Today I’m very pleased to welcome Fiona Walker to the interview spot as part of the blog tour for her new novel The Love Letter which was released last week. Welcome Fiona!

The Love Letter is your twelfth novel; how do you keep coming up with new ideas and what was your inspiration for this book?

I’m incurably nosy, and a very active imagination adds fuel – I only have to hear a snatch of overheard conversation to want to fill in all the gaps, whether by fact or fiction. I find stories everywhere, and have more issues trying to limit the number I put into each book than wondering what to write about. I rip pages from magazines and newspapers all the time, bookmark web features or see a new face across a room that I know has to belong to a book character. The initial idea for The Love Letter came from a magazine article about an eccentric and feuding family that runs an arts festival in their stately home, and when I added in the imaginary characters and romantic plot twists that had been queuing up in my head, it took off.

We’ve had a sneak preview of some of the characters in The Love Letter with the release of your first e-book short story, Sealed With A Kiss, which came out in March. Do all of the characters from Sealed With a Kiss feature in The Love Letter?

The star of the story is definitely the main book’s heroine Legs, but as I wrote it, I realised I had the makings of a new novel springboard in there too and two of the minor characters in Sealed With A Kiss actually go on to feature in my next book.  I always love the idea of characters walking from one book to another, which is why I sometimes write in series, although each book always has a stand-alone storyline, and The Love Letter is peopled with entirely new characters. Similarly, Sealed With A Kiss is intended to be a ‘mini bonkbuster’, so while it introduces The Love Letter cast, it has its own world.

Leading lady, Allegra (Legs) North really made me laugh as I was reading. For readers who have yet to meet her, please could you sum her up in five words?

Headstrong, compassionate, inquisitive, romantic and coffee-loving.

I loved eccentric and reclusive author Gordon Lapis and his emails and messages to Allegra made me smile; who was your favourite character to write?

I always relish writing the wild-men, so brooding Jago Byrne and misbehaving roué Hector Protheroe were huge fun to bring on, particularly the latter who was always half naked and carrying a bassoon, an image which cheered me through many a late night writing session.

The coastal Devon setting for The Love Letter is lovely; why did you choose this setting and do the places described actually exist?

Years ago when I was struggling to finish a book in the midst of a house move that was being held up by the Foot and Mouth outbreak, I rented a holiday ‘writing retreat’ cottage very cheaply and discovered the Hartland peninsular, where The Love Letter is set. I wrote by night and walked the dog by day and fell in love with the area. Fictional Farcombe village and its estate and coastline is an amalgamation of several places along that peninsular, but it became totally real in my imagination and I drew maps and sketched the houses to pin around the desk as writing aids.

Allegra sends a love letter explaining her regrets; what’s the most exciting piece of mail you’ve received?!

I have shoeboxes crammed with old letters dating back to university and beyond, and I’d love to say I had a wildly romantic correspondence with a lover, one side of which is still bound up in red ribbon in one of those boxes, but my taste in pragmatic, gung ho men has resulted in lots of postcards from adventurous spots and a few Valentine’s cards featuring gorillas in bras. The most exciting letter I ever received was probably from the (then) literary agent Carol Smith back in pre-email days when she replied to the unsolicited submission of my first novel with a letter that started ‘I LOVE the way you write!’ I must have read it a hundred times before I dared believe it.

What do you like to read when you’re not writing?

I prefer laughing out loud to crying or screaming into the pages, so I love Sadie Jones, Marian Keyes, M C Beaton and Marina Lewycka, and I read an awful lot on recommendation which has led me to discover wonderful writers like Esther Freud and Bella Pollen. I always have a teetering pile of books by my bed (and now that I have a Kindle, I have a stack of downloads queuing up to be read too), and I’m also a devoted re-reader, so a year will never go past when I don’t read a favourite Angela Carter, Jilly Cooper, Georgette Heyer or Tom Sharpe. Since the advent of small children and annual deadlines, I read far less than I used to, which I find hugely frustrating, but I will still stay up all night finishing a good book, and know of nothing to beat that total absorption.

And finally … what can we expect next from Fiona Walker?

My next book has no official title yet although I’ve nick-named it ‘Hot Air’ because it features hot air balloons on steamy summer days. It’s another big-hearted, big-cast romp, this time set between The Chilterns, LA, Andalucia and Kenya, focusing on a group of friends who studied drama together at university twenty years ago and share secrets that start to unravel when a daughter decides to get married. I’ve just delivered the first draft, packed full of eccentric characters, gorgeous Spanish horses and high jinx, and will edit it through summer ready for release next spring.

Many thanks Fiona!

Look out for my review of The Love Letter coming later today. I’ll also be launching a giveaway to win one of five copies of The Love Letter this afternoon so please stay tuned

You can find out more about Fiona and her novels and read an extract from The Love Letter on her website at: http://www.fionawalker.com/

In celebration of the paperback publication of her debut historical novel, The Last Summer, I’m very excited to welcome Judith Kinghorn to One More Page today. The Last Summer is my favourite of the books I’ve read so far this year – a beautiful and heartbreaking story of the First World War and its aftermath, telling the story of a lost generation. You can read my full review here. Welcome Judith!

I absolutely loved The Last Summer and felt it really captured the story of the survivors of the First World War. What drew you to the period and why did you decide to tell this particular story?

Thank you, Amanda. I’m delighted to hear that!

A few things came together to give me the idea for The Last Summer. Firstly, I’d recently reread Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca and decided that I’d like to write a first person narrative. Also, I’d been researching – and was immersed in – the years leading up to and including the First World War. And I knew I wanted to write a love story, because I believe all the greatest stories have that at their heart.  I realised that although there have been many books written about that time, and any number of novels set around the actual war – in the trenches, there are very few told from a single female perspective. So I decided that this book would offer a different perspective, and would tell the story of the war – and its effects – from very personal point of view, and from home.

