocaust and as many of the individuals and their life stories as possible. My hope is that my book and its young protagonist Mika will bring the ghetto and the Uprising closer to a younger contemporary audience and help support dialogue. Only through education and cultivation of empathy can we fight prejudices of any kind.

Agnes A. Rose: What do you read in your free time? Do you have your favourite authors?

Eva Weaver: Some of my favourite writers who have also taught me a lot about the craft of writing are amongst others Margaret Atwood, Paul Auster, Barbara Kingsolver, Alice Walker, Haruki Murakami, Annie Proulx, Anne Michaels and Angela Carter. All are exceptional storytellers and hugely enjoyable to read.

Agnes A. Rose: You are not only a writer. Could you tell us a little bit about your other work?

Eva Weaver: I am also working as a shamanic practitioner, breathworker, and Creativity Coach. As part of “IGNITE YOUR LIFE” I am running retreats and workshops with my partner for Empowerment and Transformation, offering a mixture of empowerment tools, Breathwork and Firewalking, (www.igniteyourlife.co.uk).

Agnes A. Rose: What writing projects are you working on at the moment?

Eva Weaver: I am writing on my second novel “The Ship of Fools”. It is also a historical novel, this time set in Scandinavia at the turn of the 19th century, about two young women who have been committed to a mental asylum on a small island, their escape and epic journey across the archipelago and throughout Sweden to Sápmi/Lapland, the very North of Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia, the land of the indigenous Sápmi people. It is a novel about the power of vision, friendship and love in the face of betrayal, and incarceration and a woman’s search for her heritage, her destiny and belonging.

Agnes A. Rose: Finally, is there anything you would like to tell your Polish readers?

Eva Weaver: I would love to be able to visit Poland and especially Warsaw, again and I am keen to do a reading and have more dialogue with Polish readers. In particular I would also like to see and connect with the Museum of Jewish culture, which was not finished when I visited.

In the meantime you can find out more background on The Puppet Boy of Warsaw on my Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/thepuppetboyofwarsaw or email me on evaweaver@talk21.com.

Agnes A. Rose: Thank you very much for this conversation. I hope that in Poland we will be able to read your next novel soon.

Eva Weaver: Yes, so do I, I hope it will also be translated into Polish! Thank you very much for asking me for this interview!

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

I write what I love to read!

Interview with Roxanne St. Claire

by Agnes A. Rose

Roxanne St. Claire is a bestselling author of more than thirty novels of romance and suspense. In 2005 she won the prestigious RITA Award for outstanding romantic fiction. Her novels have also won many awards for best romantic suspense. Prior to launching a full time career as a novelist in 2003, Roxanne St. Claire spent most of her professional life as a marketing executive and public relations consultant. She is a graduate of UCLA, an active member of several national writing organizations, and a lecturer on wide range of writing-related topics. She is the author of novels such as “First You Run”, “Now You Die”, “Then You Hide” and many others. Roxanne lives in Satellite Beach (Florida) with her family. 

Agnes A. Rose: I’m very happy that you accepted my invitation to this interview. Thank you very much! You are a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. Your books are read all over the world. Could you tell us how it feels to be the author of international renown?

Roxanne St. Claire: First of all, thank you so much for inviting me to speak with your readers! I am delighted to have found an audience in Poland, and it’s an honor to be here to answer your questions and share my writing life. How does it feel? Well, most days, I feel like I have a wonderful job that requires a lot of work and concentration. I love writing novels, but I can assure you, the process is one of the most difficult I’ve ever attempted. Each story is a challenge, and some days the writing just doesn’t flow.  But when I am finished, the sense of accomplishment is fantastic! And when I hear from readers who say the book made them laugh or cry, then I have all the “renown” I need!

Agnes A. Rose: What made ​​you decide to leave a well-planned career in public relations in favor of writing novels?

