Category Archives: Writer Interviews

ANGELA PETCH ON THE WEIGHT OF RESPONSIBILITY OF RESEARCH

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I felt a weight of responsibility to get my research right for The Girl who Escaped. A main male protagonist is based on my Italian grandfather-in-law and I wanted to respect Luigi’s courage, as well as accurately represent the plight of Jews in Italy.

The first book I consulted was: It happened in Italy, written by an Italo-American lady. Elizabeth Bettina wrote of an internment camp for Jews near her grandparents’ village of Campagna. They’d been treated with kindness and respect. This was a revelation. I had only come across stories of gruesome concentration camps. Did camps like Campagna exist in Tuscany?

I found a camp called Villa Oliveto where archives for internment camps were stored. Brilliant! The hunt was on! I found accounts and photos of this place in the 1940s.

We travelled to the picturesque location set in olive groves near Civitella in Val di Chiana, but the villa, a former orphanage, was closed and archives no longer stored there.

All was not lost, however. I wandered around the building, taking photographs and notes. Then, I came across a puzzling, fading plaque, which told me the villa had once housed British Jews. Extremely puzzled, I asked a local woman who was walking past. But she had no idea. I speak fluent Italian and this helps when researching.

I enjoy a research puzzle and when I discovered the explanation later, it inspired a new character. Bear with me…

A young woman called Shira is a Cyreneican Jew from eastern Libya. (A former Italian colony). After Italy joined the Germans in 1940, many Libyan Jews were sent to concentration camps where they were treated abominably.  Jews lost trust in the Italian government, and began to support the British. The British had first conquered Cyrenaica in December 1940 and abolished Mussolini’s racial laws. Many Jewish men joined the British army and were granted British citizenship. Here was the link I needed.

On April 3rd 1941, Italian and German forces pushed British forces from Benghazi. Jews were arrested by the Italians, especially those who had allied themselves with the enemy, and were sent to the notorious Giado camp. Some Libyan Jews, however, were sent back to Italian camps. I’ve never found the exact reason, but have allowed myself artistic license through detective work. In a brilliant Italian book covering the persecution of Jews in Italy I found possible explanations of why Shira and other Libyan Jews might have landed in Italy, instead of elsewhere.

The Italian government knew about extermination of Jews already by the second half of 1942 – when they’d heard of massacres of Jews in Russia, from word sent home by Italian officers operating on the Eastern front. And foreign Jews who had arrived in Italy, including Hersz Kawa from Siedlce, Poland, had also talked of atrocious treatment too. He and two others had managed to escape in an empty wagon of a train bound for Italy. They spoke to Italian guards who made sure they were sent to an Italian camp, rather than German.  Similar events happened in Vichy France, when French Jews escaped to Italy because they felt they would be better treated.

I’m hoping that the same thing might have happened to those British Libyan Jews mentioned on the plaque. Saved by Italian soldiers acting with conscience.

 

The Girl Who Escaped:  https://geni.us/B0BYC1V9NHcover

 

 

 

 

WRITERS ON THE ROAD: ALISON MORTON

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A small child, curls bobbing on a head she’s forgotten to cover with the sunhat her mother insists on, crouched down on a Roman mosaic floor in north-east Spain. Mesmerised by the purity of the pattern, and the tiny marble squares, she almost didn’t hear her father calling her to the next one.

Jumping up, she eagerly ran to him, babbling questions like many eleven-year-olds do: who were the people who lived here, what were they called, what did they do, where did they come from, where have they gone?

The father, a numismatist and senior ‘Roman nut’, told her about the Greek town founded 575 BC which became Roman Emporiæ in 218 BC, where traders sailed in and out with their cargoes of olive oil, wine, textiles, glass and metals; where people lived in higgledy-piggledy houses, traded from little shops; where the Roman army based its operations; where money was minted. And the people came from every corner of the Roman Empire to live and work. Boys went to schools and girls learnt to be good wives and mothers.

The little girl listened carefully to every word, sifting the information. Her hand in his, she turned as they left, looked back at the mosaics and asked her father:.

“What would it be like if Roman women were in charge, instead of the men?”
Clever man, my father replied:
“What do you think it would be like?”

