Q& A with author Lisa Marie Rice

Can you tell us about your new release, Midnight Vengeance?

Oh yeah, gladly! This is one of my favorite books, probably because it gestated so long. We first met Jacko a couple of books ago, a really rough and tough former SEAL whose molecules were rearranged when he spent an hour listening to his boss’s wife playing the harp. Allegra’s music is beautiful, ethereal, miles away from the heavy metal that is Jacko’s usual soundtrack.

You start a novel at a moment of change for the characters. Jacko has been wildly attracted to a beautiful woman who is worlds away from his usual casual girlfriends—biker chicks who like it rough. Lauren isn’t anything like them and clearly he’s not her type either. Jacko should stay far, far away from someone like Lauren and he would—if he could. The thing is—he can’t.

No matter how many times he tells himself to walk away from her, his feet simply won’t obey. Which is crazy, right? Because what would a beautiful woman, a frigging artist, want with him?

And Lauren in turn doesn’t quite know what to do with Jacko. She’s not his type. His type is young and fast and stacked. Sure, Jacko is around a lot. A lot. Every time she turns around, it seems, there he is. Helping her, driving her around, just…there.

Now how much fun is this scenario? Two people from different walks of life circling each other, each scared to make a move.

Luckily, a homicidal maniac steps in and acts as Cupid.

Jacko is just taken unawares by the depths of his feelings. He has no place to put them, no space in his head that recognizes them. But the feelings are there and they are real.

Jacko is unlike anyone Lauren has ever met. Her former boyfriends were high-born and gently bred and their shooting skills and combat skills never entered the equation.

But Jacko has hidden depths and when danger comes knocking Lauren has a chance to see just what Jacko is made of.

What made you start writing sexy romantic suspense?

My inspiration came from books more than movies, actually. Writers such as Nora Roberts and Suzanne Brockmann really fired me up. Somehow Hollywood has yet to do really deep and really good romantic suspense. Maybe because a romantic suspense gives equal space to hero and heroine—it’s a journey of two people-- and movies focus more on the heroes.

To me, writing sexy romantic suspense is a no brainer. Make it over the top in every way. Make the hero and heroine super brave and smart, make the villains heart-stoppingly dangerous, make the love story burn bright with romantic and sexual energy.

Do you have any say in the cover designs for your books?

Some say, sure. Writers usually aren’t visually gifted and there is often a disconnect between the impression we want to give and the cover. But covers aren’t supposed to reflect the story, they reflect the mood. We went through a couple of iterations with the cover of Midnight Vengeance and I must say that I love it. It conveys the dark gritty mood perfectly.

You’ve said before that it is really fun “being” your heroines while writing about them. Can you tell us about the process of becoming your character?

Heroines are often a little idealized, just as romance heroes are idealized. I like putting myself into the head of my heroines and I loved being Lauren. She’s under huge stress and on the run. She’s in survival mode and her life is stripped bare, completely raw. She has to see to the heart of things which is why she can completely appreciate Jacko, a man whose path she wouldn’t ordinarily cross in normal life. But her life isn’t normal. She is forced to see things more clearly and she sees Jacko—sees his strength and deep character and sense of loyalty.

When I sat down and ‘became’ Lauren I put myself in the shoes of a young woman in constant danger and I became very grateful for all the good things in my life and for the fact that I didn’t have a crazy guy gunning for me.

Of course, if you do happen to have a crazy guy gunning for you, having a guy like Jacko by your side, in love with you and more than willing to give his life for you, would be a big plus.

Writing these books I also get to live through these intense love affairs and that is a huge plus!

How do you make the transition from writing about one character in a book to the next character in a new book?

Well, that’s fairly easy, because a new character will have a completely different background and will react in completely different ways to things. In my new Midnight book, Midnight Promises, the heroine is facing a completely different challenge and has a different backstory. Lauren is artistic and outgoing, Felicity is a genius, a computer nerd, uneasy around people. Creating different characters is why writing books is so satisfying.

All of your heroines are very artsy people. Do you have any other creative interests besides writing?

