1--What is the title of your latest release?
THE BOOKLOVER’S LIBRARY
2--What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
A heartwarming story about a mother and daughter in wartime England and the power of books that brings them together
3--How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
The Booklover’s Library is set in Nottingham, England, which not only offers a different landscape than London, but has a system of caves beneath the city, which helped shelter Nottingham’s residents during air raids. The city is also where the first Booklover’s Library opened. The Booklover’s Library was a real place – a lending library set inside the Boots’ Chemists all throughout England. This was during the time of the marriage bar (when women had to quit their jobs when they married), and the women who worked as librarians in the Booklover’s Libraries loved their jobs so much, they had longer engagements than any other profession! When I found that out and read about their many quirky customers (many who inspired characters in this book), I knew I had to set this story in Nottingham, in the flagship store for the Booklover’s Library.
4--Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Absolutely. Emma Taylor is a widow who is also a single parent, and I spent several years as a single mother myself. I not only based her experiences on many of my own, but also used my own girls as inspiration when creating Emma’s daughter, Olivia. I imagine we could spend hours chatting over mom life and our sweet girls.
5--What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Determined, Caring, Resourceful
6--What’s something you learned while writing this book?
Many actions were taken to discourage Nottingham from being bombed due to all the munitions factories in the city – and those actions were quite effective. They burned fires in the countryside to give the appearance of a city, throwing off bombers. They also burned oil in the evenings to choke the city in fog so it was less visible, especially with the imposed blackout in place. Between this and the unique underground cave system in Nottingham used for sheltering, I learned so many amazing things about Nottingham’s survival during WWII.
7--Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I wait until I’ve written the entire book. As I’m writing, I keep a list of things I want to change, then when I do a full read through after, I check off the items that I correct. This method offers a more organic way to incorporate changes and makes sure I’m moving forward. Being something of a perfectionist, I don’t think I would ever finish a book if I continued to go back and correct as I write. LOL
8--What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Popcorn. Buttery, salty popcorn. Yum!
9--Describe your writing space/office!
After years of working in a makeshift office in the middle of the living room, I finally have my own office. And with doors, no less. Although I can’t close them because the cats will sit and stare sadly at me through the windowpanes, begging to be let in (of course, promptly wanting out as soon as they’re inside LOL). I have a sit-to-stand desk that I seldom ever stand at, ergonomic everything because my wrists have endured a lot during the years I worked full time as a business analyst and wrote full time (writing about 6-8 romances a year), and, of course, multiple bookcases filled with books. My favorite fixture is my cats, despite their demands at my door, as they both love to hang out with me while I’m working. Gunner is a black cat with a little crook at the end of his tail that makes it form a perfect curlicue and likes to sleep in the window hammock while my calico with a black smudge over her face (perfectly named Ink) likes to hop into my lap and sleep in my arms. This means I have to work one-handed sometimes, but she’s so sweet, I don’t mind.
10--Who is an author you admire?
Kristin Hannah – not only is Nightingale my favorite novel, but I love that she has been able to write in so many genres, spanning through historical fiction and into contemporary fiction.
11--Is there a book that changed your life?
Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder. This is the book that made me fall in love with historical fiction. I read the entire series several times over and have been a fan of historical fiction ever since.
12--Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
The first time I got ‘the call’ was when I sold my three-book romance series back in 2014. I’d been working out and had set a one-minute timer on my phone while doing planks. It never went off. What felt like a long plank really was, because apparently my agent called right when the time was supposed to go off and I just caught her call before it went to voicemail. Best long plank ever!
13--What’s your favorite genre to read?
I’m torn between historical fiction and thrillers
14--What’s your favorite movie?
Dangerous Beauty
15--What is your favorite season?
Autumn. My family loves Halloween and goes all out with a fun Halloween food feast every year, a cupcake decorating contest, and attending Mickey’s Not so Scary Halloween party at Disney World since we’re only about two hours away from Orlando.
16--How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
My family goes big for birthdays and my husband and girls decorate the whole downstairs with a certain theme for each birthday, so when I wake up that morning, the dining room table is full of flowers, cards, presents and glitter and the house is bedecked in streamers and balloons. We usually go about our normal day, then that night we go out to dinner, then come back for cake and presents.
17--What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
I’m currently listening to Look in the Mirror by Catherine Steadman (who also fabulously narrates it) and it is so good! It’s a psychological thriller and is absolutely gripping. I highly recommend it!
Also, my husband and I just finished watching Loot on Apple TV and loved it. Not only was it funny, but led to a lot of fun conversations between us about what we’d do if we had that much money LOL
18--What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Italian is absolutely my favorite. When my husband and I went to Italy for our honeymoon, he was obsessed with finding a place that offered a handwritten menu (meaning created just for that night). We found one in Venice on our last night and the entire meal was just to die for – absolutely the best food I’ve ever had!
19--What do you do when you have free time?
I love to play with my cats, hang out with my daughters, go for long walks and bike rides with my husband, and, of course, read.
20--What can readers expect from you next?
My next book will likely be coming out September 2025 and is called The Secret Book Society. Set in Victorian London, a thrice widowed countess seeks to liberate repressed women through her secret book society operating under the guise of afternoon tea, but rather than gossip and other ‘banal, womanly pursuits’, the conversations take a far more subversive direction and enable the women to pursue freedom from their current lives.
A heartwarming story about a mother and daughter in wartime England and the power of books that bring them together, by the bestselling author of The Last Bookshop in London.
In Nottingham, England, widow Emma Taylor finds herself in desperate need of a job. She and her beloved daughter Olivia have always managed just fine on their own, but with the legal restrictions prohibiting widows with children from most employment opportunities, she’s left with only one option: persuading the manageress at Boots’ Booklover’s Library to take a chance on her with a job.
When the threat of war in England becomes a reality, Olivia must be evacuated to the countryside. In the wake of being separated from her daughter, Emma seeks solace in the unlikely friendships she forms with her neighbors and coworkers, and a renewed sense of purpose through the recommendations she provides to the library’s quirky regulars. But the job doesn’t come without its difficulties. Books are mysteriously misshelved and disappearing and the work at the lending library forces her to confront the memories of her late father and the bookstore they once owned together before a terrible accident.
As the Blitz intensifies in Nottingham and Emma fights to reunite with her daughter, she must learn to depend on her community and the power of literature more than ever to find hope in the darkest of times.
Women's Fiction Historical [Hanover Square Press, On Sale: September 10, 2024, Trade Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9781335000392 / eISBN: 9780369747006]
Madeline Martin lives in Jacksonville, Florida with her two daughters (AKA OldestMinion and YoungestMinion) along with their two cats: SketchyCat who stares at walls and eats fuzz and LapCat who has a shoe fetish and enjoys Kung Pow peanuts. All shenanigans are detailed regularly on Twitter. Madeline graduated from Flagler College with a degree in Business Administration and works for corporate America. Her hobbies include rock climbing, running, doing crazy races (like Mud Runs and Color Runs) and just about anything exciting she can do without getting nauseous. She's also a history fan (really more of a full on history dork) and loves to blog about random curiosities from her research. After living in Europe for over a decade, Madeline enjoys traveling overseas whenever she can. Her favorite place to visit thus far: Scotland. Writing has been a passion of hers since she was a child and now she finally gets to see her lifelong dream come true.
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