Hello & Welcome,
In an all new session of author interview, I present you the author who enchants her readers with her dreamy and mesmerizing love-stories set in some magical destinations of the world. Yes, Hannah Fielding is here to talk about Venice, career, life and more. So without wasting a second, scroll below to know more about this author.
Me: Hello and welcome to my blog, Hannah! You last book, The Echoes of Love, was a huge hit among readers from all over the world. Please tell us about the story behind The Echoes of Love.
Hannah: Venice itself was my main inspiration. I first visited the city as a young child. Then, as now, I was wide-eyed and enchanted by the beauty of the city. I distinctly remember standing in the main square, the Piazza St Marco, gazing up at the stunning architecture of Saint Mark’s Basilica and feeling I had somehow entered another world – a fairytale world. Then I looked down, at the square itself, which was overrun by hordes of pigeons. There was nothing beautiful about those birds. They were quite spoiling the place. And it struck me then that Venice is a city of two faces: that which the tourists flock to admire, that makes the city the capital of romance, that breathes new life into the imagination and leaves a permanent, inspirational impression. And the other side, the darker side, that which is concealed in what Erica Jong called ‘the city of mirrors, the city of mirages’.
When I returned to the city as an adult, I became quite fascinated by the concept of Venice – what it means to be Venetian; what the city really is beneath the layers of history and grandeur and legend. Frida Giannini wrote, ‘Venice never quite seems real, but rather an ornate film set suspended on the water.’ I understand this quote – there is something fairytale about the place, and with that comes some reluctance, perhaps, to see the realism beyond.
Venice so captured my imagination that I knew some day I would write a romance novel set in this most elegant and fascinating of cities. But it had to be the right story to fit the place. For me, that meant a story that reflected the two faces of Venice – the mask she wears, and the true form beneath.
Me: Burning Embers and The Echoes of Love – both are epic love stories. Which experience of your life inspired you to write such epic love stories?
Hannah: A vivid imagination, I think, and a love for the epic stories of literature, of history, of the stage and of the big screen.
As an example, when I was fourteen I holidayed with my family in a cabin in Montazahat the time of an international film and television festival there. My sister, my cousins and I watched with mounting excitement as sleek cars glided through the grounds of the palace, bound for the Hotel Salamlek, where a grand reception was to be held. Hiding in a nearby garden, we watched Hollywood icons emerge from the cars and enter the hotel – be still our pounding hearts!
Determined to see more, we marched up to the front door of the hotel. We were, of course, denied access. But that did not deter us – so eager were we to get a slice of ‘epic Hollywood’ that we climbed in an open window at the back of the building and gate-crashed the party. I met some wonderful actors that day, but one encounter stands out. I went up to a man I didn’t recognize and asked whether he had seen Gardner Mackay, star of Adventures in Paradise, my biggest heartthrob. The tuxedo-clad man responded:
‘What about me?I’m Richard Burton.’
I had no idea who he was, and politely took my leave!
Me: Burning Embers is set in Kenya and The Echoes of Love is set in Venice and Tuscany. So did you travel extensively to these countries for your research work?
Hannah: Absolutely. Researching, for me, is one of the most enjoyable elements of writing. I began traveling when I was a young woman, and a whole world of romance opened up to me then. First came Kenya – wild, colorful, exotic – which became the setting of my debut romance novel, Burning Embers. Time spent in Italy, Spain and Greece provided plenty more wonderful fodder for the imagination, and then there was Switzerland, France, England and Egypt. For The Echoes of Love, I returned to Venice and spent a long weekend walking the streets and drinking in the atmosphere.
Me: How would you describe your journey so far as a successful writer?
Hannah: Exciting, challenging, inspiring, fulfilling – wonderful!
Me: Tell us one trait of both Coral and Venetia, the two protagonists from your two books, that intrigues you the most.
