Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: The Paris Secret
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 14-Aug
WEBSITE: http://karenswan.wix.com/karenswan
CITY: Sussex
STATE:
COUNTRY: United Kingdom
NATIONALITY:
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: n 2013022300
LCCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/n2013022300
HEADING: Swan, Karen (Writer)
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670 __ |a The perfect present, 2012: |b t.p. (Karen Swan) 5th prelim. p. (began career in fashion journalism; pursued her ambition to become a writer; lives in Sussex)
PERSONAL
Born August 14, in England; daughter of Malcolm Victor Swan MacLeod and Margaret MacLeod; married Anders Green; children: Oliver, William, Paloma.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer. Previously, worked as a fashion stylist and editor.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Karen Swan is a British writer based in Sussex, England. Previously, she worked as fashion stylist and editor. In an interview with Jackie McGlone, contributor to the Scotsman Online, Swan explained that she dropped part of her last name, MacLeod, when she became a writer. She stated: “All through my life no-one could ever spell or pronounce my surname. … I’d always written as a journalist as Karen Swan MacLeod. Dad’s family name is actually MacSwan MacLeod, so we’re very Scottish. I think Karen Swan sounds like a made-up name for someone who writes sexy, romantic novels.” She also explained what inspired her to leave fashion styling and take up writing for a living. Swan told McGlone: “When Ollie, my first child, was born, I fell madly in love with him and vowed I’d never be parted from him. I knew I never wanted to work in an office ever again. I’d been a fashion stylist—it was so boring because I just didn’t have the eye—before becoming a writer and commissioning editor on a Sunday newspaper magazine. I wanted to use my brain a bit more, so I feel my whole career has been a process of elimination until I became a writer.”
Prima Donna
In one of her earlier novels, Prima Donna, Swan tells the story of a feisty Brazilian ballerina named Pia Soto. She deals with relationship troubles. Her assistant, Sophie O’Farrell, seems quiet and innocent, but she has issues of her own.
In the same interview with McGlone, Swan compared the volume to the film, Black Swan, which was released around the same time. She stated: “If Black Swan is about a White Swan’s descent into corruption by becoming the Black Swan, Prima Donna does the reverse. It tells how a seductive Black Swan goes from the edge of darkness and is transformed and redeemed, with Pia even developing White-Swan attributes. Mine’s the classic fairytale, bad girl comes good.” Of the timing of the book’s release, Swan stated: “I honestly had no idea I was tapping into the dance zeitgeist.”
Christmas at Tiffany's
In an interview with Angela Smith, writer on the Chick Lit Club website, Swan discussed the plot of her book, Christmas at Tiffany’s. She stated: “The story begins with a glamorous party on a Scottish shooting estate, being thrown to celebrate Cassie and Gil Fraser’s 10th wedding anniversary. It is mainly populated by Gil’s circle of friends, but Cassie’s three beloved best friends have flown in from their far-flung corners—New York, Paris and London—to celebrate with her. Unfortunately, during the course of the evening, Cassie learns something that makes her marriage instantly and completely unviable and she finds herself, overnight, having to start afresh and alone.” Swan continued: “But she married young, she’s never had a paid job and she’s spent all of her adult life in the remote Highlands so technology, fashion and the perils of dating have all passed her by. Her three best friends argue about who knows what and where is best for her to start her new life, until eventually they arrive at an agreement: she will spend the next year staying with each of them for four months, allowing them to mould her into their visions of the Cassie she should be. It’s not a smooth path!”
In the same interview with Smith, Swan discussed the book’s protagonist. She stated: “Cassie was a lovely character to write and I was protective of her from the off. What happens to her in the prologue makes her vulnerable and an instantly sympathetic character to the reader. She clearly moves in a grand circle, but it’s her husband’s world, and older than her, so her journey is one of rebuilding herself, bit by bit—not just in finding her identity but also reclaiming her youth.”
The Paris Secret
Fiona Sykes, a fine arts agent, is the protagonist of The Paris Secret. She has been sent from her home base in London to France’s capitol to deal with works of art belonging to the wealthy Vermeil family. They discover that they are the owners of an apartment that has been vacant since WWII. Flora must deal with the pieces of art that has been found there, as well as the difficult family members and their high-society associates.
“A former fashion editor, Swan brings an eye for detail to her descriptive prose,” noted Alene Moroni in Booklist. A Kirkus Reviews critic suggested: “Behind the locked door are shocking secrets, an unlikely romance, and nail-biting intrigue—it’s definitely worth a peek.”
The Christmas Secret
The Christmas Secret tells the story of a London business coach named Alex Hyde, who takes a lucrative job with a Scottish whiskey company called Kentallen Distilleries. She is sent to help control Lochlan Farqhuar, who is on the board at Kentallen, and who may be bringing the company down. Alex is confident that she can teach Lochlan some discipline, but she quickly learns that she has met her match. The narrative also shifts back in time to a real-life event, the sinking of the SS Tuscania, which rocked the residents of Scotland’s Isle of Islay.
In an interview with a contributor to the What’s Better Than Books? website, Swan discussed the personal connection she has with the historical event in the book. She stated: “My father knows the Robertson family, whose grandfather, Sergeant Malcolm MacNeill, had the grim task of identifying the bodies of the soldiers washed ashore after the American troopship Tuscania sank. It was a devastating incident for such a tiny, rural community to have the war literally wash up on their sands like that, and tragically it was compounded just a few months later when another American troop carrier, the Otranto, sank in a collision with its own convoy just off Islay’s shores.” Swan continued: “The Tuscania tragedy was the single largest loss of American lives in one day since the Civil War and was met with national dismay back home. The centenary anniversary is coming up for both events so it felt like an opportunity to remember those who perished.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, October 1, 2017, Alene Moroni, review of The Paris Secret, p. 28.
Kirkus Reviews, September 15, 2017, review of The Paris Secret.
