
I've never been to Cornwall, so the parts of the story set there are based in part on research. Were you inspired by your own life or was it purely imagination?Ī: It always seems to be both. Q: There is so much evocative imagery throughout the book. And it might be a good idea, once you've finished both stories, to go back to the one you started with, because at that point you'll have a different understanding of it. Q: Where should a reader start, with Brendan's or Evelyn's story?Ī: Readers can start with either story: each choice will give them a slightly different experience. The details that were important to these characters were the ones that ended up in their narratives. I think that part of the writing process came more naturally than you might expect. So while I was writing Evelyn's story, I saw it from her perspective. While I was writing each story, I was completely in the mind of the character from whose perspective I was writing. How did you decide which details would go into Brendan's or Evelyn's story?Ī: I don't think I decided, actually. Q: Each side of the story is carefully written. So something would happen in Brendan's story, and I would have to go back and make sure it happened in Evelyn's as well. Each time, events from the other story would inform my writing or revisions. And then, I revised Evelyn's story based on Brendan's, and Brendan's based on Evelyn's. Next, I wrote Brendan's story as I was reading Evelyn's, matching events and scenes. Q: How did the book's unique format influence the evolution of the story?Ī: It made writing a technical challenge! First, I wrote Evelyn's story. I think it always happens that way, when you're writing a book. At some point, Evelyn and Brendan took over and started telling me what had happened to them. As for the love story itself, it's based in part on a real love story, or my imaginative interpretation of it. It was all there, in the proposal: the whole story, or at least the general outline of it. I think that's when I first got the idea for The Book of the Green Knight. He mentioned that, because the format would be so important, I might want to include a book in the story itself.

He had an idea: a book in an accordion format. Ī ReviewFeatured Q & A with Theodora GossQ: How did the idea for this peculiar love story come about?Ī: It all started last summer, when my editor called me.

It was almost as if they were the cursed lovers in the old book itself. When Brendan Thorne handed her a medieval romance, he didnt know it would change the course of his future. “When Evelyn Morgan walked into the village bookstore, she didnt know she would meet the love of her life.
