Love Always Interview with Harriet Evans

Love Always

From a hot, tense Cornwall summer in 1963 to present day London, Love Always is the story of one girl's life falling apart and what she finds out along the way as she tries to put it back together again.

'This family's poisoned. They won't tell you, but they are.'

Things have gone badly wrong for Natasha Kapoor. She should be a successful jeweller in East London with a gorgeous husband and everything should be perfect, but it's not.

When she leaves London to attend the funeral of her beloved grandmother, on the magical Cornish coast, she is reunited with her large and complicated family. As they sort through her grandmother's possessions and prepare to sell Summercove -the idyllic coastal home that has been in their family for decades -Natasha is given the long-lost diary of her aunt Cecily, who died in a tragic accident at the age of fifteen.

What happened that summer in 1963 and did it irrevocably poison Natasha's family? Will Natasha ever be able to make a fresh start and find love for herself and if so, how?

Returning to her home in London's trendy Shoreditch, Natasha must get back to normality - to her job and her soon-to-be ex-husband. But how can she forget the tragic tale of love, rivalry and heartbreak that emerged from the pages of Cecily's diary? And will Cecily's words, though written forty years ago, inspire Natasha to take a chance on love?

Harriet Evans is the author of four previous novels, Going Home, A Hopeless Romantic, The Love of Her Life and I Remember You, all of which were bestsellers. She lives in London and has recently given up work to write full time.

Love Always
Harper Collins Australia
Author: Harriet Evans
ISBN: 9780007350223
Price: $29.99

Interview with Harriet Evans

Question: How difficult was in writing about 1963?

Harriet Evans: It wasn't difficult after I did my research, but I had to find out a lot before I could immerse myself in that world and then I loved it! It was a good year to pick, entirely by fluke, but I didn't realise until I started investigating what a watershed year 1963 was, so perfect for the backdrop to a summer where everything changes. The Beatles first LP, the Profumo Scandal, the end of the Lady Chatterley trial, Martin Luther King writes his letter from Birmingham Jail, JFK is assassinated (in November), the Great Train Robbery: loads of changes in TV and media happening too. It was really the start of the Swinging Sixties in the UK. So I actually found it pretty interesting once I got started, and anyway it's good to try something different with all your books, that was a real treat.


Question: What originally inspired you to write Love Always?

Harriet Evans: Weirdly I often have a tiny image in my head that becomes the basis for the whole book. For Love Always it was a holiday in Skye, in Scotland, where we were all walking down to the beach. A girl in front of me kept weaving in and out of view, with a green and yellow striped towel round her neck, in and out of the reeds, in the blazing hot sunshine. I just kept seeing this image of this girl running down to the sea, and that became the basis for Cecily, the young girl who dies in 1963, who is the heart of the book.


Question: How did you create the character of Natasha Kapoor?

Harriet Evans: I wanted her to be relatable-to, so that people can identify with her, but also her own person. She comes from a pretty screwed-up family, so it's important that she has tried to break away from that and create her own family unit. She's got married quite young, she's a jeweller so she has her own business, but when the book opens it's all gone wrong for her. I liked that idea that someone can sort their life out and look to the future only by finding out the secrets of her family's past.


Question: Are any of the characters based on people you know?

Harriet Evans: No. There might be unconscious elements similar to people, but it's my job to be imaginative and make up people you believe in, so I don't base them on anyone. If I did they'd be a pastiche and not believable on the page, and anyway it's much more interesting to find out about them as you go along.


Question: What advice do you have for aspiring writers or artists?

Harriet Evans: Work hard at it and keep going. Take it seriously if you want to be taken seriously by others. Get your pitch right, don't think other people will do the work for you. It's a really, really competitive business out there. Do your research, if you want to be published find agents who agent authors you like by looking in the acknowledgements at the end of books, or going to their website. Publishers try to push authors away but they need new books, it's a fact of life! and good luck.


Interview by Brooke Hunter