Amy Snow (57 page)

How did you decide to close
Amy Snow
with an epilogue from the point of view of Lady Celestina, arguably the novel's most unlikable character?

I was intrigued by Lady Celestina throughout. Many of Amy's questions about her were really my own; for example, how can people treat someone else, especially a child, so unkindly? Cook says to Amy that, no matter how unlikable someone appears, everyone has their story. I wanted to capture something of what Lady Celestina's story had been so that she wasn't just a stock villain with no more function than to thwart our heroine. In my first draft Lady Celestina's story was much longer and sat in the middle of the novel, but this didn't quite work, as it slowed the narrative down too much when the reader was wholly invested in Amy's story, so I shortened it and moved it to the end. Of course, Lady Celestina is also the only person who knows the truth of Amy's parentage. By giving her the last word, I was able to end the book on a poignant note where the reader has information that Amy does not, though she would dearly love to know it. With the love story and Aurelia's secret both brought to satisfying conclusions I like to leave
something
open and unresolved . . . it also means I have scope to write a sequel one day. . . .

You have said that you write fiction “without a detailed plan.” Does your process involve any mapping out of plot, or does that, too, develop organically as you go?

It's pretty organic, I have to say. I think that, broadly speaking, writers tend to be planners or nonplanners and I am definitely one of the latter. I find that if I spend too much time at the start trying to think through what a story might be, it puts me in an intellectual frame of mind rather than a creative one and ideas soon dry up. By simply launching in at a starting point—whether that be a character, an image, or even a name—I am able to follow the idea where it wants to go and allow myself to be as surprised as anyone as to how it unfolds. Then, when I have that first draft, I can look at what works and what doesn't work so well and adjust it accordingly.

I usually do have the end point in mind too—for instance in
Amy Snow
I knew what Aurelia's secret would be and that Amy would succeed in discovering it. The rest of it—the friends, the love interest, the personal development, the specifics of her journey and the treasure hunt and Aurelia's backstory—all came to me along the way. Having said that, I find that every book is different and the demands and experience of each story are different, so I'm not saying I'll
never
want or need to plan a book. It's just that, so far, I've done it this way.

Can fans of
Amy Snow
expect to see more of your fiction going forward?

Oh yes! The best thing about being published is that I get to keep writing. I never feel fully at my happiest when I'm not. Quercus, my UK publishers, have offered me a further two-book contract, to my utter joy. I've just delivered the manuscript for my second book, which is due to be published in the UK in summer 2016, and book three will follow a year later.

My next novel is once again set in the nineteenth century but a little bit later than
Amy Snow
—it's set in the 1850s. It takes place in Cornwall and London and, like
Amy Snow
, is named after the heroine: Florence Grace. I'm very excited about it.

Looking ahead, I definitely want to write more historical fiction, including a sequel to
Amy Snow
, but I also want to write contemporary fiction and fairy tales. So I'm hoping that over time I will have quite a varied back catalog. And I just want to say a massive thank you to everyone who has read and enjoyed
Amy Snow
, as this is what's made this possible!

The following books have been invaluable resources in helping me to understand the context of Amy's life and times:

Flanders, Judith.
The Victorian City
. London: Atlantic Books, 2012.

Goodman, Ruth.
How to Be a Victorian
. London: Penguin, 2014.

Paterson, Michael.
A Brief History of Life in Victorian Britain
. London: Robinson, 2008.

Turner, David.
Victorian and Edwardian Railway Travel
. Oxford: Shire Publications, 2013.

The Railway Traveller's Handy Book 1862: Hints, Suggestions and Advice for the Anxious Victorian Traveller
. Oxford: Old House, 2012.

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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2015 by Tracy Rees

Published by arrangement with Quercus Editions Limited

First published in Great Britain in 2015 by Quercus Publishing Ltd.

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Simon & Schuster Paperbacks Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

First Simon & Schuster trade paperback edition June 2016

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Cover design by Alison Forner

Cover photograph by Jeff Cottenden

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Rees, Tracy.

Title: Amy Snow : a novel / Tracy Rees.

Description: First Simon & Schuster trade paperback edition. | New York :

Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2016.

Identifiers: LCCN 2015035783

Subjects: LCSH: Orphans—Fiction. | Female friends—Fiction. |

Secrets—Fiction. | Nobility—England—History—19th century—Fiction. |

GSAFD: Mystery fiction | Historical fiction

Classification: LCC PR6118.E575 A59 2016 | DDC 823/.92—dc23 LC record available at
http://lccn.loc.gov/2015035783

ISBN 978-1-5011-2837-0

ISBN 978-1-5011-2839-4 (ebook)