Today, I happily welcome Ms Hill, of whom is a debut war drama novelist, who has focused on Contemporary story-lines ahead of ‘While I Was Waiting’. This particular release whet a thirst of interest for me to read and thereby inspired this interview as I was unable to read the novel for the blog tour. Whenever this happens, I happily enquiry if an interview can be put together with the author and/or offer to let them feature a guest topic essay.
I was quite smitten with the idea for an interview, as I have a particular penchant for *war dramas* as you will be encouraged to see on my Story Vault by Genre! I have a sensitive heart when it comes to true crime & based on actual events war stories, and sensing this about myself, I have re-directed both my interests into two genres of whom I find effectively connect me with the heart & soul of their stories whilst giving me something to chew on at the same time. I am referencing my zest for Mystery & Suspense and Historical Fiction: War Dramas!
I am a reader who finds herself charmingly uplifted by the sensitivity writers are etching inside their war dramas and the compassionate way in which they are uplifting a very difficult time in our historical past (as we all share a timeline of History, even if we are on opposite sides of the ‘Pond’) to reflect both the dedication of the men and women who served whilst offering an insight into the life on the homefront that may or may not have been highlighted previously.
There is a strong sense of community and humanity, yielding to the dreams and desires of everyday citizens who suddenly found themselves consumed by war. These are stories that uplift our strengths and sometimes shine a light on our weaknesses, but mostly, the reason I champion reading war dramas as much as I do on Jorie Loves A Story is simply a re-direction to celebrate the authors who know how to write a convicting story-line and insert such wicked layers of depth straight out of our own Histories.
The second best way to understand our past and to understand the men & women who lived before us is to soak inside Historical Fiction as a way to cut to the quick on an emotional and psychological level of understanding verse picking up a non-fiction where you might get the bones of fact and data, but might not make an emotional connection to the era and the life of the persons your reading about. I personally love the extra layering stitched inside war dramas, and it was a pleasure to host an author who gave me back such a wonderful conversation!
I look forward to hearing your thoughts and now, here’s our conversation:
Tired of her life in London, freelance illustrator Rachel buys the beautiful but dilapidated Clematis Cottage and sets about creating the home of her dreams. But tucked away behind the water tank in the attic and left to gather dust for decades, is an old biscuit tin containing letters, postcards and a diary. So much more than old scraps of paper, these are precious memories that tell the story of Henrietta Trenchard-Lewis, a love lost in the Great War and the girl who was left behind.
Published By: Harper Impulse (@HarperImpulse)
an imprint of HarperCollinsUK
Formats Available: Paperback and Ebook
You mostly have written Contemporary Rom pieces dealing with modern life and situations which are anchoured to today’s audience. What inspired you to draft a completely new timeline of historical enquiry rooted in the unknown past and impacted by the Great War?
Hill responds: I love reading and writing rom-coms but always felt I had something else to offer too. A fascination with The Great War came down to me from my father. Like many families, mine had someone killed in World War 1. My great-grandfather died in 1915. I’m old enough to remember his elderly daughters talking about his death, so it doesn’t really seem so very long ago in history to me. I’m enthralled by the years from the 1860s until after the war. So much changed, so much technology came into use. It was a golden age for many but one which ended in an industrial war on an unprecedented scale. I always find it hard to look at photographs of happy young people pictured in the early twentieth century. They had no concept of what was to come. How could they? (And on a very shallow note, the clothes were gorgeous!)
Letters and personal artifacts left behind after the World Wars are glimpses of what it was like for the those who lived during that generation not just to survive but to hold onto hope and give love a chance to blossom during a devastating time of loss and heartache. Did your own research for this novel envelope you inside letters from the War era that pointed you towards the heart of the story?
Hill responds: You’re right, letters were incredibly important during the war. It was about the only way people could keep in touch. My research included reading many letters to and from the Front, as they are a primary source of information for that time. I needed to get the ‘voice’ of the letters I wrote in the book right too. As I read more and more, the poignancy of the letters nearly overwhelmed. I think what was left out became as important as what was included. It was a time of great understatement and hiding your true feelings. You can only guess at what phrases like, ‘We were caught in a bit of a fix,’ or ‘things got a little lively last night,’ really meant when written by a soldier in the trenches. The image of a man hunched over a scrap of paper and scratching a cheery message with a stub of a pencil is heart-breaking.
What was the most fun giving your character Rachel a living life lesson through the letters and diary of Hetty? How did you fuse the two women together out of the pages of history and make each of their stories believable to both the reader and to Rachel, who was directly being inspired by Hetty?
Hill responds: I think Hetty would have loved having the sort of opportunities given to Rachel. Hetty was born into an era when women of her class had little choice but to marry. Circumstance kept keeping Hetty at Delamere House. It was only with the end of the war that she was able to explore more of the world she so longed to see. Rachel has opportunities but is afraid to take them. She’s not nearly as expansive a character as Hetty. Rachel is confident in her career but is damaged emotionally. She comes to greatly admire Hetty and the thing she learns is to grab any opportunity going and face your challenges head on. To take chances – in love and life. I must add that it was the idea of my lovely editor to make this aspect of the book clearer and I think the book is better for her suggestions.
Time slip novels are a personal favourite of mine – the last one I read during war was A Fall of Marigolds and what I appreciate about them the most is how intimate you get to know the characters within the context of their personal timescape. What did you endeavour to bring out of the juxtapositions between Rachel and Hetty’s living eras? What did you want the reader to notice most?