This is your debut novel; how does it feel to finally see your words in print?

It feels great, but I haven’t had a lot of time to think about it yet, because I’ve been so busy working on my second novel. The most rewarding aspect of it all is hearing from readers. I’ve had messages and emails from all over the world, and that’s been wonderful.

I thought Clarissa was a wonderful character and really enjoyed watching her develop through the book. For readers who haven’t met her yet please could you describe her in one sentence.

Naive and vulnerable, a product of her background and time, Clarissa is tested when the world she knows collapses, and proves herself a survivor.

The descriptions of Clarissa’s childhood home, Deyning Park, are beautiful. Is it based on a real location?

No, Deyning Park is fictitious, but I know setting, the landscape, because it’s not far from where I live, and I very quickly saw the house and grounds in my mind’s eye. I think it’s an amalgamation of places I’ve visited or read about, or seen photographs of. And the more I thought about the place the more vividly it came to me.

At the heart of the last summer is a sweeping and heart-breaking romance; who are your favourite literary romantic figures?

Anna Karenina was one of the first great love stories that had an impact on me, along with Lady Chatterley’s Lover and The Great Gatsby. I also recently reread L P Harltey’s The Go-Between, which is a sublime read and chronicles the doomed love affair of Marian and Ted. And I’d have to include Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre and Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. I think Mr Darcy remains pretty unbeatable as far as romantic heroes go.

Some of the events in The Last Summer are quite shocking and many of the social mores and cultural impacts of the war that are drawn out were a surprise to me; how did you go about your research and what was the most interesting part for you?

I’ve always read a lot of historical biographies and I returned to some of them during my research for The Last Summer. Whilst I was writing the book I limited my reading to biographies and novels specifically from that time. I also kept old postcards, images and photographs around me to act as visual prompts and reminders. I wanted the story to be seen as much as read, for the reader to be transported to that time. I wanted the book to be historically accurate without being too turgid or bogged down by detail, and for the voice to be authentic but at the same time not alienate the twenty-first century reader.

Almost everything I learned during the course of my research shocked me in one way or another, and often reduced me to tears. Over and over I was struck by the scale of loss, and grief, and the extraordinary bravery, not just of the men at the front, but of the mothers and families and those left at home. I have a teenage son, and so to read about boys as young as fourteen or fifteen who went off to fight was heart wrenching. And reading first hand accounts of mothers who lost not just one son, but – two, three, four – all of their sons, drove home the enormity of that loss, and of a nation crippled and brow-beaten by grief.

It’s a very emotional novel. Which character did you find hardest to write? 

Clarissa: because it is her story. And although at first I wasn’t sure if I liked her, she proved she could survive. Her journey was definitely the hardest, emotionally. When we first meet her she is very much a product of her background: naive and cosseted and destined to be married off. Three years later, her world and expectations have changed. She copes – the best way she can, in a time when women of her class were considered mere trophies, and whose main purpose in life was to produce an heir and a spare. In many ways, and according to the conventions and expectations of that time, she failed. Because she did not become the person she was destined and brought up to be.

For readers with a particular interest in the period which books and novels would you recommend as further reading?

Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain

The Perfect Summer by Juliet Nicolson

The Great Silence by Juliet Nicolson

Ettie by Richard Davenport-Hines

The Duff Cooper Diaries edited by John Julius Norwich

The Edwardians by Roy Hattersley

Forgotten Voices of the Great War by Max Arthur

Lost Voices of the Edwardians by Max Arthur

Daisy: the Life and Loves of the Countess of Warwick by Sushila Anand

Born 1900 by Hunter Davies

And finally … what can we expect next from Judith Kinghorn?

Well, I can tell you that the next book is set in the same era, but this time a few years before the outbreak of World War One. It’s a story about memory, and duplicity, and obsessive love.

I’m already looking forward to it! Many thanks Judith and happy publication day.

You can find out more about Judith and her writing at: http://judithkinghorn.blogspot.com/

Today I’m delighted to welcome Fanny Blake to One More Page. As well as being a novelist, Fanny is a journalist and the current books editor of Women and Home magazine. I enjoyed Fanny’s debut novel, What Women Want which was released last year and her fab second book, Women of a Dangerous Age is published this week. Welcome Fanny!

Your new novel Women of a Dangerous Age is published on 26^th April; please tell us a little about it and your inspiration for it.

I always think that birthdays are a bit of a pause for thought. After my last one, I decided I wanted to write about that nasty moment when you’re brought up short by life and ask yourself, is this it? Have I achieved everything I want to achieve? Is there anything more that I really want to do? And, most important of all, I wanted to ask the question: Is it ever too late to change? And then, in came Lou and Ali …

Lou is married to a man she realises no longer loves her. Their children have left home, so she decides to make a fresh start on her own and to fulfil a lifelong dream of setting up her own business. Ali, on the other hand, is thrilled that, after a series of long-term lovers, she is about to settle down with the most recent of them. The two women meet on holiday in India where they become friends. But when they return home, of course it’s not all plain sailing – especially when some unexpected revelations threaten to rock the boat.

This is your second novel; did you find it easier or harder to write than the first?

Both easier and harder, if that makes sense. It was easier in some ways because I knew more of what to expect while writing the novel. For me, the initial chapters seem to fall into place quite easily, I despair in the middle when all the balls are in the air, and am exhilarated by the sprint to the end. So when I did reach that inevitable middle stage, I knew that I should keep going. But it was harder too, not because anything went wrong, but because of course I wanted it to be better than the first, and as good as I could possibly make it. I think one of the problems of having been an editor myself is that I’m very self-critical.

