Tag: Q&A

Blog Tour: The Married Girls by Diney Costeloe

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I’m delighted to host today’s stop on the blog tour for The Married Girls by Diney Costeloe, the sequel to the best-selling drama, A Girl With No Name. Diney has kindly agreed to answer some questions about the book, its inspiration and her approach to writing.

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TheMarriedGirlsCoverAbout the Book

Wynsdown, 1949. In the small Somerset village of Wynsdown, Charlotte Shepherd is happily married to farmer Billy. She arrived from Germany on the Kindertransport as a child during the war and now feels settled in her adopted home.

Meanwhile, the squire’s fighter pilot son, Felix, has returned to the village with a fiancée in tow. Daphne is beautiful, charming…and harbouring secrets. After meeting during the war, Felix knows some of Daphne’s past, but she has worked hard to conceal that which could unravel her carefully built life.

For Charlotte, too, a dangerous past is coming back in the shape of fellow refugee, bad boy Harry Black. Forever bound by their childhoods, Charlotte will always care for him, but Harry’s return disrupts the village quiet and it’s not long before gossip spreads.

The war may have ended, but for these girls, trouble is only just beginning.

Book Facts

  • Format: Hardback
  • Publisher: Head of Zeus
  • No. of pages: 480
  • Publication date: 4th May 2017
  • Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance

Purchase links*
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.com
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Interview: Diney Costeloe, author of The Married Girls

The Married Girls carries on the story from A Girl With No Name.  What are the challenges of writing a sequel compared to a standalone novel?

One of the difficulties is remembering the names and descriptions of the many minor characters. I have a folder labelled “descriptions” and I store any descriptions or interesting details about all my characters, so that if they appear later in the book, or in a sequel, I can refresh my memory on age (they all have birthdays and, if necessary, death dates) looks, behaviour and quirks without having to search through the earlier book to ensure I get them right…

Many of the characters in The Married Girls harbour secrets.  Why do you think secrets are so enticing to us as readers?

Everybody has secrets of one sort or another. As a reader you are given hints and they are gradually revealed. They give you insight into that particular character and often lead you on to the next part of the plot. You want to know what these secrets are, and so I, the author, hope you’ll go on reading to find out.

A lot of your novels have been set in the period running up to or during the Second World War.  What draws you to this period?

Someone once said to me, “You’re very concerned with war.” No, I’m not, but I do like to set my characters in interesting and/or difficult times, as we can then see how they survive or not. Being caught up in a war or its aftermath can provide such a background.

What do you think is the key to creating an authentic period setting?

Research. Not just reading history, but reading the diaries, letters and memoirs of those who were actually there. If they write and say there were violets growing on the side of the trench or they could hear a blackbird singing when the guns fell silent, then I can include such information knowing it’s possible and thus give verisimilitude to what I am writing.

If you could travel back in time, what period would you choose to visit and why?

Probably Georgian, but history fascinates me and there are good and bad things about every era, so my choice would probably change depending on what I’m reading or writing about.

What made you decide to become a writer?

You don’t decide to become a writer. You just write and gradually you are one.

What other writers do you admire?

Jane Austen, C S Lewis, Susan Hill, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles, C J Sansom, Angela Thirkell

Do you have a special place to write or any writing rituals?

I have a study where I work if necessary, but much of the time I’m at the kitchen table. Trouble with that is I have to move everything when the grandchildren come to tea. I have some piano music CDs which I find very soothing and when I put them on to play, my brain knows it’s time to work!

Where do you get the ideas for your novels?

All sorts of places….something I’ve read, something I discover when researching something else, an item of news, a story someone has told me.

What are you working on next?

You’ll have to wait and see!

Thank you, Diney, for those interesting insights into your work.

DineyCostelloeAbout the Author

Diney Costeloe is the bestselling author of The Throwaway Children, The Runaway Family, The Lost Soldier, The Sisters of St Croix and The Girl With No Name.  She divides her time between Somerset and West Cork.

Diney says: ‘Encouraged by my publisher father, I have been writing all my life. When I was five, he took my first effort to his office and brought it back in a cardboard cover with the label, “Tom’s Party, written by Diney, published by Daddy”.
I’ve never looked back and always have some writing on the go.  To date I have written 10 romantic novels under the name of Diney Delancey (I liked the shape of the name and it sounded like a romantic novelist) and four novels as Diney Costeloe.

Connect with Diney
Website
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Interview/Giveaway: Megan Easley-Walsh, author of Flight Before Dawn

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Today’s guest on What Cathy Read Next is Megan Easley-Walsh, author of Flight Before Dawn. Megan has kindly agreed to answer some questions about the book, its inspiration and her approach to writing.

And…Megan is offering three lucky people the chance to win a digital copy of Flight Before Dawn. You can find the link to the giveaway below.  The giveaway runs until  22nd April 2017.

FlightBeforeDawnAbout the Book

Before there was D-Day… For over two years, she’s watched him. Now he’s on her doorstep. This is life in the Resistance. In Normandy in 1943, Victoire leads a band of the Resistance. When Leal, the man she’s had watched for over two years, arrives at her doorstep, she’ll have to face new challenges in war and in love. Robberies, a kidnapping and clandestine night adventures were not at all what Victoire planned for her life. And she most certainly never planned to be betrayed. But war — and love — are unpredictable. Joined by her friend Rainier who is mistrusted by Leal, the mysterious Voleta, and Father Pierre, Victoire and Leal must struggle for survival, the grounds of France, and the material of their souls. When Leal unearths a twenty-five-year-old secret, with Victoire at the center, her whole life is shaken. As the Allies approach, the past, present and future hang in the balance. Can anyone be trusted when the world spins upside down?                                              Watch the trailer here

Purchase links
Amazon.co.uk
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Barnes & Noble
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

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Interview with Megan Easley-Walsh

Hi Cathy and readers! Thanks so much for having me on the blog today.