I thought about it for nearly five decades, then poured it all into my first book.

Since that first Roman road trip in Spain, I’ve clambered over bridges, explored former bathhouses, barracks and forts and wondered at theatres and amphitheatres in different parts of France, Germany, Britain, Italy, even former Yugoslavia. And I’ve walked on Roman roads connecting these sites and settlements across Europe.

The via Domitia running along the coast from Spain to Italy provided a fast and sure link between the key province of Hispania and the imperial centre in Rome. Built in 118 BC, it’s still with us, wheel ruts included, over 2,000 years later. At Ambrussum in southern France, it formed a junction with the route northwards up the Rhone Valley into central Gaul. I stood on those slabs, where those three roads met, closed my eyes and ‘saw’ thousands of people, carts, mules, legionaries and the odd imperial courier, many of them shouting at me to get out of their way. The Romans were busy people, much like us today.

When writing my latest story set in AD 370 – itself a Roman ‘road trip’– I discovered how common it was for current routes to bear the names given to them two thousand years ago. The strada stalale 3 entering Rome from the north is still called the Via Flaminia; from the northwest, the Via Cassia (strada regionale 2) enters Rome heading for the Milvian Bridge as it did in Augustus’s day.  And you can still walk (or in some parts) even ride in your car along the via Appia.

The persistence of these road names seems romantic, but the Romans were hard-headed military engineers. For them, it was a question of reaching B from A in the fastest, most efficient and logical way. Small wonder than very many countries in Europe built their road networks following the same routes.

Travel on the ground is exciting, eye-opening and educational, but seeing and touching the roads, floors and walls and looking at their glassware, pottery, household equipment and thus imagining the people who walked, lived, and worked in those places takes us on a very different journey – the one into time.

 

If you’d like to learn more about my alternative Roman novels, Roman life and a journey through time, please come and visit me at alison-morton.com.

 

 

 

WRITERS ON THE ROAD: CHRISTINA COURTENAY

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I write stories about the Vikings, and being half Swedish, it would have been easy to just set all of them in Sweden as it’s a place I know well. But where would be the fun in that? The Vikings were intrepid travellers and explorers, and journeyed far and wide. I had a wealth of places to choose from, and as I’ve been working on a series, I decided early on that each book would feature a different location. That hopefully makes it more fun for both the readers and myself!

Book five, Promises of the Runes, (out this month) is set in Norway, and I’d previously used Sweden, Russia, Iceland and England. For book six, therefore, which I’m working on at the moment, I turned my sights on the Orkney Islands. It was a place Scandinavians had traded with for centuries, and no one really knows exactly when they began to settle there rather than just visit occasionally. By the 9th century, when my book takes place, they were well established and had integrated fully with the previous occupants, the Celts. Most of the islands have Norse names – any that end in ‘ey’, for example, as that means ‘island’.

There is nothing better for an author than to actually visit a place we are writing about. It helps with descriptions, catching the essence of a place – its scents, sounds, nature and people. So I dragged my husband along on an epic road trip. A twelve hour drive up to Scrabster, followed by 90 minutes on a ferry, and suddenly there they were – the gorgeous Orkney Islands.

We were incredibly lucky with the weather and had beautiful sunshine and blue skies interspersed with fluffy clouds. The air is so clear and I found myself wishing I could paint the landscape just because the light was so brilliant. There’s a huge amount of history, going back to Neolithic times, but I was concentrating on anything remaining from the Viking era. We headed first to the Brough of Birsay, a tidal island that can only be reached by a causeway during low tide. Here are the remains of a large Viking settlement, the outlines of the houses clear on the grassy site. I could definitely see why they’d wanted to live in such a beautiful location! It was also perfect for use in my story.

We visited several other Viking sites – one at Orphir called Earl’s Bu and another at Deerness. To reach the latter, we had to walk along spectacular cliffs that were part of a nature reserve. The Vikings had a settlement on top of a 30 metre high sea stack on a promontory sticking out into the North Sea – an isolated place, but again, stunning. Nearby was a beach and cove, perfect for longships.

