Paul Blezard talks gardening, Italy, and Alessio with Erica James, author of Gardens of Delight and ten other bestselling novels, three of which have been nominated for the Romantic Novel of the Year Award.

Transcript of the audio interview with Erica James

I'm Paul Blezard, and once again those lovely people at Orion Audiobooks have invited me into a recording studio to talk to Erica James on the audiobook publication of Gardens of Delight.

PB: Erica, a very warm welcome.

EJ: Thank you very much.

Catalysts

PB: Erica, the first question I wanted to ask you is what was the catalyst for this book? Why was this the story you wanted to tell in book number eleven?

EJ: I'd recently moved house and inherited a garden that had nothing done to it at all - it was just a blank canvass - and so I started getting very interested in gardening, and I got a garden designer in. And from there, I just started to think of the type of people who are interested in gardening themselves, and it tends to be a, sort of, an older crowd, and I wanted just to have some fun, you know, by having a different age range in there as well.

PB: Well, you certainly got a great age range in this work. How much research did you do? I see in the acknowledgements page of the hardback of the book, of the paper version of the book, lots of thanks to various hotels in Italy.

EJ: [laughs] Well, yes. That was a great pleasure with the book, not only gardening, but then, my other love, which is Italy, at the moment, and I decided that I wanted to set half of the book in Italy, and I actually went on a garden tour holiday, just as the characters in this book do, but I went on a tour around the gardens of the Veneto. Before I went I thought, "Now this would be wonderful; this would be a great setting", but when I actually went on the tour I realised, "No, I'm not getting the right vibe from this". And then I just looked at the map and I thought, "What about Lake Como?" Everyone has a picture of Lake Como, or Lake Maggiore. It's very accessible to a reader who perhaps hasn't even been to Italy. So, yeah, I was very fortunate. I then went on holiday to Lake Como and stayed in Bellagio, in a wonderful hotel, I have to say.

Research

PB: People often talk, and I often, during my day job, interviewing authors, everyday, who talk about the use of research when writing fiction. But explain to me why the research is important? Does it just allow you to give the sense of place? It seems to be in this book specifically you have a much stronger sense of character and of story as a result of the research, and is that right?

EJ: Actually, [for] previous books I haven't done a lot of research . . . I think there's nothing worse than reading a novel that has been over researched and the author has been hell-bent on, you know, showing what a clever person they are to have done all of this. So I do try to keep it to a minimum. But with Gardens of Delight, I don't know, I think I just, I loved being in Bellagio, and I really wanted to do it justice, and I got a couple of guides to show me round various places there, and I just got a good feel for it myself, and I suppose I wanted to get that across in the book. But I suppose the book could be set anywhere, really [laughs] doesn't have to be Bellagio. I didn't think that was fundamental to the storyline.

PB: How necessary was it for you to like all the characters that you were writing about?

EJ: Umm, it's a funny one that, because quite often I like the characters . . . the ones I like most are the, perhaps the least likeable, y'know? [laughs]

PB: [laughs]

EJ: The ones that you're supposed to boo and hiss at, y'know, at the pantomime; they're usually more fun, aren't they? They've all got a place in my heart I guess. But the other interesting thing is, and people, usually, are quite disturbed by this, because to write those characters you have to understand the way they tick, and that does suggest that there's a bit of me in each of those characters; that I'm just as bad as them in places.

PB: That's the joy of being an author - a chance to exercise your multiple personality disorder.

EJ: [laughs]

PB: Now, obviously the audiobook has been narrated by Jenny Seagrove, who has this huge job of voicing the characters that you've created. How does that work for you, listening to characters that first existed in your mind bring voiced by someone as accomplished as Jenny.

EJ: It's a terrifying process! I mean, I'm really quite anxious about hearing it, and I think a lot of authors do feel that themselves, because this is, y'know, a book is, for an author, it's a baby, and you're handing the baby over to someone else, almost to name or to look after. But I'm absolutely sure Jenny is going to do a wonderful job of looking after my latest baby. [laughs]

The Responsibility of Narration

PB: Well, we're rather fortunate in this additional interview for Orion Audiobooks, that Jenny Seagrove is actually here in the studios with us. Jenny, I'd love to ask you the question: what are the responsibilities of narrating a work, when sometimes the author is the other side of the control room window, watching every move of your lips?