I have a lot of interests—art, music, films. I think my heroines are artsy also in contrast to the hero, they bring something new into the hero’s life. They say opposites attract, but more than attracting, they complement. My guys are mostly badass tough guys. Cross them and you’ll be sorry. But most of them haven’t had much contact with the softer side of life, with the beauty and grace of life and when their women introduce them to these aspects they are blown away.

Do you ever have to do any research when it comes to your character’s professions?

I think anyone who has read my books realizes that I do a lot of research. I mean a lot. Many of my heroes are former military and I have done a lot of reading of soldiers’ memoirs and books on geopolitics. I also happen to find them fascinating. I’ve had scientist heroines and I make a point of reading up on at least the basics of their professions. I research everything in as much detail as I can because I like to give details in my writing, I try to make the reader feel like she is right there with the hero and heroine, saving each other and saving the day.

Which male character have you fallen in love with the most?

I always fall in love with the last character I wrote, so I’d have to say Jacko, definitely. However, I am starting to fall in love with the hero of my next Midnight book, Metal. He’s rough and tough and with a soft heart. He could never hurt a woman but if you are his enemy—watch out.

Where is your favorite place to write?

Definitely my favorite place to write is my study. I have a fabulous study that looks out over a gorgeous terrace and treetops and in the distance a sweeping valley. The Ionian Sea is a bright blue line on the horizon and if I had binoculars strong enough, I could 15 miles away the Greek temple where Pythagorus taught math.

What’s your favorite scene between Jacko and Lauren?

I must say my favorite scene is at the beginning when they get together for the first time. Jacko has been dancing around Lauren for months and finally—it’s time! That first kiss changes everything.

Who would you choose to play these two characters in a movie?

I have two actors who would be perfect and actually I kept googling their images. For Jacko, a young Vin Diesel, who is both tough and tender

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004874/

For Lauren a blue-eyed Kristen Kreuk who has exactly that delicate yet strong vibe happening:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0471036/

What advice can you give for aspiring writers?

It sounds trite but write write write and read read read. The usual estimate is that you have to write a million words of bad writing to start writing well. I know it sounds like a lot but most prolific writers wrote a lot before they started publishing. Nowadays you can write fan fiction and join writing groups and you should just write your heart out. And one day, it’s as if you slipped into a new and higher gear, and the writing takes off.

Read a lot, always. Study writers you admire, figure out how they manage to keep you enthralled and touch your heart. It’s a gift but it is also a technique. Learn all the techniques then pare away what doesn’t work for you until you have the beating heart of what you are meant to write.

Do you agree that writing at a later age is better because you have more life experience behind you?

Yes, absolutely. You need to have lived a lot before you can infuse your characters with life. You need to have travelled widely, studied profoundly, you should have your heart broken a couple of times, been betrayed, been astonished by acts of generosity, have admired wisdom. Live life to the fullest is a good maxim for anyone, not just writers.

If you weren’t writing books, what else would you like to do?

Well, I had a previous life as a simultaneous interpreter and translator, so this is Life 2.0. I travelled extensively, interpreted fascinating people, including heads of state, worked for international institutions and learned how the world works. So I guess you could say I’ve already ticked off everything on my Bucket List and now I’m doing precisely what I was meant to do. I love writing books and hope to die right in the middle of writing another romance!

What are you working on next?

I’m writing the sequel to Midnight Vengeance, Midnight Promises, and I am having a ton of fun. Look for it in January 2015!

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Lisa Marie Rice is eternally 30 years old and will never age. She is tall and willowy and beautiful. Men drop at her feet like ripe pears. She has won every major book prize in the world. She is a black belt with advanced degrees in archaeology, nuclear physics, and Tibetan literature. She is a concert pianist. Did I mention her Nobel Prize? Of course, Lisa Marie Rice is a virtual woman who exists only at the keyboard when writing erotic romance. She disappears when the monitor winks off.

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To read an an excerpt from this book, just click on the book:

Morton “Jacko” Jackman isn’t afraid of anything. He’s a former Navy SEAL sniper who has been in more firefights than most people have had hot meals and there’s one thing he knows for sure. Lauren Dare scares the crap out of him.
 
Gorgeous, talented and refined, she’s the type of woman who would never be interested in a roughneck like him. So he’s loved her fiercely in secret, taken her art classes and kept a watchful but comfortable distance. Until now.
 
