Q&A with Kate
Love, secrets and family dilemmas are important topics in your books. Where do you get your inspiration?
These things are at the heart of all our lives – most families have a good story to tell! I try not to write about my own family as that might get me into trouble – though I know things sneak in! I love to read magazine interviews (with absolutely anyone.) I subscribe to The Radio Times and they have great articles that can provide inspiration. I also love to listen to radio programs like Desert Island Discs and Woman’s Hour- I hear things that can plant a tiny seed in my mind from which a huge story can grow!
When you could choose any character from any book you want, who would you like to be and why?
As a child I wanted to be Polly-Anna – constantly seeing the positive in situations – I was a very anxious child so that was quite hard to achieve!
As an adult I have had times when I have felt like Bridget Jones and times when I feared that I might end up like Madame Bovary. As a mother I have tried very hard to channel Mrs Ingalls from Little House on the Prairie – with varying amounts of success!!!
Where is your favorite setting for a book?
As I live in Wales it was lovely to set The Peacock House in a Welsh setting, though the story takes place four hours north of where I live, in Snowdonia with its dramatic mountainous landscape and gorgeous coast. I wrote about Pembrokeshire coast ( about an hour away from me) in The Cherry Tree Summer (though most of that book is set in The Dordogne). It was also lovely to use small parts of the Welsh language in those two books. I have spent many years learning Welsh, it’s a very beautiful language, I love speaking it but unfortunately I am far from fluent.
I think my very favorite place to set a novel is Ireland – four novels so far with an Irish setting seems to prove this right. My parents are from Dublin so I’ve spent a lot of time there visiting relatives and I’ve had many holidays in Cork and Kerry in the west of Ireland. It’s very romantic, full of atmospheric houses and populated with people who make fantastic inspiration for characters!
Your novels always feature a house that becomes almost like a character itself. What sort of house do you live in?
I’ve always loved old houses, and felt very affected emotionally by where I live. I’ve renovated three very old houses and been completely in love with all of them. The inspiration for my first novel came from our beautiful cottage in the tiny Welsh village of Bethlehem. We had three magazine shoots there for interior design magazines – twice pretending it was Christmas in July! This is what happens in A Perfect Home – though I hasten to add that everything else that transpires in that story is fictional!
I now live in a small town called Llandeilo at the foot of the Brecon Beacon mountain range. It’s a beautiful area with lots of gorgeous views, castles, rivers and wildlife. The town dates back to Medieval times and is known for its pretty multicoloured Georgian and Victorian houses. I live in a blue house, built in 1640, with my two Golden Retrievers - Sunny and Juno, and two cats - Milly and Billie Fleur. My three adult children come and go depending on what’s going on in their lives.
Have you many ideas for new novels?
I have lots of ideas for other novels and I hope to spend the rest of my life writing them down. There’s nothing better than getting the stories out of my head and onto the page, it’s incredibly rewarding, and holding an actual book full of words I’ve written in my hand is one of the best feelings in the world!