A Chat with Bitter Greens Author Kate Forsyth

1. Please start by telling us a little bit about yourself.

I was born in Sydney, Australia, and have lived here all my life. I live in a big white house with views over the harbor and Manly to the ocean. We have kookaburras and blue tongued lizards and possums in our garden, all very bold and cheeky. I also have a library with more than 6,000 books in it ... and yet I always know where to put my hand on a book that I want.  I also love my garden – I grow herbs and vegetables and flowers. Whenever I need to find a solution to a problem that is vexing me, I go and work out there for a little while and the answer always come.

2. When did you know that you wanted to write professionally and how did you take the leap to get into the business?

I have always wanted to be a writer, for as long as I can remember. I think there must have been a day when I realized the books I loved so much were written by someone and I could do the same … but it was well before I started school because I announced to my teacher that I was going to write books on my very first day at kindergarten.  I wrote all through my childhood and teens, and sent my first manuscript out when I was seventeen. It took me another 13 years to get a novel published, so I worked as a journalist and magazine editor to pay the bills and wrote at night. I’ve been a full-time writer since my first novel was published – I’ve been very lucky to have all my dreams come true.

3. Can you tell me a little bit about your book and what inspired it?

BITTER GREENS is a retelling of the Rapunzel fairy tale, interwoven with the dramatic true life story of the woman who first told the tale. I’ve always felt a deep connection to Rapunzel, possibly because I spent a lot of time in hospital as a child following a savage dog attack that destroyed my tear duct, among other nasty injuries. My damaged tear duct was constantly getting infected and so I’d be half-blind, feverish, racked with pain, my eye constantly weeping … I think I felt a deep affinity with Rapunzel because she was locked away from the world like I was in my lonely hospital ward … and because her tears had the power to heal the prince’s blindness.

So I’d wanted to write a retelling of Rapunzel since I was about twelve or thirteen, but I was always busy with other books, and studying, and having children. Eventually the idea became so insistent that I had to listen to it. I began to daydream, and plan, and plot, and read, and research … and that was how I stumbled across the extraordinary story of Charlotte-Rose de la Force, a 17th century French noblewoman who wrote the first ‘Rapunzel’ (hers was named ‘Persinette’) while locked away in a convent for displeasing the Sun King, Louis XIV, who happened to be her second cousin, once removed.

Just one anecdote about her – she dressed up as a dancing bear to rescue her much younger lover when he was shut away in a castle. A dancing bear! How could I not write about her?

I had initially envisioned using her life story as a framing device for the main narrative, the ‘Rapunzel’ retelling, but Charlotte-Rose ran away with the tale and I gladly ran with her. It was an exhilarating ride!

4. What do you hope that readers take way with them after reading your book?

I hope they put my book down with a long sigh, thinking ‘this is the best book I have ever read!

5. I find it interesting to know what environment authors find most productive… Do you use a pen and paper or laptop? Quiet room at home or bustling café? Basically, what gets your creative juices flowing?

I do my early jottings and plottings long-hand in a notebook, until I have a strong sense of my story’s narrative arc, its settings and characters and turning-points. Then I begin to write straight into the computer, my notebook next to me so I can jot down questions and problems and things to do as I go along. Because I spend so much time thinking about the book before I start, I normally write fairly swiftly and easily … though it’ll still take me a year or two to write the whole book! I do most of my writing in my study at home, but if I’m away touring or at festivals or running a writer’s retreat, I’ll work on a laptop or in my notebook. If I can’t get a sentence quite right, I’ll write it out twenty or thirty times in my notebook till I have the rhythm right. I also stick lots of things in my notebooks – maps, sketches, photos, and so on – as I like a lot of visual stimulation.

6. What has been the toughest criticism given to you as an author? What has been the best compliment?

Oh, this is a tough one! I’ve been very lucky and never really received much harsh criticism. And I’ve had such wonderful reviews of BITTER GREENS I couldn’t choose one as being the best. I’ll share some of my favourite compliments:

'In Bitter Greens, Kate Forsyth delivers a tale of beauty, strength and gravity. Her fierce respect for the art and power of storytelling shines through every page.' Booklover Book Reviews

‘History and fairytale are richly entwined in this spellbinding story. Unputdownable!’

Juliet Marillier, author of Daughter of the Forest and Heart’s Blood

‘A magnificent reworking of the fairytale, Rapunzel ... Forsyth has an extraordinary imagination and has created something deliciously new out of an old favourite.’ Bec Kavanagh, Australian Bookseller  & Publisher

'One of the best books I’ve read this year ... a tale of romance and intrigue, seduction and superstition, obsession and betrayal  ... a lavish three-course meal for the imagination.’ Booktopia

‘If books were the notes of a violin, Bitter Greens would be the highest soaring note – the one that brings goosebumps to the skin and swells the heart with passion.’ Australian Women Online

‘Oh. My. God. I kept thinking words like: sumptuous, delicious, rich, detailed, powerful. This is an author at the height of her powers ... YOU MUST BUY THIS BOOK.’ Kim Wilkins

'(Bitter Greens) is the best historical fiction work I've read in a long time ... glorious.'  Rachael McDiarmid

7. What book is currently on your nightstand? And who are some of your favorite authors?

I’ve just started ‘The Venetian Contract’ by Marina Fiorato, and after that I plan to read ‘Changeling’ by Philippa Gregory.