Lauren had finally found a home in Portland, far from her real identity, far from the memories of her mother’s death, and far from the reaches of the drugged-out psycho who’s already tried to kill her twice. One tiny misstep—a single photograph—has shattered it all. She has no choice but to run again, but this time she’ll give herself a proper farewell: one night with Jacko.
 
Their highly charged emotional encounter changes everything. In Jacko’s arms there cannot be fear, there can only be pleasure. Anyone wishing her harm will have to pass through him—and Jacko is a hard man to kill.

Magical & Marvelous by Arthur Powers

“In Latin America,” says my friend, Bernardo Aparício, “magic-realism is simply realism.”

In 1969, I went to Brazil a thorough rationalist and agnostic.  Academically successful, I had completed my first year at Harvard Law School, then taken a leave of absence.  I returned to Harvard five years later to finish school, but I was in many ways a changed man.

Part  of the change came from living and working with people for whom the “supernatural” is simply part of life.  Bernardo is right – Latin Americans do not generally distinguish between what we call the “supernatural” and the natural: all is part of a single whole.  I’ll illustrate with a true story.

In the 1980s, my wife, Brenda, and I were living in a small village on the Araguaia River, in the eastern Amazon basin.  We were ministering to a rural parish that the Franciscan priests were able to visit only once a month.   Our good friend, Fr. Tom Jones (OFM) was called back to the United States, and asked us if we would take care of his canary.  So the canary came and lived in a cage on our veranda, and blessed us with song.

One morning a parishoner, Dona Jaíra, came to talk with Brenda about parish matters.  Dona Jaíra was an intelligent woman, raised in the region and active in the rosary group.  As she was leaving, they walked out onto the veranda.  Brenda looked at the cage and saw that the canary was lying on the floor, apparently sick or dying.

“Someone has given the canary the evil eye,” Dona Jaíra said.  Then, after a moment, “Do you mind if I cure it?”

“Please,” my wife responded.  We loved the canary.  “Do anything you can.”

Dona Jaíra went over to a bush in our garden, selected a small branch, plucked it and came back to the cage.  She inserted the branch into the cage so that it touched the canary.  She said a brief prayer.  The branch wilted; the canary stood up and began to sing.

Such an incident was not an isolated event.  A friend’s dead mother-in-law physically appeared to her, calmly asking that a mass be said so that she could rest in peace.   When a farm school we helped organize was plagued by poisonous snakes, a local curandeiro blessed three corners of the property and guaranteed that snakes would not bother it for the next two years – they didn’t.

Today our friend, Rich Davis – who also lived in Brazil – sent me a wonderful article from NPR - http://wboi.org/post/letter-beyond-grave-tale-love-murder-and-brazilian-law.   An ex-cop and a crime boss had a gunfight over a woman;  the crime boss was killed.   The court admitted as evidence a letter from a medium who had been contacted by the dead man.  The dead man acknowledged (from beyond the grave) that the fight had been his fault.   The ex-cop was acquitted.

Brazil – a marvelous and magical country.

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Arthur Powers went to Brazil in 1969 and lived most his adult life there. From 1985 to 1997, he and his wife served with the Franciscan Friars in the Amazon, doing pastoral work and organizing subsistence farmers and rural workers’ unions in a region of violent land conflicts. The Powers currently live in Raleigh North Carolina.

Arthur received a Fellowship in Fiction from the Massachusetts Artists Foundation, three annual awards for short fiction from the Catholic Press Association, and 2nd place in the 2008 Tom Howard Fiction Contest. His poetry, fiction, and essays have appeared in many magazines & anthologies. He is the author of A Hero For The People: Stories From The Brazilian Backlands (Press 53, 2013) and The Book of Jotham (Tuscany Press, 2013).

Happily Ever Afters For All by Kim Boykin

Back when I was a little girl, I loved the scenes in the Disney movies where Prince Charming rides up on his beautiful steed and rescues the girl. Fast forward fifteen years, and I preferred a shirtless Prince Charming with great abs riding on his trusty steed to save the girl. But, today, some of my favorite stories are about women helping others find their happily ever afters.

