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At Long Point Farm (My grandmother, Norah O'Connor, is the small girl on the left.) |
I am honored to be interviewed by blogger Caroline Wilson about the writing life. To quote:
CW: Tell us why you choose to write.
EMV: I have been writing since I learned to
put two sentences together. I started keeping a diary at age seven. Writing has
always been such an integral part of my life; it hardly seems like a choice. It
is just something I must do.
CW: “The Paradise Tree” has a very unusual setting. Tell us
why you were drawn to Ontario.
EMV: I spent
many glorious summer vacations in Ontario in the vicinity where the novel is
set. It is a place of beauty and mystery as well as family memories and deep
ancestral roots.
CW: Your website
mentioned that you took a lot of pains to be authentic. What kind of research
did that entail?
EMV: It entailed finding
long lost fourth cousins who had family heirlooms and documents that would
provide me with the detailed information. It is the little things that make a
novel authentic. I spent time at the Brockville Historical Society searching
through deeds and records that mentioned family members and their property. It
meant interviewing some of my older relatives (now deceased) who had memories
of the children of Daniel and Brigit O’Connor. I studied old photographs and
old maps and read lots of rare, out-of-print history
books.
CW: You’ve published several books, all in different eras. Do
you have a favorite?
EMV: My personal
favorite is Madame Royale, the story
of the only survivor of the family of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette.
CW: Random question: If you could have a drink with a
historical personage, who would it be?
EMV: I
would love to share a bottle of wine with Louis XVI. The King read widely; I
would have enjoyed talking about books with him. (Read more.)
The Paradise Tree is available internationally from Amazon.
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