Angela Terry is an attorney who formerly practiced intellectual property law at large firms in Chicago and San Francisco. She is also a Chicago Marathon legacy runner and races to raise money for PAWS Chicago—the Midwest's largest no-kill shelter. She resides in San Francisco with her husband and two cats, and enjoys throwing novel-themed dinner parties for her women's fiction book club.

Q: Why did you write this book?
Answer: The initial inspiration for The Palace at Dusk came from my readers. In my last novel, The Trials of Adeline Turner, Jasmine was the main character’s work nemesis at their fictional law firm, Gilchrist & Jenkins. At the end of that book, there’s a hint that Jasmine has a secret romance with another secondary character; and afterwards, many readers asked me, “What’s Jasmine’s story?” So I decided she deserved a book of her own to tell her backstory.

For the plot inspiration, I’ve seen many friends and acquaintances find themselves in difficult marriages or relationships, and so I wanted to write about a more complex romantic relationship, in this case an extra-marital affair, and portray it in a realistic, but also empathetic, way told from the perspective of “the other woman.”

Q: What do you hope people will take away from this book?
Answer: I’m hoping this book will spark discussion. Some of my favorite books are those where I totally disagree with what the character is doing, and silently screaming “Nooo,” while continuing to turn the pages.

My intention for writing this book is that it would be both thought-provoking and emotionally engaging for the reader. Even if they disagree with Jae’s choices, I’m hoping they’ll wonder, “What would I do in this type of situation? Or what would I tell a friend to do?” Hopefully this story will be something the reader will keep thinking about and want to discuss with others when they finish the last page.

Q: Tell us about your writing process?
Answer: I’m a “pantser,” which means I write by the seat of my pants instead of outlining my stories beforehand. I’ll have a general idea about a scene or a character, and I will just start writing. If the story seems to fizzle out or I lose interest, then I stop writing. But if I can imagine the middle and end of the story, and finish a first messy draft while staying engaged with the characters, then I know I have something. From there I’ll reread that first draft, pull things apart to restructure the story, and then that’s where the real writing begins—in the editing.

Q: Do you have any other projects in the works?
Answer: I do! I’m currently working on a couple other women’s fiction titles. One is a sequel to my debut novel Charming Falls Apart, and another features Jasmine’s sister, Saffron, as the main character.

Q: What is your favorite thing about being an author?
Answer: My favorite part of being an author is connecting with readers. Whenever a reader reaches out to me to say how much they enjoyed the book—that they related to a character or a situation, or the book appeared at the right time in their life—it’s the best feeling and fuels me to keep writing.

Marianne C. Bohr, freelance writer and travel blogger, married her high school sweetheart and travel partner. Four of her travel essays received Solas Awards by travel publisher, Travelers’ Tales, honoring excellence in travel writing. Her first book, Gap Year Girl: A Baby Boomer Adventure Across 21 Countries, was published by She Writes Press. Gap Year Girl was named a finalist in both the IndieFab Book of the Year Awards, and the Next Generation Indie Book Awards. Kirkus Reviews said about her book, “Bohr shines…providing glimpses of herself as a whole person, not simply a traveler. Gap Year Girl is an excellent choice…a travelogue filled with historic places, but its personal stories provide its highlights.” 

The author's second book, The Twenty: One Woman’s Trek Across Corsica on the GR20 Trail, was published in June 2023. Paddy Dillon, author of Cicerone's The GR20 Corsica: Complete Guide to the High-Level Route writes: "You need to be strong, fit and agile in order to complete the GR20. It comes as no surprise to discover that most trekkers are young adults in tip-top condition. Marianne reminds us that age is no barrier to trekking the GR20, provided that careful planning is followed by careful foot placement. Her determination along the trail is inspiring."

With her husband and their two grown children, she follows her own advice and travels at every opportunity. Marianne lives in Park City, UT, where after decades in publishing, and then many years teaching middle school French, she skis, hikes, and writes.

Q: You wrote a book about the difficult GR20 hiking trail. Please tell us more about it.
Answer: Yes, my second book is called The Twenty: The Highs and Lows of Hiking Across Corsica on Europe’s Toughest Footpath. It was published in June 2023. My husband and I were about to turn sixty and we wanted to challenge what it meant to grow old. The book is part travelogue and part memoir about our journey across a rugged island of stunning beauty little known outside Europe. Very few Americans even know that Corsica is part of France. It’s a narrative about hiking, about aging, about accepting the finite journey of life, and about the intimate friendship of a long-term marriage that is tested in unexpected ways. I tried to use the GR20 as a crucible for exploring what it means to be an aging woman in a youth-focused culture. I’m a physically fit person but the limitations of age sometimes get the best of me

Q: Can you tell us about your journey as a writer? What inspired you to start writing?
Answer: I didn't start writing until I was 54 and it's become my later-in-life companion. My husband and I took a gap year in 2011—we sold the house, the car, and most of our things—and I wanted to capture the adventure in writing. My first book, Gap Year Girl: A Baby Boomer Adventure Across 21 Countries, is the result. I found that I loved to write stories, especially about travel (my muse), and I now have two books and many essays under my belt. My second book, The Twenty: One Woman’s Trek Across Corsica on the GR20 Trail, was recently published. It tells the story of hiking Europe’s toughest long-distance trail with my husband to celebrate our 60th birthdays. Writing these two books allowed me to relive the joy and discoveries of our journeys.

