A blast from the past! Looking back to the first ever *Diana talks...!* Diana talks to Liz Harris.

Last year I was fortunate enough to attend HNS16 at Oxford. This is the conference for the Historical Novel Society and it was a wonderful experience.

Although she was constantly busy and often going in the opposite direction, I  managed to catch up with author Liz Harris whilst we were stuffing 'goody bags' for the delegates and I asked her a few questions.

I tried to make the questions unusual!

 If your latest book, THE LOST GIRL, was adapted into a TV show or a film, who would you like to play the lead role?

The two main characters are Joe Walker, who, when seven years old, found a new-born baby lying beside her dead Chinese mother at the edge of a mining town in SW Wyoming, and Charity, the name given to the Chinese baby, whom Joe persuaded his reluctant family to take in.

As an adult, Joe would be lean and attractive, with warmth in his eyes, and I can easily see Robert Pattinson, made famous in the Twilight series of films, as Joe.

(Note from Diana: Hmmm. Maybe I had better have another look. 

And another!)

Charity must look 100% Chinese, and the Chinese actress, Liu Yifei, would be very good as the adult Charity.  Liu Yifei is not yet particularly well known in the UK, but she would be after she’d played Charity!

Liu Yifei

If, as a one off, (and you could guarantee publication!)  you could write anything you wanted, is there another genre you would love to work with and do you already have a budding plot line in mind?

Of the six novels I’ve had published, four are historical and two contemporary.  I’ve loved writing in both of those genres, but your question has made me wonder if there’s another I’d also like.  I’d only want to write in a genre that I read and enjoy, and as I don’t really like science fiction or fantasy and paranormal, I’d avoid those.

However, I love crime novels and am an avid reader, and I’ve suddenly realised that I’d enjoy writing a crime novel.  This hadn’t occurred to me before, but now you’ve got me thinking.  I don’t have a plotline in mind at the moment, this being a new idea, but I’ve a feeling that I’ll be working on one from now on.  Watch this space!

Do you have any rituals and routines when writing? Your favourite cup for example or ‘that’ piece of music...??

I prefer to write in total silence – I never listen to music. My musical preference, classical music, would fill my mind and make me soar on the back of its wonderful emotion, and I fear I’d leave my written words behind.  Generally, it’s better when author and words are united!

Having said that about silence, I can work very well in a café.  This isn’t as contradictory as it sounds: I can block out all sound around me and hear only my characters’ voices, see only their setting, and lose myself in the conflict that faces them, so it’s as if I am alone. 

But sitting by myself in my study, in total silence, is my ideal working condition.

What is the worse book you have ever read? What made it unreadable for you?

May I slightly qualify the question and replace ‘worst book’ with ‘the book you’ve least enjoyed’?  Worst is subjective, and I’m aware that someone, particularly if the novel was published in the days before self-publishing, must have thought the novel worth publishing for it to have appeared in print.  This doesn’t mean that it’s to my taste, though.

I’ve picked a novel that I tried to read long before I started writing myself, but found totally unreadable - Finnegans Wake, by James Joyce.

This took a mind-boggling 17 years to write, finally being published in 1939, and was James Joyce's final work. It’s written in an experimental, idiosyncratic language, with large passages of stream of consciousness, which was, to me, incomprehensible.

I think reading a novel should be an enjoyable experience, one in which the reader can easily lose him/herself in the world created by the novelist, not something which demonstrates the author’s erudition, but of which the meaning is a struggle to grasp.

Other than writing full time, what would be your dream job?

To be an actress.  My mother was an actress, and from her I’ve inherited a love of the theatre and cinema. Before I had a family, I did a lot of amateur dramatics, which I enjoyed enormously.  Whenever I’m writing a book, I see the scene I’m depicting, and when I plan a chapter, I always think, as you’ll just have noticed, in scenes.

Coffee or tea? Red or white?

It depends upon the time of day.  After breakfast, it’s time for a mug of tea, and also late in the afternoon. In between that, I have coffee just about every hour on the hour.  That’s not as unhealthy as it sounds as I drink it quite weak!

