Today I'm turning my blog over to Lin Treadgold, who I interviewed about her debut novel "Goodbye, Henrietta Street!!" [Blog Tour will run from April 24 - May 9, 2013]ALSO -- Be sure to follow the tour around the other blog sites!
My Q&A with Lin Treadgold :
Jess : Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
Lin : As an only child, I have always had a vivid imagination. I suppose in some ways I was born a novelist, never short of a story to tell. I was raised in Saltburn-by-the-Sea, on the north-east coast of England. My mother was a little known actress on TV and my father, proprietor of his own company in the motor trade. I travelled the world in my early twenties and saw life on ‘the other side’ through spending many voyages down on the west coast of Africa with the Merchant Navy. I was never a person to stand still and allow life to pass me by. I moved on in the next twenty five years and took my driving instructor exams, later to train driving instructors through owning my own training school. In 2002, I moved to Holland due to my husband’s job and the financial climate. It was then that I started writing, mainly through lack of direction, and having to give up my profession. The one thing I knew I could do was write stories. It was just a case of learning how to make my writing good enough to publish.
Jess : What do you like most about being a writer and being a driving instructor?
Lin : I miss my days as an instructor, the job suited me well. I now live with the satisfaction that my students were well trained and most passed their driving tests first time. Everyone had a degree of hang ups about driving a car. If I had helped them to overcome their fears and anxieties, I knew I had done a good job. I also taught the instructors and working with adults is very rewarding when you can make changes that the student thought wasn’t possible.
Writing for me is a release. I allow my mind to wander wherever it takes me. Give me a scenario and I rarely get writer’s block. I think you have to enjoy your writing as long as you can make a private place to sit at the computer and the family respects that place. Writing for me is very relaxing; I can immerse myself within the stories and enjoy living with the characters. Sometimes I feel it isn’t me who wrote about them!
Jess : Please describe your heroine, from "Goodbye, Henrietta Street," in one to two sentences.Lin : Pippa Lambton is used to tragedy, with the loss of both parents and now her son. All she wants is to change her life and find a way through this living hell. Who could blame her? Can she possibly allow Sven into her life? She has just thought the unthinkable.
Jess : Is there one particular scene in "Goodbye, Henrietta Street" that you’re dying for readers to read? Can you tell us anything about it?
Lin : I think, for me, the most poignant moment is when Pippa holds back with Sven. Will one kiss change everything?
Jess : In regards to "Goodbye, Henrietta Street," if you could write it all over again, would you change anything about it?
Lin : I have read through my novel for changes many times. I think the book is the perfect holiday read, for those who enjoy a saga with a romantic setting (The Isles of Scilly, Cornwall). If I was to make changes I would like to make Pippa’s character more secretive and Sven more rugged, but as it stands I am told Sven Jorgensen is a very likeable character anyway. I hope everyone will enjoy reading the story during their holiday journey or a commute on the train to work. I want the reader to immerse their mind within the beauty of the islands, the white beaches, and palm trees flowing in the breeze. The book also has a nature conservation theme too. I don’t think I would want to change any part of that.
Jess : Out of all of the secondary characters within "Goodbye, Henrietta Street," do you have one or two favorites so far? If so, who are they and can you tell us why?Lin : My secondary characters live in Whitby, Yorkshire. I do feel sorry for Terry Marshall. His life has been a torment since he was a teenager. Without doing a spoiler on my readers, I have to say Terry needs a lot of understanding. How can he tell his wife, Joan, the things he has never been able to say to her? There is a heart-wrenching moment when he finally confesses why he found a job on the oil rig.
With Rob Lambton, Pippa’s husband, I do have mixed feelings about him. There are times when you have to feel sorry for him and yet moments when you can’t help thinking he could have made it easier on himself. All the characters are looking for a way forward in their lives after sadness.
Jess : How many books have you written?
Lin : This is my first novel. "Goodbye, Henrietta Street" is a romantic saga from 1986, based on an island in the Atlantic Ocean. It’s about love, sadness, forgiving, happier times and resolve, in an unusual setting.Jess : Do you have any other projects in the works? If so, can you share a little of your current work with us?
Lin : Yes I do have work in progress. This time I take the reader further back to the 1970’s a time of drugs, misunderstood people, cult beliefs, and hard times due to droughts and financial loss. I have a working title, but until I get it finished, the title will remain with me for now. Jessica Stamp takes a trip to the south of England as part of her travelling secretary lifestyle. When she arrives at her accommodation she discovers she is living on a hippy commune with a woman whom, it is rumoured, is a witch. Jess meets Jonni the herdsman, and between them they attempt to solve the mysteries surrounding the house where they live and the forthcoming handfasting of her daughter and future son in law.
I also have a novella in progress. The story is based around the lives of two people who meet due to someone playing a practical joke; they find their bicycles locked together at York rail station. Margie is watching them!
Jess : Do you prefer ebooks, paperbacks or hardcover? Any specific reason why?
Lin : I do enjoy a paperback book. I own a Kindle, but I love the feel of a real book, it’s the cover on the front that inspires me to visualise the scenery within the story. Kindle for me is bland and colourless.
Jess : List 3 books you just recently read and would recommend?
Lin : I love the books by Annie Murray and have recently read two of them. "Papa Georgio" a novel for ages 9 – 90 years (Amazon.com link). "My Daughter, My Mother" (Amazon.com link).
My third (& fourth) book(s) I would recommend are from author Nora Fountain I enjoyed reading "Love Thine Enemy" and I am presently engrossed in "Jilted".
Author's Book Description :The eternal nature holiday or just a passing wave on the beach?
Pippa Lambton's life has fallen apart and husband Rob is ready to give up their marriage. Three years before, their son Daniel passed away; he was the glue that held them together. Now, Pippa's left home for the beautiful Isles of Scilly, for a chance to rediscover herself. She meets handsome Norwegian nature warden, Sven Jorgensen, who teaches her about the island wildlife.
Pippa finds herself laughing again. She is aware of Rob's dilemma over his childhood adoption and their turbulent relationship, but after an awkward kiss with Sven, she is torn about how to proceed. There is much to resolve, and leaving Rob could prove a disaster. Is her affair with Sven a holiday fling? How can she walk away from Rob after losing Daniel? Should she leave her home in Yorkshire for Sven and his island paradise? Find out more in Goodbye, Henrietta Street.
About the Author :
Lin Treadgold was born in Yorkshire and attended private education. She is a qualified driving instructor, and owned her own driving school for twenty-five years. After travelling the world and visiting over thirty countries, she retired in 2001 to folllow her husband’s work and live in the Netherlands. From her travelling experiences, she took the opportunity to become a writer and nature conservationist. She has always wanted to write a novel; moving to Holland gave her the opportunity to fulfill a dream.Lin is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and the Society of Authors, and organises workshop events for new writers.
Find Lin Treadgold :
- Lin Treadgold - Website/Blog
- Facebook Page
- Smashwords
- Goodbye, Henrietta Street : Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com | Safkhet Publishing
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