My husband won’t admit it to me, but if there were an out and out battle of the sexes (excluding physical tests,) he’d lay his money on us folks with the X chromosomes to win.\

Case in point; our daughter once asked him the proverbial question, “If you were stranded on a desert island, who would you want with you?” (Keeping in mind that twelve-year-olds don’t throw whom around much.)

He said, “Your mom.” After he got a great big AWWW from our daughter, he explained. “She would find a way to feed us, keep us happy, and get us off the island and back home in no time.”

I’m not too sure about that, but exploring women flat out saving the day has always fascinated me.

In my new novel, Palmetto Moon, Vada’s friend, Claire, helps Vada find the gumption to stand up for herself and choose the life she wants over the marriage that was arranged before Vada’s birth. The big sticking point for Vada is, the elderly servant couple that raised her may suffer repercussions if Vada doesn’t return home.

“My father keeps a portion of the servants’ money—he says he invests it for them. When he learns Desmond and Rosa Lee helped me run away—” Vada shakes her head.

 “Eggs break. Families break. But one thing I know for certain is, Vada, you and I don’t. You had the courage to choose a different life for yourself, and you’re thriving. This is what growing up is.” Claire pushes a strand of silky blond hair away from Vada’s tearstained face. “If your father turns Desmond and Rosa Lee out, you’ll take them in and somehow you’ll make do. And when the time comes, I have no doubt you’ll stand up to your father.”

Of course I have no scientific data that suggests women are genetically engineered to save the world. And, while the prince or one of his buddies is quite capable of riding to the rescue on a white horses, when you get right down to it, women are just better at it.

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Kim Boykin was raised in her South Carolina home with two girly sisters and great parents. She had a happy, boring childhood, which sucks if you’re a writer because you have to create your own crazy. PLUS after you’re published and you’re being interviewed, it’s very appealing when the author actually lived in Crazy Town or somewhere in the general vicinity.

Almost everything she learned about writing, she learned from her grandpa, an oral storyteller, who was a master teacher of pacing and sensory detail. He held court under an old mimosa tree on the family farm, and people used to come from all around to hear him tell stories about growing up in rural Georgia and share his unique take on the world.

As a stay-at-home mom, Kim started writing, grabbing snip-its of time in the car rider line or on the bleachers at swim practice. After her kids left the nest, she started submitting her work, sold her first novel at 53, and has been writing like crazy ever since.

Thanks to the lessons she learned under that mimosa tree, her books are well reviewed and, according to RT Book Reviews, feel like they’re being told across a kitchen table. She is the author of The Wisdom of Hair from Berkley, Steal Me, Cowboy and Sweet Home Carolina from Tule, and Palmetto Moon, also from Berkley 8/5/14. While her heart is always in the Lowcountry of South Carolina, she lives in Charlotte and has a heart for hairstylist, librarians, and book junkies like herself.

About the Book

June, 1947. Charleston is poised to celebrate the biggest wedding in high-society history, the joining of two of the oldest families in the city. Except the bride is nowhere to be found…Unlike the rest of the debs she grew up with, Vada Hadley doesn’t see marrying Justin McLeod as a blessing—she sees it as a life sentence. So when she finds herself one day away from a wedding she doesn’t want, she’s left with no choice but to run away from the future her parents have so carefully planned for her.

In Round O, South Carolina, Vada finds independence in the unexpected friendships she forms at the boarding house where she stays, and a quiet yet fulfilling courtship with the local diner owner, Frank Darling. For the first time in her life, she finally feels like she’s where she’s meant to be. But when her dear friend Darby hunts her down, needing help, Vada will have to confront the life she gave up—and decide where her heart truly belongs.

Kiss or Tip By Mary Carter

I walk into a movie theatre for a matinee. It’s one of those indie movie theaters with a lot of character. It’s a trip back in time gazing at the painted dome ceilings, thick red velvet curtains, brocade carpet, and decorative gold moulding. It smells like popcorn and feet. They recently played the classic movie, GODZILLA. Maybe that’s why a two-foot Godzilla is propped up on the concession counter, baring his teeth and holding a handmade sign. It reads: KISS OR TIP.

