It’s time for a Friday Reads blog again and this week my featured book is the emotional and enthralling historical novel, The Collaborator’s Daughter, by Eva Glyn. So grab yourself a cuppa, let’s comfy and we’ll find out more about the book then get chatting to Eva.
Blurb
1944: War is almost over in Dubrovnik and Branko holds his newborn daughter with hope in his heart.
2010: Fran is devastated to discover her father, who she believed died a hero, was executed as a Nazi collaborator by Tito’s partisans.
Travelling to Croatia Fran searches for an uncomfortable truth, little realising much it will change her own life.
Buying links can be found here:
https://harpercollins.co.uk/products/the-collaborators-daughter-eva-glyn
Welcome Eva. Have you always wanted to be a writer?
It’s always been a dream, but it took a long time to become an ambition because I started so many potential novels but couldn’t finish them. It wasn’t until I was in my forties I was able to do so, and I haven’t stopped writing since.
It’s never to late to be a successful author. Has any author inspired you?
So many along the way. One I really look up to Elizabeth Buchan as I aspire to the kind of easy complexity she achieves in her novels. The Museum of Broken Promises is a particular favourite.
What do you like writing most?
I have great freedom at the moment, because as long as my books are set in Croatia and broadly relationship driven, I’m not tied to any particular genre. I think what I like best is finding a nugget of history to build a story around, and working at it until it takes a proper shape.
That sounds a good way to get a story plot, Eva. Do you have a special place for writing?
Not really, although I am very attached to my desk. It’s in its third life that I know of; the first was my grandmother’s washstand, and then it was my aunt’s desk, and now it’s mine.
How amazing, you must treasure that desk! Are you a pantster or a plotter?
I used to be a total pantster, but having to agree outlines with my editor has cured me of that! Characters and stories still need room to breathe and grow though, so nothing is ever set in stone.
They certainly do. Is your writing ever inspired by your family or real life incidents?
Real life, yes, but not my own family’s. My first Croatian book, The Olive Grove, was inspired by the stories told by our tour guide Darko about growing up in Mostar during the war in the 1990s. His tales were harrowing but ultimately uplifting and I immediately knew I needed to write about his experiences, so we kept in touch. Of course my character Damir is not Darko, and I made him a much younger child so his reactions would be different, but many of things he has experienced are the same.
What are you writing at the moment?
A very different book for summer 2024. For the first time I’ve used some of the characters from my new release, The Collaborator’s Daughter, but twelve years later. The two books are standalone, but a young man called Vedran kept telling me his was a story I had to tell.
What inspired you to write your latest book?
The Collaborator’s Daughter sprung from two things. When I was writing The Olive Grove I needed to find out the name of an island just outside Dubrovnik’s commercial harbour, and when I looked it up I found it had a shocking wartime story of its own. I’d also always wanted to write a romance with a protagonist in her sixties and a later event in the island’s history meant the dates tallied exactly. It felt like fate.
It sounds fascinating. What time of the day do you write best?
First thing in the morning before the rest of the world is awake.
What are your hobbies?
The biggest one is travel, especially when it involves history too. As well as a research trip to Dubrovnik, already this year we’ve discovered Roman Lusitania and later on we’re cruising around Greece and Turkey, then visiting Albania and Montenegro, before a tour of Ancient Sicily in the autumn.
What advice would you give to other writers?
Don’t feel under pressure to have the first book you’ve written published. It’s not a race, and the more you write, the better you get.
Great advice, Eva. Thank you for dropping in to talk to us about your writing. I hope your book soars!
Author bio:
Eva Glyn writes escapist relationship-driven fiction with a kernel of truth at its heart. She loves to travel and finds inspiration in beautiful places and the stories they hide, currently focusing on Croatia with the help of a tour guide she met there. Her books are published by One More Chapter, a division of Harper Collins.
Eva lives in Cornwall, although she considers herself Welsh, and has been lucky enough to have been married to the love of her life for more than twenty-five years. She also writes as Jane Cable.
Author Contact Links
Website and newsletter sign up: http://evaglynauthor.com
Instagram: @evaglynauthor
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/eva-glyn
Buy links: https://www.harpercollins.com/blogs/authors/eva-glyn
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EvaGlynAuthor/
Twitter: @JaneCable
Karen King – Writing about the light and dark of relationships.
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Karen-King/e/B0034P6W7I
Website: https://karenkingauthor.com/