Q: Please can you tell us a bit about your new book, The Forget-Me-Not Sonata?
A: It’s a sweeping love story based in the Anglo-Argentine community of Hurlingham in Buenos Aires, beginning just after world war II and finishing in the present day. It centres around Audrey Garnet, a dreamy, sweet natured girl, who loses her heart to Louis Forrester, the talented, troubled young man who sets tongues wagging with his eccentric behaviour and chequered past. Finding the one woman who understands him, Louis composes especially for her a brilliant piece of music: the forget-me-not sonata. To the hypnotic melody of this magical tune they embark on a secret love affair. However, a family tragedy brings their romance to an abrupt end and Audrey pleases her parents by marrying Louis’s successful, respectable elder brother, Cecil. It is a sacrifice she bitterly regrets. Despite the pleasures of family life and, in time, beloved daughters of her own, Audrey hears the sweet, plaintive notes of the forget-me-not sonata echo through the years as a reminder of the love that she has lost.
It’s a passionate voyage of self-discovery and an exploration of the true meaning of love.
Q: The Argentine setting is beautifully evoked in The Forget-Me-Not Sonata, and this is clearly a place that you love. Why did you feel it would make a good backdrop for this novel?
A: My first novel was based in the Argentine, it was an allegory of my love affair with the country, and clearly my heart is still there! I love writing about both Latin America and England. I enjoy colouring my novels with the magic and sensuality of Argentina then taking my reader somewhere very different, to the quaint charm of the English countryside. I’m a sensualist and I love nature. The flat plains of the pampa, eucalyptus trees and jasmine scented humidity provide a sensual feast and the perfect setting for my young lovers. I feel I write best when I am as in love with the place as the characters in my books. Also, I needed a country far away from England in order for the plot to work – I won’t say more for fear of spoiling the story for those who have not read it! I should mention too that my mother was born in Hurlingham and her mother, my grandmother, was three generations Anglo-Argentine. I have incorporated some of her stories, which are wonderful.
Q: Audrey is lucky enough to have the attention of two young men! Which of them would be more your type if you had to choose: charming Cecil, or passionate Louis?
A: Louis, without question! Cecil would, of course, be the right person to marry in terms of stability. With Cecil, life would be secure though I fear a little beige. Louis would be a gamble but how colourful life would be! He’s unreliable, self-indulgent and perhaps a little too passionate but he’s wonderfully attractive, sensual and talented. Marriage to Louis would be fiery, unpredictable but in my view, you only live once and I’d rather live and love intensely.
Q: The relationships between sisters in the book plays an important part in the story for both generations – were you drawing on your own experiences? (Sorry to ask this, but I’d ask any other author, especially with two sets of sisters with such different relationships!)
A: I am a sum of my experiences so I would say that, yes, I draw on my own life, often without even realising it. Tara and I are opposites, like Audrey and Isla and Alicia and Leonora, though to have two sisters in a book who are very alike would be rather dull so I had no option. However, I don’t base any of my characters on my sister and none of them bare any resemblance to her, or myself, at all.
Q: Audrey’s youngest daughter, Grace, has a rather special gift. Have you ever had any spiritual experiences and do you believe in life after death?
A: A lot of Grace’s experiences are my own, although her gift is much greater than mine! I most certainly believe in life after death and the world of spirit. I have seen quite a few spirits, especially my grandmother, though sadly, I haven’t learnt how to communicate with her because she could have been very helpful while writing this book!
Q: Which other authors do you enjoy reading?
A: I’m a bit old fashioned, which is probably reflected in my books. I love Isabel Allende, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Laura Esquival, Fannie Flagg – then the old classics like Dumas and Austen, which I re-read time and again. I recently read ‘The Rice Mother’ by Rani Matika, (I hope that’s how you spell her name, I have since given my copy to my mother so can’t check!) which was brilliant. I like quirky books with colourful characters and big, sweeping love stories like Anna Karenina and The Count of Montecristo.
Q: Alicia is rather mischievous at school (to say the least!). What’s the naughtiest prank you were ever involved in at school?
A: I’m afraid I was a bit of a goody-goody, I became vice head of school at Sherborne! But the story of Alicia riding the pony bareback in the field is autobiographical. At Hanford it was forbidden to go near them in the fields (we were about 8 years old, so that’s understandable) and as a dare a friend and I managed to catch a couple and canter around bareback, which was great fun. Needless to say we were caught and banned from riding for the rest of the term – nothing like as bad as Alicia’s punishment!
Q: This book has a twist at the end that puts a completely different perspective on the relationships between the characters – was this something that you planned from the beginning?
A: No. Usually I know how the book will end. I don’t plan them in much detail, I know the themes I want to centre them around and where it want to book to go to, but then I let my imagination lead me as I write. This one, however, was entirely different. I had a very clear idea of the plot and how it would end. About three chapters from the last I was thinking about the ending and feeling rather pleased with myself, when suddenly I came up with a totally unexpected ending that was so much better. I then had to change various things at the beginning to make it plausible, but it surprised me as much as I hope it will surprise my readers!
Q: And finally, are you able to tell us a little bit about your next project?
A: I am happy to say that I have finished my next book. It’s called The Swallow & The Hummingbird and centres around a fighter pilot who comes home from the war to the girl he has always loved. Unable to adjust to life in the small Devonshire village where he grew up and where he feels no one understands what he’s been through, he asks his sweetheart to wait for him just one more year while he goes and works on his uncle’s farm in the northern province of Cordoba in Argentina. There he falls in love with an American woman and breaks off his engagement to his childhood love. Years later a family tragedy brings him home and he is faced with memories, regrets and the realisation that his love for her never truly died.