In the novel, lead characters Lou and Ali meet on an escape trip to India? What drew you to India as a location and if you could escape anywhere this summer where would it be?

I’ve been on holiday to India a couple of times, and loved so much of what I saw there.  I was amused by the idea of starting a novel about two women and their changing relationships with men on Diana’s bench at the Taj Mahal. Seemed very apt. If I could escape anywhere this summer, I think I’d go to an empty Cornish beach and stretch of cliff path and then, in September, to Bhutan – somewhere I’ve always longed to go.

Your novels focus on female friendships and I found both What Women Want and Women of a Dangerous Age funny and realistic portrayals of the relationships we have with our female friends. What do you think are the three key factors in true friendship?

Trust, loyalty and a good sense of humour.

Who was your favourite character to write and why?

I think it has to be Lou in Women of a Dangerous Age. She’s slightly larger than life, feisty, flamboyant, and has decided to shake things up a bit. She’s my kind of gal. I think we’d be friends.

Women of a Dangerous Age is an interesting title; how did you choose it?

I was chatting to a friend and said something about ‘women of a certain age’, and she joked, ‘Yes, women of a dangerous age.’ We immediately pounced on the phrase as a great title that was a perfect match for the novel I was writing.

The novel also examines the spectrum of romantic and family relationships with some surprising revelations; how do you go about your research?

Researching that spectrum of relationships is done by talking to friends, reading newspapers and just generally absorbing stories I hear about other people’s lives. But I did research the vintage fashion market (Lou’s passion) by going to lots of vintage fairs, reading up about it and interviewing several people in the business. Ali is a goldsmith so I picked the brains of a goldsmith, visiting her studio and talking to her about how she spends her day and how she works.

And finally … what can we expect next from Fanny Blake?

I’m working on my third novel now, which is about the complexity of marriage, one’s own and other people’s. It’s called Other Women’s Husbands.

Thank you Fanny.

Women of a Dangerous Age is released on 26th April – please stop by later today for my review!

Gill Paul’s historical fiction novel Women and Children First is released today. The book is based around the stories of a number of Titanic survivors. It’s an excellent read and I reviewed it earlier this week so I was delighted when Gill agreed to be interviewed on One More Page. Welcome Gill!

Women and Children First focuses on the survivors of the Titanic. What inspired you to write this story?

Most Titanic books and films finish at the point when the lifeboats reached the Carpathia but I was always fascinated by what happened to survivors after that. They had sat in lifeboats listening to 1,500 people dying in the water around them, and I couldn’t imagine how you would ever get that sound out of your head. There’s clear evidence that many survivors experienced different forms of post-traumatic stress disorder in an era when very little was understood about it, and I wanted to explore what that was like.

You’ve also written a non- fiction book about the Titanic; what drew you to the subject and why do you think the Titanic story continues to fascinate people?

I grew up knowing about the Titanic because both my grandfathers worked in shipbuilding, and my dad was a steam obsessive. The story really got under my skin when I saw the film A Night to Remember as a teenager. It’s a part of our cultural memory now, mainly because of the controversial elements: the fact that the ship was speeding through ‘Iceberg Alley’ in April; the loading of the lifeboats was erratic, with many going off half-full; the rich were prioritized over the poor; and there’s a strong possibility that the Californian was just a few miles away and could have saved everyone. Catastrophe could so easily have been avoided.

Women and Children First is packed with wonderful historical detail. How did you go about your research for the book?

I read dozens and dozens of books on the subject; in fact, for the last three years I’ve hardly read a book that wasn’t about the Titanic. There are also some great websites, such as www.encyclopedia-titanica.org. My non-fiction book is about the honeymoon couples on the Titanic, and I researched them in newspaper archives and local history libraries. In some cases I managed to contact relatives and friends of survivors.

What was the most interesting fact about Titanic that you found during your research?

There are so many. One thing I found fascinating was that the lowest survival rate for any single group was for the men in second class, where only 8 per cent lived. They fared worse than men in third class, who had much further to come to get to the lifeboats yet 16 per cent of them made it, and significantly worse than crew (of whom 22 per cent survived). Second class was predominantly British, and they were professional types – teachers, ministers, farmers – emigrating to the US. It seems that they stood back, like ‘gentlemen’, and let other people board the lifeboats first. They didn’t presume to step forward to the first-class areas where boats were going off half-full. They were victims of their conditioning in the British class system and ‘knew their place’.

The novel focuses on the lives of a number of fictional characters before and after the Titanic sank; who was your favourite character to create and why?

I have enormous fondness for my main character, Reg, because he is so young and vulnerable. There’s no one else looking out for him and he makes some morally flawed decisions, although he is fundamentally a good person. I enjoyed writing from a male character’s point of view, which I hadn’t tried before.

Reg is a young First Class steward; why did you choose to focus on him?

The story of what happened to the crew isn’t told as often as that of the passengers, and choosing a crew member allowed me to go behind the scenes and look at the working of the ship. I was lucky enough to meet an elderly man who used to work on transatlantic liners a couple of decades after the Titanic and he was able to give me a lot of inside information.

14th April marks the Centenary of the sinking; do you have any special plans to mark the day?

I’m doing a book signing that afternoon and a couple of press interviews, then I plan to come back and watch any Titanic programmes that are on television (I’m sure there will be lots).

What do you like to read when you’re not writing and researching?

I read novels: Barbara Kingsolver, Rose Tremain, John Banville, Andrew Miller… I’ve got stacks of novels under my bed waiting to be read once I am not researching the Titanic any more.

And finally, what can we expect next from Gill Paul?

