AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT + GIVEAWAY with CLARISSA HARWOOD
I recently had the opportunity to chat with acclaimed historical fiction author Clarissa Harwood about her latest novel, the gorgeous gothic romance, THE CURSE OF MORTON ABBEY, which released just a few days before my debut gothic romance, Parting the Veil.
Clarissa and I have a lot in common—especially our mutual appreciation for the Victorian era—and I have enjoyed getting to know her over the past few months. You’ll want to read to the end of this interview for the chance to win a signed paperback copy of THE CURSE OF MORTON ABBEY, which centers a resourceful and ambitious heroine, a crumbling manor house hiding dark secrets, and plenty of suspenseful twists and turns. It’s the perfect gothic treat!
The Full Synopsis:
Solicitor Vaughan Springthorpe knows perfectly well that Sir Peter Spencer’s offer of employment seems too good to be true: he hires her sight unseen, offering a suspiciously large salary to prepare the sale of Morton Abbey, his crumbling Yorkshire estate. But few people in late-Victorian England will entrust their legal affairs to a woman, and Vaughan is desperate to prove herself.
Once at Morton, Vaughan discovers that someone is determined to drive her away. An intruder tries to enter her bedroom at night, gunshots are fired outside her window, and an eerie crying echoes from the uninhabited second floor. Even Netherton, the nearest village, seems odd: the picturesque houses and perfect-looking families are haunted by dark secrets connected to Morton Abbey itself.
To complete her work and solve the mystery at the heart of Morton, Vaughan needs the help of Joe Dixon, the handsome gardener, and Nicholas Spencer, her employer’s irascible invalid brother. But with her questions diverted, her progress thwarted, and her sleep disrupted by the crying, will Vaughan escape Morton Abbey with her sanity intact or be cursed by the secrets within?
“Clarissa Harwood's latest is Jane Eyre meets The Secret Garden. A resourceful heroine, a gloomy manor, and a dark secret to uncover—who could ask for anything more? The Curse of Morton Abbey is a terrific gothic romp of a novel!” - KATE QUINN, New York Times bestselling author of The Rose Code
Paulette: Hi Clarissa! Our books have a lot in common, but there are some unique differences as well. Can you tell us about The Curse Of Morton Abbey?
Clarissa: I remember the exact moment the first spark of inspiration hit me because it happened in such an unusual place: a stuffy campus classroom where my students were writing the final exam for my children’s literature course. I watched them fidget and stare into space or at the ceiling as if hoping the answers would magically appear there. Some students finished early, so I started marking their exams. One essay answer was about Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden. In the middle of the essay I looked up and stared into space myself, arrested by an idea: What if the child protagonists of Burnett’s novel were adults? What would they be like? And my brain exploded with ideas. The gothic elements followed soon after.
Paulette: That’s brilliant. It’s so interesting how the sudden spark of an idea can lead to something as fully-realized as a novel. Even though it’s not necessarily classified as such, The Secret Garden has a gothic undercurrent, I’ve always thought—even the title—so it makes total sense to me that Burnett’s novel was an inspiration. What do you find most appealing about the gothic genre, in general?
Clarissa: I love the thrill of a good suspense novel that doesn’t cross the line into horror (I’m too squeamish for most horror novels). And I’ve always been a sucker for gothic tropes: give me a crumbling, isolated mansion, a forbidding male antagonist or two, a heroine in peril, and I’ll follow you anywhere! I blame it on the classics of gothic literature I read in my youth such as Jane Eyre, Rebecca, and the novels of Mary Stewart. The texts I’ve enjoyed teaching most are gothics, too: Henry James’s “The Turn of the Screw,” Elizabeth Bowen’s “The Demon Lover,” and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper.”
Gothic stories are like dreams: they contain endless layers of symbolism, and I love that depth and psychological richness. I find Gothic monsters and villains especially fascinating as repositories of the protagonists’ repressed desires and fears. Frankenstein and Dracula, those iconic monster novels of the nineteenth century, lend themselves especially well to a Jungian interpretation. I started out as a psychology major, but it was only when I started studying English literature that I found my happy place in Jungian psychology!
Paulette: Yes, the Jungian archetypes! I love them and they are a big part of the appeal of gothic fiction for me, as well. I feel like gothic stories are a lot like fairytales in many ways—everything is a little larger than life and surreal. The fabulist and speculative elements in gothic can be subtle or pronounced. It’s a playground to explore so many symbols and themes that resonate with the human experience.
Speaking of themes, what are some of the themes in THE CURSE OF MORTON ABBEY and your work as a whole?
Clarissa: The themes I love to explore most are faith and feminism, both of which take centre stage in my first two novels, Impossible Saints and Bear No Malice. I especially enjoy exploring the intersection between these two themes because they are often considered incompatible, at least by the faith tradition I grew up in.
It might seem at first glance that gothic novels are anti-feminist, given the long tradition of the passive heroine who is preyed upon by the monster or male antagonist. I enjoyed putting a feminist twist on this trope in The Curse of Morton Abbey: my female protagonist, Vaughan is a heroine in peril, but she’s also brave and tough. In fact, she’s more abrasive and less of a “proper lady” than the heroines of my first two books, but I’m gratified to see that most readers who have read advance copies of the novel really like her! I often think of my characters as if they were my children, and Vaughan is the embarrassing child, the one who often says the wrong thing, but I love her persistence and stubbornness. And because she is working as a lawyer before women could officially practice law in England, Vaughan is in her way as much of a trailblazer as Lilia, the suffragette heroine of Impossible Saints.
