Please welcome a guest direct from Scotland, Kate Hamilton. Okay, I’ll admit this is all via the miraculouw (to me) internet, but she really does live in Edinburgh, Scotland--one of my favorite places.
Caroline: Readers love to get to know authors, Kate. Please begin by telling us about growing up.
Kate: I spent my childhood between Scotland and London. That meant a real contrast between being wild and free, loving a fabulous landscape, being near nature, feeling the elements, versus being rigidly civilized, formal, a city child.
My best friend Janey and I were from isolating home backgrounds, for very different reasons, and we lived in Narnia. Her home was a splendid town house in Highgate village and I would spend most weekends with her.
I had been taken to the local library in Highgate and had been left in a dusty corner. I still vividly recall pulling a plain caramel brown slim book from the shelf. It was the title that drew me. THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE.
I never looked back. We played in her basement, her tree house, the formal terrace at the back of the garden which overlooked Hampstead Heath. We played in her bedroom with its carpet that felt like velvet. We played in the tiny room with the enormous circular window. The door was so small an adult could not enter. We played in the attics where huge baskets held wonderful dresses her mother had worn as a dancer in New York. We were Reepicheep, Prince Caspian, Lucy, the Witch. But more than that - we were in Narnia.
The basement had a rocking horse and beside it on the wall, a map. I used this basement as the setting at the beginning of my novel A SYMPHONY OF TIME.
Interestingly, I did spend some years in the real Narnia, which is Rostrevor and the Mountains of Mourne in County Down, Northern Ireland. C. S. Lewis spent his summers there as a child and this is the land that inspired Narnia.
Caroline: How fortunate your are, the realNarnia! My husband and I love Ireland, but we haven’t yet been to County Down. Who are your favorite authors?
Kate: My favourite author is Edith Wharton. She uses a device that I find particularly satisfying and that is epiphany. She builds these through her novels. I find this true to life. I want to know the inner life of the character.
I have had the good fortune to have been able to read widely in the last few years. I love to laugh and my favourite book is Cold Comfort Farm. P G Wodehouse is a marvelous writer who I value highly. I enjoy Norah Roberts, Jane Austen, Agatha Christie, Elizabeth von Arnim. I read about eight books a month and at present I am rereading Emma, by Jane Austen.
Caroline: You’ve named some of my favorites, also. I love Wodehouse's humor. Remember the book where the dog was named Duke and then a foreign duke visited and they had to keep the dog out of sight?
When you’re not writing, what’s your favorite way to relax?
Kate: My latest novel, BLOOD LINE, was released on Amazon kindle on January 25th. It is a Gothic comedy romance.
Blurb:
The heroine Lauren MacBreach is suffering from teenage angst and an overactive imagination. I had been inspired by Northanger Abbey when writing it. Her angel turns up offering her the chance to escape from a fate worse than death. However she refuses. As she is his first case, he has to learn as much through his mistakes as she does.
We are taken to the wilds of Highland Scotland where Lauren meets with her fate. Along the way she is beset by danger and some very odd houseguests at the Castle of Tomindoul. Her Angel saves her every time. But will he be able to save her in the end?
Here is an excerpt:
I was heading for the door when it opened and a tall, slim, elegant woman, immaculately dressed in tweeds, pushed her way into my room.
“Dahling. We meet at last.” Clasping my hands she held me at arms’ length and looked me up and down. “Lovely. Quite lovely. Your photographs certainly don’t do you justice.”
“My photo - ?”
“Excellent. Excellent. You had a good journey, I presume?” She didn’t wait for an answer, but swept on. “Now it will take a little time to adjust. But you are so young and the young adjust quickly do they not?”
Perhaps. But somehow I didn’t think age came into it. “That rather depends if I want to,” I replied, feeling my temper rise. Oddly enough I thought that there was still such a thing as free will in the western world.
She swept the comment away with her hand and launched herself down on the sofa. “Come and sit by me, my pet. I can see you are somewhat disorientated.”