In Kirkwall, the main town, the historical museum had lots of Viking items, among them a bear tooth carved with runes. It might have been worn as protection against magic or to imbue the wearer with a bear’s strength.

The most poignant reminder of the Vikings, however, was in the Neolithic tomb at Maeshowe. Shaped sort of like a beehive buried inside a huge earth mound, it is reached via a 10 metre long tunnel only a metre high. A thousand years ago a group of Vikings had apparently taken shelter there and scratched graffiti all over the walls. There were more than 30 messages written in runes. It really made these people come alive for me and I could see them sitting in there, bored and restless. The connection was almost visceral and I was so pleased I got to experience this.

If you get the chance, do visit the Orkneys!

Buy link for Promises of the Runes – https://geni.us/ExsdDss 

 

 

Spotlight | Author and Podcaster Georgina Scull

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I’m very excited to introduce a new series to Frost. Spotlight does just that, it finds people, or things, that deserve to have a light on them. Launching this is Georgina Scull who I’m a huge fan of. Her book, Regret’s of the Dying, is a wonderful, life-affirming book. Georgina is such a talented person, and also a thoroughly decent human being. Grab a copy of her book now. You won’t be disappointed.

Georgina Scull

Tell us a bit about you.

I’m originally from Central London, but live in Cambridge now. My family is small; English on my mum’s side and Romani Gypsy and Norwegian on my dad’s. I have one daughter and I’m happily separated.

You work in different mediums. Which one is your favourite?

That’s like asking someone who their favourite child is! Honestly, they’re all great. I work in podcasts, radio, and books, and am forging into film. Really the story dictates where it should be told. Sometimes you get an idea that you can hear and is more dialogue-based, so it’s natural home might be audio. It’s just different ways of storytelling and they’re all brilliant.

Have you always wanted to tell stories?

No. I’ve always loved stories, and always loved English at school, but to be honest it never occurred to me that someone might get paid to write, or that it might actually be a job you could choose, but I knew I wanted to do something creative. I started when I was 19 – and had no idea it would take me this long!

How do you come up with ideas?

I think I’m pretty lucky, because I always have more ideas than I can work on. Where do they come from? Just living, and listening to people, and connecting the dots. Lots of the time it might come from one central question you want to answer – with Regrets it was ‘if you only had one year to live, what would you do with it?’. Sometimes it’s an image you imagine or something you see in real life. And then it becomes – what if that couple who look like they’re in an embrace are actually arguing, and vice versa. I think it’s about finding a question or moment you want to explore; and I’d say that’s true of both fiction and non-fiction.

You started Regrets of the Dying as a podcast. How difficult was it turning the idea into a book?

It wasn’t hard, because most of the people that feature in the book weren’t on the podcast so it felt very new. The most difficult thing was finding people who wanted to talk, and being worried about upsetting them when we did sit down together. That, obviously, would never be my aim. Luckily, from what the interviewees told me afterwards, the experience seemed to be a cathartic one.

What’s your favourite thing about becoming a published author?

Probably receiving messages from readers, telling me that my book helped them. That, to me, is really amazing. I’m not sure if this’ll make any sense, but when the hardback came out last year I was 48. I’d been plugging away for so many years, mainly writing fiction, but really didn’t have much to show for it. I’d made a podcast series, and created a radio play which was well received, but really hadn’t achieved much for the amount of years I’d been working. I felt completely invisible. So to write a book that may have helped others was a very special thing, and something I am really proud of.

Tell us about your creative process.

When I start a new project I always buy a new pad, always A4 and always lined. I usually come up with the title very quickly and then do a bit of a one-two sentence blurb just to keep me focused on the main story and my reason for wanting to tell it. If I can’t come up with that blurb quickly, chances are the idea isn’t ready yet. Then, if it’s a podcast or a book, I’ll sketch out the cover art. This is purely for me: it helps to see it as a finished thing. Then I brainstorm the characters, the basic beats of the story and then make a schedule to write it. I then try and write most days but don’t really do set hours. It always takes me longer than I hope. Always. But if I try to do too much each day I end up doing nothing. I have a small office, but I tend to write in bed, or in cafes. And if I get stuck I go walking. It’s strange how a plot point or problem can seem impossible, then you go walking, listen to a podcast about a completely different subject, and by the time you sit down for a cup of tea that impossible thing seems weirdly obvious.