I have another historical novel being published in May 2013. This one is set in the 1960s and has a Mad Men vibe!

I’m looking forward to that already! Many thanks Gill.

You can find out more about Gill Paul and her work on her website at: http://www.gillpaul.com/

Today I’m welcoming Roberta Rich to One More Page as part of the blog tour for the UK release of her debut novel, The Midwife of Venice.

Your debut historical fiction novel, The Midwife of Venice had its UK release on 16^th February, please could you tell us a little about it?

Hannah Levi, a Jewish midwife in the Venetian ghetto in the 16^th century, has gained renown for her skill in coaxing reluctant babies out of their mother’s bellies using her “birthing spoons”, a rudimentary form of forceps. One night a Christian nobleman, Conte Paolo di Padovani, appears at Hannah’s door with an dangerous  request. He implores Hannah to help his dying wife and save their unborn child. But a Papal edict has made it a crime, punishable by death, for Jews to render medical treatment to Christians. Hannah refuses. The Conte offers her a huge sum of money, enough to enable her to sail to Malta to ransom her beloved husband, Isaac who has been captured at sea and is a slave of  the Knights of St. John.

Against the Rabbi’s advice, Hannah goes with the Conte and delivers the infant, Matteo, a child who captures her heart.  As she prepares to depart for Malta to rescue Isaac, she discovers that the baby’s uncles are plotting to murder the baby in order to seize the family fortune.  In the absence of the Conte and his wife who are in Ferrara on urgent family matters, there is no one but Hannah to save Matteo. She enlists her sister, Jessica who is a courtesan and living as a Christian outside the ghetto. An outbreak of the plague traps them in Venice and makes them easy prey for the baby’s murderous uncles.

I really enjoyed the vivid descriptions of sixteenth century Venice in the novel; what drew you to the city as a setting?

There are many cities I love but  Venice is my favourite because everyone is always lost. It is impossible to navigate the city. Even Venetians wander helplessly searching for their apartments or their favourite restaurant or friends they were supposed to meet at a café somewhere for a glass of  prosecco.

Ian McEwen described this feeling of being hopelessly and utterly lost  perfectly in The Comfort of Strangers, a very sinister book which haunts me years after I read it.

During the time period I am interested in― the 16^th century―there were gangs of young boys with pine torches to lead you to your destination. I have a dreadful sense of direction so the fact that everyone is always lost in Venice makes me feel better about myself.

Next on the list of wonderful cities would be Istanbul. My characters, Hannah and Isaac are, in sequel,  running a silk workshop in Constantinople. I must say, after three visits to Istanbul for research, I am enraptured by the city for its architecture, sense of design and colour, tasty food, and relentless carpet salesmen.

Yours is the first historical novel I’ve read with a detailed focus on midwifery; what drew you to the topic and how did you go about your research?

In 2007 my husband and I were on a walking tour of Venice, which began at the Rialto Bridge and ended in the Jewish ghetto. As I stood in the lovely square studying the tall, knife shaped building, I wondered about the lives of the thousands of people who had lived there over the 300 or so years of the ghetto’s history. I wondered in particular about the lives of the women and tried to imagine birthing children in such dark, confined, cramped living quarters. When we visited the ghetto museum I noticed a pair of lovely silver spoons and their position in the display case made me think of forceps. This is an interesting topic for me as my daughter was born with the aid of forceps. I started doing research and read about the Chamberlen family a medical family in the London who invented forceps but kept it a family secret for two hundred years.

I came across an early textbook of midwifery, a rather gruesome book written in the 1600’s  (not recommended for those of child bearing age) called Justine, Court Midwife. Justine Siegemund’s obstetrical manual was one of the first to be written by a woman. Siegemund was midwife to many members of the Hapsburg family.

I am also fortunate to have a friend, Rhoda Friedricks, who is a professor of Early Modern history. Rhoda set me straight on number of things, including the plausibility of the ‘birthing spoons’ that Hannah invested. I actually thought of the idea of birthing spoons before I had the idea for Hannah’s character.

Hannah (the midwife of the title) is a great character and I admired her bravery. Please could you describe her in five words?

Nice Jewish girl. Lacks impulse control. (Sorry, that’s 6)

If you could visit any historical time and place, when and where would you go?

That would depend, of course, on my social class. We always assume when thinking about this question that we would be upper class and lead lives of  privilege and wealth. If I was a wealthy Venetian woman, I would live in a Palladian villa, on the River Brenta, near Venice, and ride horses, cultivate a vineyard and have lots of children and lots of servants to look after them. If I was poor, I would live in present day Sweden.

The love story between Hannah and her husband Isaac is a wonderful and gripping element to the novel as they take risks and fight to be together; who are your favourite literary hero and heroine?

Catherine and Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights captured my imagination when I first read it in high school.  The wildness, the passion, the dreadful pull and pull of their tortured lives is inspiring.

What do you like to read when you’re not writing and researching?

My reading has changed since I started writing full time. I used to be a ‘drive-by reader’, pick up a book, read a chapter, finish it if I enjoyed it, or toss it aside if I didn’t. I read everything- thrillers, mysteries, historical, literary.

I am now more purposeful in my reading. I read anything I can get my hands on dealing with Venice and Constantinople in the 16^th century. I wade through academic books which are often useful, not for the kind of ‘day to day’ details I need to make my settings and characters come alive, but good for a general overview, and a sense of the period in general. It helps me avoid the kind of cringe inducing mistakes I occasionally come across in other historical novels. Recently, I read a novel set in 15^th century Rome that referred to Italy as a ‘country’. Italy was the new kid on the block in terms of unification―a collection of warring city states― and only became what we would think of as a country since the 19^th century. Of course, I read a lot of historical novels. I admire Sandra Gulland, Fred Vargas and Mary Novik. I read with fear and trepidation. What if the book I just picked up is better written, smarter, wittier than anything I could have written? Guess what? Sometimes they are.