ONLINE
Chick Lit Club, http://www.chicklitclub.com/ (November 1, 2011), Angela Smith, author interview.
Karen Swan website, http://karenswan.wix.com/ (June 4, 2018).
LBA Books, http://www.lbabooks.com/ (June 4, 2018), author profile.
Scotsman Online, https://www.scotsman.com/ (January 25, 2011), Jackie McGlone, author interview.
Sussex Life Online, http://www.sussexlife.co.uk/ (July 7, 2014), author interview.
What’s Better Than Books?, https://whatsbetterthanbooks.com/ (November 3, 2017), author interview and review of The Christmas Secret.
Hi there! So glad you stopped by!
So, it's that time of year again - the countdown to Christmas is upon us (I think we can reasonably say that when we're in single digit weeks!) and my latest offering is now be lining the shelves. This one's called Christmas on Primrose Hill and follows Nettie, whose life changes beyond recognition when a short video she's in, goes viral and one of the sexiest men on the planet starts following her on Twitter. Imagine it - what would you do to make your life more interesting if your Official Crush started following you? I know my life would become a lot more interesting, pronto!!
I also want to say a big thank you for the lovely messages that you go to the trouble of leaving on this site. I check in very regularly and although I don't tend to reply - only because, unlike social media, you won't be notified of my response back - please know every single one makes me smile and I'm so touched you've gone to the bother of finding me.
Please do leave a note on the visitor's page, letting me know your thoughts, and come find me on Twitter and Facebook where we can chat.
Karen xxx
QUOTED: "The story begins with a glamorous party on a Scottish shooting estate, being thrown to celebrate Cassie and Gil Fraser’s 10th wedding anniversary. It is mainly populated by Gil’s circle of friends, but Cassie’s three beloved best friends have flown in from their far-flung corners – New York, Paris and London – to celebrate with her. Unfortunately, during the course of the evening, Cassie learns something that makes her marriage instantly and completely unviable and she finds herself, overnight, having to start afresh and alone."
"But she married young, she’s never had a paid job and she’s spent all of her adult life in the remote Highlands so technology, fashion and the perils of dating have all passed her by. Her three best friends argue about who knows what and where is best for her to start her new life, until eventually they arrive at an agreement: she will spend the next year staying with each of them for four months, allowing them to mould her into their visions of the Cassie she should be. It’s not a smooth path!"
"Cassie was a lovely character to write and I was protective of her from the off. What happens to her in the prologue makes her vulnerable and an instantly sympathetic character to the reader. She clearly moves in a grand circle, but it’s her husband’s world, and older than her, so her journey is one of rebuilding herself, bit by bit—not just in finding her identity but also reclaiming her youth."
NTERVIEWNovember 2011
KAREN SWAN
Karen Swan worked in fashion journalism before plunging into the world of fiction. She has written three books, Players, Prima Donna and Christmas at Tiffany's. Her fourth book is due out next December. She is married with three children and lives in Sussex. (Interview by Angela Smith)
Return to interview list
1. Tell us about your latest novel Christmas At Tiffany's?
The story begins with a glamorous party on a Scottish shooting estate, being thrown to celebrate Cassie and Gil Fraser’s 10th wedding anniversary. It is mainly populated by Gil’s circle of friends, but Cassie’s three beloved best friends have flown in from their far-flung corners – New York, Paris and London – to celebrate with her. Unfortunately, during the course of the evening, Cassie learns something that makes her marriage instantly and completely unviable and she finds herself, overnight, having to start afresh and alone. But she married young, she’s never had a paid job and she’s spent all of her adult life in the remote Highlands so technology, fashion and the perils of dating have all passed her by. Her three best friends argue about who knows what and where is best for her to start her new life, until eventually they arrive at an agreement: she will spend the next year staying with each of them for four months, allowing them to mould her into their visions of the Cassie she should be. It’s not a smooth path!
2. Where did you get the inspiration for the main character, Cassie?
Cassie was a lovely character to write and I was protective of her from the off. What happens to her in the prologue makes her vulnerable and an instantly sympathetic character to the reader. She clearly moves in a grand circle, but it’s her husband’s world, and older than her, so her journey is one of rebuilding herself, bit by bit - not just in finding her identity but also reclaiming her youth. With Tor in Players and Pia in Prima Donna, I enjoyed taking apart and rebuilding characters who were initially brittle and standoffish, and gradually softening them. But with Cassie it’s the opposite - she starts out lovely, trusting and naive, and actually part of what she has to learn is how to toughen up and say no. I used her physicality to suggest a lot of her personality, so she has an easy and ready smile and her eyes are wide and trusting. I also deliberately made her hair long and dark blonde. A lot of people have subsequently thought that she is therefore based on me, as my hair is like that, but it was a more tactical decision – the dark blonde shows she didn’t bother with anything so high-maintenance as highlights in her previous life, plus it leaves lots of scope for colouring and chopping throughout the book!
3. Do you source your characters and plots from real people or situations?
I never base the characters directly on people I know, although I will quite often use pictures of random people that ‘feel’ right, until I ‘know’ the character better; then once they’re fully formed in my mind, I forget all about my visual prop. So, the character of Anna in Players was prompted by a model in the Pure cashmere catalogue; Will Silk in Prima Donna was kicked off from an article in the financial section of the London Evening Standard, and Anouk in Christmas at Tiffany’s is directly based on a stunning French woman who was featured in a TV episode of MasterChef. As soon as I saw her, I knew she was Anouk and I recorded the episode, coming back to it repeatedly, pausing it and staring at her for ages, trying to imagine who she was and how she might behave. In the book I’m currently writing (due out December 2012), I was halfway through when I delightedly found my character in the society pages of Grazia magazine. I’ve cut her out and taped her to the screen on my laptop. I Googled her and discovered she has a very, very influential mother-in-law, but she’ll never know of her role in my book! Plot-wise, I only ever use real situations in terms of locations. So in Christmas at Tiffany’s, much of what happens in the Paris section is directly attributable to a trip I took there with my two sons. I had been to the city many times before (for the International Collections – and to New York too) but it was with them that I first saw the Laduree store and the street markets, but most particularly the Pont des Arts and its padlocks which are so central to the book.