What is the highlight of your career so far?

Probably going on Woman’s Hour, mainly because I remember my mum listening to it on the radio when I was growing up.

What advice do you have for people who want to have a career like yours?

It’s important to be practical: to have another stream of income because making a liveable income from writing is incredibly hard; to not wait for some magic moment to write, and to crack on in the little pockets of time you do have; to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve; and to send your work out – if you’ve written something it serves no purpose sitting in a bottom drawer. You have to remember, like finding love, it’s a bit of a numbers game: not everyone will like/love your stuff, but you don’t need everyone to love it. You just need one or two people on your side that will open the gates wide enough for you to sneak in.

But I think probably the biggest thing I wish I’d learnt a lot sooner is to have a few people around you who believe in you. People who can cheerlead and help you keep the faith when you’re consumed with doubt and drowning in rejection (because it can feel like that sometimes, unfortunately). For years I was in a relationship with someone who wouldn’t read my work, wouldn’t listen to my podcasts, and really didn’t want me to talk about it at all. And in those moments of doubt, when I needed reassurance, all I had was myself. I now have that mutual support from my new partner and a small group of lovely friends and writers. I just wish I’d realised my need for it sooner because we all need support. Even those of us who are used to being the ‘strong one’.

What are you working on now?

I’m working on my next book, and have a couple of audio projects that are in the pipeline; one factual and one fiction. I’m a bit superstitious so I won’t say any more than that!

The paperback of Regret’s of the Dying is available on March 30th. Other formats are out now.

WRITERS ON THE ROAD: LIZZIE LAMB

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People often talk about Castles in Spain however the inspiration behind my novels comes from an entirely different source – castles in Scotland. We visit Scotland every year with our caravan and I spend part of the day writing on my MacBook and the rest researching/exploring castles, researching ideas for my next novel. My favourite castle is Castle Stalker on Loch Linnhe, the castle featured in Girl in the Castle, although I’ve renamed it Tearmannaire, meaning guardian or defender in Gaelic. We stumbled upon it almost by chance as we were driving from Oban to Ft William and it loomed at us out of the Scotch mist. It was like something out of a film set – grey, imposing and sitting squarely in the middle of the loch.

Catching a sign advertising a café, Castle Stalker View, we pulled in for a better look. There we discovered that the owner gives guided tours of the castle. Even better, he collects potential visitors from the shore and ferries them across to his home in his launch. That later used that in a scene from in Girl in the Castle where the heroine arrives on the shore,  shrouded in an autumn mist, and rings a bell for the ferryman to take her over to the castle.

The following year we discovered Bioran Dubh Caravan Site overlooking the castle and have stayed there in subsequent years. The thrill of seeing the castle every morning when we open the blinds never palls. We’re booked ourselves in there this summer on our way south after touring the highlands. A word of warning, there is no toilet block at the site, only water and electricity so your caravan needs to be pretty much self-contained if you fancy staying there.

Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself. . .

The tour of the castle revealed details which I subsequently used in Girl in the Castle. How the RAF practices low level flying along the loch using the castle as a marker and dip their wings as they fly past. How Castle Stalker became Castle Argg in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, including the scene where John Cleese hurls abuse at King Arthur from the ramparts. I learned how canny landowners were reluctant to dine at the castle in the past because there was a good chance it would be their last meal; all very Game of Thrones. (I later used that detail in Dark Highland Skies my current novel).  I also learned about heiresses being dragged to the altar to secure their dowries, the groom who was murdered by a rival before the ceremony was over and the Jacobite gold allegedly hidden there after the 1715 uprising.

They’re still looking for that!

As a nice touch, I was able to give the owner current a signed copy of Girl in the Castle as my thanks for him sharing his iconic home with us. And, as an extra, you can dine on the pub on the shore which was a notorious haunt of Jacobites back in the day.

