Kate Lord

Kate Lord Brown is an internationally successful author. Her novel The Perfume Garden was shortlisted for the Romantic Novel of the Year 2014. She holds an MA in Creative Writing.

1. Can you tell us what your new book ‘The Christmas We Met’ is about.
   It’s about a young jeweller who has lost everything – as she fights to rebuild her life, and solve the mystery behind a diamond brooch belonging to her grandmother, she risks losing the one thing she has left, her family.
2. To the readers of the blog, that may not be familiar with you or your writing, can tell us a bit about yourself and how you got into writing.
   I started writing seriously when I joined a writer’s group in London. I began getting up an hour early to work on my first novel, balancing my keyboard on my boyfriend’s sock drawer. That novel wasn’t published, but it led to me finding a great agent, and I was picked as a finalist in ITV’s People’s Author contest. I was a young mother, juggling running a company with two babies, so it was a real confidence booster. Then my husband was made redundant at Christmas. He found a new job in the Middle East, and so I stayed behind to pack up the house – it was such a busy time I almost forgot the new novel I’d written about the young girls who flew Spitfires during WW2 had been submitted. The night before I left for the Middle East with the children I had ‘the call’ from my agent that all writers long to get – a publisher had offered a two book deal. Since then, I’ve done a part time MA in Creative Writing which was brilliant, and I now write full time.
3. What is the best thing about writing a Christmas story?
   I think losing yourself in the world you create. I live and work in a desert in the Middle East, but writing about a beautiful house in the snow conjures up all those magical feelings of warmth – log fires, Christmas lights twinkling, kisses under the mistletoe … It can be quite a jolt to come out of a morning’s writing and into the real world!
4. What is your favourite part of the writing process?
   I love the first draft. After that initial lightbulb moment, that question you’re dying to answer, you’re telling yourself the story. It’s exhilarating, and imperfect, but there’s nothing like it when your characters take on a life of their own and the story gathers momentum. I write very visually, so it’s almost like transcribing a film.
   [amazon_link id=”1409159957″ target=”_blank” ][/amazon_link]
5. What authors do you admire?
   Loads – I read really widely, both fact and fiction. I love Anne Tyler, Barbara Trapido, Carol Shields, James Salter, William Boyd.
6. If you could rewrite any book, which one would it be?
   I think in terms of the classics, everyone has ‘done’ ‘Jane Austen’ (even with zombies). I read ‘Wuthering Height’s when I was about nine or ten, and loved it – it would be a challenge to write a contemporary version with those amazing characters at the heart.
7. The cover for ‘The Christmas We Met’ is particularly beautiful. Do you have much input into the design for the cover? And do you, yourself judge books by their cover?
   Thank you! I was lucky to have a great designer, and the publisher chose a lovely image. Yes, I do judge by covers very much – I have a background in fine art and design so covers matter a lot. I love Persephone’s books – really unique and beautifully designed, and I’ve bought second copies of a few classics which have been issued by Virago in beautiful cloth covers – Rosamond Lehmann, Elizabeth Taylor’s ‘Angel’.
8. If you were to start your own book club, what authors would you ask to join?
   If we were allowed living and dead authors: Agatha Christie, Angela Carter, Nora Ephron, Joan Didion, Ian Fleming, Roald Dahl, Mary Wesley, Anne Tyler – I’d better stop there, it’s turning into a party (as most book clubs do!).
9. If you were stranded on a desert island, which three books would you bring with you to pass the time?
   A notebook. ‘The Leopard’ – a comfort read, one of the only books I read again. ‘Dangerous Book for Boys’ – treehouses and navigation might come in handy.
10. What area do you suggest a budding writer should concentrate on to further their abilities?
    Read. Read widely and well. And just get used to writing every day – it’s like learning to run, or climb mountains. You don’t launch straight into marathons or climbing Everest. Whatever time you have each day, use it well – books are written a sentence, a passage at a time.
11. When sitting down to write, what is the one item you need beside you?
    As soon as I sit down at the desk, one or both of the dogs squeeze in at my feet (the pug is snoring under there as I write).
12. And finally Kate, do you have any projects or releases on the horizon which you would like to share with the readers of the website?
    ‘The Christmas We Met’ has just been published in the UK, and I hope readers enjoy this tale of romance, history and fabulous jewellery! Next out is ‘The House of Dreams’ which is being published in New York in April 2016 – it’s the story of the artist’s Schindler, an incredible man who rescued thousands of people including some of the most important writers and painters of the twentieth century from France during WW2.

Follow Kate Lord on Twitter Kate Lord for updates or check out her website at Kate Lord

You can buy [amazon_link id=”1409159957″ target=”_blank” ]The Christmas We Met from Amazon [/amazon_link] and will be available to buy from good bookshops from 22nd October 2015.