Q and A with author Kate Riorden

Author Kate Riorden

ALICE HAS made a huge mistake. Her mother is deeply ashamed of her and is sending her to an isolated valley to stay at Fiercombe Manor during the summer of 1933.

The plans for her and her unborn child after summer are something Alice can't bring herself to think about. While trying to take her mind off her own misery Alice becomes embroiled in the tragic events of the history of the families who have lived at the manor. However, the housekeeper and friend to her mother is reluctant to talk about the tragic events of the past.

There are lots of secrets at Fiercombe and Alice begins to feel uneasy as she compares her own life with those from the past. A compelling and evocative read. I asked Kate some questions.

DO YOU BELIEVE IN GHOSTS? Not as such, though in a strange way I'd quite like to be proved wrong. What I definitely do believe in is a kind of echo of what went before - old houses, to me, always have more atmosphere than new places.
Some people would probably find it creepy, but I like thinking about all the people who have lived in my house since it was built in the 1700s. That sense of continuity is oddly comforting to me.
WHAT CAME FIRST WITH THIS BOOK, THE CHARACTERS, THE PLOT OR THE SETTING? Definitely the setting. It's based on a real place in Gloucestershire called Owlpen Manor and, though the plot is entirely fictional, there is lots of Owlpen in my Fiercombe.
When I went to stay on the estate for a travel piece I was writing in my journalism days, I just fell in love with the place. The first scene I wrote was Alice's arrival there, even though I didn't know at that point who she was or what she was doing there.

WHAT IS THE SECRET TO DESCRIBING A PLACE (LIKE FIERCOMBE MANOR) SO THAT READERS CAN PICTURE IT IN THEIR MINDS WITHOUT GOING INTO SO MUCH DETAIL THAT THEY SKIP TO THE NEXT DIALOGUE? Setting has always been really important to me as a reader - and I was a reader way before I was a writer. For me, it establishes the atmosphere and tone, and ultimately creates the world I want to retreat back into when I pick up the book again. To build that world you have to make something vivid and almost visceral; as clear in your mind's eye as a set in a film. So I think it's important to write cinematically but also not neglect the senses that film can't convey, such as smell. I think if it's evocative and immersive enough, people won't skip to the dialogue; they'll almost experience it as if they were there themselves. Establishing a place doesn't have to mean pages of description, either. A character looking nervously over her shoulder down a dark passage tells you just as much as describing the literal look of the passage itself.

HOW DO YOU PICK NAMES FOR YOUR CHARACTERS AND HOW IMPORTANT ARE THEY? Names are really, really important. I could picture Alice much more clearly once I'd renamed her from something else that just wasn't working for me. I even liked her as a person more, too, which sounds ridiculous. In my next book, some of the characters have names whose meanings tie in with the book's themes. Not every reader will notice, or care, but I liked the idea of weaving in that extra layer of meaning. As for how I pick them, they either just come to me or I look up lists of historical baby names online (eg, 1920s' British baby names) and scroll through until something jumps out.
TELL US ABOUT A TYPICAL DAY WHEN YOU ARE WRITING TO DEADLINE? My previous jobs as a journalist on weekly magazines mean I actually function better when I have a tight deadline, so publishing's long lead times are a challenge for me because you simply can't leave a 130,000 word novel to the last minute. That said, there's always a rush at the end. On those days, I still don't get up early because I'm just useless before 10am, but I will work late into the night if necessary, eating at my desk and ignoring everyone. I actually like those huge sessions because you really focus and feel like you've got all the plates spinning at once. I'm usually so wired after that my brain won't switch off and I can't sleep.

HOW DID YOU CELEBRATE FINISHING THIS BOOK? My agent and I were aiming to get it finished before I went on holiday to France for a week with friends, so I thought that would be a nice reward. In fact, it gave me too much time to worry whether any publishers would want it. And then when I found out a few days in that they did, I was too excited to sleep. It wasn't the most restful holiday.

WHAT IS THE FIRST BOOK YOU REMEMBER READING? One of the first "proper'', no-pictures, books I remembered reading by myself was What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge. I also read lots of Victorian children's fiction early on, like The Secret Garden and The Little Princess, which probably explains my own writing style back then, which was bizarrely (and now hilariously) antiquated and prim.

WHAT'S NEXT FOR YOU? I've just begun edits on my next novel for Penguin. This one moves between 1878, 1910 and 1922 and follows the lives of a grandmother and granddaughter who are or have been governess to the same family. I love governesses - not only because there are some fantastic examples in literature, such as Jane Eyre, but because they occupied a unique position in the household - not one of the family, but not really one of the servants either. I've also done a detailed plan for the book after that, which ventures more towards crime and is set in Cornwall during World War II. I can't wait to startit.