We’re really looking forward to our tour of Scotland this summer, who knows what gems we’ll uncover and how that will influence what I write next?

https://viewAuthor.at/LizzieLamb

 

EMMA BENNET ON RUNNING A SUCCESSFUL AUTHORTUBE CHANNEL

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For anyone not familiar with it, Authortube is the little corner of YouTube with writers producing videos. Not only is Authortube full of writing advice, but there are author life vlogs and lots of opportunities to take part in live writing sprints, which definitely make the writing process less isolating.

I loved watching Authortube videos and felt I could add something to the community. I wanted to offer support to writers as well as tips and tricks which could help them in their writing careers. I also figured I would learn an awful lot myself while researching for my videos. Becoming a proper part of the Authortube community also really appealed, they all seemed very supportive of one another, sharing one another’s videos, co-hosting live streams, and shouting out about each other’s books. I discovered this to be true very early on, and it’s made such a difference to my writing to have this wonderful group of cheerleaders.

I mulled over starting my own channel for more than a year before I finally took the plunge in March 2022. The time commitment to running a channel being a major hurdle as well as my complete lack of equipment. I didn’t even have a lovely, quiet place to film: I share a house with five boys and two large dogs!

I began filming on an iPhone 5s one afternoon when all my family were out. I had to prop the phone up on a stack of books because I didn’t have a tripod. The lighting was dreadful, and the video quality wasn’t great. Oh, and I’d made the mistake of filming in portrait instead of landscape. I also didn’t make a thumbnail for it. But, I had officially had a video available. This is definitely how I would advise anyone interested in starting any sort of YouTube channel to start (although maybe get the camera the right way round!): use what you’ve got and try it out to see if it’s for you before committing to buying a load of equipment.

The first few months were a very steep learning curve! I’ve never been very interested in technology and suddenly I found myself on a crash course in filming and editing as well as graphic design for thumbnails. I watched numerous YouTube videos to teach me what to do and cannot recommend Canva enough for thumbnails and putting your videos together!

Almost a year on, I’m on track to be monetised this year, which would be amazing. I upload two videos and at least one short (a video less than a minute long, like a TikTok) a week, as well as hosting at least two live writing sessions a week. I’ve also been able to collaborate on videos and live streams with other authors, and will be taking part in the Authortube Writing Conference later this year.

Running a YouTube channel is definitely hard work and isn’t for the faint hearted, but I absolutely love it. I’ve learned so many new skills, not least becoming confident speaking to a camera, and I’ve made lots of new friends who all share my passion for writing and sharing our skills with others.

The resources available for writers on YouTube now, and all completely for free, are just astounding, and I would advise anyone who hasn’t yet to check it out, whether you’re very new to writing or a seasoned veteran.

 

Find Emma on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKJKt8kmDXrWQAGkTV1VHMQ

The author of seven romances, Emma’s YouTube channel is full of tips and tricks for writers, book recommendations, author life vlogs, and live writing sprints.

WRITERS ON THE ROAD: ELAINE EVEREST

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Little did I l know that my first Saturday job at the age of fifteen and three months at the Dartford branch of Woolworths would lead me to write a series of historical sagas over fifty years later, or that the home I lived in for twenty years when first married would provide me with such a wealth of happy memories. Those memories still feature in my books today, in fact I’ve just filed my tenth book set in and around Woolies during the early 1950s.

I was born and brought up in Erith, Kent, growing up listening to my parents and family members talking about ‘the good old days’ even there were times when life wasn’t so good. The history of the small town on the south bank of the Thames has a rich history not only of its involvement during the two wars, but also of family life which fascinated this young child – and still does to this day. With my mother passing away at the age of forty I hung onto the stories she told me about growing up in the war and what happened to her family members. I would need to write many more books to cover all her memories and what I’ve discovered since she died. Even though I’ve moved away from the area I only have to close my eyes and I’m back there in the street where I had such happy memories and, in my mind, walk through the old Erith which was, in my childhood very much as it was during WW2.

As I explain to new writers, memories are fine, but writers must ensure stories we’ve grown up with fit in with the history of that time. Use archives and read, read, read as much as you can about your subject. Believe me if we get anything wrong our readers will soon correct us. One of the joys of being an author and setting my books in and around North-West Kent is being able to chat with local people and hearing their family stories and memories of the town and Woolworths; there is a large community of ex Woolies employees, and they love to share their stories.

