I'd like to welcome author, Paula Martin, to "Dishin' It Out today.
Paula, tell us about your current release.
My current release is ‘A Family’s Secrets’, a historical family saga covering a period of about twenty years, and set in the mid-19th century in the port of Liverpool and the Isle of Man.
What was the inspiration for this story?
The story was inspired by my great-great-grandparents, John and Elizabeth (Betsy) who were both born and brought up in Liverpool and married in 1844. John became a captain with the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, and they lived on the small island (in the middle of the Irish Sea) for many years.
What would you like to see more/less of in the historical genre?
More about ‘ordinary’ working-class people in the 19th century, who may have struggled to make ends meet but who were not living in abject poverty or at the mercy of some (clichéd) evil landlord or cruel factory owner.
Less about upper-class heiresses and/or titled nobility!
What, in your opinion, makes an excellent historical writer?
Someone who can bring the characters to life as true products of the era in which they live i.e. not ‘modern’ characters deposited into a historical setting.
Also, someone who is prepared to thoroughly research into the period about which they are writing. I have seen a lot of anachronisms in historical novels, including words that wouldn’t have been used at the time e.g. Victorians would not say ‘okay’! Also, I feel there is no excuse for incorrect facts when it is so easy to find information on the internet. One example I have seen was someone in 1840 hearing the chimes of Big Ben – but the clock tower was only completed in 1859!
Do you have a favorite paragraph/line of dialogue in this novel?
It’s difficult to pick out just one, but here’s a short extract which happens after John has rescued Betsy from an assault by a drunk on the street and takes her into his mother’s corner shop:
“After the man closed the shop door, she had her first proper look at him in the flickering light from the wall-mounted oil lamps. Tall and nearer to thirty than twenty, she guessed. He was clean-shaven apart from dark side-whiskers which reached to about an inch below his earlobes, and he wore a navy-blue jacket with two rows of brass buttons and a loosely knotted white cravat. When he removed his woolen peaked cap and dropped it on the counter, his thick, wavy hair fell forward, half covering his broad forehead.
Her stomach performed a weird kind of contraction as she studied his handsome features, and an even weirder jerk when he gave her a reassuring smile.
‘I hope you’re recovering from your fright, Miss—uh?’
‘Roberts. Elizabeth Roberts – but everyone calls me Betsy.’
If you were forced to live the rest of your life as one of your characters, who would it be?
It would have to be Betsy. She has a strength of character that enables her to cope, usually calmly, with all the problems life throws at her and gives her the courage to defy her father in order to follow her heart. Her love for John is steadfast, and she is a caring, loving wife to him throughout the tragedies and difficulties they have to face. The only thing I wouldn’t like about her life is the lack of modern conveniences in her home – not to mention the lack of phones and internet access!
What are your hobbies? Do any of your characters share your hobbies/interests? Do any of your hobbies play a part in your novels?
One of my hobbies is researching my family history, which I’ve been doing for over twenty years, and which provided the basis of ‘A Family’s Secrets’. I knew a little about John from what my great-uncle (John’s grandson) told me many years ago, but found out much more from census and birth, marriage, and death records. Also, during a visit to the Isle of Man, I was able to study the minutes of the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company directors’ meetings, some of which mention John. More recently, I’ve found Isle of Man newspapers online, which contain several articles praising John’s skillful and confident response to whatever mechanical or weather problems he had to contend with, as well as his unfailing courtesy to his passengers.
Perhaps I should also add that, as a high school history teacher for twenty-five years, history is one of my interests! Although ‘A Family’s Secrets’ is my first historical novel, various aspects of history have tended to creep into my contemporary novels too.
What is your work schedule like when you are writing?
I usually write in the evenings. I’ve always been a night owl – and so is my ‘muse’! I find I can edit during the daytime, but the first draft is definitely evening work.
Please tell us more about your novel.
‘A Family’s Secrets’ is my 16th published novel. Most are available on Amazon, including my ‘Mist Na Mara’ series of six contemporary romance/intrigue novels set in Connemara in the west of Ireland.
I’m currently writing the second in the ‘Follow Your Heart’ series, which takes place twenty years after the first book. The main character is Lizzie, who is Betsy and John’s daughter. It is set in the 1870s and features Lizzie’s fight on behalf of people whose homes are threatened with demolition, as well as her dilemma about which of the two men in her life she can trust.
Book Blurb
Seamstress Betsy Roberts falls in love with Liverpool mariner John Hughes but is shocked to discover that her father’s contempt for sailors stems from a long-hidden event for which he holds John’s uncle responsible. When he insists on her marriage to a childhood friend, does he simply want her to stop her from marrying John, or is he hiding another secret? And if Betsy defies him, how will the past affect her and John in the future? Can their love survive despite the secrets and tragedies which threaten to tear them apart?
Please share links for your website/buy links, etc. 👀
Amazon author page: author.to/PaulaMartin
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paulamartinromances
Paula, thank you for visiting "Dish'n It Out !
Connie
XOXO
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