Roxanne St. Claire: I actually quit my PR career so I could focus one hundred percent on my small children.  My PR job was demanding, and I was traveling or in meetings constantly. I had a nanny helping me with the kids and she had a lovely British accent. One day, I heard my daughter use that accent and I realized that I was missing out on the most important part of my life. I made a fairly impulsive decision to quit being a full-time mother. But I found myself thinking about that novel I’d always dreamed of writing, so I would get up before the kids at 4:45 and write a chapter a day. When I sold that first book, I was hooked. But I’ve loved being able to be with my children and when they were younger, I only wrote while they were in school. Now, one is in college and the other has only a year left at home. I’m glad I’ve been with them and still had a chance to follow my writing dreams.

Agnes A. Rose: As mentioned above you are the author of romance and suspense. Could you tell us why you choose this kind of literature?

Roxanne St. Claire: I write what I love to read! It’s really that simple. I have enjoyed books with a romantic storyline since I was quite young, and I’ve always been drawn to those that had a secondary plot that put the characters in danger. It is most natural to write what you love to read.  For me, that was Nora Roberts, Sandra Brown, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, and authors like that.

Agnes A. Rose: So far you have created three very popular series: “The Bullet Catchers”, “The Guardian Angelinos”, and “The Barefoot Bay”. Which of these series is closer to you and why?

Roxanne St. Claire:  At the moment, I’m quite in love with Barefoot Bay, which is different than the other two. The Bullet Catchers and Guardian Angelinos are about bodyguards and security specialists, and those stories are as full of action as they are romance. I loved writing them and, honestly, I miss writing them because the characters are like family and friends to me.  Then, a few years ago, I decided to try my hand at contemporary romances where there is as much emotion as romance. I launched the Barefoot Bay books, and wanted them to have plenty of family drama and internal conflict and “issues” that today’s young women have to deal with, such as infertility or single parenting or even a sick older relative. Woven into those “real world” stories is a bond of friendship, which is another story line I love to explore.  Of course, at the core, they are romances.

The Barefoot Bay books have really touched a chord with readers, and I’ve now written one quartet (the original four books), a trilogy called The Barefoot Billionaires, and am now writing a trilogy The Barefoot Brides. All of the books take place on the same tropical island off the Gulf Coast of Florida, and many of the characters come in and out of each story. But each book is a “stand alone” romance with a love story that carries that heroine and hero into a wonderful happy ending. I’m really enjoying writing the Barefoot Bay books and hope to do several more.

Roxanne with her family

Agnes A. Rose: Do you find it more difficult to write a book that is part of a series?

Roxanne St. Claire: There are certainly challenges – when you set one character up in a book with a specific character trait – you have to live with that in future books.  This can be tricky! If I’ve given a character some particular trait or backstory, I can’t change that when it’s time to write them as the lead.  And I love to revise! My books get written at least two times, if not three, because I love to rewrite and my first draft is never right. So that means there will be character traits I CANNOT change because they appeared in an earlier book. But there are many things I love about writing a series: the familiarity of the world, the comfort level every time I go back there, and, of course, the readers love it!

Agnes A. Rose: What do you like best: writing series or a stand alone book? Why?

Roxanne St. Claire:  I guess I prefer a series because I know the readers are most excited about them.  However, I can honestly say that some of my personal favorite books have been my stand alones. I have written about six or seven books that are totally unrelated to anything else, and some of those are my very favorites.  Most of those books are out of print in English now, sadly. My favorites are HIT REPLY, KILLER CURVES, FRENCH TWIST, and my first young adult novel, DON’T YOU WISH*.

Agnes A. Rose: Are there any real-life stories/experiences behind any of your books? Or is all of it pure fiction?

Roxanne St. Claire:  Nothing is pure fiction! I get so many ideas from the real world -- almost all of them.  Characters are composites of people I meet, plot lines are pulled from the news, and my own life is infused on every page.  At the heart of the Barefoot Bay series are female friendships and I have definitely drawn on the dynamic of my circle of friends for those stories. I’ve set many books in Boston and Miami, cities where I’ve lived, and I’ve even used real situations that have happened to me in books.  But after all the rewriting and “fictionalizing” – they don’t resemble my life at all. I wish they did – all those handsome heroes and happy endings!! (Although I have been quite fortunate in that department, too!)

Agnes A. Rose: You are the author of the young adult novel “Don’t You Wish”. It seems to me that writing for young readers is much more difficult than for adults. Why did you decide to create this kind of story? What did you want to convey to young people writing this book?