When I saw this sign, propped up in front of a very cute twenty-something-year-old man, I wanted to shout, “I’ll kiss you.” I’m much more attracted to men in their twenties than I was when I was in my twenties. But I didn’t shout anything or even pucker up. Because that would make me the ubiquitous cougar. And because I didn’t want him to reject me, and I’m not sure whether I really wanted to kiss or him or just see his reaction if I said I wanted to kiss him. I stuck a dollar in the plastic cup next to Godzilla instead. But see what three simple words can make you think and almost make you do?

That’s what I love about stories. Words can jump off a page. Words can make characters come alive and do something. I like mysterious signs, envelopes slipped under doorways, and messages written on matchbooks. You’ll find such signs, and letters, and messages in my upcoming novel, Meet Me in Barcelona. Please, do, meet us there. You’re all invited. I love words. And miniature Godzillas daring me to kiss strange boys behind counters, and mysterious invitations to Spain. If I were writing about a character in a novel who came across this sign, I would definitely have her threaten to kiss the boy. Because characters in novels have to take more risks than I take in my safe, everyday life. They get to live out loud, be bold, and brazen. They get to hold up signs of their own. Love me! Don’t leave me! Follow me to the ends of the earth. And oftentimes they have to face up to things that terrify them.

Even when they want to turn and run, they must face the music. That should be easy for country singer, Grace Sawyer. She’s on holiday. In Spain with her gorgeous boyfriend, Jake. Only the way they won the trip never sat right with Grace. And lately, she’s been getting these clues. Clues that suggest this wasn’t just a happy accident. Someone is pulling the strings. Taunting them. Asking for a kiss or a tip. And Grace Sawyer had better be careful which one she chooses. Because you never know when one wrong tip could trigger a landslide, or one innocent peck turn out to be the kiss of death.

Mary Carter is a freelance writer and novelist.  Meet Me in Barcelona is her eighth novel. Her other works include: Three Months in Florence, The Things I Do For You, The Pub Across the Pond, My Sister’s Voice, Sunnyside Blues, She’ll Take It, and Accidentally Engaged.  In addition to her novels she has written six novellas: Return to Hampton Beach in the anthology, Summer Days, A Southern Christmas in the upcoming 2014 anthology Our First Christmas, A Kiss Before Midnight in the anthology, You’re Still the One, A Very Maui Christmas in the New York Times best selling anthology Holiday Magic, and The Honeymoon House in the New York Times best selling anthology Almost Home. Mary currently lives in Chicago, IL with a demanding labradoodle. She wishes she could thank her gorgeous husband, but she doesn’t have one. In addition to writing she leads writing workshops. 

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A surprise trip to Barcelona with her boyfriend, Jake, seems like the perfect antidote to Grace Sawyer's current woes. The city is dazzling and unpredictable, but the biggest surprise for Grace is discovering who arranged and paid for the vacation.

Carrie Ann wasn't just Grace's foster sister. Clever, pretty, and mercurial, she was her best friend—until everything went terribly wrong. Now, as she flees an abusive marriage, Carrie Ann has turned to the one person she hopes will come through for her. Despite her initial misgivings, Grace wants to help. But then Carrie Ann and Jake both go missing. Stunned and confused, Grace begins to realize how much of herself she's kept from Jake—and how much of Carrie Ann she never understood. Soon Grace is baited into following a trail of scant clues across Spain, determined to find the truth, even if she must revisit her troubled past to do it.

Mary Carter's intriguing novel delves into the complexities of childhood bonds, the corrosive weight of guilt and blame, and all the ways we try—and often fail—to truly know the ones we love.

Distraction? No, My Fridge Really Needed Cleaning by Amy M. Reade

Yesterday I had eight guest blog posts to write, plus two for my own blog.  I also had to attend a meeting, take my son to a baseball game, sit and watch aforementioned baseball game, prepare for two parties at my house that will take place in the next five days, promote my book, and pick out four excerpts from that same book, Secrets of Hallstead House.  Oh, and do some writing.  You know, that thing I do that creates most of the other work.

So what did I tackle first?

The refrigerator.  Specifically, I cleaned it from top to bottom.

Don’t get me wrong- I love writing and every single thing associated with it, including revising, research, edits, copy edits, and even page proofs.  Everything.

