A Moment With… Juliet Greenwood

I’m pleased to be welcoming Juliet Greenwood to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for her novel, The Secret Daughter of Venice.

The paper is stiff and brittle with age as Kate unfolds it with trembling hands. She gasps at the pencil sketch of a rippling waterway, lined by tall buildings, curving towards the dome of a cathedral. She feels a connection deep in her heart. Venice.

England, 1941. When Kate Arden discovers a secret stash of drawings hidden in the pages of an old volume of poetry given to her as a baby, her breath catches. All her life, she has felt like an outsider in her aristocratic adoptive family, who refuse to answer any questions about her past. But the drawings spark a forgotten memory: a long journey by boat… warm arms that held her tight, and then let go.

Could these pictures unlock the secret of who she is? Why her mother left her? With war raging around the continent, she will brave everything to find out…

A gripping, emotional historical novel of love and art that will captivate fans of The Venice Sketchbook, The Woman on the Bridge and The Nightingale.

There’s a chance to win a signed copy of The Secret Daughter of Venice below but first, Juliet talks to us about the inspiration behind her novel. 

Finding Venice

The inspiration for The Secret Daughter of Venice came from my two visits to Venice. The first was when I was ten. It was part of a family holiday in an ancient VW campervan that had a habit of breaking down at inopportune moments, but managed to stagger to the campsite just outside the city without steam pouring ominously from the engine. It’s strange looking at those old photographs now. The memories of St Mark’s Square and travelling through the canals on a gondola are as vivid as if they were yesterday. That visit was just a few hours, but it always made me want to visit again.

The time I really got to know Venice was on my second visit, several years ago. I went with a friend, with neither of us having much money. It meant that we shopped for food at the market and local supermarkets, and our greatest extravagance was a ticket for the vaporetti, the water taxis, that allowed us to travel for as much as we liked. So much of the time was spent travelling up and down the Grand Canal, through early morning mist, clear April sunlight, and late evening as the lights shimmered in the water. It also allowed us to travel out into the lagoon to visit the islands of Murano and Burano. The rest we spent exploring on foot, through the squares and alleyways and tiny arched bridges with glimpses of the Grand Canal.

It was only when I was writing The Secret Daughter of Venice that I realised just how much we packed in and absorbed, largely because of the limitations of our budget! I drew on so much of our exploring on foot, and the hours just watching the world go by from the rail of a vaporetto. I’m planning to go back, and this time I’m also looking forward to having a meal out, and being able to enjoy sitting in more than one café and having more than one coffee, and this time in St Mark’s Square. But I shall also love revisiting the more hidden places and standing by the rail of a vaporetto just absorbing the sights and the sounds of such a unique location.

I’m glad that we chose to have longer there, with fewer treats, rather than blow it all on one weekend. It reminded me that a mad whirlwind tour in a dodgy campervan all those years ago was wonderful, and a privilege I’ll never forget, but it also meant it was one long round of sightseeing, when, for a child, all the museums, and even the ancient wonders of the world, began to blur into one. My resolution now, and especially after the constraints of Covid, is to take time when I visit a place, and to really get to know it, to not skim the surface of its obvious attractions but learn its different moods, its sights, sounds and smells, its sunshine and its rain. Now I’m older, I don’t have the energy to race from one spectacular sight to another, so I’ve promised myself to make a virtue of necessity and spend time sitting in cafes, and by the rail of a waterbus, watching the people around me and the world go by. After all, who knows what stories might, if you listen closely, lie waiting there to be told?

About Juliet Greenwood –

Juliet Greenwood is a historical novelist published by Storm Publishing. Her previous novel, The Last Train from Paris, was published to rave reviews and reached the top 100 kindle chart in the USA. She has long been inspired by the histories of the women in her family, and in particular with how strong-minded and independent women have overcome the limitations imposed on them by the constraints of their time, and the way generations of women hold families and communities together in times of crisis, including during WW2.

After graduating in English from Lancaster University and Kings College, London, Juliet worked on a variety of jobs to support her ambition to be a full-time writer. These ranged from running a craft stall at Covent Garden to running a small charity working with disadvantaged children, and collecting oral histories of traditional villages before they are lost forever. She finally achieved her dream of becoming a published author following a debilitating viral illness, with her first novel being a finalist for The People’s Book Prize and her first two novels reaching #4 and #5 in the UK Kindle store.

Juliet now lives in a traditional quarryman’s cottage in Snowdonia, North Wales, set between the mountains and the sea, with an overgrown garden (good for insects!) and a surprisingly successful grapevine. She can be found dog walking in all weathers working on the plot for her next novel, camera to hand.

Say hello to Juliet via Storm, her website, her blog, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and BlueSky. 

The Secret Daughter of Venice was released in May 2024. Click to buy on Amazon UK, Waterstones and Amazon US.

*****

Win a signed copy of The Secret Daughter of Venice. 

There are three signed copies of The Secret Daughter of Venice to give away.

This is open to the UK only.

All you have to do to enter is click on this link.

*Terms and Conditions  –

UK entries welcome.  Please enter using the Rafflecopter link above.  The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. 

Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data.  I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

by

Laura

I’m Laura. I started Novel Kicks in 2009. I wanted a place to post my writing as well as give other writers like me the opportunity to do the same. There is also a monthly book club, a writing room which features writing prompts, book reviews, competitions, author interviews and guest posts.

I grew up by the sea (my favourite place in the world) and I currently live in Hampshire. I am married to Chris, have a cat named Buddy and I would love to be a writer. I’m trying to write the novel I’ve talked so much about writing if only I could stop pressing delete. I’ve loved writing since creative writing classes in primary school. I have always wanted to see my teacher Miss Sayers again and thank her for the encouragement. When not trying to write the novel or writing snippets of stories on anything I can get my hands on, I love reading, dancing like a loon and singing to myself very badly. My current obsession is Once Upon a Time and I would be happy to live with magic in the enchanted forest surrounded by all those wonderful stories provided that world also included Harry Potter. I love reading chick lit. contemporary fiction and novels with mystery.