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Author News & Interviews

Author Talk: Elizabeth Camden, author of Into the Whirlwind

Aug 12, 2013

Elizabeth Camden is the author of four books, including the Christy Award winner AGAINST THE TIDE. Her latest novel, INTO THE WHIRLWIND, is about a woman named Mollie Knox, who is desperate to save her business after the Chicago fire of 1871 destroys her city. While she struggles to rebuild, two men battle for her heart. Can Mollie rise from the ashes with both her business and her heart intact? In this interview, Camden talks about the surprising lack of adult fiction set during the aftermath of the Great Chicago Fire and, of course, her immediate instinct to fill that niche. She has always been moved by the story of the Fire, and felt that it was the perfect dramatic backdrop for a character-driven story because "tragedies burnish the true character of a person."

Author Talk: Julianna Deering , author of Rules of Murder: A Drew Farthering Mystery

Aug 12, 2013

Julianna Deering is a longtime fan of classic mysteries written in the 1920s and '30s. From the tip of his black Homburg to the crease in his stylish cheviot trousers, Drew Farthering, the hero of Deering's own mystery series that launches with RULES OF MURDER, is the epitome of a stylish 1930s English gentleman. In this interview, Deering discusses how her passion for murder mysteries inspired her own writing, along with her discovery of Father Ronald Arbuthnott Knox's rules for crafting a proper mystery story...and her subsequent decision to "bend" them. She also talks about the spiritual journey of her foppish main character and how --- once stripped of his social and monetary advantages --- he is forced to confront his own very desperate need for God.

Author Talk: Jojo Moyes, author of Me Before You

Aug 2, 2013

Jojo Moyes's ME BEFORE YOU, which was a huge hit when it released last New Year's Eve in hardcover, is now available in paperback. The novel follows Louisa Clark, who takes a badly needed job working for ex-Master of the Universe Will Traynor --- wheelchair-bound and having a hard time adjusting to his new life. In this interview, Moyes talks about the very real and tragic news story that inspired the book, as well as the personal experiences that led her to it. She also discusses her fascination with the love-hate bond between siblings, which allowed her to write so compellingly about the relationship between Louisa and her sister, Treena. Lastly, Moyes tentatively weighs in on the re-heated debate about whether or not having children is essential to understanding the human condition, and how achieving broader commercial success has changed her writing process --- for better or for worse.

Interview: Elaine Hussey, author of The Sweetest Hallelujah

Aug 1, 2013

Elaine Hussey is a writer, actress and musician who lives in Mississippi, where her love of blues and admiration for the unsung heroes of her state’s history served as inspiration for her latest book, THE SWEETEST HALLELUJAH. Bookreporter.com’s Terry Miller Shannon talks to Hussey about how her Southern roots have influenced her storytelling (“the history of the Deep South is woven into my bones”) and the patience she had to have while waiting for her characters to mature and fully inhabit the story she was trying to tell. On a more personal note, she opens up about the message that is central to the novel --- female empowerment --- and the importance of her own friendships with the women in her life. An eternal optimist, Hussey shares how she balanced her own glass-half-full outlook with some of the book's darker themes, and her own routine that prepares her mentally for writing.

Interview: Adelle Waldman, author of The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P.

Jul 19, 2013

Adelle Waldman’s debut novel, THE LOVE AFFAIRS OF NATHANIEL P., chronicles the affairs of the titular hero (who is also sort of an anti-hero) as he makes his way through life and love in the Brooklyn literary scene. Nate is neither romanticized nor vilified as he goes from one relationship to the next, and Waldman deftly keeps him grounded in details that are almost painfully relatable. Naturally, The Book Report Network’s Nicole Sherman and Emily Hoenig jumped at the opportunity to interview the author about getting into a thirtysomething guy’s head. Here, Waldman discusses how she was able to so expertly channel the male psyche, how she feels about inevitable comparisons to HBO’s “Girls” --- the current reigning champ of Brooklyn coming-of-age --- and which of the NATHANIEL P. characters she identifies with the most. And, of course, she has lots of insightful things to say about navigating relationships, both romantic and platonic.