Yvonne Pastolove
Publications
Gabrielle's Story
Wheel of Fate: Book 1
Wheel of Fate: Book 2
Book Trailers
Q&A
From 2020, following the publication of Wheel of Fate - Book 2
Q- What inspired you to write your first book?
A- My girls already knew most of this, but I wanted my grandchildren to know more about their grandparents' background and lives. Writing the Family History was difficult because I began it shortly after my husband Leonard (Dad-Pop) died, but it was also healing and showed me how much I wanted to go back to writing.
Q- Where do your ideas come from?
A- I had just finished reading a book about the Napoleonic Wars - not from the generals' and historians' point of view, but from soldiers' letters and memoirs. I had always thought of the battle of Waterloo as having been fought on a large plain and suddenly found myself wondering how battles must have spilled over into woods and farms and villages. What might have happened to a 10-year old girl, the only one of her family left in their heavily damaged country home? It became my first novel, "Gabrielle's Story".
Q- Do you work to an outline or plot or do you prefer just see where an idea takes you?
A- I never write an outline but have a rough idea of the plot in my head. For me that is the way to really get to know my characters to the point where I know exactly how they would react to any situation - except for the times when when they surprise me!
Q- How much research do you do?
A- As all my novels are set in the 19th century and in different locations, I spend months and months on research before I start writing. Research continues throughout the writing process - there is always something new to learn the places and times.
Q-Tell us about the cover/s and how it/they came about.
A- The first cover was chosen from hundreds of photograph. My artist/art-therapist daughter Renee did the next three covers. I am especially fond of the "Wheel of Fate - Book 1" cover: I had asked her to think "Alice in Wonderland" and to put a poor boy into the mirror - she captured what I had imagined perfectly. At the end of this book I also realized that there was a "Wheel of Fate - Book 2" waiting to be written; she did the family tree cover, too.
Q- What books have most influenced your life most?
A- That's a very long list. Anything by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, "The Magic Mountain" (which I read in the original German), and G.Brook's "Year of Wonder".
Q- For your own reading, do you prefer eBooks or traditional paper/hardback books?
A- I love the feel of 'real' books in my hands, but have my kindle for airplane travel and as a depository of research material.
Q- What book/s are you reading at present?
A- Anything and everything for my next novel!
Bio
Yvonne Pastolove grew up in Zurich Switzerland where she spoke French at home and had to quickly learn German upon entering the first grade. She met her husband Leonard while studying as a foreign exchange student in Boston and in due time moved to the U.S.
Yvonne has three daughters and when they were in school she started to write childrens stories, on a typewriter! These stories were published in 'Cricket' and other children's magazines. Now, with her children grown up and time is her own, Yvonne loves writing novels set in the 19th century and the challenges and reseach that come with them.