JS: I'm delighted to meet Erica. I think she's written a smashing book. I was rolling along fine this morning; now she's here, I'm having a nervous breakdown. I'm just hoping that I'm doing the right thing with her baby. One of the first things I did on television was A Woman Of Substance, and my fear was that we hadn't created, or been faithful to the book for Barbara, and she came in having seen the six hours of television and said, "It was wonderful. Thank you very much." And that was just the best thing that anyone could say, and so I'm really hoping that we've done right, or are doing right for Erica, 'cause I really like this book.

PB: Jenny, how do you get into the characters' heads? How do you become the characters, when all you have is your voice with which to do it?

JS: The women are easier than the men, obviously. I think it's easier for men to read books-on-tape because their voices lend themselves more naturally to falsetto. You read the book, obviously, and then you read what she's described about the characters - where they've lived, where they've come from - and the language she uses, and you just try and create. Sometimes you can't make that much of a difference in the sounds, 'cos sometimes two people come from the same kind of background, so you then have to try and use tonal things. Somebody maybe has a kinder voice, or a slightly reticent way of talking. So it can be quite subtle, but we've got some lovely characters to deal with here, and some baddies, so I'm having fun!

PB: You actually enjoy it? Do you enjoy the toughness of it?

JS: I do. It's hard work, and it's huge concentration, and I'm jolly tired by the end of the day, but, y'know, when you're dealing with a good book, and this is a really enjoyable book - and I hate to say, it makes me cry, so I'll have to get round that when I get to it, because if I'm crying, no one will here the words . . . and if I cry, the audience won't cry, so it's a really nice thing to be doing at the moment.

Visualisation, Direction and Alessio

PB: Erica, when you're writing, when you're creating these characters, do you see them? Do you have images of them that you put down on words on paper, or . . . how do they exist in your head?

EJ: Very visual in my head, and quite often they come first to me through dialogue. Once I can hear them talking, then they become very real, and I can start forming a definite picture. It varies from book to book, but these characters, they came to me fairly instantly, I have to say. Yeah, I was quite pleased.

PB: Jenny, can I ask you: when you were asked to, what made you want to be the narrator for this book?

JS: I said, "Let me read the book", and I read it, and I found that it was a very gentle story; well-observed characters that pulled me in, and ultimately moved me hugely, and I thought, "Yep. This is for me. Thank you."

PB: That's a huge commendation. Erica, let me ask you: the book that you've written, is it the book that you set out to write?

EJ: No, they never are. Absolutely not. Because when I start a book, I start at chapter one, I have a vague scene in my mind of chapter one, and a vague scene, or a feel for how the book is going to end. But I have no idea how it's going to get there; I don't write a synopsis, I don't have a plan. The characters drive the story, and it's their interaction. So no, there are definite bits in this that I didn't see coming at all. Yes, one character in particular. Hadn't even given him any thought at all, and then he just suddenly popped up.

JS: I want to know who that is!

PB: Yes, exactly!

EJ: [laughs]

PB: I think you have to tell us!

JS: Go on! Go on! Who is he?

EJ: Oh, it's the lovely musician, in . . .

JS: Alessio.

EJ: Alessio, yes!

PB: And him having popped into your mind, does that then take the story to a completely different place, and that's what you're grateful for as an author?

EJ: Yes. Absolutely.

PB: When a character starts to take over the story?

EJ: Yes. I mean, I did that in a previous book as well. A character just developed a whole storyline for himself, and it changed the whole nature of that particular book. And I think that's what I like about not writing a plan, only a detailed synopsis. I've got free will. And that's the magic of it, and that's why I keep writing.

PB: What can we look forward to in the future?

EJ: Well, I'm actually having some time off, and I'm going to go and live in Venice for a month.

PB: Not a lot of gardening there.

EJ: No, but who knows what else may be there . . .

PB: It's been lovely talking to the both of you. Erica James, Jenny Seagrove - thank you very much, and the best of luck with the Gardens of Delight.