Books by Hilary Boyd
“If you’d have told me, even ten years ago, that I would be a bestselling novelist with my work translated into 23 languages, I would have laughed in your face,’ Hilary says. ‘I absolutely love what I do. And I believe with all my heart, as my books show, that romantic love can strike, at any age. I think it’s so important to have older people – women – represented in fiction. Not just as granny figures, but as vibrant, useful, sexual beings.”
Q & A
A conversation with the writer.
1. Where do you write?
I have a cosy room in the attic of our house. It has windows overlooking the road through the village and the roof tops, so when I’m bored I can gaze out and watch the world go by. My husband is across the patio in the converted garage, so we can’t hear each other thinking! This is a vast improvement to our tiny London flat, where we were on top of each other, driving each other nuts.
2. What is your writing routine?
Sorry, I’m not one of those writers who’s hard at it by 5am. Nor do I write long into the night. My routine is really dull, like a 9 – 5. My best time is the morning. Then after lunch I’ll revise – often junk – what I wrote earlier, and get depressed about what rubbish it all is. I’ll have a cuppa and go for a long walk round the harbour at the end of the day – ten minutes away – and breathe out all the tension in the peaceful beauty. It’s a pretty bloody lovely routine, I reckon.
3. How did you start writing about romance?
I’m a true romantic. I’ve always been a sucker for a great love story. Who isn’t? The whole relationship dynamic fascinates me – I suppose that’s why I became a marriage guidance counsellor – and there’s so much emotion in a love affair. You can go for broke. Really feel it.