But I do get sidetracked sometimes.  And I really did need to clean the fridge.  My sister is visiting this weekend and I once saw her described as “Mrs. Clean” in a real estate listing when her house was for sale. 

Nauseating, I know.  You can understand why I wasn’t about to let her see my fridge.

But I digress.

When I finally sat down to work, I grabbed the first item in my toolbox that I use to fight distractions (after all, I still had bathrooms to clean and dog hair to vacuum).  I probably should have grabbed my toolbox before I cleaned the fridge, but as I said, I just couldn’t let my sister see it.

The item I’m referring to is my work-in-progress binder.  I borrowed the binder system from Phyllis Whitney, who was in my opinion one of the greatest romantic suspense writers of all time.  She explains the concept in her Guide to Fiction Writing, which is my favorite book on the craft.  I keep her primer next to me all the time when I work and refer to it frequently.  In a nutshell, my binder is filled with different sections that all help me produce a finished novel.  There are sections for characters, plotting, outlining, chronology, and theme, just to name a few. 

The great thing about my binder is that there is always a section to work on until I’m ready to start page one of my novel.  If I’m stuck on the plotting, I can move to the character section, and vice versa.  There’s always a section that I can work on, so it keeps me from going astray.

And here’s another great thing about my binder- on the first page I list the date, the day of the week, and the binder section(s) I worked on.  If I start to see gaps in the dates, representing days that no work gets done, it gives me the kick I need to get back on track. 

So tool #1 in my anti-distraction kit is my WIP binder and tool #2 is page one of that binder. 

My third tool is most often referred to as the “butt in the chair” method of getting work done.  It’s exactly what it sounds like.  I sit and force myself to write something.  Anything.  This takes some will power, but with practice it becomes easier. 

My fourth tool is the kitchen timer.  I set it for say, one hour.  If I work straight through the hour, I get a reward when the timer goes off.  Actually, my reward is usually walking the dog, so it’s really more of a reward for her.  But it works.

Fifth:  get off the Internet.  If you’re using it for research, that’s one thing.  But if you’re looking for another book to download to your eReader or a birthday gift for someone whose birthday is six months from now, resist the urge to do anything on the computer except write.  You don’t have to stay off the Internet all day, just when you’re trying to write. 

Finally, get started on projects as soon as they’re assigned to you.  That way you don’t have to worry about battling distractions as a deadline approaches.  Unless you work well under pressure, in which case my hat goes off to you.  I tend to freak out when I’m under a lot of pressure.

Like any tools, these take practice to use effectively.  I struggle with distractions every day, but I’m using these tips and getting better at staying on task.  You will, too.

Do you have any tips to avoid getting sidetracked while you work?  I’d love to hear them.

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Amy M. Reade is a debut author of romantic suspense.  A native of upstate New York, she grew up in the Thousand Islands region and was inspired by the natural beauty of that area to write her first novel, Secrets of Hallstead House.  She now lives in New Jersey with her husband, three children, a Bouvier des Flandres named Orly, and two rescued cats who refuse to answer to their names of Porthos and Athos. 

Having practiced law in New York City, Amy soon discovered that her dream job was writing.  In addition to volunteering with school, church, and community groups, Amy is currently working on her second novel, The Ghosts of Peppernell Manor, set in the area around Charleston, South Carolina. 

Though Amy lives within sight of the Atlantic Ocean, she is partial to the blue waters of the Pacific and spends as much time as possible on the Big Island of Hawaii, which is the setting of her as-yet-unwritten third novel.

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“You are not wanted here. Go away from Hallstead Island or you will be very sorry you stayed.”

Macy Stoddard, a nurse from Manhattan, comes to Hallstead Island in the North Country of New York to escape a haunting pain.  It is here that Macy discovers secrets that were not meant to be shared – secrets that reach back into Macy’s past and that will change her future and the futures of the people on Hallstead Island.  There are those, however, who will stop at nothing to keep the secrets that are hidden there. 

Q & A with author Lisa Jewell

Today we have a Q&A with Lisa Jewell, an internationally bestselling author whose new book, THE HOUSE WE GREW UP IN, is on sale this August from Atria. Lisa is a UK bestseller year after year, but we think THE HOUSE WE GREW UP IN is her finest book yet. It has something for everyone: family tragedies, hoarding, late in life internet lovers, mother/daughter and father/son battles. It’s enchanting, heartbreaking, beautiful, fun and full of emotional depth. We hope you love it as much as we do!