At the moment, I am reading a book I found in a hotel where I had breakfast last week in Manzanillo, Mexico― The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy. I am speechless with admirable for the economy of dialogue and complete lack of internal dialogue. McCarthy is a writer who isn’t afraid to trust his reader.

And finally … what can readers look forward to next from Roberta Rich?

I have been working like a maddened badger on the sequel. I still don’t have a title, or rather I have a title but it is so bad- i.e. obscure and difficult to remember, that I won’t tell you what it is. The first draft is complete and awaits my editor’s suggestions. There will be lots of revisions before it is complete and sees the light of day. Complete is a strange word to use in this context. Is a manuscript ever complete? Or are they like children?

Thank you Roberta!

You can find out more about Roberta and The Midwife of Venice on her website at: http://robertarich.com/

Please check out the other stops on The Midwife of Venice blog tour too!

Today I’m delighted to welcome Eva Stachniak to One More Page as part of her blog tour to celebrate the release of The Winter Palace. Eva was born in Wrocław, Poland and now lives in Canada. Her career has included time as a radio broadcaster and English and Humanities lecturer. An award-winning author, The Winter Palace is Eva’s third novel and tells of the rise to power of Catherine the Great. Welcome Eva!

You’ve written both historical and contemporary novels previously, what drew you to the historical fiction genre?

My passion for history, and the belief that history illuminates the present. And also the need to tell the forgotten stories from beyond the former Iron Curtain—bring them back to our collective memory.

The Winter Palace tells the story of the rise of Catherine the Great; why did you choose to tell Catherine’s story?

Catherine fascinated and tempted me since my second novel Dancing with Kings, where she appears for a brief moment. Her story is astounding. A petty Prussian princess who became a powerful Russian empress. An immigrant to Russia who made her adopted country one of the most powerful empires of the world.

Also it is important to remember that the 18^th century Russia was a vast and multicultural country. Under Catherine’s rule one-third of Poland became part of the Russian Empire, and remained so until the end of World War I. When I was growing up in Poland, Catherine was considered to be a rather sinister figure, the empress who dashed Polish hopes for independence. My own family, both on my mother’s and my father’s side were subjects of the Russian Tsars. My grandfather was even drafted into the Russian army.

And once I started researching Catherine’s life I found her irresistible.

I love historical fiction that focuses on strong female characters and there are several in this novel; who was your favourite character to write and why?

I have to confess that I was captivated by all three powerful women who make the core of the plot, Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, Catherine who through most of the novel is Grand Duchess of Russia, and of course, my narrator, Varvara/Barbara. Elizabeth absorbed me because she was so unpredictable, so sensuous, so spontaneous and so full of contradictions: A sinner and a devout Christian repenting her sins as soon as she stopped enjoying them. A woman delighting in sex, food, music and dancing. Catherine, on the other hand, impressed me with her sense of purpose, her serious dedication to her goals, and her ability to attract loyalty from all quarters. And Varvara? She was my key to the two empresses. She was my eyes, my ears, and my guide.

There is a wealth of fascinating detail about the 18th century Russian court in the novel; how did you go about your research and what was the most interesting area for you?

I read diaries, letters, memoirs. I visited archives. I travelled to St. Petersburg and looked at every painting I could find that portrayed scenes from the 18^th century life in Russia. One of my all time favourite sources are The Russian Journals of Martha and Catherine Wilmot, compiled from many letters that the Wilmot sisters wrote from Russia to their family in Ireland. For several years, they were cherished house guests of Princess Dashkova herself, the youthful friend of Catherine, and as foreign visitors to Russia they kept their eyes wide open and reported on everything that amused or intrigued them: funeral customs, the abundance of servants in Russian palaces and manor houses, the sights in the streets. They also heard many personal stories about Catherine from their hostess, and I used many of them in the novel.

It was the researching of the everyday details of life in a Russian palace that I found most fascinating.

The story is told through the eyes of Vavara, a young Polish girl serving at the court; why did you decide to tell the story from her point of view?

The Russian imperial court was home to many foreigners, including Catherine herself, who came to Russia from a small German princedom of Zerbst. Foreigners, immigrants are good observers, and I wanted my narrator to have this outsider’s point of view.

Another reason for wanting to tell Catherine’s story from outside was the need to understand the essence of Catherine’s power over people. I wanted the reader to experience Catherine’s power over those around her, show how this Prussian Princess managed to command the hearts of so many.

And then, of course, Varvara is a spy, able to see beyond closed doors, the best narrator an author can imagine.

If you could live during any historical period which would you choose?

Right now, it would be the 18^th century Russia, because I’m still working on the second Catherine book. If I could find myself at the Winter Palace, I’d want to know what people talked about in their most mundane, every day conversations. I would want to know, for instance, what Catherine’s servants made of the kangaroos their empress kept in the Taurida Palace gardens. The animals came as a gift from King George III. Someone had to feed them. Take care of them. Did they seem merely odd? Or frightening, perhaps?

When you’re not writing and researching, what do you like to read?

I’m a voracious reader.  Many writers sustain and inspire me. Lately I’ve been reading Kate Grenville’s marvelous historical novels set in Australia, and the unsurpassable Hilary Mantel. But I don’t particularly look for historical fiction. Any well written book will seduce me.

You are currently working on a second novel about Catherine the Great, can you tell us a little more about what we can expect next?