I did as I was told. The alternative was to be downright rude and as far as I could see it might be wiser to go along with her for the moment. I might learn all I needed to know from her.
She took my hands in hers. “Now, first of all you need to know a few things, I expect.”
I nodded.
“Well, dahling, it may surprise you to know that we are related. Yes, really. Isn’t that something special. I am your cousin. I was baptised Euphemia. Frightful, isn’t it. But everyone calls me Mia. And that’s what I want you to call me. Now before anything else I must tell you I have your morning all organized ahead for you. No, I won’t hear of it. A little newcomer left all on her own would never do.”
“But - I -.”
“No buts, only goats butt. Lauren, I believe we are going to be the very best of friends. First we shall go on the Grand Tour. Would you like that? Of course you would.”
I don’t believe in just meekly following along. After all I had a right to explanations. It looked like I had no choice and I would at least learn the layout of the place.
Or that’s what I thought. I had not bargained to be taken at a trot through so many rooms, up staircases, down long corridors until I was completely disorientated. I have a feeling she did it on purpose. All the time she talked and I was breathless trying to keep up. She must have been extremely fit.
Her dark hair, which was tightly bound in a knot and her waxen oval face showed no signs of the hasty runaround she was treating me to. She veritably sprinted up those spiral staircases. I came puffing and panting in the rear.
Caroline: Readers love to get to know authors, Kate. Please begin by telling us about growing up.
 |
| Kate Hamilton, Author |
Kate: I spent my childhood between Scotland and London. That meant a real contrast between being wild and free, loving a fabulous landscape, being near nature, feeling the elements, versus being rigidly civilized, formal, a city child.
My best friend Janey and I were from isolating home backgrounds, for very different reasons, and we lived in Narnia. Her home was a splendid town house in Highgate village and I would spend most weekends with her.
I had been taken to the local library in Highgate and had been left in a dusty corner. I still vividly recall pulling a plain caramel brown slim book from the shelf. It was the title that drew me. THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE.
 |
I never looked back. We played in her basement, her tree house, the formal terrace at the back of the garden which overlooked Hampstead Heath. We played in her bedroom with its carpet that felt like velvet. We played in the tiny room with the enormous circular window. The door was so small an adult could not enter. We played in the attics where huge baskets held wonderful dresses her mother had worn as a dancer in New York. We were Reepicheep, Prince Caspian, Lucy, the Witch. But more than that - we were in Narnia.
The basement had a rocking horse and beside it on the wall, a map. I used this basement as the setting at the beginning of my novel A SYMPHONY OF TIME.
Interestingly, I did spend some years in the real Narnia, which is Rostrevor and the Mountains of Mourne in County Down, Northern Ireland. C. S. Lewis spent his summers there as a child and this is the land that inspired Narnia.
Caroline: How fortunate your are, the realNarnia! My husband and I love Ireland, but we haven’t yet been to County Down. Who are your favorite authors?
Kate: My favourite author is Edith Wharton. She uses a device that I find particularly satisfying and that is epiphany. She builds these through her novels. I find this true to life. I want to know the inner life of the character.
I have had the good fortune to have been able to read widely in the last few years. I love to laugh and my favourite book is Cold Comfort Farm. P G Wodehouse is a marvelous writer who I value highly. I enjoy Norah Roberts, Jane Austen, Agatha Christie, Elizabeth von Arnim. I read about eight books a month and at present I am rereading Emma, by Jane Austen.
Caroline: You’ve named some of my favorites, also. I love Wodehouse's humor. Remember the book where the dog was named Duke and then a foreign duke visited and they had to keep the dog out of sight?
When you’re not writing, what’s your favorite way to relax?
 |
| Abbotsford, home of Sir Walter Scott |
Kate: My favourite way to relax is to drive in my sports car through the Scottish landscape, walk in the hills, and visit houses and castles and gardens. My most recent visit was to Abbotsford, the home of Sir Walter Scott. I visit a number of times a year as I find it very inspiring. I have used parts of the house and gardens in my novels. I used the library of the house as a setting and part of the plot in my novel MERMAID, which I hope to publish in the near future.