For lunch, I’d probably choose white wine, but I’d always have red in the evening.

If you had free choice over the font your book is printed in, what font/fonts would you choose?

I automatically use Times New Roman, size 12, for books, messages and everything else.  I got into the habit of writing in this font and size when I found that it was the preference of most publishers.  It now feels strange to use any other font and size.

You’ll see, however, that I’m not such a die-hard conservative that I can’t cope with a different font - I resisted the instinctive urge to change the font in which your questions were printed, and I stayed with your choice! 

(Note from Diana: Thank you!!)

Imagine that you could get hold of any original source document. What would it be?

I’m lucky in that a large number of the Wyoming newspapers from the 1800s are online, and I’ve been able to read them.  There’s nothing I’ve felt that I needed to read, but been unable to access.  When I struggled to find the minutiae of the life of a second generation homesteader in the 1870s and 1880s, I solved the problem by going to Wyoming myself and interviewing the people who could help me.

Historical fiction authors have to contend with real characters invading our stories. Are there any ‘real’ characters you have been tempted to prematurely kill off or ignore because you just don’t like them or they spoil the plot?

I write novels set in a historical period, with an authentic historical and geographical background, but my characters are fictional.  I have never yet included a ‘real’ character, and I think I’m unlikely to do so (I’d never say never!). 

Generally, I prefer to read books where all the characters are fictional, but I must confess to loving the novels of Georgette Heyer, which occasionally feature real characters, although they’re not usually central to the story line.

If I did include ‘real’ characters, I’d remain true to the known facts of their lives.  If those facts were inconvenient, I’d work around them, but I wouldn’t alter them.  I can’t see them spoiling the plot because I’d have plotted so as to incorporate what is known about their lives, and I’d have used those facts to enhance the story.

Are you prepared to go away from the known facts for the sake of the story and if so how do you get around this?

No, I can’t see myself doing this.  When writing something historical, I think we should get the history right.  I prefer to make the story fit the facts, rather than jiggle with facts in order to make them fit a preconceived story.  As I research the history for my novel, I develop the story line(s) – these grow out of what I find.  For example, when researching the background to The Lost Girl, the moment I read about the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, I knew I had a story line.

Do you find that the lines between fact and fiction sometimes become blurred?

I can’t say I’ve ever noticed this, probably because my characters are fictional creations. The only blurring is between what is real and what is unreal: my characters, as I grow to know them, become real people to me.

When I went to Wyoming to research A Bargain Struck, the first of my three novels set in Wyoming Territory in the 1880s, I followed the 100 mile route from Rawlins to Baggs that my character, Ellen, took in a stagecoach.  I stepped out of my air-conditioned car at the very spot where Ellen stepped out of the stagecoach.  I’m breathing the air Ellen breathed, I thought, and I’m standing on the actual ground where she stood.  And I burst into tears.  Re-living Ellen’s route, albeit in a slightly more comfortable manner, was highly emotional because Ellen was so real to me.

Have you ever totally hated or fallen in love with one of your characters?

I’m always interested in them, and care about them, and enjoy reading what they do, whether it’s something good or bad, but I can’t say that I’ve ever hated them or fallen in love with them. Because I give the ‘hero’ characteristics I admire, if I met him in real life, maybe. As for the ‘bad guy’, I try to make him at least two-dimensional so, although I dislike what he does, I understand and pity him, rather than hate him.

What do you enjoy reading for pleasure?

I read every kind of book, except for science fiction (although I have read and enjoyed John Wyndham) and fantasy (although I loved Dracula, by Bram Stoker).  I have just finished the Booker Prize Winner, The Inheritance of Loss, by Kiran Desai, and loved that, and before that I read and really enjoyed a crime novel by Jane Casey.  I’m an eclectic reader, in other words, and always have been, but my all-time favourite author will always be Jane Austen.

What drink would you recommend drinking whilst reading your latest book, THE LOST GIRL?