When I wrote that stand-alone book – yes, The Woolworths Girls was originally commissioned as one book – I become so interested in the history of that well-known store and started to collect old copies of The New Bond, the Woolworths monthly staff magazine. I have copies from as far back as the 1930s and they hold a wealth of information about the different stores, staff celebrations, employment anniversaries as well as advertisements from those times; I lose hours reading through my stash!

Of course, local history and store information is important, but this author needs to know what is going on in the outside world away from the town and Woolworths, and importantly how it plays a part in my ‘girls’ lives. Hours spent at the local archive centre as well as having my nose in a non-fiction book means I glean information that may just appear in my stories.

Do I envy authors who set their stories in exotic locations? Of course, I do! However, the joy for me is knowing I only need to close my eyes and step outside the front door of number 13 Alexandra Road to see again my characters and hear their stories.

 

Elaine’s website: www.elaineeverest.com

 

 

 

 

PUBLICATION DAY SPECIAL: THE FOREVER GARDEN BY ROSANNA LEY

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I’m a big fan of Rosanna Ley’s books and this was no exception; in fact, it’s one of my favourites. The characters are instantly believable, the descriptions sumptuous and the whole story is perfectly tensioned between three viewpoint characters and two timelines.

The story is told from the points of view of Lara (in the 1940s and present day), her daughter Rose, and her granddaughter Bea, and it revolves around two very special gardens. The first is in Dorset, created by Lara’s mother based on the principles of the Arts and Crafts movement. It is this garden that Lara promises her mother to protect, which is the starting point for the drama that follows. The second garden is one that Lara later creates in Puglia.

The relationships between the women – and their gardens – are beautifully drawn. That Lara left the Dorset garden behind is evident from the outset, but in the hands of such a skilled storyteller, my desire to find out the whys and wherefores made it hard to put the book down. The Forever Garden will not only transport you from Dorset to Italy and back, it’s a journey you cannot fail to enjoy.

I was so entranced by the gardens that I asked Rosanna what her inspiration for them had been, and what her own Dorset garden is like:

 

I’ve always loved gardens. My parents were both keen gardeners and I have happy memories of running around our back garden as a child, playing out imaginary stories, dodging amongst my mother’s washing pegged out on the line and my father’s precious raspberry canes and gooseberry bushes.

Our own garden here in Dorset is not large but it wraps around the house and so I feel cocooned and sheltered – which is good as we live near the sea and it can be very windy! Because of the sea air I have plants that can withstand these conditions such as lavender, rosemary, thrift, hollyhocks and erigeron daisies. I am a fan of the cottage garden and of fragrant plants that attract insects, butterflies and bees – natural gardens and wild gardens. The garden also has two bird baths, two tamarisk trees, a pergola of clematis, honeysuckle and roses and a couple of places to sit and write or think in. And we are very lucky because it also has a sea view…

I was inspired to write about an Arts & Crafts garden after I visited Barrington Court in Somerset. The gardens there were laid out in the 1920’s to a structured design influenced by the famous Arts & Crafts garden designer Gertrude Jekyll. She believed passionately in the beauty of the natural landscape and – like me – valued the ordinary plants familiar to gardeners today, such as hostas, lavender and sweet-scented old-fashioned roses.

I immediately loved the Arts & Crafts concept of the garden being a continuation of the house, and of that garden being made up of several small rooms – each one with its own character and flavour. After all, when we go into a garden, we don’t always want to do the same thing. We might want to grow vegetables and be in the mood for some hard-core digging, or we might want to sit quietly in a soft and beautiful space that enables us to reflect, read a good book or just watch the birds go by.

In an Arts & Crafts garden, plants are sometimes chosen for their colour. A white garden, for example, can create a sense of tranquillity through the green of the foliage and the white flowers which are often considered healing for the mind and spirit. Or they might be chosen according to season. In ‘The Forever Garden’ there is a spring garden full of early bulbs such as daffodils and tulips which represents hope and new beginnings; this symbolism becomes very important to Lara in the story.

I like to think of the ‘Forever Garden’ as an important character in the book. For Lara it is both prison and sanctuary. The garden saves her and it also sets her free.