Roxanne St. Claire: That is one of the stories that came from real life!! In DON’T YOU WISH, the teen character learns her mother once had a billionaire boyfriend and is devastated because “Mom married the wrong guy!” She naively fantasizes about how her life would have been different if her mother had married a wealthy and successful man. Through a series of strange circumstances and a twist of physics, the character is sent to a parallel universe where her mother DID marry the rich guy...and the character learns that a seemingly perfect life comes with a very high price.

Well, that story was based on real life! No, my daughter didn’t go to a parallel universe, but I was perusing a copy of a magazine one day and found a spread about a billionaire’s mansion in Los Angeles. It just so happens that many years ago, when I was living in Los Angeles, that billionaire (though he wasn’t then) had been my boyfriend for several years. I ended up moving to Boston and leaving that man behind, and ultimately marrying someone else whom I love very much! But when I showed the mansion to my daughter, I joked “you could have lived there if I’d have married that guy.”  She was stunned and kept fantasizing about “what if”... so that’s where I got the idea for the book!

Some of the Polish ("First You Run", "Then You Hide" & "Now You Die")
and American book covers of Roxanne St. Claire's novels

Agnes A. Rose: You are also the co-author of the Romance Anthologies. What prompted you to participate in this collective project? Could you tell us something more about this part of your work?

Roxanne St. Claire: Those projects are usually driven by the publisher, and they can be a lot of fun.  It’s a great way to get to know other authors and to have my work reach their readers, too. I really enjoy working on projects like that and am always open to doing more!

Agnes A. Rose: How do you prepare yourself to write a novel? I mean your mentally and physically preparation.

Roxanne St. Claire: I’m usually thinking about the next book a lot when I’m finishing the one in front of me. Threads of ideas and character issues are starting to knot up in my brain and I know I’m going to have to unravel them in order to write the book.  Once I gear up, I usually do a lot of research – on settings, on character’s jobs, on the story in the background. For example, when I wrote my most recent novel, BAREFOOT IN WHITE, I had to do a lot of research on destination wedding planners because the Barefoot Brides are consultants who coordinate gorgeous beachfront wedding events. Research always gives me story ideas.

I don’t really plot out a book, but I try to get a general sense of the main conflict and who the people really are. I do a rough “story arc” and then I just bite the bullet and type Chapter One. This is the hardest part! It’s like jumping off a fifty foot cliff into the darkness with no parachute. But I have done it almost forty times now, and I suppose I’ll do it forty more!

Agnes A. Rose: What do you usually feel when you type THE END on your book? Do you celebrate this event?

Roxanne St. Claire:  I feel GREAT!!! I know I’m probably going to rewrite 80% of the book because that’s how I work, but I love, love, love to revise. It’s so much easier for me than fresh writing.  My tradition is to call one of my kids or my husband into the office so they can witness me typing THE END and then we celebrate with food, wine, and sleep!

Agnes A. Rose: Your books are addressed mainly to women. I wonder if you also have any male readers. If so, what do they think about your novels?

Roxanne signing her books at a conference

Roxanne St. Claire: I certainly do have male readers, but mostly for my romantic suspense and bodyguard series, which have a lot more action than “girly” emotion. I hear from them occasionally, and treasure them all! I have developed friendships with a few – one of my readers is a weapons expert and he helped me with any scene that has a gun in it.  Another one of my readers is a former FBI agent, and he’s been tremendously helpful with research on several books. I don’t have as many reading the Barefoot Bay series, though there are a few and I treasure them!

Agnes A. Rose: How much do your relatives or friends help you to write? What is their influence on your writing career?

Roxanne St. Claire: They stay out of my way! That’s the most they can help me.  In truth, my husband is an amazing cook and he does all the food shopping and cooking for our family, so that is a TREMENDOUS help! I never have to worry about making dinner. And I often write with my three closest writing friends – we get together at one of our houses, bring laptops, gather around the table, and WRITE all day long. We are all published writers on deadlines.  When we take breaks, we brainstorm ideas, names, and plot twists. Last year, the four of us published 14 books and wrote over a million words! We call it “Writers Camp” and it works!!