4. Do you think every novel needs a villain?
Yes, although they don’t necessarily have to be evil or dangerous or sinister. They can be irritating, boring, dull, repetitive - you simply need them as a counter-point for the main character. In Christmas at Tiffany’s the villain is very much off-screen for most of the book; It is his actions which enable Cassie to free herself and move forward - it would never have come from her otherwise – but the book isn’t concerned with him beyond that. He’s purely a vehicle for Cassie’s personal growth.
5. How easy or hard did you find the transition from fashion editor to author?
Pretty easy actually. It’s only with hindsight that I realize my career was a constant editing down to this point that I’m at now. Writing was always my skill set – all my school reports noted my writing style - to the point that everyone always said I’d become a writer and it seemed too predictable somehow. I’m terribly contrary like that. So after I finished my English degree, I set off for the fashion world, and got a job at Tatler assisting styling on shoots. But I got quickly bored with it. One time we’d gone all the way to Paris to do a shoot in a studio, but when the prints came in (the days before digital) the editor hated them and we had to reshoot. When those prints came back – in London, different model – I honestly couldn’t see what was any better with them. I knew then that styling wasn’t for me so I moved magazines and over to fashion features, interviewing and writing for Vogue. Again, great for a bit but I began to go a bit mad with the pendulum swing of fashion – if it’s black this season, it’ll be white next - and so I moved to YOU magazine and into general features, interviewing non-fashion folk on a whole range of subjects – celebrity, human interest … But I was editing, not writing, in that role and could hardly bear having to give the commissions to other writers when I was itching to write them myself. It was only when I left on maternity leave that I was finally able to just sit down in front of my computer, think of a story and write it.
6. Do you think your background in fashion helps you create your characters’ styles and personalities?
Yes definitely, to the point where I have real trouble if I have to describe a character with no clue in clothes. I almost can’t do it. My mind blanks. There’s a scene in Christmas at Tiffany’s where I have to describe Cassie turning up for work in Manhattan in her own clueless ensemble. That scene was just a series of XXXXXXXXXs for so long because I literally couldn’t imagine what a hideous combination would be. It’s tragic actually. The clothes in my books are usually highly indicative of wealth, class, nous and changed circumstance –there’s a hilarious scene showing exactly that with Anouk towards the back of Christmas at Tiffany’s. It still makes me chuckle to think of it.
7. What do you do when you are not writing?
I wish I could say sleep and shop more but it’s mainly picking up my children’s clothes and toys off the floor. I also cook and bake loads! Every morning I either run or walk with dog on the Ashdown Forest, it gives me a huge burst of air for the day which is great when you spend so much time sitting still indoors staring at a screen. I also do an advanced dance class once a week (although I wish it could be more) and I’m great with a sewing machine. I make all my own curtains, blinds, bed valances, cushions … you name it. Basically, I’m just never still and too long awake.
8. Out of all your books so far - Players, Prima Donna and Christmas at Tiffany's - which was your favourite to write?
Christmas at Tiffany’s definitely. I loved the whole concept of that book right from the word go. It gave me prickles up my arm when I came up with the idea for it and I just couldn’t wait to get started with it. Aside from the obvious splitting up into three distinct sections, it had a definite ebb and flow to writing it too. New York had to pack a punch and leave you reeling and slightly breathless; there was so much action to get into there, as it really had to have a very strong dynamic vibe. Paris was definitely the trickiest city to write about. I needed the romance and glamour of the city to come across but because it needed to contrast with New York – which was all light and ambition and energy - I wanted the pace to feel slower, moodier and darker; I also had to get in a more ominous sense of her new life being on shaky foundations and everything unravelling again. The London section I just adored writing. As the finale, invariably there’s an uplift, and my fingers literally flew over the keyboard. I knew the characters so well by then, they were my new BFFs, and I just couldn’t wait to wrap it all up - like a Tiffany box! It was fun from start to finish. If only all books were that easy…
9. Is there a theme or idea that you'd love to work with on a future book?
I’ve found I do like to have a motif – a way of imparting information other than through conversation or narrative, such as letters, postcards etc – and it lets you leave clues throughout the book. So in Christmas at Tiffany’s I used lists for Cassie to follow in each of the cities, but I also played with the language of flowers for the sub-plot. And my next book – out December 2012 - is set around a charm bracelet that tells the character’s life story through the charms. It’s a love story where nothing is as it seems.
10. Where is your favourite place to go to write?
In the summer, when it’s warm enough, I go down to our treehouse at the bottom of the garden. It can be a bit tricky getting there as there’s a rope bridge to navigate, which isn’t easy with a laptop, notebook, file and cup of tea in your hands, but the views up the garden are worth it. Otherwise, I’m in the snug, looking out at the garden. It’s got a beautiful wisteria-print wallpaper which makes me feel like I’m in a bower and one wall is lined completely with books which I scan when I’m trying to come up with characters’ names. My daughter’s massive Wendy house sits on the wall behind me and sometimes she goes in and plays in there whilst I’m working. I love listening to her humming whilst she plays. After Christmas I’m going to have to relocate to the kitchen though. Our dog is having puppies and I’m going to have to stick close by her to keep an eye on them all.
11. What is your favourite chick lit book?
A controversial answer but I’m going to say Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Lizzie Bennet is truly a woman before her time – feisty, opinionated, clever, witty and alluring for it. The issues she faces are just the same as the ones I love to read and write about now, simply in a period setting. I return to her again and again.
12. If you could have dinner with one person, dead or alive, who would it be?
Alexander McQueen. His death is such a genuine loss to the world as a whole. He was a true visionary, one of a generation and there was just so much more that he had yet to give. I think he would have terrified me though, so maybe I’d have had to sit at a nearby table and eavesdrop!
