| Interview With Emma Nichols – August 2022 Update: Emma’s latest book, Love in the Shadows, was published in June 2024. It is a wartime historical fiction romance and it’s fabulous. If you haven’t downloaded it yet, do yourself a favour and get it today. |
  |
| Emma Nichols, best selling lesbian fiction author and all round good egg, agreed to be interviewed this time. I didn’t even have to bribe her. |
| What is your favourite lesfic book and why? |
This is a really difficult question to answer. There are so many great authors and books in this genre, it’s impossible to choose a favourite. However, the book I have read the most is Curious Wine, but Katherine V Forrest. It’s a classic. The story is simple and it is beautifully written. |
From your novels who is your favourite character and why?You are killing me. I don’t think I even have a favourite character in a single book let alone across the 16 books I’ve written! I love Donna Maria in Cosa Nostra because she is tough and vulnerable. The internal conflict for her is massive and the decisions she takes are for the greater good. Of course, she is also sexy and intriguing. You have written books from a number of time periods and places. Which place/ period did you enjoy writing most and why?I tend to write a lot about forbidden love and overcoming the barriers to be able to live freely. I think this is in part due to my military experience and own upbringing and also the fact that there are still many places and cultures in the world where being ‘different from the socially accepted concept of normal’ is not acceptable. I also like to take readers to places and times in our history they may have never experienced. I loved writing Madeleine, which is a post WW2 love story, equally I loved writing Forbidden which is set in Syria before the war. My favourite short story is Joan of Arc, which is a love story told by Joan’s lover. But my favourite and I think my best work to date is Don’t Tell Me Who To Love. It is passionate, heartbreaking in places, sexy, poignant, and very powerful. |
| If you could spend a day with another popular author, whom would you choose, and why? |
I would like to spend time with either Sarah Waters or Emma Donoghue, so if you can set that up that would be awesome. I love their work and I think particularly Sarah Waters’ ‘books turned movies’, such as Fingersmith, have helped to engage a wider readership of lesbian fiction. Of course, I would love to chat to Katherine V Forrest about the writing of Curious Wine. Please, tell her, I can travel to Canada. 😉 |
What are you working on at the moment?.I’m working on a new genre, which is a secret, so I won’t expand any further on that. Just to say that I’m loving the challenge and the story is awesome! I recently published The Politician, and I’m delighted that readers are currently enjoying it. The key themes in the book are: family, power, passion, integrity and deception, and being true to your core beliefs. There are two strong women and no compromises. It’s set in London and Thailand, so we see the contrast between the two places. There’s a lot of love and even more sex. |
| Yep, I wish I could arrange conversations with Katherine V Forrest and Sarah Waters, but my budget won’t stretch that far! I’m delighted to see The Politician is in the top ten lesbian best sellers in the USA. Congratulations and thanks again, Emma. |
EV Bancroft 