Author Interview: Alison Bond

I recently read and loved Alison Bond's new book A Reluctant Cinderella, and was delighted when Alison was kind enough to answer some of my questions about her and her books. If you haven't read A Reluctant Cinderella yet, I would definitely recommend that you do because it's a brilliant book, and don't let the cover fool you because it certainly isn't what you'd expect from that. Without further ado, here is my interview with the lovely Alison Bond.

Q1. Tell us about your book 'A Reluctant Cinderella'.

It's been a huge stretch between books, almost four years, and while I'd like to say I've been busy having children and moving to the Cotswolds (both of which happen to be true) the more honest reason is that my first attempt at a third novel was abysmal.  I tried my hand at romantic comedy that the likes of Sophie Kinsella and Jenny Colgan do so well and it didn't quite work out.  We spent a lot of time (too much time maybe) trying to make it better but in the end I threw up my hands and started all over again with A Reluctant Cinderella.  Obviously it was all terribly frustrating but looking back it was a very valuable lesson in writing what you truly want to write.   A Reluctant Cinderella is the kind of glamorous, twisting tale I feel much happier with.  Samantha Sharp is a powerful woman who encounters scandal at work, in her family life and in her love life.  It’s about how she deals with adversity by facing up to her past.

Q2. What sort of research did you have to do to be able to write this book?

Samantha Sharp is forced out of her high-powered job when evidence suggests that she’s been involved with some dodgy dealings.  She relocates to Krakow in Poland and a lot of the book is set there.  Krakow is one of my favourite cities so it wasn’t so much a case of research as writing about what I know.  We lived in Krakow for a while and I had such an affinity with the place that I think I must have been a Polish princess in a previous life.  Hopefully I managed to capture some of its mysterious charm in this book.   For everything else I used my imagination.
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