13. Which of your characters would you most/least to invite to dinner?
Oh, the Christmas at Tiffany’s girls, definitely. And their boys. Suzy and Arch are my favourite couple by a long way. I could write about them till the cows come home - in fact, I haven’t entirely discarded the idea of revisiting them in another book. I so wish they were real. I’m genuinely sad they aren’t. The one not making it to my dinner table is Violet in Prima Donna. Ava Petrova is Pia’s true nemesis but she has her own tragedies and the fact she is Pia’s equal would make her interesting to talk to at least. But Violet is a shadow on the sidelines and almost more damaging for it. She’s vain, proud, selfish, egocentric and jealous. I found nothing redeeming in her at all and as much as Pia started out a brat, she ends with a big, healed heart. Violet does not.
14. What was your life like before becoming an author? What changed the most for you after you were published?
To be honest, I was in the throes of having my family so it was very mundane and practical. I was three months pregnant with my third child when I started writing Players and even though I sat down with no big overview of what I was going to write, once I got into the habit of retreating into my head, it was addictive. I think it was such a contrast to my everyday life of doing the nursery runs, changing nappies, blending purees etc that to delve back into all the best elements of my old life (where I would routinely travel, party and interview people like Jude Law or Manolo Blahnik, Cath Kidston or Tracy Emin) was intoxicating. I had had insider access to a closed and very aspirational world and suddenly I got to fuse that with my skill set and write these glamorous, pacy books. What’s changed for me since being published is the belief I have in myself. I’m entirely self-taught. I’d never written so much as a poem or short story before writing Players, and it was whilst writing Christmas at Tiffany’s that I really accepted that I knew how to do this. It hadn’t been a fluke after all! Plus, before I was signed up, I felt like writing was a selfish indulgence, whereas now I’m perfectly entitled to pull a po face and mutter things like ‘deadline looming / it’s not going to write itself’ and retreat gleefully to the snug. Bliss!
15. Which of your characters is most/least like you?
I think I was so determined to be able to rebut the accusation that any of my characters were me that it’s only really in my third book, Christmas at Tiffany’s, that I’ve allowed certain elements through. For example, Cassie’s strange fear of cats and their retractable claws? Totally me! Her problems waking up in the morning? Totally me. Her desperate need for tea? Totally me. Plus we share hair. But I’m still not Cassie. I’m far more opinionated and punchy than she is and I’m happy to say I’m perfectly capable of getting dressed without having my clothes numbered into outfits for me! Overall, I’m probably more like Suzy – the London friend in the book. Suzy’s sense of humour is very much mine, and I guess I have to admit I’m bossy too. Plus I do love cake and my mum and I have a very handsome brother. The character I’m like least? Pia Soto in Prima Donna, probably not a great surprise. No one’s ever accused me of being in any way like a brilliant, diminutive Brazilian ballerina with an attitude problem!
QUOTED: "If Black Swan is about a White Swan's descent into corruption by becoming the Black Swan, Prima Donna does the reverse. It tells how a seductive Black Swan goes from the edge of darkness and is transformed and redeemed, with Pia even developing White-Swan attributes. Mine's the classic fairytale, bad girl comes good."
"I honestly had no idea I was tapping into the dance zeitgeist."
"All through my life no-one could ever spell or pronounce my surname. ... I'd always written as a journalist as Karen Swan MacLeod. Dad's family name is actually MacSwan MacLeod, so we're very Scottish. I think Karen Swan sounds like a made-up name for someone who writes sexy, romantic novels."
"When Ollie, my first child, was born, I fell madly in love with him and vowed I'd never be parted from him. I knew I never wanted to work in an office ever again. I'd been a fashion stylist—it was so boring because I just didn't have the eye—before becoming a writer and commissioning editor on a Sunday newspaper magazine. I wanted to use my brain a bit more, so I feel my whole career has been a process of elimination until I became a writer."
Interview: Karen Swan, author Published: 19:02 Updated: 19:10 Tuesday 25 January 2011 Share this article Sign Up To Our Daily Newsletter Sign up Scots author Karen Swan's latest book is riding a wave of interest in ballet sparked by the success of Darren Aronofsky's psychological horror film Black Swan. Here, she tells Jackie McGlone how a girl who wanted to be a ballerina ended up making her pointe on the page • Karen Swan says holidays with her Scottish parents instilled a love for the Highlands. And Natalie Portman in Black Swan, below KAREN SWAN can't wait to see the deliriously dark ballet thriller Black Swan. "I've been obsessively watching the You Tube trailer," she says, looking somewhat shamefaced since she is only a fortnight's deadline away from completing her third novel. Her hopes for the Natalie Portman movie has nothing to do with the odd coincidence that the film bears the novelist's name – her name is actually Swan MacLeod – but owes everything to the fact that she publishes her latest novel this month, Prima Donna. At 566 pages, it's an archetypal beach-read paperback even if it is being published in the bleak midwinter, but, importantly, centres on the ballet world, telling of a sexy, Brazilian bombshell of a prima ballerina, Pia Soto, who raises the barre when it comes to bad behaviour on pointe and off. "If Black Swan is about a White Swan's descent into corruption by becoming the Black Swan, Prima Donna does the reverse. It tells how a seductive Black Swan goes from the edge of darkness and is transformed and redeemed, with Pia even developing White-Swan attributes. Mine's the classic fairytale, bad girl comes good," says Swan. Suddenly, it seems, ballet rocks – and shocks. There's Black Swan, and Emily Blunt stars as a ballerina in love with Matt Damon's politician in the upcoming romantic thriller, The Adjustment Bureau. Kate-Spade Kate Spade Navy Leather And Rose Gold-Tone...