1–What is the title of your latest release?
2– What is it about?
It is the second volume in a family saga set in Edwardian England, concerning the lives, loves, and tribulations of the reluctant new Earl of Stainton and his family, servants, neighbors, and friends. Fans of Downton Abbey will probably feel at home at Ashmore Castle.
3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
There is a big house up on a hill overlooking a delightful old village that I often visit. I always wondered what it would be like to live there, so when I was asked to write this series, it seemed a good way to satisfy the itch!
4–Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?
There are two heroines, old school friends, and very different from each other, but I love them both.
5—How do you describe your hero?
There’s no one hero, but many male characters, all different, from the delicious, earthy blacksmith to the reserved, aesthetic earl. And with a series, there are always new people coming in.
6–What’s something you learned while writing this book?
Number plates on cars were introduced in Britain on the 1st January 1904 as a response to an increasing number of crashes. But there was still no requirement to learn to drive or take a test! Anyone could just get in and take off for the horizon.
7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are done?
I write organically, so it tends to pour out in a flood which I don’t like to interrupt. Then I go back and tighten up.
8–What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
I love tomatoes, preferably homegrown, preferably fried in olive oil.
9–Describe your writing space/office!
I have a big room lined with bookshelves, all bulging with research books, so many they spill over onto the floor. I have two desks, one for reading and one for writing, and a separate table for The Complete Oxford English Dictionary, which has been issued compacted into a single massive volume, the print so small it has to be read with a magnifying glass, but which I wouldn’t be without for any money.
10–Who is an author you admire?
Oh, so many! To pick just one, I think Laurie Graham is brilliant. She writes in such a way that you, the reader, know an awful lot of things that the first-person narrator doesn’t – which is wickedly funny and also often very poignant.
11–Is there a book that changed your life?
Not one book; but in my teens, I devoured books by great stylists like Aldous Huxley, Evelyn Waugh, John Steinbeck, C. S. Forester, Robert Graves, Mary Renault, Rosemary Sutcliffe, and George Orwell. Being immersed in such great writing gave me a love of language and a desire to work with it.
12– What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve received?
Get words down, even if you discard them tomorrow. You can’t write without writing.
13–What’s your favorite genre to read?
I particularly like books that seem to be about ordinary life but have a bizarre twist, such as those by Jasper Fforde, Ben Aaronovitch, Tom Holt, Jody Taylor, Douglas Adams, Stephen King, and John Wyndham.
14–What’s your favorite movie?
Two that I can watch again and again are Galaxy Quest and Shakespeare in Love. Both have such brilliant dialogue
15– What’s one of your earliest book memories?
In school holidays we used to walk down to the public library in the morning, take out two books (only two allowed) read them, and go back in the afternoon for another two. I was so thrilled when I discovered how many ‘William’ books there were. I still adore prolific writers!
16–How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
I love to cook, so I generally have lunch at home for close family and friends – with lots of champagne.
17– -Do you have any hobbies?
Gardening takes up a lot of the time when I’m not working. It keeps me grounded. And a gardener is a natural optimist. If a plant goes wrong, there’s always next year to look forward to.
18–What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
If I have to pick only one, Italian: I love tomatoes and I love cheese. And in combination…!
19–What do you do when you have free time?
Reading, gardening, walking, cooking. Lunching with friends. Talking to my husband – that never palls.
20–What can readers expect from you next?
Ashmore 3 (working title The Mistress of Ashmore Castle) is already finished and will be out in 2023, as will my next Bill Slider Mystery BEFORE I SLEEP.
THE AFFAIRS OF ASHMORE CASTLE by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
The second novel in the Ashmore Castle series, perfect for fans of DOWNTON ABBEY, from the author of the hugely successful MORLAND DYNASTY novels
Behind the doors of the magnificent Ashmore Castle, secrets are waiting to be uncovered . . .
England, 1903.
Giles, the new Earl of Stainton, is struggling to bring his family’s estate back to order after the death of his father, and he has little time to spare for his young pregnant wife, Kitty. She lives in fear of her mother-in-law, who won’t give up the reins of the household. Will she ever truly be mistress of Ashmore Castle? Perhaps if her coming child is a boy, that will change the balance of power…
Meanwhile, the Earl’s younger sisters are having their first taste of romance, but not necessarily with the right people. Richard is pursuing his forbidden relationship with Molly, while Nina makes a lively new friend who leads her straight into trouble and pushes her relationship with her husband to the limit.
And below stairs, ambition, jealousy and revenge stalk the corridors, while a tragic suicide, a tender romance, and finally a mysterious disappearance challenge the castle’s residents, both high and low . . .
Women’s Fiction Historical [Sphere, On Sale: August 11, 2022, e-Book, ISBN: 9781408725313 / eISBN: 9781408725313]
Buy THE AFFAIRS OF ASHMORE CASTLE: Kindle | BN.com | Apple Books | Kobo | Google Play | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon DE | Amazon FR
About Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
Cynthia Harrod-Eagles was born in Shepherd’s Bush in London. She was educated at Burlington School, a girls’ charity school founded in 1699, and at the University of Edinburgh and University College London, where she studied English, history and philosophy.
She wrote her first novel while at university and in 1972 won the Young Writers’ Award with THE WAITING GAME.
Afterwards she had a variety of jobs in the commercial world, beginning as sales manager for the Coca Cola Company in Edinburgh, and ending up as pensions officer for the BBC in London, while writing during the evenings and weekends.
The birth of the MORLAND DYNASTY series enabled her to become a full-time writer in 1979. The series was originally intended to comprise twelve volumes, but it has proved so popular that it has now been extended to thirty-four.
In 1993 she won the RNA Novel of the Year Award with EMILY, the third volume of her Kirov Saga, a trilogy set in nineteenth century Russia, and she also writes the internationally acclaimed BILL SLIDER MYSTERIES.
Cynthia Harrod-Eagles still lives in London, has a husband and three children, and apart from writing her passions are music (she plays in several amateur orchestras) horses, wine, architecture and the English countryside.
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