Author Interview

Author Interview: Eve Chase

Author Interview: Eve Chase – The Birdcage by Eve Chase is a novel filled with family secrets and it takes place in one of my favorite locations – Cornwall. This post may contain links to purchase books & you can read our affiliate disclosure here

About Eve Chase:

Eve Chase

I write from a studio/shed in my townhouse garden in Oxford. A small space, it’s perfect for cooking up bigger ones. I love to write about sprawling, dysfunctional families in curious, characterful settings. A crime usually beats at the heart of my books. As I love stories that envelope you in their world but also read at a page-turning pace, I try to write them too.

Married with three children. Owner of a very hairy golden retriever called Harry.

Studied English Literature at Manchester University and went on to do a post-grad in journalism. I once edited a street fashion magazine, Scene (no longer on the scene, or in existence) and wrote for many publications including Dazed and Confused, Punch, InStyle, Red, Marie-Claire, You and national newspapers.

I read all the time, happily hopping between authors and genres. My ever changing list of favourite authors include Maggie O’Farrell, Liane Moriarty, Kate Atkinson, Elizabeth Strout, Diane Athill, Donna Tartt, Lisa Jewell, Raymond Carver, Jane Austen, Kate Morton, Hilary Mantel, and Barbara Vine.

Synopsis for The Birdcage by Eve Chase

Some secrets need to be set free…

When half-sisters Kat, Flora, and Lauren are unexpectedly summoned to Rock Point, their wild and remote Cornish summer home, it’s not a welcome invitation. They haven’t been back since that fateful summer twenty years ago—a summer they’re desperate to forget.
 
But when they arrive, it’s clear they’re not alone. Someone is lurking in the shadows, watching their every move. Someone who remembers exactly what they did…

Will the sisters be able to protect the dark past of Rock Point? Or are some secrets too powerful to remain under lock and key?Buy your copy of The Birdcage by Eve Chase

Author Interview: Eve Chase

Eve, I’m so excited to talk to you today about The Birdcage, out August 2nd, 2022. Thank you for joining me for this Q & A.

Thank you for having me! 

Can you tell me about the inspiration behind The Birdcage?

The Birdcage began with the idea of three half-sisters, who shared a father but whose mothers had been rivals – with a certain amount of overlap. I’m fascinated by the way siblings remember and experience their childhood differently, amplified by these sisters having different mothers. Then came the artist father, struggling to capture this complicated dynamic in paint – and the portrait that informs the novel’s title.   

This story takes place in Cornwall. I love stories about Cornwall mainly due to my love for all things Poldark. Can you tell me more about why Cornwall is the perfect setting for The Birdcage?

Cornwall’s western Atlantic coast is so elemental and remote, especially out of season: it’s a world unto itself, with a dodgy phone signal. For the plot to work, I needed somewhere the sisters could be marooned during bad weather. Also, a place so beautiful it holds them there, drawing them back from their urban grown-up lives. That rocky, wild landscape between Zennor and St Ives has also always attracted artists and writers, from Barbara Hepworth to Virginia Woolf. It touches the soul. 

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Can you tell me more about Kat, Flora and Lauren? Do you have a favorite from the trio?

I feel most protective over Lauren, the youngest, because she was most affected by the day of the total solar eclipse in ’99, an event we count down to in the past storyline. But I enjoyed writing Kat the most because she’s blunt and uncompromising, and has very human flaws. None of my characters are perfect, nor entirely good or bad. I’m always looking for cracks, hairline breaks in the armor that lets the light in. 

Author Interview: Eve Chase: Let’s Chat About Writing

I would love to know if you’re a plotter or a pantser. What seems to work best when you’re working on a new manuscript?

Well, I aspire to be the former – I write an outline, although it’s more of a sketch than chapter by chapter in detail – but then go wildly off-piste. My ‘method’ is not the most efficient way to write but I get some of my best ideas when I’m immersed in the story, and during the process of writing. 

Do you have any favorite snacks, music or rituals for your writing? For instance, are you blasting music or need complete silence? 

I’d love to listen to music but, unfortunately, I need to write in silence, or I transcribe the song’s lyrics. No rituals other than doing a bit of yoga or Pilates before I sit down. But this is because I’d fossilize on my chair if I didn’t! I’m constantly battling the sedentary nature of my work. 

Do you have any advice for new writers?

Expect it to feel almost impossibly hard at times. Expect to doubt yourself. Expect to detest your book at about 40K words in. Keep going. Push on through. It’s the only way. There’s no escaping that a lot of writing is work, basically. You will be sat at your desk, over-caffeinated, groaning over plot points and clumsy sentences, or falling into an internet ‘research’ wormhole, when you could be hanging out with friends or walking in the fresh air. But there are also glittering days when words dance off your typing fingertips. Also, to be published and read and paid, you’ve got to finish the darn book.  

I am so impressed by suspense and mystery writers. How do you keep all your twists and turns straight?

I illegibly scribble down the twisty bits in my notebook. I rarely look at my notebook, but it’s the act of writing – longhand – that presses them into my brain somehow.  

Reading Recs, Cocktails, TV Casting & More

The Birdcage sounds like the perfect Summer 2022 read! What are some books on your TBR?    

I’m particularly looking forward to reading Lisa Jewell’s The Family Remains and Joanna Quinn’s The Whalebone Theatre. 

I always love talking about TV and movies. If you were to cast an adaptation for The Birdcage, do you have anyone in mind for your characters?

Brian Cox as the artist father – irresistible! As the sisters, Florence Pugh as Kat, Imogen Poots as Flora, and Daisy Edgar-Jones as Lauren.  

Who is the perfect reader for The Birdcage?

Anyone who loves a good yarn, a rich page-turning read about family secrets that will transport them somewhere else for a few hours.  

Thank you again for taking the time to speak with me, Eve! How can readers best connect with you?

Instagram, Facebook and Twitter @EvePollyChase I love meeting readers so do come and say hello. 

Enjoyed this Author Interview with Eve Chase? Check out more Author Interviews here.

Momma, wife, baker, reader & smart ass. I am Really Into doughnuts, inside jokes, trash TV, pizza, 48 Hours & George Michael.

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