Hill responds: I love the time-slip, dual narrative genre too! I think part of this answer can be found in my previous comment. There would be no limit to what Hetty could achieve, given the freedoms and opportunities of the twenty-first century. However, maybe what made her such a determined, resolute character, was the era into which she was born. Do we have so many privileges and opportunities that we tend to take them all for granted? I think what I wanted the reader to notice most was how Rachel, by grabbing life by the throat, really began to live it to the full.
What do you feel was the hardest part to encompass over the climax of the story’s arc as you were fleshing out two characters living in two completely different times?
Hill responds: The hardest part was letting go of Hetty’s story. She could have gone on for another hundred thousand words! As Rachel learned more and more from Hetty though, she became less of an obsession. Rachel began to live her life more fully in the present, rather than looking back into the past.
What do you love about historical fiction and historical romance? What inspires you as a writer and as a reader?
Hill responds: I have to admit to loving the research. I’ve always been a history freak. I love social history – what people ate, how they interacted, what they wore. The more recent periods in history fascinate me as we have so much evidence. To touch an object that has been carried through a World War 1 trench is extraordinary. Several things stick in the memory as being inspiring: a bedroom in a country house belonging to the son. His belongings, half young boy’s, half soldier’s were left just as they were when he went to fight, never to return. Then there was a photograph of three brothers on their hunting horses. They came from a family of four boys and one girl, the three pictured on horseback all died in the war. On a much lighter note, a ball dress spotted in the Museum of Costume in Bath became Hetty’s and I had great fun touring places locally for the right village, for Rachel’s cottage and a big house which could have been Delamere. It was a good excuse for a day out!
What do you think implores us to continue to seek out war dramas and the inspiring (oft-times harrowingly realistic) stories?
Hill responds: And they can be harrowing, can’t they? But wartime can also be a time for great freedoms and opportunity. The cliché that when you think life may be cut short, it becomes all the more sweet is true. War offers the writer and therefore the reader so much: heart-break, lost love, love re-discovered, danger, drama … no wonder both world wars are still popular!
Whilst on a break from research and writing, what invigorates your spirit?
Hill responds: I love to walk the dogs, I enjoy television drama (currently glued to War and Peace), I like the theatre and love a posh afternoon tea – with champagne of course! I’m a real museum enthusiast too and there’s nothing better than a stroll on a Dorset beach looking for fossils.
A small postscript:
After I had received the responses from Ms Hill, I found her on Twitter and we carried forward our conversation a bit whilst finding out how much we each love having companions with fur in our lives. I had shared a bit about what I was going through at the time I was striving to put joy into this interview when my own heart felt weighed down with emotional anguish (see this post) and I felt re-inspired simply by her kindness and understanding. I’ve been sharing a bit about what I went through earlier in January, and the few authors I’ve conversed with about this have been such warm spirits of light and sympathy for my situation, that I truly cannot compose enough words to thank them for reaching out to me and sharing a bit of their own joy in having companions with fur! It’s been an unexpected blessing, as I will reveal a bit more on my forthcoming review of The Particular Appeal of Gillian Pugsley and on my next Bookish Not Bookish post which will release over this weekend.
I was further overjoyed finding out about her appreciation for War and Peace and how my random mentioning of this work of Classical Lit has sparked such wonderful convos with readers and authors alike who have either read the book and/or are watching the new adaptive mini-series! I will admit, due to personal stress and woes over the past two years, I put my own readerly endeavour to focus on War and Peace on hold. I had consciously made the choice to read this in [2016] but after I learnt of the new mini-series, I must say I thought my timing was quite brilliant! The fact I am finding reluctant readers and curiously on pins authors who wonder how I will snuggle inside such a tome of Classical Lit is all the nudges of encouragement I truly need! I have decided after I cure my backlog of reviews, I will be soaking inside Tolstoy’s legacy!
Ms Hill has my gratitude for being approachable and understanding whilst giving me such a lot of joy in talking about a favourite personal genre of mine! I am so very delighted that after I put to rest my own recent sorrow, I could help illuminate a light on a new war drama that I truly cannot wait to read myself when time allows! Here’s to celebrating all of life, including the bittersweet unexpected sorrows who touch our heart and souls to such a level where we feel blessed to be alive and fully aware of all that life affords us whilst we’re here.
This interview is courtesy of the blog tour via Brook Cottage Book Tours:
Previously I interviewed Sarah Hughes for her war drama A Kiss from France which was also featured by Brook Cottage Book Tours! I am blessed to have conversed with both authors!
Be sure to leave your thoughts, comments and questions in the threads below for Ms Hill! I welcome your own musings on behalf of why ‘war dramas’ stir your heart and capture the spirit of a generation who proved that living life well meant taking risks.
Similar to blog tours where I feature book reviews, as I choose to highlight an author via a Guest Post, Q&A, Interview, etc., I do not receive compensation for featuring supplemental content on my blog. I provide the questions for interviews and topics for the guest posts; wherein I receive the responses back from publicists and authors directly. I am naturally curious about the ‘behind-the-scenes’ of stories and the writers who pen them; I have a heap of joy bringing this content to my readers.
{SOURCES: Book Cover Art for “While I Was Waiting”, author biography, book synopsis, blog tour badge were provided by Brook Cottage Book Tours and used with permission. Post dividers badge by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Conversations with the Bookish banner created by Jorie in Canva. Comment banner created by Jorie in Canva. Rainbow Digital Clip Art Washi Tape made by The Paper Pegasus. Purchased on Etsy by Jorie and used with permission. Tweets are embedded due to codes via Twitter.}
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