The Empire of the Night, the second Catherine novel, will be told from Catherine’s point of view. It will cover the pivotal points of her thirty-four years rule. If The Winter Palace is the story of Catherine’s fight for power and her own survival, The Empire of the Night examines the consequences of wielding absolute power for so long. Together, I hope, the two novels will complement each other, and give the reader a fuller picture of this remarkable empress and a captivating woman.

Thank you Eva – I’m already looking forward to The Empire of the Night.

You can find out more about Eva and her novels on her website at: http://www.evastachniak.com/

Eva continues her blog tour tomorrow with a guest post at: www.curiousbookfans.co.uk and please look out for my review of The Winter Palace next week.

Today I’m excited to welcome Mink Elliott to the blog on the latest stop of her Just Another Manic Mum-Day blog tour. Welcome Mink!

Your second novel, Just Another Manic Mum-Day is released tomorrow, please could you tell us a little about it?

I’d love to! It’s about Jack, Roxy and Joey, their three-year-old daughter, and what happens to them when they flee Britain for the sunnier shores of Sydney. Roxy feels very fish-out-of-water-y as a newcomer to such a hot climate and when she discovers she’s pregnant again, she’s thrown into further disarray. Amid the chaos and clutter of family life (Joey can talk under wet cement and is a champion tantrummer while hubby Jack is getting surlier by the minute) and with nowhere to run and hide, Roxy and new best friend Shoshanna find a gaping chasm in the market and manage to open up a cafe for parents  – a sanctuary for stressed-out  mums and dads.

How did you come up with the idea for the book?

It wasn’t a bolt out of the blue idea, it was one that came to me in dribs and drabs, building on itself quietly, until it was almost a fully-fledged story.  I knew I wanted to write about paradise and our perceptions of what we’d be like if it didn’t rain all the time, it was warm and we could go to the beach every day if we wanted to…I wanted to explore the idea that day to day life with kids can become a grind no matter who or where you are…And I wanted to find out what motivates most of us – what makes us happiest and whether home is, as they say in the classics, where the heart is. The weird bit is the title came first, then the story. Which isn’t how it worked with The Pissed-Off Parents Club, my first novel, or my third, the one I’m working on at the moment. With those, the story came first and the title was obvious as a result, if that makes sense?

How have your own experiences as a mum fed into the story?

They haven’t. I mean, I’m the very definition of cool, calm and collected; my kids never throw tantrums; they eat all their vegetables and fruit; do as they’re politely asked to (I find I never need to shout and have completely forgotten what exasperation feels like); my husband is like a best girlfriend to me – he loves nothing more than to chat all day with me, sitting in cafes necking Earl Grey and scoffing brownies…HA! In my dreams! In all honesty, some of my own experiences as a mum were fed into the story: I fell pregnant shortly after we got to Sydney and my daughter is a keen talker, capable of throwing some real jaw-droppingly embarrassing tantrums – but that’s where the similarities end, I’m afraid. The rest is made up. All the characters in the book are fictitious – but the thoughts and feelings they have are, I hope, universal.

As a mum to two young children I know it can get pretty stressful sometimes; what are your top tips for stressed out parents?

I was going to ask you the same thing! I’m always seeking advice on how to deal, asking barristas, other mums, taxi drivers – all help and advice gratefully received!!! Because I haven’t got a clue, to be honest. People say ‘pick your battles’, but I always pick the wrong ones and end up in a right state, so that’s no good – too woolly. Take a deep breath and walk away into another room/another life/another time and space continuum? Oh, I know! Go to a cafe with free childcare and let someone else take the lion’s share of the load for a few hours. Meet some friends and have a decent, uninterrupted conversation. Do something for you, something that makes you feel good and happy, capable and strong – like you probably felt a long time ago in a (childless) galaxy far, far away… Being a mum is the hardest thing I’ve ever tried to do and I find it pretty overwhelming most of the time. It’s exhausting and frustrating and relentless and hard, but just this morning I was welling up, thinking about how much I love those crazy kids. I was hugging my five-and-a-half year old daughter too tightly, telling her how proud I am to be her mummy and how lovely she is to her baby brother and how she’s got to stop growing up so fast and could she please try to stay sweet and innocent for a few more years etc etc. She was trying to wriggle free of my embrace and I finally realised she was craning her whole body to get a look at some stripper or lap dancer on the TV … Suddenly I was plunged down into the dark depths of stressed out mum mode, resorting to the tried and true talking loudly in capital letters technique:  I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO TURN THAT RIHANNA MUSIC VIDEO OFF! NOW STOP PFAFFING AROUND OR WE’LL BE LATE FOR SCHOOL AGAIN! GET DRESSED AND EAT YOUR WEET-A-BIX! BLIMEY! FOR ONCE WILL YOU DO AS YOU’RE TOLD?! Oh well – take your magic moments where you can get them, I say – even if they look nothing like you imagined they would.

I love the title for your book how did it come about and are you a Bangles fan?!

Ha ha – no, not really. Having said that, I did used to spend an inordinate amount of time wishing I looked a bit more like Susannah Hoffs – all short and sexy with huge come-to-bed eyes (instead of short and dumpy with puffy, red, still half-asleep eyes). But Manic Monday has always been on a loop in my brain – it’s one of those songs that swims around in your sub-conscious as you drag yourself out of bed to get to paid work on time or to the unpaid work of looking after a screaming baby. So maybe that was it – in a terminally sleep-deprived state, with that song playing incessantly on my own internal CD system, it forced itself upon me!

Describe lead character Roxy in a sentence.

She’s exciteable, full of ideas  and a bit of a dreamer, really, but she’s also a champion of the downtrodden, exhausted mum – and proof that sometimes dreams can come true.

What do you like to read when you get a chance to relax?