$175 Plus, Free Shipping Promoted by watchstation.com Meanwhile, fashion is having a pretty ballerina moment, with the spring catwalks awash in frothy tulle and satin slippers. Cheryl Cole wears a pink tutu in her latest video and silver-haired David Byrne sports one in his newly-released concert film, Rise, Ride, Roar. Then there's Apollo's Angels, a forensic history of classical ballet by former dancer Jennifer Homans. "I honestly had no idea I was tapping into the dance zeitgeist," says Swan. At 37, she's a mother of three children under ten, is fine-boned and vanilla-blonde and, when we meet in a venerable London hotel she is elegant in denim. "I've danced all my life and I still go to an advanced modern dance class every week, near Tunbridge Wells," she continues. Whenever her youngest child, four-year-old Plum – short for Paloma – asks "What do you want to be when you grow up, Mummy?" she always replies, "A ballerina, of course, darling." So there's more than a bit of wish-fulfilment in the novel, she whispers. Swan jokes she could not have more Celtic blood coursing through her veins if she wished, as she is the daughter of a proud Scot, Malcolm Victor Swan MacLeod, a former Special Branch officer from Skye, and an Irish mother, Margaret. Despite having been born and educated in England, Swan, a former fashion journalist, says her heart belongs to Scotland: she recalls long, blissful summers here with her parents and her two siblings when she was growing up. She still spends as much time as possible north of the Border when she's not at home in Sussex, where she and her accountant husband, Anders Green, live in the middle of a forest with their children and a retriever called Biscuit. The couple married ten years ago on Eriskay, which the MacLeod clan took over for the celebrations. Green wore a MacLeod hunting tartan kilt – Swan's wedding gift to her English husband – "because he has the legs for it". The elder of their two sons was christened at the church near Fort William where she had been baptised Karen Anne Swan MacLeod. Much as she loves her very Scottish name, Swan had to drop the MacLeod when she started writing blockbuster fiction since the shorter name suited the flamboyantly embossed covers of her saucy books, which have been favourably compared to those of Jilly Cooper, one of her literary heroines. "I can live with that comparison; it's a massive compliment to be called 'an urban Jilly Cooper,'" she smiles. Her first novel, Players – the tagline reads, "Friendships are strong. Lust is stronger" – sold at a rate of 3,000 copies a week, eventually topping the Bookseller's Heatseekers charts. "All through my life no-one could ever spell or pronounce my surname," she sighs. "I'd always written as a journalist as Karen Swan MacLeod. Dad's family name is actually MacSwan MacLeod, so we're very Scottish. I think Karen Swan sounds like a made-up name for someone who writes sexy, romantic novels. But we have given our boys – Oliver and William – the MacLeod name and Plum is a Swan." Everyone asks Swan how she manages to juggle three children with a writing career. It's down to her mother, she says, to whom she dedicated her first novel, with the stricture that she wasn't to read the rude and raunchy bits: "I don't have a nanny and I have no desire to have one – and I certainly don't have an au pair. Instead, I have my mum, who's a third parent to the children since she and dad live about 20 minutes away from us. "When Ollie, my first child, was born, I fell madly in love with him and vowed I'd never be parted from him. I knew I never wanted to work in an office ever again. I'd been a fashion stylist – it was so boring because I just didn't have the eye – before becoming a writer and commissioning editor on a Sunday newspaper magazine. I wanted to use my brain a bit more, so I feel my whole career has been a process of elimination until I became a writer, especially after I co-wrote a baby book, The Gentle Birth Method." The book details the system of diet, alternative therapies, massage and visualisation pioneered by Dr Gowri Mothi, which is beloved of yummy mummy celebrities, such as Elle MacPherson, Kate Moss, Sharleen Spiteri, Sadie Frost and Gwyneth Paltrow. In fact, they all came to the book launch. Given stories about the parlous state of maternity services in the NHS, it's a method, says Swan, that she highly recommends. After all, she's tried it three times. "Anyway, the next logical step seemed to be fiction, although I'd never written so much as a short story. I'd never have done it, though, if my mother-in-law hadn't dropped in one day and booted me out of the house so that I could have a day off to myself. I didn't have time to ring anyone to go for coffee and I didn't dare shop, lest my husband cut my credit card in two – just like Tor, one of the trio of heroines in my novel Players – so I ended up in the library with my laptop. Two hours later I'd written the first scene, which became chapter one of my first book." Swan was determined to finish the book, despite having her third child and moving to the countryside, where her kitchen boasts a chocolate-brown Aga. "Very Enid Blyton. It was a huge life change, but I simply couldn't bear to be one of those people going round constantly bleating that I was writing a novel. So now, weather permitting, I write in a somewhat dilapidated treehouse that belongs to the children, although they kick me out when they want to play there. Gosh, I sound such a forest pixie!" London-born and educated at Heathfield Girls' School, in Pinner, north London ("I'd have preferred being with boys!" she laughs), and at Exeter University, where she read medieval English, she insists that, despite her very English education, she is much more Scottish than English. "I'm definitely a Scot! Every spare moment of my childhood was spent in Scotland, at my aunt's house, Crolinnhe, near Fort William, which is up for sale. I'm absolutely gutted. It's my childhood home: a big Victorian villa with fabulous balustrades. It's up on an embankment and it has these elevated views across Loch Linnhe that are just staggering. The gardens are beautiful, just like the fictional Secret Garden, with overgrown woods, old gates and steps covered in moss. The games we played! There's also a wonderful bumpy lawn – which my lawn in Sussex resembles – that's great for sledging or doing roly-polys down. It was the most special place to be a child." So why has she never set any of her books in Scotland, the land that so fired her childhood imagination? Well, she replies, the one she's supposed to be finishing as we speak, which is tentatively called Christmas at Tiffany's, opens in Scotland, then her heroine is despatched to London, Paris and New York, while Prima Donna takes in Chicago, Aspen, St Moritz, an English country house and a small village in southern Ireland, not a million miles removed from the one where Swan's mother was born. Wrapping on her chic, penguin-patterned scarf, Swan prepares to head back to Sussex, saying: "I'm an at-home mum, with three children. I'm walking the dog, doing the school run, going to matches, doing all the shopping and cooking. My life's really boring. My escapism is my writing. I think we all need