Hannah: I think a trait that both Coral and Venetia share is independence. Both are career women who live apart from their families, standing alone in the world. Their independence is an admirable trait, but it is also one that causes them grief: it isolates them, and makes it hard for them to open their lives to love. This is, in many ways, the plight of the modern woman, I think.
Me: Was "being a writer" your one true dream and passion?
Hannah: Yes! From an early age, thanks to the encouragement of my imaginative governess, supportive and well-read parents, I enjoyed writing poetry and stories. I have never really stopped writing as I grew older, as I have always kept a diary in which I put down not only my feelings but also descriptions of scenes that have captured my imagination and of people I met.
Though I had plenty of stories to write when I first got married and had my children, with running my own business refurbishing rundown cottages and managing my home in the country with its dogs and horses, I had no time to concentrate on my writing. Only when I knew that my children were standing on their own feet did I take up writing seriously. After I had written a couple of books, it was really my husband and my children who pushed me to try to get them published.
My grandmother was a published author of poetry and my father published a book about the history of our family, so writing runs in my veins. I guess I always knew that one day I would follow in those footsteps and forge my own path in that field – a subconscious dream which finally came true.
To quote Anais Nin: “If you do not breathe through writing, if you do not cry out in writing, or sing in writing, then don’t write.” I do all that. Writing is my life.
Me: How would you describe your normal writing day?
Hannah: I write every day. I wake up very early, so I get rid of my chores first thing. After my cup of passion fruit tea, in the morning I sit down at my desk at around 9:30 a.m.and work through the day with an hour for lunch. The muse is happy – so long as I have a thesaurus to hand.
Me: Writers are always so busy! How do you unwind after such a long day’s work?
Hannah: I read: I love reading romantic novels – the thicker the book, the better.
I walk: I am a loner to some extent, and a dreamer, so the beach calls to me. I live part of the year in the south of France, and I love taking long walks on the beach on a sunny spring day. I gaze at the sparkling Mediterranean sea, with its ever-changing shades of blue under the smiling azure sky, and conjure up romantic stories. In England I walk in the beautiful Kentish countryside, when weather permits; I’m not one for rain and blustery winds!
I cook: I love cooking, using the various produce of our vegetable garden. Jams, chutneys, stuffed vine leaves (dolmadis), stuffed savoury and sweet filo pastry cushions that I serve as nibbles when I entertain, stewed fruit for winter crumbles. The list could go on for ever.
I entertain: I find nothing more satisfying that having friends over; and as I often travel, it’s great to catch up with all the news.
Me: What’s next up your writing sleeve? Please tell us briefly about the story!
Hannah: Well, I’m going to be re-releasing Burning Embers soon with a new cover, and – very exciting for me – my third novel will be published in the spring. I’m not able to share the synopsis yet, but I can tell you that it’s set in Spain and is very passionate indeed. Readers can follow my blog at www.hannahfielding.net for details of new releases.
Me: Thank you so much for sparing time to have this interview session with me. I can only wish you luck in all your future endeavors.
Hannah: Thank you, Aditi; it has been my pleasure.
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Hannah's Bio:
Hannah Fielding is a novelist, a dreamer, a traveler, a mother, a wife and an incurable romantic. The seeds for her writing career were sown in early childhood, spent in Egypt, when she came to an agreement with her governess Zula: for each fairy story Zula told, Hannah would invent and relate one of her own. Years later – following a degree in French literature, several years of traveling in Europe, falling in love with an Englishman, the arrival of two beautiful children and a career in property development – Hannah decided after so many years of yearning to write that the time was now. Today, she lives the dream: she writes full time, splitting her time between her homes in Kent, England, and the South of France, where she dreams up romances overlooking breathtaking views of the Mediterranean.
Her first novel, Burning Embers, is a vivid, evocative love story set against the backdrop of tempestuous and wild Kenya of the 1970s, reviewed by one newspaper as ‘romance like Hollywood used to make’. Her new novel, The Echoes of Love, is a story of passion, betrayal and intrigue set in the romantic and mysterious city of Venice and the beautiful landscape of Tuscany.