How To Find The Time To Relax books, mainly! Also, I’ve just finished A Tiny Bit Marvellous by Dawn French and I really enjoyed that; one of my best friends sent me Stewart Lee – My Life And Deaths As A Comedian and I’m loving that; and I’ll devour anything by John Pilger and Fiona Gibson. I’m reading a lot of authors’ websites at the moment, too, to get some tips on how to do mine (I’m a total novice when it comes to the internet and social networking, you see) and keep coming back to Ciara Gerachty, Milly Johnson, Jane Costello…Oh! And I always look at www.onemorepage.co.uk when I get a minute!

And finally … what can we look forward to next from Mink Elliott?

I’m going to be at Waterstone’s in Bath for a lunchtime signing on Saturday the 21^st of January, 2012 and I’m really looking forward to that! Do drop by and say hi if you’ve got some spare time up your sleeve and you happen to be wandering  around beautiful Bath. Book-wise, it’s still in its early stages, but I’m really excited about my third novel. It’s about a nostalgia-freak, stay-at-home-mum of three who…um…ooh! I don’t know how much I can tell you, actually. But basically, without giving anything away and in a series of pithy phrases, it’s a story about rose-coloured glasses, being careful what you wish for and forever wondering ‘what if…?’. Clear as mud, right?!

Thank you Mink!

You can find out all about Mink and her books and read the first chapter of Just Another Manic Mum Day on her new website at: http://www.minkelliott.com/

Today my festive questions are being answered by author Hazel Osmond. Hazel’s debt novel Who’s Afraid of Mr Wolfe? was released in April and she is currently working on her second novel. Hazel also writes short stories and blogs about her writing and life on her gorgeous website: http://www.hazelosmond.co.uk Welcome Hazel!

Imagine you are settling down with a lovely Christmas read … what is your perfect Christmas reading setting/scenario?

I’d go for the cosy room, large glass of red wine, only a reading light on, scenario. Definitely not Slade’s ‘So here it is Merry Christmas’ belting out in the background for the 100th time!!

What is your top tip for a happy Christmas/ for surviving the festive season?

Try to create the Christmas you really want, not the ones the lifestyle magazines tell you we’re all having, or even the one your parents had. Tradition is great, but sometimes it can be a straitjacket. You want twiglets and bacardi for breakfast? Fill your boots!!

What is your favourite Christmas tradition?

Bizarrely, having just said don’t get tied into tradition, my favourite one is on Christmas Eve, lighting the candles in the kitchen, putting the carols and lessons from King’s College, Cambridge on the radio and ‘doing’ the sprouts. It takes me right back to being a little girl and if that excited, magic feeling hasn’t hit me before that point, it certainly will then. There may be something hallucinogenic in sprouts…

Which two books would you like to find under the Christmas tree this year?

I’d like to find the next book from Susanna Clarke… she hasn’t written it yet I don’t think, but I so love Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, I can’t wait. And anything by Maggie O’Farrell.

Who is your favourite Christmas book/novel character and why?

I’m going to cheat a bit on my famous Christmas book/novel character and say George Bailey in ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’… which I know is a film, but it was originally based on a book called ‘The Greatest Gift’ by Philip Van Doren Stern (or so Wikipedia tells me)

There are so many reasons to love George, but that scene where he and Mary are listening in to the same phone call, heads touching and George is trying so hard not to love her and then gives in to it… ahhhhh… so moving – he goes from angry to lost to loving in about ten seconds and if I could ever write a scene like that I’d be ecstatic.

As well as your full length novels you also write short stories; do you have any plans for a Christmassy novel/story in the future?

I have already written a short story which was kind of about Christmas, called ‘Santa in May’ – it appeared in My Weekly this year.  As you might guess it wasn’t exactly a straightforward Christmas tale, but the hero did wear a Santa outfit.

And finally … what can readers look forward to next from Hazel Osmond?

My next book is out in May – working title ‘The Genuine Article’ and it’s another romantic comedy with serious bits, this time, set in Northumberland. There will be more short stories too, and I’ve just signed a contract for another two books.

Thank you Hazel and congratulations on the new book deal!

Hazel is kindly providing a signed copy of Who’s Afraid of Mr Wolfe as a giveaway. The book synopsis can be found below. To enter just leave a comment and I’ll choose a winner using random.org following the closing date. UK entries only please. Entries will close at midnight on Wednesday 21st December. Good luck!

Ellie thinks she’s in love. But then, she doesn’t know Jack…

Ellie Somerset loves her career-obsessed boyfriend Sam and she loves her job as an advertising copywriter. But Sam is always at work and her fresh ideas keep being overlooked. Her life gets more complicated when new boss Jack Wolfe – Heathcliff in a Suit – arrives at the agency. With his brooding good looks, trademark scowl and plans for a change, he challenges Ellie to smarten up and prove herself. To Ellie’s horror, she finds herself both repelled and attracted to the sexy and dangerous Jack. But this particular wolf has an awful lot to hide…

Who’s afraid of Mr Wolfe? Not Ellie. Not until it’s far too late.

Trisha Ashley is the best selling author of  fourteen novels. Last Christmas I read and thoroughly enjoyed her Twelve Days of Christmas and this winter Trisha is back with The Magic of Christmas. Trisha kindly agreed to answer my festive questions today. Welcome Trisha!

Tell us about your latest Christmas novel The Magic of Christmas

My latest novel, The Magic of Christmas, is a major reworking of an earlier novel, Sweet Nothings.  I always felt there was a lot more I’d wanted to put in that book, so I had great fun revisiting the village of Middlemoss and all its characters again!

