Ask the Author: Catherine Banner
Answered Questions (8)
Catherine Banner
Thank you, April, for these kind comments about the book. I do absolutely become connected to the characters while writing. I still have a very clear sense of them as people all these years later. Part of that, I think, is because the characters already relate to sides of the writer's own self or experience, which is what draws you to write about them in the first place. It's one of the things I love about writing, actually.
Catherine Banner
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Catherine Banner
Thank you, Elaine. That the book reminded you of your parents' home and their beautiful stories is really an honour for me as a writer.
Catherine Banner
Stephanie, I know you are one of the readers who has been waiting for this book most patiently and I'm so sorry for the long wait! I am finishing it now, so will share more news over the coming months. The best place to check is probably my new website at www.catherinebanner.com, but I'll try to also update to other channels as well, and here.
Catherine Banner
I'm so glad to hear you enjoyed the book! I'm sorry to say the island of Castellamare is not real, but it's based on real places, mostly in Sicily, that I know and love.
Catherine Banner
Thank you so much - and yes, I am currently finishing a book set in the mountains of north Italy and following a vine-growing family over several generations. It will be called The Lit and Unlit World.
Catherine Banner
Yes, I do love history. But I must admit that I came to historical fiction writing by a very indirect route. When I began to write The House at the Edge of Night, I was convinced it would be a modern book. I wanted to write about the 2008 financial crisis, and about young characters, so I didn't see any reason to write about the past. But gradually I came to understand that it wouldn't make sense to tell that story without also going back into the past to understand the events that came before - what the historian Eric Hobsbawm calls 'The road that led us here'. In this, I was particularly influenced by magical realist writers, who collapse time and tell the stories of generations with a wonderfully light touch. To try and piece together the road that led us to the financial crisis, I decided to immerse myself in documents and sources, visit libraries and archives, and see what I could discover. And when I did that, a strange thing happened. As I researched 20th century history, whole new vistas opened up, and I discovered many untold stories belonging to the past which I felt also deserved to be told. The book, in the end, crosses a long sweep of time - both the personal history of one family and the bigger history of the world beyond their island - and I think it also became a stronger, more interesting story because of that. For me now, particularly as a European writer, I feel that I can't escape writing about the past because in it I find powerful reflections of our current predicaments, experiences, hopes and fears, and the seeds of what makes us who we are.
Catherine Banner
Hi Tracy,
Sorry to hear this. Are you in the UK? A few readers have had this problem and my publishers and I aren't sure why... I'll contact them and ask them if they can do anything to help. I'll post back here as soon as I have more information!
Best wishes,
Catherine
Sorry to hear this. Are you in the UK? A few readers have had this problem and my publishers and I aren't sure why... I'll contact them and ask them if they can do anything to help. I'll post back here as soon as I have more information!
Best wishes,
Catherine
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