It’s my turn to host the Behind Closed Doors blog tour. This was a great novel I enjoyed last year and so am delighted to welcome author BA Paris to my blog.
Thanks very much for joining me. I really enjoyed your debut novel. What was your inspiration for Behind Closed Doors?
I used to know someone who had a seemingly perfect marriage but there were just a couple of little things that seemed off-kilter, and I began to wonder what life was really like behind their closed doors. It gave me the idea for a story, my imagination took a giant leap and Behind Closed Doors was born. Although I hope that no-one is going through a marriage quite like Grace’s, I believe there are women – and men – who are in a similar sort of situation, though hopefully not quite as desperate, and are unable to tell anyone through shame or fear.
Sadly there are many people in similar situations suffering domestic abuse. Here in Yorkshire there are a number of excellent organisations people can contact for help and advice including www.idas.org.uk
I know you are a teacher as well. What’s a typical working day like for you, juggling both your career as a teacher and as a writer?
On the days that I teach, I don’t usually write, because my days are pretty full. I try to keep two days a week free for writing, but that often doesn’t work out because there are so many other things that have to be done and friends to catch up with; it would be very easy for me to become a hermit! I tend to write in snatches, a few hours here, a few hours there, but I definitely don’t have as much time to write as I’d like. In an ideal world, I’d spend all day, every day writing. I enjoy my job, though, and clients tend to become friends, so it would be hard to let them go. But next year, I hope to have more time to write – there are still a lot of books in me!
It sounds like you are pretty busy. What’s your favourite thing to do when you’re not working?
Relaxing with my husband and daughters, having dinner with friends, visiting family and friends in England, eating out, going to the theatre. No sport; I love watching it – especially rugby! – but I hate doing it!
What kinds of books do you read yourself? Do you have any favourite authors?
This is probably a terrible thing to admit, but since I started writing I’ve barely read a book, simply because in my free time, I prefer to write than read. In the past, I’ve enjoyed books by Leon Uris, Douglas Kennedy, Sebastian Faulks and Wilbur Smith. I also love Kate Atkinson and look forward to reading A God in Ruins when I have time!
If you weren’t a writer and teacher – what would be your ideal job?
A few years ago, I met a young woman on a flight back from South Africa and she told me her job was sourcing fruit from South America for one of the big supermarkets. It entailed flying first class (South Africa wasn’t a business trip, which is why she was sitting next to me in economy!) and she met wonderfully interesting people and I thought it had to be one of the best jobs in the world (those who have read my book may recognise Grace’s job!) If I had my time over again, I would probably choose a career in publishing – it seems an obvious career choice for someone who loves books as much as I do!
Fruit buying certainly sounds a glamorous way to earn a living! What are you working on next?
My second book comes out in September, so I’m putting the finishing touches to that, and working on another book at the same time.
I’ll definitely look forward to reading those. Thanks very much for taking the time to answer my questions today as part of the Behind Closed Doors blog tour, head over to cleopatralovesbooks for the next stop tomorrow.
BA Paris
Amazon buy link:
http://amzn.to/1YuqFpv
Author info:
B A Paris is from a Franco/Irish background. She was brought up in England and moved to France where she spent some years working as a trader in an international bank before re-training as a teacher and setting up a language school with her husband. They still live in France and have five daughters. Behind Closed Doors is her first novel
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