Nothing alcoholic!  When I happened upon the history behind The Lost Girl, I was appalled by the treatment of the Chinese by the Americans, although I understood how it came about.  By knowing what happened in the past, we are, hopefully, less likely to repeat those same mistakes in the present.  Alcohol (very pleasantly) dulls the senses, and I want the reader to be alert at all times as to how the tensions of the period, similar to those today, impacted on the lives of Joe, his family and Charity.

Last but not least... favourite historical author?

As a teenager, I read every single novel by W. Harrison Ainsworth, to whose works my mother introduced me.  I loved them all. My interest in history began with him.

To come to a more recent favourite historical author, on the top of the pile of books I want to read is At the Edge of the Orchard, by Tracy Chevalier.  I absolutely loved The Last Runaway and I can’t wait to read this, her latest novel.

Thank you very much for interviewing me, Diana.  These were interesting questions, and I’ve enjoyed answering them.  I’m now going away to think about a plot for a crime novel!

Liz's wonderful study. Who would not dream of working here?

 Thank you very much, Liz, for the care and thought you put into the answers and the time spent away from the conference. I really appreciate it as will our readers.

The Lost Girl is available from https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lost-Girl-Choc-Heart-West-ebook/dp/B014JMM4YO

About Liz:
After graduating in Law in the UK, Liz moved to California where she led a very varied life - from cocktail waitressing on Sunset Strip to CEO of a large Japanese trading company. Upon returning to England, she completed a degree in English and then taught for a number of years before developing her writing career.

She is published by Choc Lit. Her debut novel, THE ROAD BACK, was voted Book of the Year 2012 by US Coffee Time & Romance, and in the same year, EVIE UNDERCOVER was published, first on kindle, and recently in paperback.

A BARGAIN STRUCK, published in September 2013, was shortlisted for the RoNA for Best Romantic Historical, and later in the year, THE ART OF DECEPTION, a contemporary novel set in Italy, was published digitally.

A WESTERN HEART, a novella set in Wyoming 1880, was published digitally in spring 2014. THE LOST GIRL, her most recent full-length novel, was brought out in 2015.

Liz has a story in each of Choc Lit's anthologies: ANGEL CAKE in Choc Lit Love Match, and CUPCAKE in Kisses & Cupcakes. Each anthology is a collection of short stories by Choc Lit authors, with a recipe accompanying each story.

© Diana Milne July 2016

© Liz Harris September 2016

Diana talks to - Julia Faye Smith

Hi Julia, I am sure that you are tired of being asked the usual questions that would be interviewers ask authors, so hopefully this interview is an interview with a difference and I have come up with some unusual questions!

If your latest book Twilight of Memory was adapted into a TV show or a film, who would you like to play the lead role? No question about it, Matt Damon. Both as young Henry and as an older Henry, he would be perfect.

 

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If, as a one off, (and you could guarantee publication!)  you could write anything you wanted, is there another genre you would love to work with and do you already have a budding plot line in mind? No, not in another genre.  I would just like to write the world’s best historical fiction! Ah, well. (You have made an excellent start there!!)

*

Do you have any rituals and routines when writing? Your favourite cup for example or ‘that’ piece of music...?? Not really, but I am not very productive in the morning hours, so that’s when I take care of errands, housework, etc. As empty nesters my husband and I are free to set our own schedules (most of the time), so for me, it’s A.M. ‘whatever’, and afternoon is devoted to research and writing, etc.

*

What is the worse book you have ever read? What made it unreadable for you? Not just one book, but almost every book written by the wildly successful Danielle Steel. My husband and I once owned a book store, the Book Nook, which was the home of the best easy chairs and ugliest lamp in the world. The lamp should have been in a bordello! Think “Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” style. I felt I needed to read as many of the best sellers as possible. I could not read Danielle’s work without rolling my eyes, groaning, and constantly asking, “Why is she repeating that. We got it the first time!” She repeats, repeats, and repeats backstory as if we readers cannot retain the info for more than a few pages. That being said, I absolutely loved her Granny Dan and The Ring! Whenever her name comes up I jump to recommend those two.