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

Roxanne St. Claire: Good heavens, there are so many!!  I’m still raising children, though one is in college and the other a teenager. But that’s the main focus of my life, for sure. I’d love to see them grow to be productive, happy, successful adults. I’d love to see one of my books made into a movie (DON’T YOU WISH has sold movie rights and there is a script, but no one has started production yet!). And I’d love to visit Europe!!! I’ve been to a few countries, but not many. I’m hoping that I have some lovely writing trips in the future – maybe I can get to Poland!!

Agnes A. Rose: How do you imagine your further writing career? Where do you see yourself five or more years from now?

Roxanne St. Claire: I really don’t know beyond the fact that I love what I do, so I hope in five years, I will have at least 15 more books written, will have traveled some more, been to my movie premier, and celebrated a secure and happy life with my family. Someday I’d like to live in the country and raise goats.  Right now, I live on the water in Florida (beautiful!) and enjoy the tropical lifestyle, but I wouldn’t mind a house in the mountains someday.

Agnes A. Rose: Are you working on a new novel? If so, could you tell us a little bit about it?

Roxanne St. Claire:  I’m always working on a new novel!  Right now I’m writing the second book in the Barefoot Bay Brides trilogy.  The first one, BAREFOOT IN WHITE, came out last month and readers are LOVING it!  I’m in the “ugly” part of first draft on the second one, but nearing the end and looking forward to revisions.  This trilogy is about three destination wedding planners who are very skilled at creating perfect weddings for their clients... but haven’t had one of their own. All that will change!!

Agnes A. Rose: Finally, I’d like to ask you to say a few words to your Polish readers.

Roxanne St. Claire: Just THANK YOU for giving my books a chance and inviting me into your hearts! I hope you can find the books in Polish or are enjoying reading them in English. It’s such a thrill to think of someone thousands of miles away picking up my story and getting lost in my world. I’m humbled and honored and delighted!

Agnes A. Rose: Thank you so much for taking the time. I wish you every successes in your further writing career.

Roxanne St. Claire: Thank you for having me here! It’s been fun to answer these terrific questions and I hope to get to Poland and meet you someday soon!!

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

---

* None of these books has published in Poland so far. 

"The Good Child" Roma Ligocka

The Girl in the Red Coat was a debut novel by the Polish writer Roma Ligocka. It was a spectacular success, as the story of a little girl surviving through the Holocaust was a real tearjerker. Her newest novel The Good Child proves that the World War II was not the only trauma that the writer had to cope with.

Adolescence is always the time of great turmoil. The 12-year-old Roma lives only with her mother, since the rest of the family had died. The girl struggles to find her way through the new world, which she does not understand. She is a Jew but she does not have to hide anymore. She goes to school, she has her dreams and interests. Nonetheless she is still full of fear about the only parent that has left, her mother Teofila.

The Good Child is a very intimate autobiography. The author uses fragments of her grandmother's diary. These pre-war notes helped young Roma to survive through hard times, because they depicted a different, forgotten world, in which her family used to live. It is visible in her mother's inability to adjust to the new reality, as she once used to be a spoiled daughter living in the world of glamorous parties and luxuries. Roma is the victim of her mother's frustration.

The mother-daughter relationship is full of intense emotions. Roma is constantly worried about her suicidal mother. The older woman sees Roma as a lunatic hidden in her own reality. Her mother's affair with a married man only makes things worse. Roma is paranoid, she starts to read her mother's letters, she eavesdrops every conversation. Eating and physical contact repulse her. And she still remains alone.

It is difficult for me to evaluate Roma Ligocka's novel. It is as difficult as to criticize someone's experiences. Roma did not choose her fate, first as a war child, later as an abandoned teenager. Thanks to painting and writing she has found her identity , but she will probably run away for the rest of her life. In this sad, very personal story there is some place for hope. The Good Child enabled the author to leave the past behind and see the relationship with her mother from a new perspective. I truly hope that she did.

