The Love of Her Life author Harriett Evans says she knows exactly who’d star if her novel ever becomes a movie. “The heroine would be Emily Blunt. The kind elderly neighbor would be Alan Alda. And, the hero would be that cute Michael Vartan who was in Never Been Kissed with Drew Barrymore.”
In the novel The Love of her Life, Kate Miller left her home, friends and family in London after a tragic accident. She moves to New York to start a new life and to reconnect with her mother. When her father becomes seriously ill, Kate must return to London. As she faces her past she learns what happened three years ago wasn’t what it seems. Can she face her friends and family? Can she be with the love of her life?
“It was a hard book for me to write as parts of it are really sad,” says Evans. “I wanted to write about my two favorite cities: London and New York. The book is set between the two. I wanted to write about what happens to a perfectly good girl when her life crumbles around her. She realizes she’s never really known who she is or who the love of her life is.”
Evans says she got up at 6am in the morning to write before going to work. “I’m very lazy, so this was a big deal for me. I’d always wanted to write, ever since I could first read. I knew I had to do something about it at some point.”
“My editor is Maggie Crawford,” says Evans. “I didn’t meet her until just before they published my first novel, when I went over to New York. Having been an editor gave me ultimate respect for my editors, and for other authors. Alternatively you could say it makes me a right nightmare to work with.”
“Since I’m published in the UK first, often I will have done the majority of work to the book before Maggie sees it,” says Evans. “When I see her it’s always a huge treat. I’m always happy to incorporate her suggestions. Some Americanization needs to take place so people can understand my rambling English style. I have massive respect for the publishing process in the States. It’s a little new and different from the one I knew in London.”
Evans recently quit her job as an editor so she can write full time. Harriett Evans lives in London where she was born. She’s written four novels: Going Home, A Hopeless Romantic, The Love of Her Life and I Remember You, releasing in the summer of 2010.
The Love of Her Life is at times poignant and at times very funny. Harriett Evans keeps you engaged. Be prepared to stay up reading until 4:30am, as I did. There’s a secret in the book that Evans reveals by peeling back the layers of Kate Miller’s life. You’ll want to know the secret so much you can’t stop reading.
Rating: 4 Stars
Trade Paperback, 448 pages, Publisher: Downtown Press, June 2, 2009 Language: English, ISBN: 9781439113158 $ 15.00