My favourite authors for adults:

Kate Morton

Tracy Chevalier

Joanne Harris

Philippa Gregory

Juliet Marillier

Kim Wilkins

Geraldine Brooks

Sarah Dunant

C.W. Gortner

Christie Dickason

C.J Sansom

And some old favourites - Georgette Heyer & Mary Stewart

8. What do you like to do when you're not writing?

If I’m not writing, I’m generally reading. If I’m not doing either of those things, then I’ll be talking about writing & reading. I also like to cook & garden & listen to music & dance & watch romantic films & swim in the ocean.

9. Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?

Be brave!

10. What can we expect from you next?

I’m planning on writing a historical novel about the German Resistance in Berlin during the Nazi era. It means all kinds of fascinating research.

11.  Do any animals share your life? Please tell us about them.

As I write this, I have a beautiful Rhodesian Ridgeback called Jessie lying at my feet. She’s never very far away from me. We also have a gorgeous, cheeky, white cockatiel called Lulu who is hopping about on my desk and pecking my pencil to pieces. Until a few weeks ago, I also had a lovely slinky black cat called Shadow who I’d had for 18 years – I still miss her terribly.

We also have various wild friends – a one-legged magpie called Hoppy, a water dragon who swims in our pool, a family of noisy kookaburras who wake us up every morning and come and visit us around dinner-time, hoping we’re having sausages, and a blue-tongued lizard who eats all the strawberries in my vegetable patch.  Possums scamper along our fence each evening, and owls and bats fly past once the stars are out. We have even had a snake in our street, as we live very close to the bush!

And now for a little bit of fun:)  This or That?

Coffee or Tea?   Tea.

Sweet or Salty?   Sweet.

Beach or Lake?   Beach.

Winter or Summer?  Summer.

Cats or Dogs?   Both!

Zombies or Vampires?   Neither. I’m a unicorn girl.

Country or City?  Both!

Shower or Bath?   Again, both! Shower in the morning, a long, hot, sweet-scented, candle-lit bath at night.

Morning or Evening?  Evening.

M&Ms or Skittles?  M&Ms.

Trains or Planes?  I like both, but I’m impatient so I’ll go for planes.

Comedy or Drama?  Comedy, as long as it’s also romantic and doesn’t involve any slapstick or rude noises.

Title:  Bitter Greens
Author:  Kate Forsyth

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Historical Fiction/FairyTale Retellng

Release Date: February 25th 2013
Publisher: Allison & Busby

Find the book: Goodreads  

Bitter Greens is an historical novel for adults which interweaves the Rapunzel fairytale with the true story of Charlotte-Rose de la Force, a 17th century French writer who wrote the version of the fairytale we know best, while locked away in a convent by the Sun King, Louis XIV, for her bold and unconventional views on love and society.

Charlotte-Rose has scandalized the court by falling passionately in love with a young nobleman, then dressing up as a dancing bear to rescue him from imprisonment. Banished to a strict Benedictine convent by the king, she remembers her life and loves at the magnificent and corrupt court of Versailles. Charlotte-Rose is filled at despair at her imprisonment, but she is comforted by an old nun, the apothicairesse at the convent, Sœur Seraphina, who tells her the secret history of a young girl in 16th century Venice, who is sold by her parents for a handful of bitter greens …

Margherita’s parents love her dearly but the penalty for stealing in Venice in the late 16th century is cruel, and so they agree to give up their child at the age of seven to Selena, a courtesan whose walled garden is famous for its herbs and flowers. Selena is the famous red-haired muse of the artist Titian, first painted by him in 1513 and still inspiring him at the time of his death, sixty-one years later.  Called La Strega Bella, Selena is at the centre of Renaissance life in Venice, a world of beauty and danger, seduction and betrayal, love and superstition. Selena is determined to never surrender the power that her beauty gives her, and so she turns to black magic and a spell that requires the blood of a virgin. Yet in the decadent world of Renaissance Italy, where courtesans supped with kings, where convents were hotbeds of illicit love, and where a girl’s virginity was sold many times over, how was Selena to ensure her spell would work, not just once, but over and over again? The only way was to build a tower without door or stairs, deep in the forest … and this is where she locks Margherita at the age of twelve. As Margherita grows into womanhood, she sings in the hope someone will hear her. One day, a young man does and climbs her rope of hair into the tower … and so begins a beautiful love story that retells one of the world’s most mysterious and enduring fairytales.

The story of Margherita’s escape from the tower is interwoven with flashbacks that recount Charlotte-Rose’s tragic childhood and her scandalous life at the Sun King’s glittering court, and also the dark and tragic story of the courtesan Selena and how she came to be Titian’s muse. Three women, three lives, three stories, all braided together to create a compelling story of desire, obsession, black magic, and the redemptive power of love.

Kate Forsyth is the award-winning and bestselling author of more than 20 books for adults and children, translated into 13 languages. She was recently named in the Top 25 of Australia's Favourite Novelists. Since The Witches of Eileanan was named a Best First Novel by Locus Magazine, Kate has won or been nominated for many awards, including a CYBIL Award in the US. She’s also the only author to win five Aurealis awards in a single year, 

for her Gypsy Crown series of children's historical novels. Kate’s latest novel, Bitter Greens, interweaves a retelling of the Rapunzel fairytale with the scandalous life story of the woman who first told the tale, the 17th century French writer Charlotte-Rose de la Force. It has been called ‘the best fairy tale retelling since Angela Carter’ and ‘an imaginative weaving of magic, fairy tale and history’. A direct descendant of Charlotte Waring, the author of the first book for children ever published in Australia, Kate is currently studying a doctorate in fairy tales at the University of Technology in Sydney,

 where she lives by the sea, with her husband, three children, and many thousands of books.

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