*

Other than writing full time, what would be your dream job? At this point in my life I would love to be the female Rick Steves! Short of that, a travel writer for us ‘older’ folks.  I did have another profession; I was an educator, (history, reading, English) for 35 years.

*

If you had free choice over the font your book is printed in, what font/fonts would you choose? I love script, but I know it is hard to read, so I would be reasonable and go with one of the common, more readable fonts…Georgia, Calibri, etc. (Wonderful choices. I love Georgia and Plantagenet Cherokee and almost always use one or the other!)

*

Imagine that you could get hold of any original source document. What would it be? A love letter from Thomas Jefferson to Sally Hemmings or visa versa. But of more interest to me on a personal level would be a journal written by my 3^rd great-grandmother as she packed up her Tennessee Walking Horses and headed south after the death of her husband in the war of 1812. She was the founder of our family in a new state. We’ve been quite prolific! Equally as desirable would be a journal written by my husband’s great-grandmother as she left Italy in 1906 and came to America with her husband and three children. Theirs’ became the ‘great American success story’, much more than my family’s story, but both would be wonderful.

*

Historical fiction authors have to contend with real characters invading our stories. Are there any ‘real’ characters you have been tempted to prematurely kill off or ignore because you just don’t like them or they spoil the plot? No, not a one, but once I am finished with my fictional characters I have no problem polishing them off, often rather quickly, if needed.

*

Are you prepared to go away from the known facts for the sake of the story and if so how do you get around this?  I will not go away from the facts when they are fundamental to the story. For instance, In ”Twilight of Memory,” I would not change any fact as relating to the battles the 10^th Mountain Division fought in Italy. With painstaking research guiding me, I wanted to stay as true to the facts as possible. Only my fictional characters, when not part of an actual historical moment, can wander around.

*

Do you find that the lines between fact and fiction sometimes become blurred? In the past the lines have been easily delineated, but in my ongoing effort, I find that fact and fiction sometime fight each other and I have to make some concession to move the story forward.  But going back to your previous question, I suppose I am contradicting myself. I find in this new work that I am bending the facts somewhat, but that’s okay because this work is based on family history…I can change, bend, eliminate, etc my family history to fit the big picture, but again, never actual history.

*

Have you ever totally hated or fallen in love with one of your characters? I fell in love with the subject of my recently published “Something to Prove, A Biography of Ann Lowe, America’s Forgotten Designer.” Ann, the granddaughter and great-granddaughter of former slaves, was born in a small Southern town during the days of Jim Crow…laws that severely restricted African American citizens’ rights. One would NOT expect Ann to become the design darling of America’s highest realm of society, but she achieved it. She even designed the gown Jacqueline Bouvier wore when she married John F. Kennedy. Ann defied all odds, but died banckrupt and today is known only by a few.

In “Twilight of Memory,” I loved Henry for his gentleness and Daisy for her unflappable belief in her love for Henry, even when it seemed improbable.  In a children’s book that I have written, “The Lovely Alligator”, I love the old man trying to find a lovely alligator for his granddaughters.  He should be every child’s grandfather.

*

What do you enjoy reading for pleasure? Oh my, dare I say it? Historical fiction! Almost any time period, but I do generally read by time periods for several weeks or months at a time. At the moment WWI and WWII, both on the home fronts and in the battles, are at the top of my reading list. For several years I devoured everything Plantagenet and Tudor. Before that, early American history.

*

What drink would you recommend drinking whilst reading your latest book? For Twilight, drink a robust Italian wine or one of the newer Colorado wines. For my work in progress, it might take something stronger!

*

Last but not least... favourite historical author? Oh gosh, I think it depends on the time period I’m reading at the moment. I’ve been reading Allison Weir and Susan Higginbotham for as long as I can remember. I’ve actually given my granddaughter the same Allison Weir novel three times, forgetting that it is the same one I’d previously given her.  Then, of course, the early works of James Michener. I read John Jakes’ novels the moment each one was published. What a great early American history without a text book. I must admit that after one, either number 4 or 5, there was a great long wait. I was most impatient and upset. Then I learned that he had serious health problems during that period!

