Wildflower Hill
1. What can you tell our readers about your new novel Wildflower Hill?
It's a story about two women at two very different times in history. Beattie has to struggle to survive during the Great Depression and the second world war, eventually making some morally difficult choices to enjoy success in the wool industry. Emma, her grand-daughter, has come from a background of privilege but isn't happy. She has to learn that it isn't success and fame that fulfills a person, but a sense of connectedness and belonging. Both women are linked by the rambling farmhouse Wildflower Hill, in Tasmania.
2. The story is partly set in Glasgow in 1929, so tell us about how you got the period in history just right.
I prefer to approach historical research through primary sources, so I read diaries and letters and journals written around that area at around that time. I also spent a lot of time looking up 1920s fashions. Oh! Such lovely frocks!
3. Beattie dreams of a life in fashion and Emma is a ballerina, so are either of these something that is an important pastime to you?
It's strange but when I'm working on a book, I get quite obsessed with the characters' interests. I collected a lot of information and ideas about fashion design and ballet while writing this book, but now I'm not interested in those things at all particularly! I've moved on to new imaginary friends.
4. What made you choose London and Glasgow as your setting?
I love England and Scotland, and as I can't afford to travel in person all the time, I often travel there in my imagination. I'm imagining the Channel Islands at the moment for the next book I'm writing.
5. You have published over many genres and age groups, but do you have a favourite to write for?
It depends on so many factors. Usually the book I love the most is the book I'm working on right at the moment.
6. Where did your inspiration come from for the book?
I found a photograph of my grandmother from the 1920s. I'd always known Grandma as a kindly old lady who we weren't allowed to swear in front of. But in this photo she looked positively naughty, with a very seductive look on her face. I thought, "Wow, Grandma, what don't I know about you." The story went from there.
7. Which writers do you believe to have influenced your own work and in what way?
I loved Barbara Taylor Bradford in my formative years: those great big sagas. I've also really enjoyed Charlotte Bronte's work. Jane Eyre had an enormous impact on me.
8. Which writers do you most like to read and why?
I adore Marian Keyes. Her books have such heart.
9. What is next for you?
I've just seen publication of my 22nd book in Australia, Lighthouse Bay. It's set on the Australian coast in 1901, and has plenty of drama and passion and a shipwreck! And I've just started work on a 19th century governess story, set partly in the Channel Islands.
10. Tell us a ittle bit about how you got into writiing for a living.
I just wrote. My whole life I wrote. And eventually somebody liked what I wrote and paid me for it. I feel very blessed. I'd write anyway.
Female First Lucy Walton