Q&A: Rhys Bowen, Author of ‘The Venice Sketchbook’

Love and secrets collide in Venice during WWII in an enthralling novel of brief encounters and lasting romance by the New York Times bestselling author of The Tuscan Child and Above the Bay of Angels.

We chat with author Rhys Bowen about her latest release The Venice Sketchbook, writing, book recommendations, and more, plus we also have an excerpt from The Venice Sketchbook at the end of the interview!

You can find Rhys at her website and on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Hi, Rhys! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?

I was born and educated in England, worked in the BBC both as an announcer and in the drama department, where I wrote my first professional work and they produced my play. Lured to Australia to work for Australian broadcasting I met my British aristocrat husband and we moved to California where we’ve lived ever since. I have written all my life, turning to mysteries in 1997. Since then I have written 47 books, mostly historical mysteries—two series, one set in early 1900s New York and the Royal Spyness books set in 1930s England.  Most recently I have written several internationally best-selling historical stand alone novels including The Tuscan Child that has sold three quarters of a million copies to date. I have won twenty awards for my work including lifetime achievement and am published in twenty nine languages.

After the chaos that was 2020, have you set any goals for this year? If so, how are they going so far?

Since a writer usually sits alone in a room and creates, not that much should have changed for me last year, except that the underlying tension made it hard to be creative. However I fulfilled my deadlines and am now looking forward to emerging from my cave and starting to live again. My goal is to see friends, hug grandkids and finally travel. Every other year we spend the summers in Europe—usually doing some research for my next book. I can’t wait to do that again.

Quick lightning round! Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, the one that made you want to become an author, and one that you can’t stop thinking about!

The first book I remember reading was Bobby Bushtail’s Adventure when I was three (yes, I learned to read early).

I loved the Famous Five (the English equivalent of Nancy Drew) and then Agatha and the Golden Age ladies but I didn’t want to write mysteries until I discovered Tony Hillerman and his fabulous sense of place. I wanted to write books that take the reader somewhere.

A book I’ll never forget is the Lord of the Rings. I’ve read it so many times I can recite chunks by heart. To me it was the perfect story—the triumph of good over evil, the strength of everyman.

When did you first discover your love for writing?

My mother says I wrote my first poem when I was four. I certainly wrote stories growing up. I wanted to be a movie star and wrote scripts for me to star in (all very tragic) I had a short story published at 16, edited my college newspaper, wrote a play for the BBC at 22 and have been a published author ever since.

Your new novel, The Venice Sketchbook, is out April 13^th 2021! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?

Forbidden love, danger, loss, found.

What can readers expect?

Two parallel stories, half a century apart: two women bound by blood a well as parallel life stories and a quest that takes the contemporary woman to Venice to discover her great aunt’s secret life.

Where did the inspiration for The Venice Sketchbook come from?

My own connection to Venice goes back to my early teens when my parents rented a small villa outside Venice. They’d drive in every day, give me some money and say to my brother and me “see you at five o’clock.” We’d be free to explore, try out the food, swim in the Lido. I’ve been back many times since and it never fails to take my breath away.  So writing about it, doing research there was an absolute joy.

However the spark of inspiration for this particular story came from my aunt. She was a classic English spinster, an Italiaphile who spent every Easter in Venice. As a romantic young woman I began to wonder if she might have a secret relationship there we knew nothing about… and that’s how my story started.

Can you tell us about any challenges you faced while writing and how you were able to overcome them?

My big challenge was in the research I did at the antique Correr library in St. Mark’s Square. It wasn’t the lack of materials, it was a plethora. I told the librarians I was researching Venice in WWII and the treatment of the Jewish population. They put me in a room and kept bringing me more and more books until there was a wall piled around me. Big thick books, all in Italian, of course. My spoken Italian isn’t bad but wading through all those volumes was daunting.  Luckily my husband was there. I found pages I needed, handed him the books and he photographed the relevant pages for me to read later.

What was the research process like for The Venice Sketchbook?

Going back to Venice, staying in the hotel from my book, days spent in the Correr library finding out details of Venice in WWII. But mainly reminding myself about what makes Venice unique: wandering streets, looking in shops, eating in small cafes, attending churches and festivals, watching the bread and newspaper be taken up in a basket from a boat on the canal below… and of course sampling all the gelato!

If it’s not too spoilery, were there any favourite moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?

I think my favorite moment happens right at the beginning of the book when Juliet falls into a canal trying to save some kittens from drowning and is rescued by a handsome Venetian. He says she must be English because only an English girl would be foolish enough to go swimming in a canal.

What’s the best and the worst writing advice you have received?

The best is nothing is written in stone.

The worst: historical novels don’t sell. (smiling at that one)

What’s next for you?

I have completed the next book in my Royal Spyness series. It will be a Christmas book called God Rest Ye, Royal Gentlemen.  And I am in the middle of my next stand-alone novel, again set in WWII but this time at a bomber base in England, featuring a London woman who is evacuated. It has a fabulous title but I can’t reveal it yet!

Lastly, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?

My own recent favorites are All the Devils are Here by Louise Penny, The Postscript Murders by Ellie Griffiths and Cara Black’s Three Hours in Paris comes out in paperback. A terrific thriller about a plot to kill Hitler.

Will you be picking up The Venice Sketchbook? Tell us in the comments below!