Back to the question, for today, I’m enjoying M.K. Tod because she paints great pictures and is easy to read and I love WWI and WWII. And I love everything by Susan Vreeland. For young adult/middle grades historical fiction, no one surpasses Ann Rinaldi.

Still, with all that said, the best historical fiction I’ve read in the past two-three years has to be Alyson Richman’s The Lost Wife.  Oh, my. Her descriptions and story drew me in and held me. I spoke so highly of the book that a neighbour asked to borrow it. Two weeks later she sheepishly brought me a new copy. Why? (I wanted my original copy because it was underlined in so many beautiful places.) She explained that she was reading and cooking at the same time and spilled shrimp juice on my copy. Ack! Do you know how awful old shrimp juice can smell!

(Sorry, Julia, I laughed out loud. Does that make me a very bad person??)

Thank you for a wonderful talk, Julia. I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did.

 

Biography:

Julia Faye Dockery Smith, a native of Alabama, attended local public schools in Tuscaloosa. She began her writing career in the 7th grade at Tuscaloosa Jr. High when she won a writing contest. On stage to accept her reward, $25.00, she was asked if she wanted to say anything. She replied, "Someday I will write a book."

She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Montevallo, receiving a degree in education with an English major. She received her master's degree in education with an emphasis on reading from Colorado State University.

After beginning her teaching career in Florida, she married a journalist and took several years' hiatus to raise three children. She returned to the classroom in Colorado and completed her 34 years of teaching in Georgia classrooms.

She and her husband, Jim, currently live in Florida with two of their three children and all five of their grandchildren. Their third child lives in Texas. Faye and Jim enjoy travelling, writing, research, and most of all family.
Julia's books are all available here

© Diana Milne July 2016 © Julia Faye Smith September 2016

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Diana talks to ... Liz Harris

Recently I was fortunate enough to attend HNS16 at Oxford. This is the conference for the Historical Novel Society and it was a wonderful experience.

Although she was constantly busy and often going in the opposite direction, I  managed to catch up with author Liz Harris whilst we were stuffing 'goody bags' for the delegates and I asked her a few questions.

I tried to make the questions unusual!

 If your latest book, THE LOST GIRL, was adapted into a TV show or a film, who would you like to play the lead role?

The two main characters are Joe Walker, who, when seven years old, found a new-born baby lying beside her dead Chinese mother at the edge of a mining town in SW Wyoming, and Charity, the name given to the Chinese baby, whom Joe persuaded his reluctant family to take in.

As an adult, Joe would be lean and attractive, with warmth in his eyes, and I can easily see Robert Pattinson, made famous in the Twilight series of films, as Joe.

(Note from Diana: Hmmm. Maybe I had better have another look.

And another!)

Charity must look 100% Chinese, and the Chinese actress, Liu Yifei, would be very good as the adult Charity.  Liu Yifei is not yet particularly well known in the UK, but she would be after she’d played Charity!

Liu Yifei

If, as a one off, (and you could guarantee publication!)  you could write anything you wanted, is there another genre you would love to work with and do you already have a budding plot line in mind?

Of the six novels I’ve had published, four are historical and two contemporary.  I’ve loved writing in both of those genres, but your question has made me wonder if there’s another I’d also like.  I’d only want to write in a genre that I read and enjoy, and as I don’t really like science fiction or fantasy and paranormal, I’d avoid those.

However, I love crime novels and am an avid reader, and I’ve suddenly realised that I’d enjoy writing a crime novel.  This hadn’t occurred to me before, but now you’ve got me thinking.  I don’t have a plotline in mind at the moment, this being a new idea, but I’ve a feeling that I’ll be working on one from now on.  Watch this space!

Do you have any rituals and routines when writing? Your favourite cup for example or ‘that’ piece of music...??

I prefer to write in total silence – I never listen to music. My musical preference, classical music, would fill my mind and make me soar on the back of its wonderful emotion, and I fear I’d leave my written words behind.  Generally, it’s better when author and words are united!

