The Book Lovers is your new release and it
is the first in a new series after The
Rose Girls and Austen Addicts.
What will be the trait d’union among
the books in this upcoming series?
The Book Lovers series revolves around
the Nightingale family and their family-run bookshops in the small Suffolk
market town of Castle Clare. Each book will focus on a member of the
Nightingale family and how they find their true love, but there will also be a
cast of regular characters made up of friends, cousins and neighbours.. It's
proving a lot of fun to write!
The
Book Lovers
features a classic love triangle. Your heroine,
Callie, has two very different men vying for her attention in a complicated
moment of her life. Have you got any idea why this pattern is so popular in
fiction?
I think readers love to put themselves
in the place of the heroine and think, 'Who would I choose?' I know I do!
Thomas Hardy is very good at love triangles. In Far From the Madding Crowd,
there are no less than THREE heroes for the heroine to choose from and, of
course, she gets it wrong over and over again. I think we're all fascinated by
that sort of romantic journey.
What
inspires your romantic characters? Is it more fiction or real
life?
I am very lucky to have a wonderful
husband and he's inspired many moments in my fiction, but there's a lot of
imagination in the books too! I think we all like to dream even when we've
found our own happy ever after. The process of falling in love is a magical
one, and it's one I never tire of writing about.
How
do you usually choose the wonderfully gorgeous locations for your stories?
I always write about places I love like
the Suffolk countryside (The Rose Girls and The Book Lovers) where I'm lucky
enough to live now, or Lyme Regis (The Perfect Hero), the Scottish Highlands
(The Runaway Actress and Christmas at the Castle) or the Cotswolds (The Secret
of You). I also love writing about big old country houses.
Can
you tell us more about Callie, your new heroine?
We meet Callie when she's desperately
trying to put her unhappy past behind her. She's an only child and her parents
had her quite late in life and still seem baffled by her presence. Her short
marriage to Piers was a disaster too and so Callie is left feeling vulnerable
and believes that she's incapable of being truly loved. So she decides to give
up on love and throw herself into her writing.
What
about the two heroes, instead, Leo and Sam.
Could two heroes be more different? I
adore bookish Sam who has shut out the world and plunged himself into the safe
world of books after a painful divorce. But I also love Leo with his spaniels
and his easy, country ways. I think it would be very hard to choose between
these two!
You
are an Austen fan as I am and have written very successful Jane Austen-inspired
fiction. How much have you been influenced by her world in your writing
romantic modern novels?
As an author of romantic novels, it's
hard not to be influence by Jane Austen who wrote one of the very best novels
in this genre, Pride and Prejudice. But, although I am often inspired by her
writing, my fiction comes from my own ideas – subjects I'm fascinated by or
passionate about such as roses, country houses and small communities.
Here
at FLY HIGH!, besides books, I often write about period drama movies and
series. Do you like costume and period movies/series? Have you got any
favourite ones?
I do love a costume
drama. Of course, any Jane Austen adaptation
gets my vote. I'm also a huge fan of the films of Merchant Ivory – their E M
Forster adaptations – like Howards End and A Room with a View – are stunning. I
also really enjoyed the recent BBC adaptations of Poldark, The White Queen and
Wolf Hall.
Let’s
play a bit now. Casting for The Book Lovers, who do you see as Callie,
Leo and Sam?
There's an actor called Ben Chaplin (left) who
I think would play Sam Nightingale really well. Callie could be played by the
lovely Imogen Poots (central image) or Romola Garai, and I'd love to see Aneurin Barnard (right) as Leo
– he's such a talented actor.
Your
next project is a Christmas novella set in the Scottish Highlands, Victoria. I
can’t wait! Could you tell us more about it?
It's about two families – the Frasers
and the MacNeices – who spend Christmas together at the Caldoon Castle in the
wilds of Scotland. There are secrets, squabbles, a little bit of romance and
the biggest, hairiest dog in Scotland! I'm loving writing this one.
About the book
Author Callie Logan never expected to
swap her life in London for one in rural Suffolk but, after the breakdown of
her marriage, she decides that a fresh start is just what she needs. Finding
Owl Cottage in the tiny village of Newton St Clare, Callie determines to give
up on love and throw herself into her work. But fate seems to have other ideas
and she soon has two very different men vying for her attention.
First there's Leo who likes to live on
the wild side which usually means taking his dates foraging in the local woods
for their supper. Then there's bookshop owner Sam. Recovering from a divorce,
Sam has also vowed to embrace the single life. That is, until he meets Callie.
But is Callie willing to risk her heart
again and, if she is, will she make the right choice?
The
book is available in kindle format, audio and paperback at amazon.co.uk
and amazon.com
About the
author
She is also the author of several
romantic comedies including The Runaway Actress which was nominated for the
Romantic Novelists' Association's Best Romantic Comedy of the Year.
Victoria was brought up in Norfolk
before moving to Yorkshire where she got married in a medieval castle. After 11
years in London, she moved to rural Suffolk where she lives in a Georgian
cottage with her artist husband, a Springer spaniel and her ex-battery hens.
She's written about her experience of country life in three volumes of
autobiography, Escape to Mulberry Cottage, A Year at Mulberry Cottage and
Summer at Mulberry Cottage
Sign up for Victoria's newsletter to be
the first to hear about new releases and exclusive competitions: http://victoriaconnelly.com/newsletter and follow her on Twitter @VictoriaDarcy
4 comments:
sounds like a great story. didn't enter because it appears to be UK-only. (not complaining)
Sounds like a fun series. It looks like the giveaway is UK only so please don't enter me; just wanted to say it looks like a great read and congratulations.
Great post. Have enjoyed Victoria's other books so this is on my TBR list. Congratulations! (US)
Love the sound of this series. I've enjoyed Victoria's Austen Addicts and a series about book lovers is just up my street.
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