We chat with author Ruth Hogan about her most recent release The Moon, the Stars, and Madame Burova, which is “an uplifting, slightly magical story about how it’s never too late to find out who you really are”, along with writing, book recommendations, and more!
Hi, Ruth! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
I was lucky enough to be raised in a house full of books and grew up with a passion for reading and writing. I always loved dogs and ponies, seaside piers, snow globes and cemeteries and as a child I considered becoming a vet, show jumper, Eskimo, gravedigger, and once, very briefly, a nun!
I studied English and Drama at Goldsmiths College, University of London where I hennaed my hair, wore dungarees and aspired to be the fourth member of Bananarama. After graduating I foolishly got a proper job and for ten years had a successful if uninspiring career in local government before a car accident was the kick up the butt I needed to start writing seriously.
In 2012 I got cancer, which was bloody inconvenient but precipitated an exciting hair journey from bald to a peroxide blonde Annie Lennox crop. When chemo kept me up all night I passed the time writing and the eventual result was my debut novel THE KEEPER OF LOST THINGS which has now been published in over 32 countries across the world and has sold over a million copies (I still can’t quite believe it!) Since then I’ve written three more novels, and the latest is THE MOON, THE STARS AND MADAME BUROVA.
I am now living the dream (and occasionally nightmare!) as a full-time writer in a chaotic Victorian house with an assortment of rescue dogs and my long-suffering husband. I’m a self-confessed magpie; always collecting treasures (or ‘junk’ depending on your point of view) and a huge John Betjeman fan. I still love seaside piers, particularly The Palace Pier at Brighton and would very much like a full-size galloping horses carousel and a traditional vardo and pony in my back garden.
When did you first discover your love for writing?
As soon as I learned how to write! My mum taught me how to read before I started school and every book I read was a new world – it was completely magical to me. Creative writing was my favourite subject at school and I always had so many stories swimming around in my head!
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!
Green Eggs and Ham by Dr Seuss, Morning’s at Seven by Eric Malpass, The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.
Your new novel, The Moon, the Stars, and Madame Burova, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Mysterious, funny, heartwarming, heartbreaking, hopeful.
What can readers expect?
Imelda Burova has spent a lifetime keeping other people’s secrets and her silence has come at a price. She has seen the lovers and the liars, the angels and the devils, the dreamers and the fools. Her cards had unmasked them all and her cards never lied. But Madame Burova is weary of other people’s lives, their ghosts from the past and other people’s secrets, she needs rest and a little piece of life for herself. Before that, however, she has to fulfill a promise made a long time ago. In London, it is time for another woman to make a fresh start. Billie has lost her university job, her marriage, and her place in the world when she discovers something that leaves her very identity in question. Determined to find answers, she must follow a trail which might just lead right to Madame Burova’s door. In a story spanning over fifty years we visit a magical world of 1970s holiday camps and seaside entertainers, eccentrics, heroes and villains, the lost and the found. Young people, with their lives before them, make choices which echo down the years. And a wall of death rider is part of a love story which will last through time.
Where did the inspiration for The Moon, the Stars, and Madame Burova come from?
One of the wonderful things about my job is that I can choose to write about things that I have a real passion for. I’ve always been fascinated by ghosts, clairvoyancy, Tarot, crystal balls and palmistry. On a visit to Brighton (a place I love) I saw the booth of Eva Petulengro, a famous Tarot reader and clairvoyant who worked on Brighton seafront for many years and whose clients included celebrities and even royalty. It sparked the idea for the book, and I then read her two autobiographies, The Girl in the Painted Caravan, and Caravans and Wedding Bands. Back home in Bedford, I decided to have some readings myself and I found the most amazing woman who has been reading cards and practising clairvoyancy for over thirty years and has clients all over the world. She agreed to act as an adviser while I was writing the book.
I was also keen to write about a holiday park because it gave me a wonderful opportunity to include a host of interesting characters – particularly if they are entertainers by trade! I wanted to set the book partly in the 1970s, in a place and time where I grew up because I had experienced first-hand the cultural, social and political climate that prevailed on the streets, in the playground, on the TV and radio and in the press. Society was openly racist and sexist, and attitudes and actions that were commonplace then, are painfully unpalatable and rightly condemned today and so it was an interesting and challenging time period for me to explore.
Can you tell us about any challenges you faced while writing and how you were able to overcome them?
Ha! Apart from the global pandemic? Mid-way through the first draft, I had a problem with my hand which required a good deal of treatment and several weeks of complete rest. This was a real issue for me because I always write my first draft in longhand. I’ve tried other methods, but they just don’t work for me and so there was nothing I could do but sit it out. Whilst I was writing the book, my parents were forced, through ill-heath, to give up the home where they had lived for over sixty and move into a care home. I had to empty their house and sell it to pay for their care, which was both heart-breaking and very time-consuming, but I tried to write whenever I could because writing has always been my sanctuary. In March 2020 my dad died, and six weeks later to the day, my mum died. We were unable to have proper funerals for either of them due to Covid. This book was written under the most difficult of circumstances and in many ways it has made it even more precious to me. My parents were hugely proud when my first book was published – they knew that it was a dream come true for me. Neither of them got to read Madame Burova, but until the end of their lives they would always ask me how the book was going and urge me to finish it no matter what. I did – and THE MOON, THE STARS AND MADAME BUROVA is dedicated to their memory.
Were there any favourite moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
I couldn’t possibly choose a favourite character – it would be like choosing a favourite child! But I did feel particularly close to Imelda. As research for the novel, I not only learnt about reading Tarot, I learnt how to read Tarot to a professional standard. I wanted to write about Imelda’s profession as authentically and respectfully as I could. The lady who had agreed to act as my adviser on the book also agreed to teach me. I did a beginners’ course and found myself completely hooked, and so continued for several months to complete an advanced course. In order to write the best book that I could, I realized that I needed to understand not only the mechanics of Tarot reading, crystal ball, clairvoyancy and palmistry, but also what it feels like to do readings for complete strangers. I’ve done many readings to date, and I’m often surprised at how accurate they are. I can’t imagine that I will ever stop reading the cards now.
This is your fourth published novel. How have you changed as an author over the last five years?
I don’t think I’ve changed that much as a writer to be honest – certainly not in terms of my writing process. But I do think that I learned to trust my instincts more. I used to worry that my writing method – which is a bit fly-by-the seat-of-my-pants rather than organised planning and plotting – was not very ‘professional’. But I’ve come to realise that the creative process is different for everyone and it’s fine to stick with what works for me.
What’s next for you?
I’ve starting working on my next novel and it’s well under way now, but I can’t say any more. It’s a secret!
Lastly, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?
I’ve just finished listening to audible book edition of The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield and it was brilliant!
