Luisa A Jones – The Broken Vow
I’m delighted to welcome Luisa A Jones to my blog today, who has dropped in to talk about her new book – The Broken Vow.
Luisa A Jones lives in South Wales, and takes inspiration from the Welsh countryside, towns, history, and of course its people. Her writing explores the dynamics within relationships, the pressures that mental health issues can exert on people, and how these can be overcome.
Luisa studied Classical Studies at Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, University of London. Her previous jobs have included tour guide in an historic house; teacher in both primary and secondary schools; careers adviser; and corporate trainer/assessor.
Luisa loves using her creativity for crafting and baking, as well as writing historical and contemporary fiction with romantic elements. She and her husband are the proud owners of Gwynnie, a Volkswagen camper van built in 1974, which inspired the story behind Luisa’s first book, Goes Without Saying. They have three children, a dog, and two cats.
Becoming an author fulfilled a lifelong ambition.
Thank you for popping in to chat with me today Luisa about your new book – The Broken Vow, the second in the Fitznorton series and congratulations too, on your new two book deal with Storm Publishing. Before we start – tea? Coffee? I tried to find a recipe suitable for a chat about a book set around the Great War and settled for a Victoria Sponge – hope that’s okay?
Tea and Victoria Sponge are always very welcome, thank you.
The Broken Vow – an utterly gripping and emotional historical novel
Marriage was what Charlotte had been brought up to. After all, it provided a happy ending for all the heroines in the novels she sometimes read. So it would be for her… right?
Born into luxury, Charlotte Fitznorton has always known a life filled with lavish parties and a line of suitors, all part of a future neatly laid out for her by her father, Sir Lucien. She is to marry well and continue the line at Plas Norton, the family seat. When Eustace Chadwycke – son of a viscount – proposes just before leaving to fight in France, it seems Charlotte’s destiny is perfectly falling into place.
Then, tragedy strikes. Her father dies unexpectedly, and her future hangs in the balance – threatened by the surprise pregnancy of her hated stepmother, Rosamund. News of Eustace, returning from the war broken by its horrors, leaves Charlotte fearing her engagement may be as fragile as her inheritance.
Determined to at least save her impending marriage, Charlotte pours her energy into turning Plas Norton into a healing place for Eustace and other war-weary soldiers. But small-minded townspeople, a bossy head nurse, and her newborn baby sister’s arrival push Charlotte to her limits.
Just as hope is slipping through her fingers, a mysterious stranger arrives at Plas Norton. This newcomer holds the power to upend everything Charlotte has fought to preserve. Will she have the strength to protect her legacy, or could this unexpected visitor awaken a desire in Charlotte for a different life altogether?
Great title, by the way. Titles are always difficult to settle on. I know this one gave you some worries, how did you come up with this and titles in general for your books?
Thank you for the compliment, but I’m afraid I can’t claim any credit for the title. While writing the book I called it The Sisters of Plas Norton as a working title, but my editor decided it didn’t have enough drama and wouldn’t draw readers. She was probably right! She came up with The Broken Vow and it ties in much better with the first book in the series, The Gilded Cage. I’m pretty hopeless at choosing titles, so I’m happy to let her come up with better ideas while I get on with writing books!
This is set during the First World War and starts as Charlotte’s fiancé has gone away fighting. She’s a really interesting character as her emotional journey from the start to the end of this book is huge. I don’t want to say too much about her in case I give away any spoilers. But, she initially comes across as very entitled, and only interested in getting married and settling down, not a very likeable character at least to start with, would that be fair to say? Was she an easy character to write?
It’s definitely fair to say – in fact, I’d go so far as to say she was a horrid little brat in The Gilded Cage. When writing The Broken Vow I was keen to explore ways to force Charlotte into a better understanding of the world, one which would bring out the kind and useful person I hoped was underneath. I was inspired by Jane Austen’s comment about her character of Emma: “I am going to take a heroine whom no one but myself will much like.” Whilst I can’t claim to measure up to Austen’s peerless writing, it was great fun giving Charlotte problems that would transform her. The challenge was to make such a huge personal growth plausible. I’ll leave it to readers to decide whether I succeeded.