Friendship is often an important theme in my books, and it is the support of her friends in the Christmas Pudding Circle that keeps Lizzie going as she struggles on towards the end of difficult marriage.  There is another village tradition, too, the annual Boxing Day Mystery Play, and both the preparations for that and the meetings of the Christmas Pudding Circle start months ahead, leading to an ever-faster toboggan ride towards Christmas.

Of course, there’s lots more going on, too – Lizzie is a keen cook and has quite a bit of rivalry going on with her husbands’ cousin Nick, who is a chef and cookery writer.  Then there’s the mystery of what Caz the gamekeeper up at the hall does with all the grey squirrels…

What is your favourite Christmas tradition?

I always love the moment when I place the papier mache Father Christmas at the top of the tree.  One of my mother’s sisters bought him with her pocket money when she was four, so that makes him over eighty years old.

You’ve published a number of Christmas/winter novels but to have a book released in time for Christmas you must be writing and editing during the summer months; how do you get yourself in the festive spirit when writing out of season?

My Christmas novels are indeed written and edited during summer, so that I have become quite used to looking out at a sunny beach while writing about snow, cold and Christmas puddings!  But of course, while writing them I vanish into my own little trishaworld snowglobe, so getting in the mood isn’t a problem.

This year, however, I have been writing a spring/summer book at the right time of year – Chocolate Shoes and Wedding Blues, which comes out next May.

What is your top tip for surviving the festive season?

Have things the way you like them, not the way the magazines tell you they should be done – forge your own traditions. You can prepare and freeze all kinds of things in advance, including mince pies, which will only take about three-quarters of an hour to defrost at room temperature.

Twelve Days of Christmas featured lots of delicious food; what’s your favourite Christmas treat or recipe?

The Mincemeat flapjack recipe at the back of The Magic of Christmas is a great alternative use for mincemeat and so easy to do, you will wonder why you ever bought shop-made ones!

What are your favourite Christmas books and films?

I have to watch the film Love Actually, every Christmas, it’s perfect.  There are a lot of good Christmas-themed novels out there this year, too, and I hope to catch up with some of them when I have finished the editing of the new book and perhaps unpacked a few boxes (I have just moved house).  Carole Matthews Christmas book looks interestingly different, I’m looking forward to reading that.

And finally … what can readers look forward to next from Trisha Ashley?

Next May we are revisiting the village of Sticklepond, scene of A Winter’s Tale and Chocolate Wishes, in my new book Chocolate Shoes and Wedding Blues, so I have been having a lovely time finding out what has been happening with the characters from the earlier novels.

After that…well, you will just have to wait and see!

Thank you Trisha!

You can find out more about Trisha and her books, join her newsletter and post in her guestbook at: http://www.trishaashley.com/

Watch an interview with Trisha on YouTube

Read my review of Twelve Days of Christmas

Scarlett Bailey, author of The Night Before Christmas is my guest today. The Night Before Christmas is Scarlett’s debut novel; I’m reading it at the moment and very much enjoying it. Scarlett is also doing her own Countdown to Christmas in the form of  a brilliant online advent calendar which contains a short story called Santa, Maybe. Scarlett is posting part of the story every day until 24th December – you can read it at: http://adventcalendr.com/scarlettbailey/ Welcome Scarlett!

Your debut novel, the festively-titled The Night Before Christmas is out now, could you tell us a little about the story and your inspiration for it please?

The Night Before Christmas is the story of Lydia, who is hoping to experience her first perfect Christmas ever, in a beautiful house in the Lake District surrounded by her friends and her boyfriend, who she happens to know has packed an engagement ring. But when an old flame turns up out of the blue, as her best friend’s latest beau, Lydia isn’t sure of how she feels about anything any more…. I hope there are a lot of laughs, the odd tear, a large amount of Christmas and a good deal of kissing. Oh and snow.

Your book is all about the perfect Christmas; what is your favourite Christmas tradition?

Interesting, like Lydia I didn’t really have many perfect Christmasses as a child, my family split when I was quite young and no matter where I was at Christmas there was always someone important missing. As an adult I think my favourite tradition is to just be with the people I love and who make me laugh, and to have a very large glass of Bailey’s (What else) at least once or twice a day.

Imagine you are settling down with a lovely Christmas read … what is your perfect Christmas reading setting/scenario?

A few years ago I stayed with some friends in a cottage in Suffolk for Christmas (this is where the turkey story in the book comes from) it was a sweet cottage, but freezing as the central heating was broken, (oh another story from the book!) We huddled together for warmth in front of a huge fire, there was no TV, so it was all talking, drinking and reading. That was pretty perfect.

What is your top tip for surviving the Christmas party season?

Remain slightly tipsy at all times, and make sure you’ve broken in your new high heels around the house for a few weeks before the big party. Oh and also keeps some mistletoe handy, you never know when you might bump into a likely candidate for kissing.

What is or would be the best book-related Christmas gift that Santa could deliver?

I have a yen to do some writing with a fountain pen. Its pure whimsy, I’m sure I’d get fed up with it quite quickly, but I’d rather like a fancy fountain pen to flourish.

Who is your favourite Christmas book/novel character?

I love a ghost story at Christmas, so although it is not strictly a Christmas book I love reading The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. Hard to think of a more atmospheric and unsettling ghost story to keep you up all night on Christmas Eve waiting for Santa.

You’re a fan of old movies; which is your must see Christmas film?

An Affair to Remember staring Deborah Kerr and Cary Grant. Oh my god, if you have never seen this film you must see it now. Its pure melodrama and romance and I adore it.

And finally … what can we expect next from Scarlett Bailey?

My second novel, which has just been retitled ‘Married by Christmas (there’s a scoop for you) will be out this time next year.

Thank you Scarlett.