Paulette: I love the intersection of faith and feminism, as well, and that is something that I tackle headlong in my current work-in-progress. I just started your novel last night, and Vaughan is already such a compelling heroine. I personally love heroines who might come off as less-than-perfect and abrasive. There really were several women who were trailblazers in the era like your Vaughan—risk-takers and proto-feminists who asserted themselves more than people might assume. Women like Ida B. Wells and Elizabeth Cady Stanton come to mind. There were also women who asserted their strength in quieter ways, absolutely, but feminism has always existed on a spectrum. Not every Victorian heroine is the perfect “angel in the house” caricature, nor do they need to wield a pistol in order to hold power.
You mentioned in another interview recently that The Curse of Morton Abbey has been a project you’ve nurtured off and on for a few years. Can you tell us about your writing process? What are your favorite and least favorite aspects?
Clarissa: My least favorite is the first draft! How I hate the first draft! I hate not knowing my characters. They aren’t my friends yet, and I miss my old friends from the previous novel. The characters in a first draft are people who’ve dropped out of the sky and are ordering me to tell a story I don’t know.
I love revisions, whether I’m doing them on my own after having written several drafts, or whether I’m doing them based on my agent’s or editor’s feedback. There is no terror of the blank page, so I don’t experience writer’s block when I’m doing revisions. I already know the story and the characters, so I don’t have to create anything from scratch. Instead, I’m adding layers and depth, polishing something that is already a solid story.
Paulette: We are so much alike in this respect! I dread drafting with a passion, but every round of revisions brings the story to life as the pieces gradually start coming together. It’s the best feeling.
What has been the most unexpected or surprising moment in your writing career?
Clarissa: Getting published! It wasn’t exactly unexpected, but I was in the habit of waiting for so long for anything to happen in the publishing industry that when it finally happened, it was hard to believe it was real. And then when my second book was picked up by the same publisher, it seemed too good to be true that I would have not one but two books out in the world. And now I have three. I feel very blessed.
Paulette: Your comment about things not feeling real is one I can relate to! Even though my first book is out in the world, I can still hardly believe it. There’s so much of our writing journey that can feel like spinning your wheels, even when you’re learning and growing, unawares. I think the thrill of looking back and seeing your growth is one of the best rewards of becoming an author. I always tell my friends who are trying to break into publishing to focus on the things they can control. Learning writing craft and finding your voice is such a wonderful part of the journey.
Do you have any advice for writers?
Clarissa: Don’t write what you think will sell or what an agent or editor will want. Write what you love, if for no other reason than because you’ll end up revising that book so many times you will come to hate it. It’s best to start with love so it takes longer for the hate to kick in! Seriously, though, your passion for your story will come through in your writing and grab the attention of an agent or editor much more successfully than attempting to write to the market.
Also, celebrate every victory, no matter how small. On the toughest writing days, I’ll celebrate finishing one sentence that has recognizably English words in it. Other victories aren’t even directly about writing but they all help me towards the goal of getting to know my characters and their stories. For example, in the first draft stage, I celebrate finding the right image that encapsulates something about my protagonist or the right music that taps into a feeling I’m trying to capture in the story.
Paulette: You’re so right. It often happens that it’s the passion project—the story you wrote for the sheer love of writing, that becomes the book that breaks through. It’s happened to many of my friends, and it’s honestly what happened to me with Parting the Veil as well. Celebrating those milestones and victories, whether large or small is such a huge part of finding satisfaction and inspiration as a writer, and you have inspired me so much today, Clarissa! Thanks for taking the time to chat!
Clarissa: Thank you for interviewing me! It’s been a pleasure talking with you.
GIVEAWAY RULES: THE CURSE OF MORTON ABBEY
For a chance to win a signed paperback copy of The Curse of Morton Abbey, follow Clarissa’s Facebook or Twitter page. On Facebook, please leave a comment on Clarissa’s pinned post. On Twitter, please RT Clarissa’s pinned post. If you do both (FB and Twitter), you’ll earn two entries for the giveaway. Contest ends at midnight Eastern Time on Friday, November 12. The winner will be chosen randomly and announced at noon on Saturday, November 13. Open to residents of the U.S. and Canada who are 18 and older.
Update: 11/13/2021—GIVEAWAY CLOSED — The winner of the signed copy of THE CURSE OF MORTON ABBEY is Stephanie C.
**To read my interview and see the giveaway rules for a chance to win my Parting the Veil prize package, visit Clarissa’s blog!
Clarissa Harwood holds a PhD in English literature with a specialization in nineteenth-century British literature and is the author of three historical novels. Publishers Weekly called Impossible Saints “a rich debut. . . . With insight and sensitivity, Harwood explores century-old social mores and challenges that still echo loudly today.” Bear No Malice won the Editor's Choice Award from the Historical Novel Society, and Kirkus Reviews called it “a smart and highly civilized tale about love, temptation, and second chances.” Clarissa is a part-time university instructor and full-time grammar nerd who loves to explain the difference between restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses. She lives in Ontario, Canada, with her husband and three neurotic cats.
Find Clarissa and her books here:
Website: https://clarissaharwood.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/clarissaharwood
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clarissajharwood/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClarissaHarwoodAuthor
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/clarissa-harwood