a little glamour in our lives – and I get it through my books. I hope my readers do, too." • Prima Donna, by Karen Swan, is published by Pan, 6.99.QUEENS OF THE BEACH READS JILLY COOPER: Though she was well-known journalist throughout the 1970s, in the 1980s her "bonkbusters" such as Riders, Rivals and Polo – featuring infidelity, misunderstandings among the upper classes, and lots of horses – propelled her to international fame. Ian Rankin is a big fan, naming Rivals in his top five favourite books. HELEN FIELDING:In the mid 1990s, Fielding's newspaper column on the life of the thirtysomething everywoman Bridget Jones opened the floodgates for true-to-life confessional novels that came to characterise 'chick lit'. The Bridget Jones books used Austen's Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion as models. JENNY COLGAN: Born in Ayrshire, Colgan is probably Scotland's most successful author of modern romantic comedies, having written many bestsellers, beginning with Amanda's Wedding in 2000, and, most recently, The Good, The Bad and the Dumped. Her first job was in the NHS and she's also tried her hand at cartooning and stand-up comedy. JANE GREEN: Another newspaper journalist, Jane Green wrote her first novel Straight Talking in 1996, at the time 'chick lit' was blooming, and caught the wave. She's had success on both sides of the Atlantic, and she lives in the US, where she has set many of her stories such as Beach House and Girl Friday. MARIAN KEYES: Ireland's Marian Keyes exploded into bookshops in 1995 with Watermelon, swiftly followed by Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married and Rachel's Holiday, all massive bestsellers, cementing her name as one of the founders of the 'chick lit' phenomenon and crowding other authors off the shelves with her thick paperbacks. CANDACE BUSHNELL: Having created her alter ego Carrie Bradshaw in her column for the New York Times, Bushnell unleashed on the world Sex and the City, which eventually spawned a long-running TV show, inspired two films, and forced straight men into knowing what a "Manolo Blahnik" is.
Read more at: https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/culture/books/interview-karen-swan-author-1-1498329
Karen Swan
Karen Swan began her career in fashion journalism before giving it all up to raise her three children and an ADHD puppy, and to pursue her ambition of becoming a writer. She lives in the forest in Sussex, writing her books in a treehouse overlooking the Downs. Her first novel, Players, was published in 2010, followed by Prima Donna. In 2011 Karen’s third novel, Christmas at Tiffany’s, was a Sunday Times Top Ten Bestseller.
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Author Karen Swan on writing her novels in the treehouse in her garden
PUBLISHED: 15:17 07 July 2014
Author Karen Swan at her tree house on Ashdown Forest
Author Karen Swan at her tree house on Ashdown Forest
Karen Swan writes hugely popular novels in the treehouse at the bottom of her garden. But this is no ordinary treehouse, as Alice Cooke found out…
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Having once mingled with the well-heeled in London, New York and Paris as a fashion journalist, the only heel that Karen Swan is now interested in is a command to her two gorgeous dogs, Crumble and Biscuit. For now Karen lives the high life in a very different sense – penning bestselling novels from amongst the branches at the bottom of her garden, in her treehouse.
Below her, the two Golden Retrievers bowl one another over in play, and apart from their jollity the only noises to be heard are those of the birds and the ponies in the field next door. Sound too good to be true? It isn’t.
“My garden in Battersea was about the size of the treehouse,” remembers Karen fondly. We are chatting over a cup of tea in the kitchen, before going out to see her enviable working space. “It is only in the summer though,” she is quick to admit. “When English winter sets in I move my table right in front of the Aga and have a dog on each side to keep me warm.” She even puts her feet in the warming oven occasionally, she tells me, laughing, but stresses that she wouldn’t recommend this on the grounds of safety.
“The children [there are three] always loved playing in trees so much that I hatched a plan to build a treehouse with my gardener – it was originally for them!” Her gardener is Michael Georges, who made a treehouse for his own children, which he then told Karen about – together they designed this one, before he built it from scratch. Michael took care not to use any bolts, so as not to damage the tree. “It sounded fantastic,” she enthuses, “and I thought the children would love it.” They did and still do love the treehouse – and who wouldn’t? Not only is it like some kind of Cath Kidston meets Peter Pan dream inside, but it is only accessible by a drawbridge. It’s the perfect stage for childhood adventures. But as well as hosting pirate heists, castle sieges and doll’s afternoon teas, the treehouse has been a huge hit with the grown-ups. “It’s the first thing that parents want to see when they pick their children up, and we’ll often wander down here with a cup of coffee to take a look. They pretend it’s for the benefit of the children, but I see straight through that!”
Karen says it’s no secret that she’s fallen completely in love with the space. “When the children are here I can keep an eye on them, but when they’re not I can be in complete solitude, without even a telephone to bother me if I choose – it makes for a fantastic working environment, especially when I’m editing.” She sometimes has to work from several computers as there’s no power at the bottom of the garden, but she says that this is a small price to pay.
The proof is in the pudding in this case, as Karen is currently working on her seventh successful book, and there are at least three more in the pipeline – she describes them as “warm – they’re rally cries for women’s friendships and good marriages – quite funny and a little bit rude.”
As far as the treehouse’s décor goes, it may look extremely well thought out to the untrained eye (mine), but I am assured that most of it is just leftovers. “The fabric for the curtains is in two colours because it was just what we had after making something else, but I also quite like the fact it’s not too pink or too blue – it’s a girly space and a boy’s place.” The paper lanterns were homemade for a children’s birthday party years ago. “I had no idea that they’d last so long, but I’m delighted that they have.” And the oversized Union Jack beanbags are from a shop in Suffolk called Runaway Coast (01728 454368; runawaycoast.com). Her gorgeous leather-bound notebook is a one-off antique from a local vintage shop (I was green with envy about this in particular, it is beautiful).