Tell me about the first book you ever purchased.

Strangely, I don’t have this memory at all. My sisters and I were library kids, our mother took us every week, so maybe I didn’t even buy a book as a child! My earliest memory of taking a book out of the library was one of the Ant & Bee series of books; these were quirky, almost surreal books about best friends Ant (an ant) and Bee (a bee) who travelled around together having offbeat adventures. I didn’t know it at the time but they were written by an educationalist to teach children to read by themselves.

Have you ever read a book in order to impress someone?

I was married to an intellectual in my early twenties and read pretty much every book on his shelves in order to impress him! The heaviest was probably a book of Noam Chomsky essays. My current husband forced One Hundred Years of Solitude onto me in the early days of our relationship, which I read to please him. And on which we still remain entirely divided.

What was your favorite book as a child?

I was a self-guided reader as a child and went quickly from the classics (the Secret Garden, the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe) to more adult books. But my favourites were my Agatha Christies. I read four a week until I’d bled the library dry.

Is there an author who inspired you to be a writer?

When I was between jobs as a twentysomething, still thinking that writing books was something only self-referential men and middle-aged women did, I read High Fidelity by Nick Hornby. It turned my thinking around and made me realise that there was a market for a younger, lighter, contemporary voice, and that it needed to be female. I started writing my first novel later that week.

Is there something on your bookshelves we’d be surprised to find there?

Quite the opposite, I think you’d find my bookshelves utterly predictable. Just piles and piles of page-turn-y contemporary fiction.

Tell me a funny/odd/interesting anecdote from a reading, or book signing.

This is very odd and I’m not sure particularly funny, but a girl once came to a signing holding my backlist and asked me to sign them all to her unborn children as she thought she was going to die young. It was a very strange thing to find myself doing.

What book are you reading right now, and why?

I am reading a book called We Are Called To Rise by an American writer called Laura McBride. It was sent to me as a proof by her UK publishers and I’m reading it because they did such a good job of making it sound like I’d be mad not to. I’m a quarter of the way through and so far I would say they were right.

Is there a book you re-read over and over?

No, I never reread. My reading pile is too big and tantalizing.

What book have you recommended most recently?

I think it would probably have been the only non-fiction I read last year which was Love, Nina by Nina Stibbe, a memoir of very funny letters from the nanny of a famous literary editor in London sent home to her sister in the Midlands in 1980. I’m not sure what an American reader would make of it, it’s very idiosyncratic and achingly British, but it warmed my heart and made me laugh an awful lot.

What book do you feel everyone should read?

If a reader has the gumption, I don’t think anyone should go their grave without trying a Charles Dickens.

About the Author

Lisa Jewell was born and raised in north London, where she lives with her husband and two daughters.  She is the internationally bestselling author of ten previous novels, including The Making of Us and Before I Met You.  Find out  more at Facebook.com/LisaJewellOfficial or follow her on Twitter @LisaJewellUK.

Book Details

Meet the Bird family. They live in a honey-colored house in a picture-perfect Cotswolds village, with rambling, unkempt gardens stretching beyond. Pragmatic Meg, dreamy Beth, and tow-headed twins Rory and Rhys all attend the village school and eat home-cooked meals together every night. Their father is a sweet gangly man named Colin, who still looks like a teenager with floppy hair and owlish, round-framed glasses. Their mother is a beautiful hippy named Lorelei, who exists entirely in the moment. And she makes every moment sparkle in her children’s lives.

Then one Easter weekend, tragedy comes to call. The event is so devastating that, almost imperceptibly, it begins to tear the family apart. Years pass as the children become adults, find new relationships, and develop their own separate lives. Soon it seems as though they’ve never been a family at all. But then something happens that calls them back to the house they grew up in—and to what really happened that Easter weekend so many years ago.

Told in gorgeous, insightful prose that delves deeply into the hearts and minds of its characters, The House We Grew Up In is the captivating story of one family’s desire to restore long-forgotten peace and to unearth the many secrets hidden within the nooks and crannies of home.