Roma Ligocka (born Rominka Liebling, 13 November 1938 in Kraków, Poland) is a Polish costume designer, writer, and painter. Her novel The Girl in the Red Coat was inspired by Steven Spielberg's movie Schindler's List. After watching the movie she recognized herself as a Jewish child that wore a red coat. (Source: wikipedia.pl)

I love hearing from readers and discussing my novels with them...

Interview with Christopher W. Gortner

by Agnes A. Rose

Christopher W. Gortner holds an MFA in Writing an emphasis on Renaissance Studies from the New College of California. In his extensive travels to research his books, he has experienced life in a Spanish castle and danced a galliard in a Tudor great hall. Half-Spanish by birth, he lives in Northern California. His novels have been translated into many languages. He is also a dedicated advocate for animal rights, in particular companion animal rescue to reduce shelter overcrowding. In May this year Christopher W. Gortner visited Poland to promote his latest novel in Polish “Queen's Vow. A novel of Isabella of Castile”. He met his Polish readers at Matras Bookstore in Warsaw.  

Agnes A. Rose: Thank you very much for your accepting my invitation to this interview. I am very happy about it! At the beginning I would like to ask you about your experience of staying in Poland. Is there anything what most stuck in your memory?

Christopher W. Gortner: I think what most sticks in my memory right now is how incredibly beautiful Poland is. The landscape is so green, with these huge trees – flowering chestnuts, enormous maples. I love trees and Warsaw is full of them; the city also has wonderful parks that you can stroll in for hours. I was also very touched by the warmth and generosity of the Polish people.

photo by Stephanie Mohan

Agnes A. Rose: I am sure that you travel to different countries around the world to meet your readers and promote books. Do you notice any differences between the readers in Poland and in other countries of the world?

Christopher W. Gortner: I found my Polish readers to be very interested in the history that I write about and quite knowledgeable about how certain events connect with their own history. Sometimes, readers meet me and know very little about the history behind my novels, which is fine; but I had some great conversations with my Polish readers because they did have an understanding of the historical background. I even had one reader take me to task for omitting Henri III’s yearlong reign as king of Poland in my novel about Catherine de Medici. I had to admit that while I knew about his time in Poland, I ended up cutting it from the final manuscript because my editor felt it digressed from the main narrative. I apologized and the reader was pleased; I learned that it’s not always wise to tamper thus with history, though in my rather futile defense, Henri was not very influential in Poland and the novel wasn’t about him.

Agnes A. Rose: Would you like to visit Poland in the future, for example as a tourist not as an author?

Christopher W. Gortner:  Oh, yes! I absolutely want to go back and spend more time. Because I was on a schedule, my free time was quite limited. I only saw Warsaw and spent a brief two hours in Krakow; what I did see made me want to stay longer. I would especially like to spend several days in Krakow, as it’s one of the most beautiful cities I’ve visited in Europe.

Agnes A. Rose: Recently your novel “Queen's Vow. A novel of Isabella of Castile” has been translated into Polish, as I mentioned above. Could you tell us why you decided to describe the story about Isabella of Castile? What inspired you to write this novel?

Christopher W. Gortner: I first wrote about Isabella of Castile’s later years, starting in 1492 and leading to her death, in my first novel “The Last Queen”, which is about Isabella’s daughter, Juana. Growing up in Spain, I learned about Isabella and her reign in school, but it wasn’t until I researched “The Last Queen” that I understood how much Isabella had struggled to become the famous queen who united Spain. She faced tremendous obstacles and prejudices, yet the story of her tumultuous rise to power is relatively unknown. I thought that a novel about how Isabella become the queen we all know would be fascinating. She was complicated and not always easy to understand. She made some terrible decisions but also accomplished great feats. I think part of my reason for writing about her was to present how extraordinary she was for her era yet still so much part of it; she was forward thinking in some respects but when it came to her faith, she was blind to the consequences of her actions. A queen like Isabella could only arise out of the chaos of late 15^th century Spain; uniquely Spanish in character, her reign had tremendous impact not only on her country, but also across Europe and the Americas.

Agnes A. Rose: Is there a scene in this book that made you upset and you thought that you wouldn’t keep writing?