Having said that about silence, I can work very well in a café.  This isn’t as contradictory as it sounds: I can block out all sound around me and hear only my characters’ voices, see only their setting, and lose myself in the conflict that faces them, so it’s as if I am alone. 

But sitting by myself in my study, in total silence, is my ideal working condition.

What is the worse book you have ever read? What made it unreadable for you?

May I slightly qualify the question and replace ‘worst book’ with ‘the book you’ve least enjoyed’?  Worst is subjective, and I’m aware that someone, particularly if the novel was published in the days before self-publishing, must have thought the novel worth publishing for it to have appeared in print.  This doesn’t mean that it’s to my taste, though.

I’ve picked a novel that I tried to read long before I started writing myself, but found totally unreadable - Finnegans Wake, by James Joyce.

This took a mind-boggling 17 years to write, finally being published in 1939, and was James Joyce's final work. It’s written in an experimental, idiosyncratic language, with large passages of stream of consciousness, which was, to me, incomprehensible.

I think reading a novel should be an enjoyable experience, one in which the reader can easily lose him/herself in the world created by the novelist, not something which demonstrates the author’s erudition, but of which the meaning is a struggle to grasp.

Other than writing full time, what would be your dream job?

To be an actress.  My mother was an actress, and from her I’ve inherited a love of the theatre and cinema. Before I had a family, I did a lot of amateur dramatics, which I enjoyed enormously.  Whenever I’m writing a book, I see the scene I’m depicting, and when I plan a chapter, I always think, as you’ll just have noticed, in scenes.

Coffee or tea? Red or white?

It depends upon the time of day.  After breakfast, it’s time for a mug of tea, and also late in the afternoon. In between that, I have coffee just about every hour on the hour.  That’s not as unhealthy as it sounds as I drink it quite weak!

For lunch, I’d probably choose white wine, but I’d always have red in the evening.

If you had free choice over the font your book is printed in, what font/fonts would you choose?

I automatically use Times New Roman, size 12, for books, messages and everything else.  I got into the habit of writing in this font and size when I found that it was the preference of most publishers.  It now feels strange to use any other font and size.

You’ll see, however, that I’m not such a die-hard conservative that I can’t cope with a different font - I resisted the instinctive urge to change the font in which your questions were printed, and I stayed with your choice! 

(Note from Diana: Thank you!!)

Imagine that you could get hold of any original source document. What would it be?

I’m lucky in that a large number of the Wyoming newspapers from the 1800s are online, and I’ve been able to read them.  There’s nothing I’ve felt that I needed to read, but been unable to access.  When I struggled to find the minutiae of the life of a second generation homesteader in the 1870s and 1880s, I solved the problem by going to Wyoming myself and interviewing the people who could help me.

Historical fiction authors have to contend with real characters invading our stories. Are there any ‘real’ characters you have been tempted to prematurely kill off or ignore because you just don’t like them or they spoil the plot?

I write novels set in a historical period, with an authentic historical and geographical background, but my characters are fictional.  I have never yet included a ‘real’ character, and I think I’m unlikely to do so (I’d never say never!). 

Generally, I prefer to read books where all the characters are fictional, but I must confess to loving the novels of Georgette Heyer, which occasionally feature real characters, although they’re not usually central to the story line.

If I did include ‘real’ characters, I’d remain true to the known facts of their lives.  If those facts were inconvenient, I’d work around them, but I wouldn’t alter them.  I can’t see them spoiling the plot because I’d have plotted so as to incorporate what is known about their lives, and I’d have used those facts to enhance the story.

Are you prepared to go away from the known facts for the sake of the story and if so how do you get around this?

No, I can’t see myself doing this.  When writing something historical, I think we should get the history right.  I prefer to make the story fit the facts, rather than jiggle with facts in order to make them fit a preconceived story.  As I research the history for my novel, I develop the story line(s) – these grow out of what I find.  For example, when researching the background to The Lost Girl, the moment I read about the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, I knew I had a story line.

Do you find that the lines between fact and fiction sometimes become blurred?