Kate: I also play classical piano. I have a beautiful Petrov grand piano and when I get to the piano will play for hours.
Caroline: Describe yourself in three or four words.
Kate: Describe myself? Mmmh - that's probably better coming from someone else. Let's say I love a sense of humour. It is a civilizing thing and can keep a balanced perspective.
Caroline: Tell us about your writing process.
Kate: Getting down to writing. I like to do this as a job of work, which means being at my desk and working on my PC in absolute quiet. I will sometimes have an idea, or a picture, or just start. I will write a couple of chapters free flow, then will sit on my very comfy sofa and work out a plot in fine detail.
My characters come to me, mostly fully formed. The words will flow as though I have turned on a tap and often I will see the scenes vividly in my mind's eye. I never use real people, but I will use settings I have visited. Sometimes I will write of a place and then discover it afterwards, which is exciting and makes me think there is more to this thing we call imagination than we realize.
I wrote about a character in my book MERMAID and called her Susan Somerville. Within a few weeks an acquaintance of mine kept mentioning one of her son's teachers who was called Susan Somerville. A strange coincidence.
Caroline: Do you do your research before you begin a new project or as you go along?
Kate: I can and often do take time to do a great deal of research which then sinks in to a deep level and will bubble up later to become part of the narrative. I am extremely well placed being in Edinburgh with the National Library of Scotland just down the road. And I do learn a great deal when visiting houses and castle. I used to be a tour guide as a student at Crathes Castle and learned a great deal then.
Caroline: What do you hope your writing brings to readers?
Kate: I hope my writing brings joy, insight and laughter to my readers.
Caroline: Tell us about your latest release.
Kate: My favourite way to relax is to drive in my sports car through the Scottish landscape, walk in the hills, and visit houses and castles and gardens. My most recent visit was to Abbotsford, the home of Sir Walter Scott. I visit a number of times a year as I find it very inspiring. I have used parts of the house and gardens in my novels. I used the library of the house as a setting and part of the plot in my novel MERMAID, which I hope to publish in the near future.
Kate: I also play classical piano. I have a beautiful Petrov grand piano and when I get to the piano will play for hours.
Caroline: Describe yourself in three or four words.
Kate: Describe myself? Mmmh - that's probably better coming from someone else. Let's say I love a sense of humour. It is a civilizing thing and can keep a balanced perspective.
Caroline: Tell us about your writing process.
Kate: Getting down to writing. I like to do this as a job of work, which means being at my desk and working on my PC in absolute quiet. I will sometimes have an idea, or a picture, or just start. I will write a couple of chapters free flow, then will sit on my very comfy sofa and work out a plot in fine detail.
My characters come to me, mostly fully formed. The words will flow as though I have turned on a tap and often I will see the scenes vividly in my mind's eye. I never use real people, but I will use settings I have visited. Sometimes I will write of a place and then discover it afterwards, which is exciting and makes me think there is more to this thing we call imagination than we realize.
I wrote about a character in my book MERMAID and called her Susan Somerville. Within a few weeks an acquaintance of mine kept mentioning one of her son's teachers who was called Susan Somerville. A strange coincidence.
Caroline: Do you do your research before you begin a new project or as you go along?
Kate: I can and often do take time to do a great deal of research which then sinks in to a deep level and will bubble up later to become part of the narrative. I am extremely well placed being in Edinburgh with the National Library of Scotland just down the road. And I do learn a great deal when visiting houses and castle. I used to be a tour guide as a student at Crathes Castle and learned a great deal then.
Caroline: What do you hope your writing brings to readers?
Kate: I hope my writing brings joy, insight and laughter to my readers.
Caroline: Tell us about your latest release.