Christopher W. Gortner: I struggled with Isabella’s decision to create the Spanish Inquisition and expel the Jews. Though she reaches these decisions toward the end of the novel, in doing so she caused massive suffering and defined herself in history as a cruel fanatic. Knowing that Isabella was responsible for these tragedies, I wondered if I would be able to capture her reasons for doing what she did. It didn’t stop me from writing the novel, obviously, but I did ask myself at first if I wanted to take on such a controversial subject. It is important to note that I do not find Isabella heroic when it comes to her religion; I think she was deeply dogmatic in how she saw her world and her place in it. Writers always want to “like” their lead characters and I did not like Isabella at moments, but I came to realize that liking her all the time was not necessary. On the contrary, because I disagreed with some of her decisions, my challenge was to refrain from judging and present her viewpoint. Isabella believed she was doing the right thing; for her, faith was paramount. I had to portray her as she was, not as I wanted her to be. “The Queen’s Vow” was in some respects the most difficult novel I’ve written but it also ended up being the most rewarding, because I learned to write about a character whose personality and beliefs are antithetical to mine.

Agnes A. Rose: What is the most interesting or maybe surprising fact you came across in your research for “Queen's Vow”?

Christopher W. Gortner: I had no idea Isabella championed women’s education. Because she had such a rudimentary education growing up, when she took the throne she couldn’t even speak Latin, the international language of diplomacy. Isabella was in her early thirties and struggling to unite her realm when she decided to learn Latin. She searched for the best scholar in Europe and found a Spanish-born woman named Beatriz Gallindo, known as La Latina, who had studied at the University of Salerno, the only place in Europe at the time where women could get advanced degrees. Isabella not only hired La Latina to teach her but also to teach her daughters, the infantas; she issued a decree that allowed La Latina to lecture at Spain’s foremost university in Salamanca and allowed other women to pursue studies there. Isabella also brought the first printing presses to Spain and made books accessible; she increased literacy in the country and shamed the swaggering, mostly illiterate nobles into becoming educated. The advances she made helped pave the way for Spain’s Golden Age in the 17^th century.

Agnes A. Rose: You are also the author of the book “The Confessions of Catherine de Medici”. Most of us know Catherine de Medici as a cruel woman who trampled over people to achieve her aim. It seems to me that you warmed her image a little. Why?

Christopher W. Gortner: Like Isabella, Catherine de Medici did horrible things to safeguard her country. History has condemned Catherine based on the horrors of the Massacre of St Bartholomew; she is also infamous for being a poisoner, though I found no historical evidence that she poisoned anyone. It is less known that she also struggled for years to protect France from the devastation caused by the savage Wars of Religion, seeking many different ways to resolve the conflict, to no avail. She was not the instigator of the wars; she had underage children to protect and deeply treacherous nobility plotting behind her back. The massacre was not a deliberate action on her part; yet through this one terrible deed, she set in motion a chain of unstoppable events that blackened her name. As with Isabella, I sought to portray Catherine’s point of view; I did not always agree with her but I believe she was an intelligent woman who fought for peace. She despised war and wanted only to see her sons rule in prosperity. In this respect, she was not cruel, but she could turn cruel when it came to protecting her interests, like every monarch of her era. Even Elizabeth I wielded death when threatened; she executed Mary of Scots and ravaged Ireland because she believed they menaced her safety and power.

Agnes A. Rose: In Poland “The Tudor Secret” is described as the novel with the gallery of the stunning characters with very intelligent and enigmatic Elisabeth I in the center. I’d like to ask you what is so special about this English Queen that writers describe her life so often? Why did you focus your attention on her?

