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Author News & Interviews

Interview: Rita Zoey Chin, author of The Strange Inheritance of Leah Fern

Oct 13, 2022

THE STRANGE INHERITANCE OF LEAH FERN, Rita Zoey Chin’s debut novel, is a luminous coming-of-age story about a fiercely lonely young woman's quest to uncover the truth behind her mother's disappearance. In this interview conducted by Michael Barson, Senior Publicity Executive at Melville House, Chin talks about the differences between writing this book and her memoir, LET THE TORNADO COME IN; the aspects of the story that she couldn’t grasp at first and how she finally got a handle on them; the one piece of advice she would give to aspiring novelists; and what readers can expect from her second novel.

Interview: John Crawley, author of The Yank: The True Story of a Former US Marine in the Irish Republican Army

Sep 8, 2022

In 1975, John Crawley joined an elite US Marine unit to get the most intensive military training possible. He then joined the Irish Republican Army during the days of some of the bloodiest fighting ever in the Irish-British conflict. In THE YANK, Crawley details the grueling challenges of his Marine Corps training and how he put his hard-earned munitions and demolitions skills to use back in Ireland in service of the new Provisional IRA (known as the Provos). In this interview conducted by Michael Barson, Senior Publicity Executive at Melville House, Crawley talks about what inspired him to write a memoir about his remarkable life history, the biggest challenge he encountered as a first-time author, and his plans for a second book, which is already in the works.

Interview: C. J. Carey, author of Widowland

Aug 18, 2022

WIDOWLAND by C. J. Carey is a thrilling feminist dystopian novel set in an alternative history that terrifyingly imagines what a British alliance with Germany would look like if the Nazis had won WWII. In this interview conducted by Bookreporter reviewer Rebecca Munro, Carey talks about her inspiration for the book’s premise; explains how she approached her research of major historical moments and figures to write the story; introduces readers to her main character, Rose, and Rose’s role in society; and offers a sneak peek at the sequel to WIDOWLAND, THE LAST QUEEN, which takes place two years later in 1955.

Interview: Mary Burton, author of The Lies I Told

Aug 18, 2022

New York Times bestselling author Mary Burton ascends the throne as Monarch of Suspense with THE LIES I TOLD, her 46th novel. Having won the 2019 Montlake Romance Diamond Award signifies that she has reached one million readers. In this interview, Burton chats with Bookreporter’s Dean Murphy about her intriguing romantic and psychological suspense novels, her next title, and a typical day in her writing life.

Author Talk: Lisa Jewell, author of The Family Remains

Aug 11, 2022

THE FAMILY REMAINS is a stand-alone sequel to Lisa Jewell’s 2019 thriller, THE FAMILY UPSTAIRS, an intricate and affecting novel about twisted marriages, fractured families and deadly obsessions. In this interview, Jewell explains some of the challenges she faced in writing this much-anticipated follow-up (which so many of her readers were asking for) and what excited her the most about it. She also talks about the character whose development surprised her the most from the first book to the second, reveals her ideal future for the Lambs and Rachel, and previews her next novel, which is very different from THE FAMILY REMAINS.