Changes

* '''BB: I’ve I've just finished ‘’The ''The Novel in the Viola’’ Viola'' and what impressed me most was the period detail which was simply ''there''. You obviously knew a lot more than you felt any need to shoe-horn into the book! Did you know this part of Dorset – and this period – well before you started the book? How much research did you have to do?'''

NS: I immerse myself in literature of the period. I had such fun working my way through a shelf of Persephone books. I spent weeks in the summerhouse at the bottom of the garden, reading everything from ''Marianna'' to Molly Panter Downes’ Downes' ''Wartime Stories'', as well as lots of Daphne Du Maurier, Evelyn Waugh and non-fiction accounts of life in service and the country house tradition. My husband and I also had a season watching old movies like ''Brief Encounter'' and ''In Which we Serve'' – movies really help me tune my ear to the speech patterns. I like to be gently marinated in the culture and time period before I start to write, then I find it feels instinctive.

As for Dorset – I grew up here, and I love the countryside so much. It’s It's always changing. At the moment the daffodils are out, and next it will be the apple blossom and the horse chestnuts and then, best of all, the bluebells in the woods.

NS: Tyneham, an abandoned village on the Dorset coast, is the inspiration for Tyneford. The story in the novel of how the village was emptied is based on fact. There was a manor house there, but I’ve I've never seen it – it lies deep within the MoD lands. I found some old photographs and floor plans of the house in a book, which I pinned above my desk and my husband discovered a Victorian print of it in a little shop and had it framed for my birthday. I think that houses like Tyneford belong to a period with staff and servants. I love the romance, but I think my stone cottage is a bit more manageable. Saying that, I do love a mullioned window…

* '''BB: Elise didn’t didn't practice her Jewish faith, but was unwilling to become even peripherally involved in any other church services or ceremonies. Is faith important to you?'''

NS: Like Elise, I feel terribly uncomfortable around religion. I like the sound of the Cantor singing, and I love choral music – some of the world’s world's greatest music has been written in praise of God – but for me, the music is enough.

I don’t don't think I ascribe to books that ‘everyone 'everyone must read’read'. The joy of literature is that we all love different things. While I adore Austen, I realise that some people don’t don't and forcing them to read ‘Persuasion’ 'Persuasion' probably isn’t isn't going to convert them.

There are so many books I love. The ones that influenced ‘The 'The Novel in the Viola’ Viola' the most were probably ''Rebecca'', ''Brideshead Revisited'', ''Moontiger'', [[Atonement by Ian McEwan|Atonement]], [[The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro|The Remains of the Day]] and, of course, the grandmother of all country house role/ reversal novels, ''Jane Eyre''. I remember the pleasure and intensity of reading the Brontes as a teenager and I wanted to try and create the fervour of that experience - even if it is just for a single reader.

NS: ''The Magic Faraway Tree''. When I was about six I wrote to the TV show ''Jim’ll Jim'll Fix It'' asking Jim to introduce me to Moonface and Silky and the Saucepan man and Dame Washalot. I really, really wanted to climb the Faraway Tree and visit the Land of Sweets at the top.

*'''BB: You’ve You've got one wish. What’s What's it to be?'''

* '''BB: What’s What's next for Natasha Solomons?'''

NS: I’m I'm just starting to research book 3, so I’ll I'll be sitting at the bottom of the garden lost in books.