I can’t say I’ve ever noticed this, probably because my characters are fictional creations. The only blurring is between what is real and what is unreal: my characters, as I grow to know them, become real people to me.

When I went to Wyoming to research A Bargain Struck, the first of my three novels set in Wyoming Territory in the 1880s, I followed the 100 mile route from Rawlins to Baggs that my character, Ellen, took in a stagecoach.  I stepped out of my air-conditioned car at the very spot where Ellen stepped out of the stagecoach.  I’m breathing the air Ellen breathed, I thought, and I’m standing on the actual ground where she stood.  And I burst into tears.  Re-living Ellen’s route, albeit in a slightly more comfortable manner, was highly emotional because Ellen was so real to me.

Have you ever totally hated or fallen in love with one of your characters?

I’m always interested in them, and care about them, and enjoy reading what they do, whether it’s something good or bad, but I can’t say that I’ve ever hated them or fallen in love with them. Because I give the ‘hero’ characteristics I admire, if I met him in real life, maybe. As for the ‘bad guy’, I try to make him at least two-dimensional so, although I dislike what he does, I understand and pity him, rather than hate him.

What do you enjoy reading for pleasure?

I read every kind of book, except for science fiction (although I have read and enjoyed John Wyndham) and fantasy (although I loved Dracula, by Bram Stoker).  I have just finished the Booker Prize Winner, The Inheritance of Loss, by Kiran Desai, and loved that, and before that I read and really enjoyed a crime novel by Jane Casey.  I’m an eclectic reader, in other words, and always have been, but my all-time favourite author will always be Jane Austen.

What drink would you recommend drinking whilst reading your latest book, THE LOST GIRL?

Nothing alcoholic!  When I happened upon the history behind The Lost Girl, I was appalled by the treatment of the Chinese by the Americans, although I understood how it came about.  By knowing what happened in the past, we are, hopefully, less likely to repeat those same mistakes in the present.  Alcohol (very pleasantly) dulls the senses, and I want the reader to be alert at all times as to how the tensions of the period, similar to those today, impacted on the lives of Joe, his family and Charity.

Last but not least... favourite historical author?

As a teenager, I read every single novel by W. Harrison Ainsworth, to whose works my mother introduced me.  I loved them all. My interest in history began with him.

To come to a more recent favourite historical author, on the top of the pile of books I want to read is At the Edge of the Orchard, by Tracy Chevalier.  I absolutely loved The Last Runaway and I can’t wait to read this, her latest novel.

Thank you very much for interviewing me, Diana.  These were interesting questions, and I’ve enjoyed answering them.  I’m now going away to think about a plot for a crime novel!

Liz's wonderful study. Who would not dream of working here?

 Thank you very much, Liz, for the care and thought you put into the answers and the time spent away from the conference. I really appreciate it as will our readers.

The Lost Girl is available from https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lost-Girl-Choc-Heart-West-ebook/dp/B014JMM4YO

About Liz:
After graduating in Law in the UK, Liz moved to California where she led a very varied life - from cocktail waitressing on Sunset Strip to CEO of a large Japanese trading company. Upon returning to England, she completed a degree in English and then taught for a number of years before developing her writing career.

She is published by Choc Lit. Her debut novel, THE ROAD BACK, was voted Book of the Year 2012 by US Coffee Time & Romance, and in the same year, EVIE UNDERCOVER was published, first on kindle, and recently in paperback.

A BARGAIN STRUCK, published in September 2013, was shortlisted for the RoNA for Best Romantic Historical, and later in the year, THE ART OF DECEPTION, a contemporary novel set in Italy, was published digitally.

A WESTERN HEART, a novella set in Wyoming 1880, was published digitally in spring 2014. THE LOST GIRL, her most recent full-length novel, was brought out in 2015.

Liz has a story in each of Choc Lit's anthologies: ANGEL CAKE in Choc Lit Love Match, and CUPCAKE in Kisses & Cupcakes. Each anthology is a collection of short stories by Choc Lit authors, with a recipe accompanying each story.

© Diana Milne July 2016

© Liz Harris September 2016