Christopher W. Gortner: I think Elizabeth has enjoyed such acclaim because she was a successful, long-reigning queen who made tremendous sacrifices for her country. Known as the “Virgin Queen” (and history always loves a virgin!) we tend to forget that in order to retain her power, she forsook the most compelling of human intimacies. Nevertheless, Elizabeth appeals to our modernity; she seems more like us than, say, Isabella of Castile or Catherine de Medici. Yet Elizabeth did not face the same challenges as Isabella or Catherine. Although she had religious conflict to contend with, it was not nearly as divisive or brutal as in Spain or France. She did not have children of her body to defend, a husband to please, or vastly rapacious nobility to thwart. Yet she was still a woman like them, exercising power in a time when few women did. Like them, she was also a 16^th century ruler who did reprehensible things to protect her throne. Elizabeth persecuted Catholics; she exploited the rapine of the Americas. She could be tyrannical when the mood struck. We forgive her, however, because her reign is full of glorious events, like the defeat of the Armada; the works of Shakespeare; and relative peace England enjoyed under her rule. Bold and brash, beholden to no man, Elizabeth represents 16^th century feminism – and that, I believe, is why we love her.

In my Tudor trilogy, I focus on her earlier years. The first two books, “The Tudor Secret” and “The Tudor Conspiracy” take place in the time before she becomes queen and the third one, “The Tudor Vendetta”, covers the first months of her reign. All three books feature the perspective of a fictional young man with a secret of his own, which compels him to become Elizabeth’s intimate spy; these novels are full of adventure and suspense, more fictionalized than my books about controversial queens. Elizabeth is an important character but the stories themselves revolve around the dangers she faced while waiting to assume the throne. She is indeed enigmatic during this time; an expert in the power games at court. I find her quite fascinating during these years, as I do her counterparts, her half siblings King Edward and Queen Mary I, whose troubled reigns had a long-lasting impact on Elizabeth. I also reinterpret her relationship with Robert Dudley, who is my main character’s chief adversary.

These are the Polish covers of Christopher W. Gortner's books

Agnes A. Rose: I’m interested to find out why you choose such controversial female rulers as the principal characters of your books. Let me mention Queen Juana of Castile, Catherine de Medici, Isabella of Castile and even Queen Elizabeth I.

Christopher W. Gortner: I am attracted to controversial women because history judges them more harshly. None of the women I write about behaved worse than their male counterparts – Indeed, in some ways, they behaved better. Yet we do not interpret them as we do the men; instead, we reduce them to clichés and deny the extraordinary complexity of these women’s lives. I do like difficult characters who face challenges; and women who exercise power are undeniably that. Even today, we read articles in so-called women’s magazines that promulgate how to have it all: career, family, and self-fulfillment. We rarely see this type of advice for men; society has always assumed men will put their career, or their power, first. The women I choose to write about may have lived in the past and the specifics of their struggles may be different from ours, but the underlying theme is the same: They were not supposed to claim their power and faced opposition because of their gender. Yet they defied the odds. You really can’t find a better story!

Agnes A. Rose: At what point did you decide that you’d like to be a writer full time? And why did you decide to create historical fiction?

Christopher W. Gortner: I didn’t decide to be a full time writer; it decided for me. I always liked writing even as a child but I never considered it a viable profession. I wanted to be in fashion and obtained my first post-graduate degree in merchandising. I worked for over twelve years in the fashion industry before I began writing professionally for the public health sector. In my early thirties, I returned to a graduate program and earned an MFA in Writing and History; my thesis was a completed novel. Shortly thereafter, I was starting submitting my work to agents. It took thirteen years, three subsequent manuscripts, and four different agents before I sold my first two books at auction. I held a full time job throughout this time; writing seemed a risky way to put food on the table. I finally became a full time writer two years ago, when I realized that I was in fact making a living at it. Still, it was a difficult decision for me.

As for historical fiction, it was – and still is – my favorite genre to read. I loved history in school and my mom gave me my first historical novel when I was eleven. After that, I read every historical novel I could find. Historical fiction brings history to life for me in a visceral way, clothing the past in vibrant color and emotion. I had favorite characters, many of whom I now write about, so it seemed natural when I began to write my first novel to make it historical fiction because I have such passion for it.

Agnes A. Rose: How do you navigate the line between staying historically accurate and telling the most compelling story?