Kate: My latest novel, BLOOD LINE, was released on Amazon kindle on January 25th. It is a Gothic comedy romance.
Blurb:
The heroine Lauren MacBreach is suffering from teenage angst and an overactive imagination. I had been inspired by Northanger Abbey when writing it. Her angel turns up offering her the chance to escape from a fate worse than death. However she refuses. As she is his first case, he has to learn as much through his mistakes as she does.
We are taken to the wilds of Highland Scotland where Lauren meets with her fate. Along the way she is beset by danger and some very odd houseguests at the Castle of Tomindoul. Her Angel saves her every time. But will he be able to save her in the end?
Here is an excerpt:
I was heading for the door when it opened and a tall, slim, elegant woman, immaculately dressed in tweeds, pushed her way into my room.
“Dahling. We meet at last.” Clasping my hands she held me at arms’ length and looked me up and down. “Lovely. Quite lovely. Your photographs certainly don’t do you justice.”
“My photo - ?”
“Excellent. Excellent. You had a good journey, I presume?” She didn’t wait for an answer, but swept on. “Now it will take a little time to adjust. But you are so young and the young adjust quickly do they not?”
Perhaps. But somehow I didn’t think age came into it. “That rather depends if I want to,” I replied, feeling my temper rise. Oddly enough I thought that there was still such a thing as free will in the western world.
She swept the comment away with her hand and launched herself down on the sofa. “Come and sit by me, my pet. I can see you are somewhat disorientated.”
I did as I was told. The alternative was to be downright rude and as far as I could see it might be wiser to go along with her for the moment. I might learn all I needed to know from her.
She took my hands in hers. “Now, first of all you need to know a few things, I expect.”
I nodded.
“Well, dahling, it may surprise you to know that we are related. Yes, really. Isn’t that something special. I am your cousin. I was baptised Euphemia. Frightful, isn’t it. But everyone calls me Mia. And that’s what I want you to call me. Now before anything else I must tell you I have your morning all organized ahead for you. No, I won’t hear of it. A little newcomer left all on her own would never do.”
“But - I -.”
“No buts, only goats butt. Lauren, I believe we are going to be the very best of friends. First we shall go on the Grand Tour. Would you like that? Of course you would.”
I don’t believe in just meekly following along. After all I had a right to explanations. It looked like I had no choice and I would at least learn the layout of the place.
Or that’s what I thought. I had not bargained to be taken at a trot through so many rooms, up staircases, down long corridors until I was completely disorientated. I have a feeling she did it on purpose. All the time she talked and I was breathless trying to keep up. She must have been extremely fit.
Her dark hair, which was tightly bound in a knot and her waxen oval face showed no signs of the hasty runaround she was treating me to. She veritably sprinted up those spiral staircases. I came puffing and panting in the rear.
 |
| Pretend this is Tomindoul |
Finally she came to a small door which opened up onto the battlements. We must have been hundreds of feet up from the sea which boiled over the rocks a giddying distance below.
“Sheer drop, don’t you know.”
“Yes. I gathered that.”
“Best view in the country up here. We command all you can see.”
“We?”
“The family. The McBreach’s. This is Tomindoul.”
I gaped over the wild hills that came down right to the seashore. The woods surrounding the castle gave way to barren hillsides. There was a clear view across the sea to a number of islands in the misty distance. Seabirds wheeled, crying to one another. The wind was wild. If I was in the mood for a guided tour I could have quite enjoyed the view.
Mia was waxing eloquent behind me. The drop was dizzying. Generally I’m not too bad with heights but this was a stunning drop. I wasn’t paying attention I suppose. Ancient history doesn’t naturally appeal. So it was with quite a shock when I heard her voice up close. I was grasping the rail. Not that it was particularly secure. Her hands were on the rail beside mine. I suddenly felt her warm breath. Smelt her perfume.
“And this will be the fate of the next Bride of Tomindoul.” Her voice hissed in my ear as my heart lurched into my mouth and she pulled my hand from the rail and shoved me over.
