Ask the Author: M.K. Tod
Answered Questions (12)
M.K. Tod
Hi Frances ... four years to respond - definitely inexcusable! However, if you are still interesting - and I love that you enjoyed Lies Told In Silence - I wrote a novel featuring Camille and Mariele which was released in early 2021. Let me know if I can send you a copy - it's the least I can do to make up for such a tardy response.
Best wishes - Mary (M.K.) Tod
Best wishes - Mary (M.K.) Tod
M.K. Tod
Well, Rebecca, this is a tardy response! My apologies. Since you asked this question, The Admiral's Wife was released in April 2022. And now I'm working on a contemporary novel involving identical twins.
Sending best wishes.
Sending best wishes.
M.K. Tod
Hi Yvaine - Many thanks for your question. I actually don't review books - except for my once a year book round up - although you will see many book covers on my blog. Each of those represents an author with a guest post on some aspect of either reading or writing historical fiction. Are you writing something??
M.K. Tod
Such a difficult question to answer! Would it be the waters of the Nile in 1850 with Florence Nightingale and Gustave Flaubert in Enid Shomer's The Twelve Rooms of the Nile? Would it be England in the time of Henry II as portrayed in Sharon Kay Penman's Time and Chance. Perhaps 16th century Spain with C.W. Gortner's Juana in The Last Queen or biblical times with Geraldine Brooks's The Secret Chord or Africa with Paula McLain's heroine in Circling the Sun. Then there's my latest wonderful read which would situate me in 1947 France with Kate Quinn's memorable characters Eve and Charlie (Charlotte) from The Alice Network. So many choices - who could possibly decide? And that, of course, is the beauty of reading historical fiction!
M.K. Tod
My summer reading is always a combination of books read for pleasure, for book clubs I belong to and for research. On my bedside table I have The Churchill Factor by Boris Johnson, History's People by Margaret Mitchell, and A Passion for Paris by David Downie. On the book club list are titles like The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead, Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult, and A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles (loved his Rules of Civility). If I get a chance, I'll add Elizabeth Chadwick's concluding novel in her trilogy on Eleanor of Aquitaine - The Autumn Throne. The Stars are Fire by Anita Shreve (I've tried to emulate her style) and Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan. I'm also looking for contemporary fiction set in Hong Kong if anyone has a suggestion! What are you reading?
M.K. Tod
Perhaps not a mystery but ... there are several intriguing and plot worthy possibilities. A cousin whose husband of thirty years left her for another man. A mother who's had four men who have loved her including one living half way around the world. A brother-in-law who hasn't been heard from in over twenty years. A friend who abandoned her children to escape an abusive marriage. A colleague who turned out to be a spy ... oops, made that one up. Life offers up so many possibilities that there isn't enough time to tell them all. Thanks for asking!
M.K. Tod
Such a difficult question since so many of the books I read feature couples and I get caught up in their struggles and romances. Of the books I read in 2016, two come to mind: Katherine by Anya Seton gives us Katherine Swynford and John of Gaunt, an enduring relationship fraught with challenges, while Clementine by Sonia Parnell describes the tumultuous and often difficult relationship between Clementine and Winston Churchill. One aspect that's interesting to me is how reading about other relationships makes me reflect on the one between my husband and me. Always something to learn!
M.K. Tod
Hello Ann ... and many thanks for your question. My take on this is that the climax within the climax are the smaller peaks in the story, the resolutions of ancillary stories and ancillary character arcs that a story contains. In my latest novel, Time and Regret, there's a climax for the main story of Grace and her life as well as a mini-climax to her grandfather's story and to her grandmother's story. I hope that helps!
M.K. Tod
My current work-in-process is called Time & Regret. It's a novel with two threads, one taking place in WWI (my favourite time period), and a second that takes place in more modern times (early 1990s). This story involves a mystery stemming from WWI, which makes the writing even more interesting.
M.K. Tod
Writing fuels my passion. I love researching, I love getting to know my characters. I love the learning that goes along with developing my writing skills. I also love the freedom to work as I want.
M.K. Tod
After writing Unravelled: Two wars. Two affairs. One marriage., many readers wanted to know more about Helene Noisette, the woman Edward Jamieson fell in love with during WWI. The result is Lies Told in Silence. There might even be a sequel bringing the to stories together.
M.K. Tod
Writer's block is less of a problem for me than managing my time. I blog regularly, review books for the Historical Novel Society, manage my own marketing and conduct reader surveys - so each day is busy. And don't forget Facebook, Goodreads and Twitter.
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