Now that her children are growing up, Karen finds that she’s able to claim the treehouse as her own more and more, “but the boys are desperate to move in a plasma tv and a PlayStation 3 – thank goodness there’s no power!” The closest they get is having a portable DVD player to gather around at sleepovers, which are still much enjoyed. “The dogs are amazing – when we creep down here to check on the children while they’re sleeping we always find the dogs lying nearby, keeping an eye on them.”
Her latest book, The Summer Without You, hit the shelves last month, and true to form, Karen is already embroiled in the story of the next one. “It takes over your thoughts – I do my best thinking out on walks with the dogs, and then it’s straight back to the treehouse to get everything down on paper.”
The Summer Without You is available from all good bookshops.
QUOTED: "A former fashion editor, Swan brings an eye for detail to her descriptive prose."
Print Marked Items
The Paris Secret
Alene Moroni
Booklist.
114.3 (Oct. 1, 2017): p28.
COPYRIGHT 2017 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Full Text:
The Paris Secret. By Karen Swan. Nov. 2017.416p. Morrow, paper, 514.99 (9780062672827).
Fine-arts agent Flora Sykes is called from London to Paris on an intriguing assignment: evaluate the
contents of an apartment untouched for decades and filled with priceless works of art. Apparently shut up
during World War II by absentee owners, the apartment was discovered by an intruder who alerted the
family's solicitors. The Vermeil family has the means to maintain an apartment without noticing the
expense, and their solicitors concealed the information for over 70 years. Now that the secret is out, Flora is
asked to establish provenance and value for each item in the collection. Her research uncovers more than
just the chain of ownership and draws her into Vermeil family drama. Moving in glamorous social circles
and high-stakes auctions, Flora negotiates the needs of everyone involved, from her flighty boss to their
wealthy clients, while coping with her own family crisis. A former fashion editor, Swan brings an eye for
detail to her descriptive prose. Offer this to fans of Sophie Kinsella's Shopaholic series who may be looking
for more sophistication.--Alene Moroni
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Moroni, Alene. "The Paris Secret." Booklist, 1 Oct. 2017, p. 28. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A510653746/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=f82f9d27.
Accessed 20 May 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A510653746
QUOTED: "Behind the locked door are shocking secrets, an unlikely romance, and nail-biting intrigue—it's definitely worth a peek."
Swan, Karen: THE PARIS SECRET
Kirkus Reviews.
(Sept. 15, 2017):
COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Swan, Karen THE PARIS SECRET Morrow/HarperCollins (Adult Fiction) $14.99 11, 14 ISBN: 978-0-06-
267282-7
Long-lost paintings are not the only secrets a fine-art agent uncovers when she catalogs the contents of a
Paris apartment that's been shuttered for 73 years.Flora Sykes is the head of European operations for
Beaumont Fine Art Agency and the daughter of a former chief auctioneer at Christie's. She knows how to
put a price on priceless works of art, but her new clients, the Vermeil family, may cost her the rest of her
career when they hire her to search their recently discovered property despite the patriarch's request to leave
it locked until after his widow's death. Inside the home are hundreds of sketches and paintings--including
works by Matisse, Dali, Pissarro, and Renoir--that her clients hope to bring to auction. The contrast between
the moldy curtains and the colorful artwork gives the house an addictive image-gallery feel even before the
skeletons emerge from the closet. But when the trail leading to where the artwork was purchased goes cold,
Flora is faced with two chilling scenarios: in one, the artwork can't be verified and loses its value; in the
other, it can be traced to an unthinkable source, and the family loses its reputation. At the same time, Flora
is stunned by tragic news involving her brother--news that stays hidden until the final chapters, when
revealing it will cost Flora more than her pride. Like her paintings, Flora handles her secrets with care, and
she considers people's emotions as well as the facts as she attempts to solve the mystery in the Vermeils'
home and her own. So why does the Vermeils' son, Xavier, who is by all outward appearances a spoiled
playboy, have such an effect on her? As she races to find the paintings' origins before they go to auction, she
runs away from Xavier much more slowly--and looks back often--as her dispassionate diligence turns into
blind passion. Behind the locked door are shocking secrets, an unlikely romance, and nail-biting intrigue--
it's definitely worth a peek.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Swan, Karen: THE PARIS SECRET." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Sept. 2017. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A504217695/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=58190e7b.
Accessed 20 May 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A504217695
QUOTED: "my father knows the Robertson family, whose grandfather, Sergeant Malcolm MacNeill, had the grim task of identifying the bodies of the soldiers washed ashore after the American troopship Tuscania sank. It was a devastating incident for such a tiny, rural community to have the war literally wash up on their sands like that, and tragically it was compounded just a few months later when another American troop carrier, the Otranto, sank in a collision with its own convoy just off Islay’s shores."
"The Tuscania tragedy was the single largest loss of American lives in one day since the Civil War and was met with national dismay back home. The centenary anniversary is coming up for both events so it felt like an opportunity to remember those who perished."
03
NOV
2017
#BookReview #Q&A
The Christmas Secret by Karen Swan
@KarenSwan1 @PGCBooks
categories: Noteworthy Book Releases, Review, Women's Fiction, Contemporary Romance, 10/10
Synopsis:
They say that behind every great man, there’s a great woman, and behind London’s most powerful leaders, there stands only one — Alex Hyde, Business Coach par excellence. She’s the woman they turn to for advice and strategy when the pressure gets too much.
So when she gets a call from an esteemed whisky company in Scotland asking for her services it’s business as usual. Only, she’s never met anyone like Lochlan Burr before. CEO of Kentallen Distilleries, he’s also the son and heir of the company’s founder. He’s a maverick, an enigma, a renegade, and Alex needs to get inside his head before he brings the company to its knees. But as she tasks herself with finding a way in, she finds she’s the one being maneuvered; for once, she isn’t in control. And when she stumbles across a chance discovery that changes everything, she’s suddenly not so sure she should be.