Christopher W. Gortner: I do try my utmost to stick to the facts, while taking into account that a “fact” is not always true – especially concerning women who lived many years ago,  whose lives were often recorded by others, with their own bias and agendas. What we believe to be historically accurate may not be entirely so, as every story has two sides. As an historical fiction writer, I seek to uncover truths that may not have made it into the official annals of history. That said, in the end my books are fictionalized interpretations of historical characters. Because I must deal with a finite amount of words, highlighting milestones in an oft-complex life, I have to make certain choices as to what I can and cannot cover. Likewise, I must work with my editors, for whom the demands of the story always takes precedence. Writing historical fiction also presents the particular challenge of precision; unlike in nonfiction, I cannot say, “She did this and we don’t know why.” I have to either know why or reach an educated decision. It involves thorough research and applying that knowledge to my character’s emotional profile. I usually consult numerous sources that are not part of the popular bibliography; it is common for me to discover that what I initially thought I knew about a character is actually more myth than fact. Therefore, to do my characters justice, I must reach conclusions that feel both historically accurate and plausible, irrespective of the established history. A line in an ambassadorial dispatch; a letter that has remained untranslated in an archive; or unexplored circumstance surrounding an event can often shed startling new light that reveals a hidden aspect of my character. I live for those moments; it is why I write historical fiction.

Agnes A. Rose: How do you deal with writing books from the perspective of women? Is it difficult for you?

Christopher W. Gortner: I’m often asked this question and it always surprises me. I think it’s more difficult to write from the perspective of a person who lived hundreds of years ago. Gender, for me, is not nearly as challenging. Perhaps I have a deeper understanding of women; who knows? A few male writers have told me they would find it very tough to write a female character’s perspective for an entire novel, yet for some reason it comes naturally to me. Of course, some readers think I fail miserably at it, but when I write, I never think, “So, how would a woman feel about this or that?” Much like an actor, I must “become” my character. I have to strip away my own self in order to experience her emotions from inside her skin. It makes no difference if my character is female or a male: I must know who they are in order to inhabit them.

Agnes A. Rose: I’ve noticed that you have a very good contact with your readers on the Internet. How does it influence on your writing?

Christopher W. Gortner: I love hearing from readers and discussing my novels with them. Truly, it’s a great honor and pleasure for me. But I cannot let myself be influenced by their opinions in so far as how I approach my work. I appreciate from the heart all the praise and criticism I receive – and I get both – but if I start doubting my ability to tell a story, then I will second-guess everything else, wondering at every turn how the reader might react. To write, I must retain my pact with my character and stay true to my vision; it’s the only way I can summon her voice.

Agnes A. Rose: What is your next project? Are you working on your new novel?

Christopher W. Gortner: I have three novels in the pipeline. The third and final book in my Elizabeth I Spymaster trilogy, “The Tudor Vendetta,” will be published in the US on October 21, 2014; my publisher Znak in Poland has acquired it, but I don’t have a Polish publication date yet. I also recently sold my new historical novel about Coco Chanel, tracing her dramatic life from her forsaken childhood to her tumultuous rise to fame as the world’s most iconic designer and controversial affair during WWII: tentatively titled “Mademoiselle Chanel”, it’s scheduled for US publication in the spring of 2015. Lastly, my novel about Lucrezia Borgia’s dangerous Vatican years is currently with my US editor and scheduled for 2016; Znak has also acquired it for Poland. I am currently researching a new novel, set during the Belle Époque.

Agnes A. Rose: Finally, I’d like to ask you about your work for animal rights. Could you tell us a little bit about it?

Christopher W. Gortner: I help to network and pledge funds to save dogs and cats from overcrowded shelters in the US, particularly in the southern California area, where the rate of euthanization is very high due to overpopulation caused by irresponsible pet ownership and back yard breeding. I’ve loved animals since I was a child; I started actively networking companion animals for rescue a few years before my beautiful dog, Paris, passed away. I now donate in her memory. She was my canine soul mate and I miss her every day; unlike the animals that I help rescue, she never knew abandonment or neglect, so it feels right to save others in her name. I also have two former feral cats who bring me much love and joy.

Agnes A. Rose: Thank you so much for this interview. I wish you all the best for your further creative work. Is there anything you would like to add?

Christopher W. Gortner: Thank you for spending this time with me. I hope your readers enjoy THE QUEEN’S VOW. To learn more about my work, please visit: www.cwgortner.com

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