One of the kindest compliments anyone can pay me is to say that my novels remind them in any way of hers, although I’ve never consciously set out to imitate her storytelling style. Whatever the reason, Mary Stewart did turn out to be my very favourite author, and This Rough Magic remains my favourite of her books, followed closely by Touch Not the Cat, The Moonspinners, Wildfire at Midnight, Nine Coaches Waiting, Madam, Will You Talk?, The Ivy Tree, My Brother Michael, and The Gabriel Hounds, though their order as my favourites sometimes shifts around depending on my mood.Īs for her influence on me as a writer, well, I think it’s probably self-evident. Either that, or else genetic memory was at play and I inherited my mother’s taste in writers. My mother and I often joke that it’s her fault I’m such a great fan of Mary Stewart, because my mother was reading This Rough Magic (newly published, in those days) while she was pregnant with me, so we figure my love of Mary Stewart’s writing must have seeped in at some elemental level while my brain was being formed. Can you tell us a little bit about her influence, and your favourite books by her? What other books would you consider your ‘Books of a Lifetime’, books that have shaped you as a reader and a writer?

I have seen you mention that one of your major influences is Mary Stewart. But since I’m not sure how long it will be before I get around to writing it, the best that I can offer Kelly is my thriller Every Secret Thing, which is set partly in Toronto and around it, in the present and the past, and has a few scenes at the secret wartime training camp for spies, Camp X, that lies not far away from where I live. And there are parts of the UK – especially some of the more remote areas along the coastlines – that lend themselves more easily to stories of suspense, because they’re already so far removed from everything that’s commonplace, and have a certain magic all their own a certain atmosphere.Īs one of our two Canadian HTer’s Kelly specifically would like to know do you have any plans to write anything set in Canada?Īctually, in spite of what I’ve said above, I do have an idea for a story set in Canada, in one of the few places in this country where the history does stretch back into the mists, and hasn’t all been well-recorded. In Britain, that’s practically modern! Besides which, the history itself is so interesting. Here, we consider a house to be ancient if it’s from the mid-1800s. Because I like to interweave the past and present in my books, I’m drawn to places where the history stretches back a little further than it does in my own part of Canada. What is it about the UK, specifically places like Scotland and Cornwall that provide such good settings for novels?įor me, it’s the layers of history they give me to play with.

Bride of the MacHugh by Jan Cox Speas