I screamed so hard my throat almost burst. I blinked down through eyes that were squeezed shut and felt the ground coming up toward me.
Everything swung into slow motion. I was aware of the sickening wrench on my armpit as my hand took the strain of the weight of my body. My feet scrambled to find a hold on the side of the tower. I must have breathed a prayer.
I knew my fingers were rapidly going numb. I only had so much time then they were going to freeze completely and lose their grip. I would be hurled to the rocks below. Dashed on the hard surface and washed out to sea. I kicked as hard as I dared with my legs willing myself to gain a foot hold. Then I knew I was slipping. My fingers were letting go. I was holding on by a thread I dared not scream again.
Then my fingers finally lost their grip and I felt two motions at once. The upward rush of the air as I plunged, and strong arms catching my feet, my body, my head as I was propelled back up onto the doorway and left standing with complete astonishment. Reeling with shock.
“I thought I heard someone screaming. It wasn’t you by any chance was it?”
I whirled round to find a thickset man in an army uniform. His steel grey eyes looked concerned. He didn’t wait for a reply. “I’d come down if I were you. That railing needs mending. Not too safe.”
I glanced back at the railing. There was a feather balanced on it. A feather, pure and white. Like one I had seen before. I slipped it in my pocket and followed the army guy at a safe distance.
Caroline: Lovely excerpt which I remember well from the book.
Finally she came to a small door which opened up onto the battlements. We must have been hundreds of feet up from the sea which boiled over the rocks a giddying distance below.
“Sheer drop, don’t you know.”
“Yes. I gathered that.”
“Best view in the country up here. We command all you can see.”
“We?”
“The family. The McBreach’s. This is Tomindoul.”
I gaped over the wild hills that came down right to the seashore. The woods surrounding the castle gave way to barren hillsides. There was a clear view across the sea to a number of islands in the misty distance. Seabirds wheeled, crying to one another. The wind was wild. If I was in the mood for a guided tour I could have quite enjoyed the view.
Mia was waxing eloquent behind me. The drop was dizzying. Generally I’m not too bad with heights but this was a stunning drop. I wasn’t paying attention I suppose. Ancient history doesn’t naturally appeal. So it was with quite a shock when I heard her voice up close. I was grasping the rail. Not that it was particularly secure. Her hands were on the rail beside mine. I suddenly felt her warm breath. Smelt her perfume.
“And this will be the fate of the next Bride of Tomindoul.” Her voice hissed in my ear as my heart lurched into my mouth and she pulled my hand from the rail and shoved me over.
I screamed so hard my throat almost burst. I blinked down through eyes that were squeezed shut and felt the ground coming up toward me.
Everything swung into slow motion. I was aware of the sickening wrench on my armpit as my hand took the strain of the weight of my body. My feet scrambled to find a hold on the side of the tower. I must have breathed a prayer.
I knew my fingers were rapidly going numb. I only had so much time then they were going to freeze completely and lose their grip. I would be hurled to the rocks below. Dashed on the hard surface and washed out to sea. I kicked as hard as I dared with my legs willing myself to gain a foot hold. Then I knew I was slipping. My fingers were letting go. I was holding on by a thread I dared not scream again.
Then my fingers finally lost their grip and I felt two motions at once. The upward rush of the air as I plunged, and strong arms catching my feet, my body, my head as I was propelled back up onto the doorway and left standing with complete astonishment. Reeling with shock.
“I thought I heard someone screaming. It wasn’t you by any chance was it?”
I whirled round to find a thickset man in an army uniform. His steel grey eyes looked concerned. He didn’t wait for a reply. “I’d come down if I were you. That railing needs mending. Not too safe.”
I glanced back at the railing. There was a feather balanced on it. A feather, pure and white. Like one I had seen before. I slipped it in my pocket and followed the army guy at a safe distance.
Caroline: Lovely excerpt which I remember well from the book.
Many thanks to Caroline for the work she put in to present my book.
