I am one of those authors who believes (perhaps foolishly) that she is in complete control of the story.

I read a ton of fiction - historical, contemporary, literary, commercial, I love it all.

I love women being the heroes of the piece. There is just something so dramatic and important about this story [The Nightingale ].

The women of the French Resistance astounded me. Isabelle and Vianne [from The Nightingale] are my homage to those brave and forgotten women.

My next guest [ for party with five favorite fictional characters] would be Scarlett from Gone With The Wind. I mean, come on, I have to know if she ever got Rhett back.

I had read a lot of books on World War II, but I didn't know that downed airmen had hiked over the frozen peaks of the Pyrenees Mountains in shoes that didn't fit, in clothes that weren't warm enough, with German and Spanish patrols searching for them.

I absolute adore epic journeys that require a protagonist to fight for every victory in the hopes of finding triumph.