Page 19 - Novelist Post – J.D. Barker and more

THE NIGHTINGALE. If you haven’t read the book, it’s set during World War II in occupied France.
The story revolves around two sisters, but Isabelle
is the young, impetuous one who gets involved in resisting the occupation. Her risk-taking begins with secretly distributing anti-Nazi propaganda, but her courage grows to the point where she becomes integral to a plan to help downed Allied airmen escape to the British embassy in neutral Spain. I don’t want to say more about her fate in case someone who reads this interview wants to pick
up the book, which has been optioned to become a major motion picture. It’s fabulous!
What moves you most
in a work of literature?
To move me, two things must occur: I need to be emotionally invested in the protagonist and his/her stakes, and I need to be intellectually challenged. That’s not to say I don’t also enjoy light romps
and creepy suspense
novels. But the books that live with me and change
how I move through the world must open my
eyes to something in
a fresh way, and must
grab my heart hard.
Some recent examples include LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY, OUR MISSING HEARTS, THE VANISHING HALF, and
WE ARE CALLED TO RISE.
What plan to read next?
My book club has selected Ann Napolitano’s HELLO, BEAUTIFUL, so that’s at the top of my TBR pile. I will probably balance that out with a psychological suspense novel and a rom- com, because I like to mix things up. I learn a lot about craft from reading widely, and some days I find myself in just the right mood for a certain kind of story.
PHOTO: Jamie Beck, bestselling author of 18 moving and masterfully crafted novels, shares her literary inspirations and storytelling secrets.
To move me, two things must
occur: I need to be emotionally invested in the protagonist and intellectually challenged.
– Jamie Beck
NOVELIST POST II 19