I really enjoyed meeting Alice O'Keeffe the other day, who interviewed me for The Bookseller magazine.
Here's an extract from the interview.
A Charming romantic comedy and Mantle's big commercial fiction title for the summer, Miss You is about more than mere romantic near-misses, it's author explains
Sometimes the premise of a book is just irresistible and this summer sees a fine example. Mantle's big commercial fiction title, entices the reader with the following: Tess and Gus are meant to be. They just haven't met properly yet. And perhaps they never will...
Crossing paths
When I meet author Kate Eberlen, she explains over lunch that she has always been fascinated by "that idea of how many live cross ours every day. I often think about it, particularly on holiday. When you are [on holiday] somewhere in Florence you'll be doing the same route - almost - as other people. So you'll have these lives that are just next to yours for a little bit and sometimes you'll even pass them again, and at the end of the day you're almost on smiling terms. Then you might - or you used to, before selfie sticks - say, 'Do you mind taking a photo of me?' So you'll be in somebody's life for just a moment."
This observation about how our lives "glance against" others became the germ of a novel one day when Eberlen was on a train travelling from her home on the south coast to London. "I was looking out of the window at all those rows and rows of terraced house and thinking, 'I wonder if any of those lives have ever crossed mine'." Then the idea struck. "I just thought, 'What if there were two people who were right for each other, but they just kept missing each other?'" The perfect title, "Miss You", popped into her head at the same time.
The interview was featured in the 20th May 2016 issue and can now be read in its entirety by clicking on the link below.