Without giving too much away, can you tell us a bit about Flight Before Dawn?

Flight Before Dawn is the story of a female French Resistance leader, Victoire, in WW2, in Normandy France. History remembers D-Day on June 6, 1944, but Flight Before Dawn begins in the autumn of 1943 when there is still a lot of uncertainty about what will happen. In the opening chapter, Leal arrives on her doorstep. For over two years, the Resistance has watched him, but he believes that Victoire is a stranger. Victoire and her friends must navigate what they are willing to do for freedom and whom they can trust. Victoire believes that the Resistance is the biggest secret of her life, but when Leal unearths a twenty-five-year-old secret, with Victoire at its center, her whole life is shaken.

What made you choose WW2 Occupied France as the setting for the book?

I grew up in an Air Force family and lived in Germany from the ages of 9-18. I have firsthand experience of walking the beaches of D-Day and visiting the museums. I also participated in a yearly service project that decorated the largest American cemetery from WWII in Europe: the Lorraine American cemetery in St.-Avold, France, each May for eight years and so I was present with the veterans and history became incredibly palpable. At its heart, my writing through all of my novels is about hope. If there can be hope in the midst of war, there can be hope anywhere.

How did you approach the research for the book? Do you enjoy the process of research?

Part of my research came from my firsthand experience. In addition, I read several books. I still have the little yellow sticky notes stuck into them. My educational background is history-focused International Relations and I enjoy researching and piecing together why things happen. It was definitely difficult to read some of the research for Flight Before Dawn, as war is truly horrible. That’s also why I write about war, though, to encourage peace.

What was the biggest challenge you encountered when writing the book?

Flight Before Dawn was my first novel and so everything was new. I had previously written short stories, but never a full length novel. Adding in enough layers to make a full novel was interesting to learn.

You have explored many different periods of history in your books. If you could travel back in time to one of them, which would you choose and why?

Wow, that’s a great question! It might be fun to spend a day with Francesco, the painter in Renaissance Venice, from What Edward Heard. I love Venice and art! If I were to time travel to the characters in Flight Before Dawn, I’d want to rescue them and bring them out of the war with me!

If Flight Before Dawn was made into a film, who would you love to see play Victoire?

Another great question! I hadn’t thought of this before, but when I read the question Audrey Tautou immediately came to mind. One, she’s French. Two, she’s wonderful in the film The Very Long Engagement, which is actually in WWI rather than WWII, but tells a compelling story of perseverance and love. I also think she looks a bit like Victoire on the cover of Flight Before Dawn.

What is your favourite and least favourite part of the writing process?

I really love all of the writing process. Beginnings are thrilling, because it’s the start of something new. Ends are exciting, because the book reaches completion. Finding the perfect way to weave together the middle is also really interesting. I don’t think I have a least favourite part. I’ll say that the part I find the most challenging is that when I’m in the middle of a manuscript, the characters need to have their stories told and I feel bad if I leave them in peril for too long, so I tend to write a lot at once. (Which isn’t a negative thing!)

What other writers do you admire?

I love reading. I really believe that the more you read, the better you write. I’m a Shakespeare fan and have read all of his works. Some of my novels (although not Flight Before Dawn) feature a Shakespeare allusion. I also like Sherlock Holmes. For more contemporary, I recently began reading Jacqueline Winspeare’s Maisie Dobbs series. I also read a lot of non-fiction, for research and just for personal interest. I really enjoyed reading Margaret MacMillan’s historical works, Paris 1919: Six Months that Changed the World and The War that Ended Peace: The Road to 1914. As mentioned previously, my degrees are in history-focused International Relations, so I love understanding why things that happened continue to impact the world today.

What’s your favourite way to engage with your readers?

I love hearing from readers. Emails at Megan@MeganEasleyWalsh.com are great. You can also connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Youtube, Goodreads, my blog and my websites. Basically, I’m happy to hear from you! And if you’ve read something that I wrote and enjoyed it, I greatly appreciate if you write a review on a retail website, so other readers can find me.

What are you working on next? Will it be more historical fiction?

More historical fiction, yes, definitely! I have several books in the works that I’m looking forward to sharing with my readers. I also continue to be a writing consultant and editor at www.ExtraInkEdits.com.

My best to you all, Megan.

Thank you so much, Megan, for such fascinating answers. I’m really excited to start reading Flight Before Dawn. 

WinNow, enter the giveaway by clicking on this link….a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

MeganEasleyWalshAbout the Author

Megan Easley-Walsh is an author of historical fiction, a researcher, and a writing consultant and editor at www.ExtraInkEdits.com. She is an award-winning writer and has taught college writing in the UNESCO literature city of Dublin, Ireland. Her degrees are in history-focused International Relations. She is American and lives in Ireland with her Irish husband.

Connect with Megan
Websites http://www.meganeasleywalsh.com/
http://www.newhistoricalfiction.com/
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