Q&A with Juliet Greenwood

 Welcome to The Comfy Chair Blog... Juliet Greenwood

Juliet Greenwood has always been fascinated both by her Celtic heritage and the history of the women in her family. Her great-grandmother supported her family by nail making in Lye, in the Black Country, and her grandmother worked as a cook in a large country house.

After graduating in English from Lancaster University and Kings College, London, Juliet worked on a variety of jobs to support her ambition to be a full-time writer. These ranged from running a craft stall at Covent Garden to workshops in story-telling, along with spells of teaching and charity fundraising, and more recently as a freelance editor and proofreader.

Juliet now lives in a traditional quarryman’s cottage between the mountains and the sea in beautiful Snowdonia, North Wales, and is to be found dog walking in all weathers, always with a camera to hand. Her second book for Orion ‘The Girl with the Silver Clasp’ will be published in September 2021.

1.      What was your favourite childhood book/author? 

I adored Rosemary Sutcliff, and her historical novels like ‘The Eagle of the Ninth’ and ‘The Shield Ring’. I loved the way the stories took me away to another time and place and made me really feel what it was like to live there, along with an element of adventure that took me right away from school and everyday life.  

2.      What inspired you to start writing and how long has it taken you to get to this point?

I was such a bookworm as a child, I soon started to make up my own stories. I can clearly remember writing my first novel aged ten, a historical epic set in Saxon times. My ambition was always to be a writer, but I failed miserably in my first attempt when I was in my twenties.  That was when I discovered that just reading and studying literature isn’t enough to be able to write a book, you need to have lived a bit of life too! So life, earning a living and all the rest took over, and it was just over fifteen years ago that I decided it was now or never and seriously go for it. Since then, I’ve gradually built up my experience, from magazine stories to being published with a small press, and I finally managed to get an agent and a two-book deal with Orion last year. I’m really thankful for that experience. There are so many skills to be learnt for writing a novel, as well as all the practical publishing aspects like dealing with the various edits and publicity, I was so glad I was (fairly!) confident I knew what I was doing when I started working with Orion. It’s been quite a journey!

3.      Describe your writing space - neat and ordered or creative chaos? 

I live in a traditional quarryman’s cottage on a hillside at the edge of a Welsh village in Snowdonia. My office is in the ‘crog’ loft, a small space in the attic where the children would have slept in Victorian times. I’m lucky that a previous owner put in a window, so I have a view over my garden and towards Anglesey, with amazing sunsets. Because it’s so tiny I try to keep it fairly organised. It starts that way when I begin a new book, but by the end it’s tending towards my natural penchant for creative chaos, when discarded notes are strewn on every surface for my cat to sit on and all the coffee cups somehow disappear. It used to be my totally private space (the stairs are as steep as the original ladder), but now I have to keep some kind of order for zoom calls, so one corner retains some semblance of neatness – I just have to remember not to adjust the computer so anything else can be seen!

4.      What is the easiest and hardest part of the writing process? 

I find the easiest is the first draft. Mine are always like rough sketches for a painting, just blocking out the story and are always utterly and embarrassingly dire, but the good thing is it doesn’t matter. I go right the way through without stopping, even if a character changes sex or a new one appears out of nowhere. The pressure is off because it’s the version no one will ever see and anything can happen and nothing about it is fixed. I find the hardest part is the editing, the bit when you bash that original brilliant idea (which by now feels like the worst in the world) into shape. It might be the hardest, but this is the part I love, especially when it gets towards the end and I start getting input from my editor. It’s such a buzz when the amorphousness of the first draft takes shape and all the niggles are banished, and finally a book appears. It’s a long, meticulous and exhausting process, but also hugely satisfying. And chocolate is obligatory, naturally.

5.      What does literary success “look” like to you?

When I see readers have enjoyed my books! And when I can feel that I am growing as a writer with the new book, as well as stretching myself in new directions, trying to be the best I can be. My ultimate aim is to become a full-time writer and make my living from what I love doing best – that looks like the best literary success to me!

6.      How do you select the names of your characters?

I make sure they fit in with the period – and the period in which they were born, of course (easy to forget). Then the most important thing is to make sure they can’t be confused with each other, which is mainly making sure they don’t have the same first letter or sound too similar. So I make lists of the letters I haven’t used and go back through my lists again. Some characters appear with a name that’s just perfect, which is wonderful – even when it means I have to change the others around again!

 

7.      What do you hope your readers take away from your book?

I love Hester, the heroine of ‘The Ferryman’s Daughter’, my first book for Orion. She is fiercely protective of her family, but also utterly determined to follow her dream, despite the constraints of her time and the arrival of WW1 that changes her world forever. Hester was largely inspired by the history of women that, until recently, has been largely forgotten, or seen as irrelevant. All those amazing women who were inventors, artists, mountain climbers, nurses under fire and spies behind the front line in WW1, as well as those who kept the world turning at home whatever life threw at them, and became business woman and career women when marriage was no longer an option, so creating the opportunities we have today. Hester was also inspired by the determination of my own grandmother and great-grandmother to escape poverty and take control of their lives. She is a hugely positive and resilient character - I hope my readers are cheering her on all the way, just as I was. I unexpectedly found her an inspiration myself, when the pandemic appeared just as the book was in its final stages. Whenever I had a wobble, I had the strongest sense of not wanting to let Hester down. Whatever life throws at her, Hester picks herself up, dusts herself down and carries on, more determined than ever. It’s a female trait that should definitely be celebrated.

 

Lastly, Jenn (The Comfy Chair) likes to enjoy a good read snuggled up with a cup of tea and piece of cake... what cake or sweet treat would you suggest to accompany your book?

 

It has to be a slice of the exquisite apple cake made by Hester, who is a passionate cook. The recipe is included at the back of the book and comes from a friend, who has a magical way with flavours. It has a touch of lemon running through and is the best apple cake I’ve ever tasted. Especially when accompanied by clotted cream, of course!

The Ferryman's Daughter 

1908: Hester always loved her mother best, her father had always been a hard man to like, spending more time (and money) in the local than with his family. After her mother's sudden death, followed by an injury forcing her father to give up his job as the ferryman, Hester is placed in the position of care-giver for her young brother and sister. 

As the years pass Hester must row the ferry night and day to keep them all from starvation, while her hopes of working in a kitchen and one day becoming a cook, slip further and further away. 

But just how far is Hester willing to go to make her dream a reality? And as the threat of war comes ever closer to the Cornish coast, will it bring opportunities or despair for Hester and her family?

Available HERE