Q: Do you have an interesting writing quirk?
Answer: In my writing, setting is extremely important, so I suppose how I set up for my writing day is my little quirk. My rescue dog, Snap, is always on the overstuffed chair next to my desk with me and I always start by lighting a candle. My pup gives me a sense of warmth and security, and if the candle on my desk is lit, it tells my imagination to get to work.

Q: Where do you get ideas for your books?
Answer: Because my first two books are memoirs, the ideas come from my life, and they’re always about traveling and adventure. I try to encourage readers to get out of their comfort zones. Children love adventure and adults should too. It keeps us young! The people in my books generally become better, more interesting people after their journeys. I’m an avid hiker and always need another big hike on the horizon, so this June, my husband and I are doing the 200-mile Coast-to-Coast hike across northern England from the Irish Sea to the North Sea. And of course, our dog will be coming with us and I’m sure I’ll write about it.

Visit Marianne on her website: 
www.mariannebohr.com
Join Marianne on Faceboook: 
www.facebook.com/MarianneCBohr
Follow Marianne on Instagram: 
www.instagram.com/mariannecbohr
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LINK for BOOK:
https://www.amazon.com/Twenty-Womans-Across-Corsica-Trail/dp/1647424321

​Jeanne Blasberg is an award-winning and bestselling author and essayist. Her most recent book, The Nine (She Writes Press 2019) was honored with the 2019 Foreword Indies Gold Award in Thriller & Suspense, and the Gold Medal and Juror’s Choice in the 2019 National Indie Excellence Awards, among others. Her debut novel, Eden (She Writes Press 2017), won the Benjamin Franklin Silver Award for Best New Voice in Fiction and was a finalist for the Sarton Women’s Book Award for Historical Fiction. Blasberg founded the Westerly Writer’s Workshop and sits on the boards of the Boston Book Festival and GrubStreet, one of the country’s preeminent creative writing centers. Her essays have been featured in Zibby Owen’s Moms Don’t Have Time To, as well as in The Huffington Post, Indagare, Grown and Flown, diyMFA, The Jewish Book Council, and many others. Blasberg also reviews contemporary fiction for the New York Journal of Books and is a 2021-22 Southampton Arts Bookends Fellow. She and her husband have three grown children and split time between New England and the American West. 

Céline Keating is an award-winning writer and author of Layla (2011), a Huffington Post featured title, and Play for Me (2015), a finalist in the International Book Awards, the Indie Excellence Awards, and the USA Book Awards.Her newest novel, The Stark Beauty of Last Things was released on October 24, 2023. Céline's short fiction and articles have been published in many literary journals and magazines. For many years a part-time resident of New York City and Montauk, NY, now of Bristol, Rhode Island, Céline continues to serve on the board of environmental organization Concerned Citizens of Montauk. She is the coeditor of the anthology On Montauk: A Literary Celebration. 

Q: What inspired you to write The Stark Beauty of Last Things?
Answer: When I discovered Montauk, Long Island, I was immediately captivated: It was wild and sparsely populated and absolutely perfect. Over time, when the area began to get overdeveloped, I grew anxious about its future. The consequences of climate change were becoming apparent, too. So my novel grew out of my passion for Montauk’s natural beauty and my fear of changes that would spoil its specialness. I also wanted to convey a sense of urgency that we need to act now: Once a landscape is lost it is lost forever.

Q: How did you create your cast of characters?
Answer: Each of the female characters is wholly invented but based collectively on women I encountered, whether the tough women who worked in the fishing industry to those who worked seasonally in the bars and restaurants to those who owned small shops or motels. I also drew heavily on my experience with the environmental community. The only main character in the novel who is not local to the area – and the only male – was invented out of whole cloth. Ironically the storyline only gelled once I had him, an outsider, to help frame the story.

Q: How was the novel's title chosen, and what does it signify for you?
Answer: I wanted my title to convey a sense of the beauty of nature and what’s lost when we as human beings lose our connection to the natural world. The phrase was written by the poet Edward Hirsh to mean that beauty can be present even in death. The words struck me as perfectly capturing the elegiac mood I intended, and the idea that we often don’t appreciate something until it is gone.

Q: How important is setting to you in your writing?
Answer: Setting is one of, if not the most, important elements to me in fiction. I gravitate to novels with a strong sense of place. I work hard to convey the physical worlds of my stories, and in the case of The Stark Beauty of Last Things, it was a joy to convey the gorgeous coastal landscape and to share my love of everything Montauk through the prose.

Q: Did you know how the novel would end before you started writing it, or did you make many changes along the way?
Answer: I definitely didn’t know how the book would end. I used the novel to explore my own thoughts and ambivalences about the meaning and the best uses of land, and there was a point where I had no idea how to resolve the many contradictions I’d set up in the story, and between hope and despair. I tried out many different endings before finally landing on what felt right and feeling resolved that I had found the most authentic way to conclude both the story of Montauk itself and the main characters’ personal stories.