Everything is Rosie (Thomas) now...

I first read Rosie Thomas' Other People's Marriages in 1993 and have been hooked on her books ever since. Rosie gets into the thoughts of her characters and stays there with them in a way that no-one else quite can.  So, after twenty years, what a thrill it was to meet this brilliant author at Plackitt and Booth booksellers in Lytham, Lancashire, the other day.

 

 

Rosie was there to talk about her new book, The Illusionists, which is already  immensely popular, but it's the story of how her writing has evolved over the years that  fascinated me most.  Rosie believes in writing what you know and  her career as a novelist began with every emotional drama  that she, her friends, family  and neighbours had experienced, crammed into her novels.

 

Later she travelled the world, seeking out glamorous, dangerous and sometimes obscure destinations

for inspiration. Her ambitious trip to Mount Everest base camp resulted in the beautifully  written novel 'White,'  published in 2000, an excerpt of which I've included here.

 

'You're scared, as well?'

'Yes, looking up there, how could anyone not be?' She had been afraid ever since she had seen the mountain riding in its sea of cloud.  The scale of it was so fearsome.

'Why are you doing this, Sam?'

'Because you won't have dinner with me without.'

 

Born Janey Morris, Rosie took her nom de plume from her late mother, Rose, who died when she was ten, and her sister's married name, Thomas.  A successful journalist. she began writing novels in 1982.

 

'I believe that my writing now is very different from those days,' she explained. 'The novels reflect the different phases of my life.' Now the subject matter is deeper, and darker like her

The Illusionists, which is set in Victorian London:

 

 

London 1885  A shadowy and threatening place for a beautiful young woman of limited means.  Eliza's choice lie between marriage and stifling domesticity, or a downwards spiral to the streets.  But Eliza is modern before her time and she won't compromise...

 

Rosie Thomas has written more than twenty novels including The Potter's House, Iris and Ruby,Every Woman Knows a Secret, All My Sins  Remembered and The Kashmir Shawl.The Illusionists is available in hardback from Harper Collins as well as in digital format. Find out more on:

            

http://rosiethomasauthor.com/

 
You can also download my debut novel here: Baggy Pants and Bootees





 

Start Write Now...

Winston Churchill once said that every conversation is an interview. If you follow that logic then everyone who puts pen to paper is a writer; the 18-month old who scribbles her 'signature' on a birthday card, the six year-old who records  'What I did at the weekend,' in his school book, or the teenager who re-invents history in the hope of gaining an A star GCSE.

'Oh, I can't write,' is a phrase I've heard frequently over the years from friends and colleagues who, unlike me, have a brilliant head for figures, make light work of their tax returns and think nothing of giving a  lecture in astrophysics while planning their next dinner party.  They can write, of course. What they mean is they'd rather not; they're too busy doing everything else.

Who am I to complain? After all, writing has been my sole income for half of my working life. For others it is merely an add-on.Take film actress, comedienne and television presenter Maureen Lipman. She is also a writer, the latter sometimes added to her credentials as a mere afterthought.

Writing a book (and Maureen's done that, too) is an act of love, akin to bringing a child into the world. It makes you laugh  and cry - full  of joy one minute and dogged by despair the next - but you never stop believing in what you have created.

That, in short, is why I decided to become a novelist. And I wish good luck in 2012 to every would-be author who  feels the same.