Hello all fellow blog readers. Last month I read this amazing, heart-wrenching, nail biting, not to mention romantic book, The Innocents. When the time came for our second semester book report I immediately knew what book to write about. I emailed the author and asked if I could do a short interview about her and her book. She was super nice and said yes! Check it out!
An Interview With Lili:
Q: While reading your book, I felt like I totally connected with Alice because our personalities matched completely. As the author, what sister do you identify more with and why?
A: Oh, Alice, for sure. She's the more reserved sister. She's quiet and bookish—an observer. I WISH I were more like Charlie! Charlie's fun. Is always causing major mischief, chasing after boys, getting into trouble and all that. I've always liked wild girls but was never one myself.
Q: How did you come up with the idea to write The Innocents? How long did it take you to write it
A: When I was young, like eleven or twelve, I read this book called Rebecca and I was never able to shake its spell. It’s this old-timey English novel about a shy, poor young women who marries a rich, handsome, brooding older man with a tragic past. His wife has just died. And this dead wife, Rebecca, was famously great-looking and famously charming—a second wife’s nightmare, basically—and they lived in this very beautiful and celebrated house called Manderly. So you have this extremely inexperienced, unworldly girl entering this settled household and challenging the power of a ghost. I love that premise. It’s totally captivating and bewitching to me. And I wanted to re-imagine it from a younger character’s perspective.
The Innocents took about six months from concept to final draft. Faster than I'd have liked but I was under a pretty wicked deadline.
Q: If a movie were to be made out of the book who would you have play all the major characters? Where do you think would be the perfect town to shoot it in?
A:I'd want Chloe Moretz for Alice. She played a baby vampire in a movie called Let Me In. She was terrific. Pretty and spooky and mysterious with great big eyes.
Amanda Seyfried is probably a little old for the role, but she'd make a sensational Camilla. She and Chloe Moretz resemble one another physically, which is important for The Innocents in terms of plot, only she's more polished and sophisticated looking.
Then I'd want the girl who plays Hannah in Pretty Little Liars for Charlie. She's got this great been-around-the-block quality. Plus she seems tough but sensitive--the perfect mix for Charlie.
Mystic, CT would be the ideal town: sea-shore-y but ritzy.
Q: What authors do you look to for writing inspiration? What are some of your favorite books/movies?
A: I really liked Gothic novels when I was a young reader. Still do. I’m drawn most deeply to stories that are heavy on mood and atmospherics, that are sly and seductive, that are spooky and have a fairy tale quality—books that get under your skin, in other words. The Secret History by Donna Tartt is a favorite. So is The Magus by John Fowles.
My favorite TV shows are almost all mysteries: Veronica Mars, Twin Peaks and Friday Night Lights (not a mystery but it stars Taylor Kitsch, the sexiest actor going).
Q: How many books do you plan to write in The Innocents series?
A: Three! A beginning book, a middle book, and then one to round it all off. The second in the series, This Side of Jealousy, comes out in August. I'm working on the second draft of the final book now.
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I definitely recommend reading this book right away! Have a great day :) Love, Grace Elizabeth Nickols...xoxo