I loved Venetia Vaughan-Lloyd and her involvement with the women’s suffrage movement, you conjure up such a vivid picture of her and the times. Where did you get your inspiration for her from?
Thank you, I’m so glad you loved her. She was one of those secondary characters who took flight in my imagination, and I adored writing about her. I was inspired by my research into the suffragettes, who were incredibly bold in challenging the world the way they did. Strangely, I also had a picture in my mind of Gwendoline Christie’s character Brienne of Tarth in Game of Thrones: tall, strong, courageous, loyal, and radiant with integrity although not a conventional beauty. In the end Venetia evolved into a mashup of Brienne (or maybe Boudicca) with a dollop of Chummy from Call the Midwife.
If The Broken Vow was to become a film or TV series, and like Colin Dexter (he always insisted in appearing in every Morse episode) you were given the chance to act in it, which of the characters in this book do you think you’d most like to play?
What an interesting question – one I’ve never thought about before. At my age, and with my working-class Welsh roots, I’d probably play Mary or Nellie. I have a soft spot for both of them.
Tell me about Plas Norton. Is it a real of fictional estate?
Plas Norton is fictional, but the exterior is inspired by a real house, Newton House at Dinefwr, near Llandeilo in west Wales. I could easily picture a Victorian industrialist like Charlotte’s grandfather building such a mock-gothic pile with towers and crenellations as a grand gesture to impress everyone in the district. A house like that is willy-waving, really – perfect for the male Fitznortons. The interior, however, was based mainly on my memories of working as a tour guide at Tredegar House, near Newport. That’s what enabled me to picture rooms like the bathroom, hallway with its telephone kiosk, pastry room and kitchen in detail.
What comes first with your writing – the characters or the plot?
Always the characters. Then I have to work out what to do with them.
Are you a plotter or a pantser?
I’m a bit of both – a plantser – as a rule, but The Broken Vow was the first book I’ve written using Scrivener and Save the Cat. I found both very helpful in planning the main structure of the story in advance. I should probably try to do the same next time around, but right now I’ve launched right into a project with a somewhat vague idea of which way it’s going.
Everything about this book feels thoroughly researched. This is clearly a period of time that you love and know very well. Where do you start when you’re going to research a book like this?
Thank you. Aiming for an authentic sense of the period is something I feel is vital in historical fiction. The crucial aspect for me is how people lived. What were their homes, clothes, jobs, cars and towns like? Then there’s the social conventions. How were they expected to behave? What limitations were placed on them due to their class, sex, location, physical condition, role in the family, or age? I find those aspects fascinating, so it was a pleasure to read about the lives of the working class and upper class, and imagine how it might be for the characters coming to life in my head.
What is a regular writing day like for you?
There isn’t one. I still have a day job which is desk-based, so I have to fit my planning, research and writing around that. I don’t always feel like sitting back down at a laptop in the evening, so I tend to make much slower progress than I’d like. Most of my writing is done on weekends.
Did you do NaNoWriMo last year, how did you get on? [I can’t remember whether you did or didn’t. In my head, when we were on the writing retreat I had a feeling you were having a go.]
I started, but was still working out the plotline… and after pitching a new series to my editor it ended up changing. I didn’t get very far, and most of what I wrote has been discarded, but it was worth stopping and changing tack to get my second contract with Storm Publishing.
This is the second book in the Fitznorton series. What can we expect next from the Luisa A Jones stable?
Storm Publishing have signed me to write more two books, which is thrilling! They’ll be set in the same fictional Welsh town of Pontybrenin, and some familiar characters from The Broken Vow will appear, but it will be a new series beginning at the start of the Second World War. I’ve started writing the first, and am currently deep in my research, learning about the home front and the role of women in WWII.
Thank you for popping by today, and good luck with your new book, Luisa. Anni x
It’s been a pleasure. Thank you so much for inviting me, and for your generous words about The Broken Vow. I’m so glad you enjoyed reading it.
Luisa’s contact details:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Taffy_lulu
Website: www.luisaajones.com (Sign up for Luisa’s newsletter and get a free short story).
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LuisaAJonesauthor/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luisa_a_jones_author/
Buying links for the book: Book link The Broken Vow