Book Rating: 10/10
Absorbing, enthralling, and positively addictive!
In this latest novel by Swan she sweeps us away to Isle of Islay where the people are the salt of the earth, the terrain is rugged, the peat is unique, and the whisky is smoky, smooth, and plentiful!
The prose is remarkably well turned and fluid. The characters are unique, flawed, eccentric, and lovable. And the story is an exceptionally compelling tale about life, loss, grief, war, familial dynamics, friendship, forgiveness, courage, community, happiness, love, and good Scotch.
Alternating between the past and the present, The Christmas Secret has it all. It’s humorous and lighthearted, emotional and heartbreaking, mysterious and sweet. It grabs you from the very first page and with its wonderfully blended storyline of historical facts, snappy fiction, and delightful romance it’s truly the perfect holiday treat!
If you haven’t had a chance to read my reviews for some of Karen Swan’s previous titles be sure to check them out here:
And now a little Q&A with Karen Swan:
The Christmas Secret is set mainly in Islay, Scotland. Prior to writing the novel did this locale have any personal significance for you?
Yes, my father is Scottish so I have spent much of my life in the Highlands and I love it: I was married there, my first born was christened there; it’s very much a part of me and I identify strongly as being of Scottish blood; ‘Swan’ is actually a shortening of my maiden name MacSwan MacLeod. Also, my father knows the Robertson family, whose grandfather, Sergeant Malcolm MacNeill, had the grim task of identifying the bodies of the soldiers washed ashore after the American troopship Tuscania sank. It was a devastating incident for such a tiny, rural community to have the war literally wash up on their sands like that, and tragically it was compounded just a few months later when another American troop carrier, the Otranto, sank in a collision with its own convoy just off Islay’s shores. The Tuscania tragedy was the single largest loss of American lives in one day since the Civil War and was met with national dismay back home. The centenary anniversary is coming up for both events so it felt like an opportunity to remember those who perished.
In the Christmas Secret, as well as some of your other novels, you interweave a historical event, in this case the tragic sinking of the SS Tuscania, with contemporary fiction. Do you find this harder or easier to write than your novels that are purely fictional?
I’m increasingly interested in incorporating a historical element in my stories, for it adds weight but also pathos too. It does make it more complicated though, in this case ridiculously so, as I chose to reveal the backstory through a variety of different sources and characters all of which involved different research and tones of voice. Partly I did this because I wanted the impact of what happened to be spelled out in three-hundred and sixty degrees; it also fractured the telling of the event for the reader, giving a haunting, dream-like quality to the story. I asked myself several times over the course of writing it, whether it was strictly necessary to devote some much time and energy to this thread and those characters, but I think the closing sentences of the epilogue rather sum up why it had to be done. They brought me to tears.
The Christmas Secret is a beautiful story about small-island life, love, forgiveness, community, and whisky, but Is there any sub-plot or chapter that you had to edit out because of the flow that you really wish you could have kept in?
Funnily enough, it wasn’t a matter of cutting anything out but rather, having to refrain from putting too much in. I would have liked to go in closer with some of the characters in the back-story but I had to write very lightly, taking care not to make anything too obvious or heavy-handed. The historical story could easily have overshadowed the present day story if I wasn’t careful and I had to constantly remind myself that it was there to underpin and explain the main action, not overwhelm it.
In The Christmas Secret and all your previous novels you have a strong, independent female protagonist that is often fashion savvy. Do you do this consciously or unconsciously based on your own success as a fashion editor?
Yes, I think I do really. Although I’ve moved on from that world, I still believe that fashion and how we present ourselves is an incredibly – and increasingly – important tool in how we navigate our lives. I tend to use a good sense of style as evidence of an ordered, urban, sophisticated life.
In The Christmas Secret and your previous novels you always have incredible, memorable secondary characters, such as Callum and Louise. Would you ever consider writing a novel featuring one of these characters in the lead?
I would love to, not least because sometimes – not always – I even prefer them to the main characters. There’s a little more freedom that comes with the support cast – they don’t need to be as well-behaved, or even as likeable. I think if I were to do that, it would be with Kitty in The Perfect Present. I took her very much to my heart.
In the past you have written one sequel that I know of, Summer at Tiffany’s which was the sequel to Christmas at Tiffany’s. Do you think we might see more sequels in the future or do you prefer to create new characters and fresh storylines?
It was an interesting exercise writing a sequel to Christmas At Tiffanys, not least because those characters really became very beloved to my readers and it was lovely to revisit them again. The tricky thing for my genre, however, is that the core of my stories is not the actual plot mystery but the romantic element between the characters; I really care about whether their love story feels genuine and authentic and that’s the rub: for a reader to want to turn the pages, a story must be compelling, which means creating tension and conflict; no-one wants to spend 300 pages reading about other peoples’ perfect happiness. But in order to create that necessary tension, I would have to dismantle the very relationship I had spent the previous book building up, and to me, that risks falling into ‘soap opera’ territory. If my books could be based around my characters’ jobs, rather than their love lives, it would be an enticing prospect, not least because I find most of their jobs fascinating: Flora Sykes, the fine art agent for example? She could be my equivalent to Dan Brown’s Robert Langdon! Why not? I can see it!
About the Author:
Writer Karen Swan
Karen Swan began her career in fashion journalism before giving it all up to pursue her ambition of becoming a writer. Her Globe and Mail bestselling books include Christmas at Tiffany’s, Summer at Tiffany’s, The Perfect Present, Christmas in the Snow, The Summer Without You, Christmas on Primrose Hill, The Paris Secret, and Christmas Under the Stars (set in Banff for her legion of Canadian fans!) and The Rome Affair. She lives in Sussex, England.