Stephanie Barron
Author Interview - Stephanie Barron
Author I draw inspiration from: Jane Austen. There's a reason her words have endured two hundred years after her death--she is the most formidable guide to human motivation since Shakespeare, and has yet to be supplanted by her heirs, in my opinion.
Author Interview - Stephanie Barron
Favorite place to read a book: By the fire. With a glass of wine. And a compliant dog.
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with: James Bond. He'd get us out.
Author Interview - Stephanie Barron
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author: I have been a writer since childhood, but becoming an author is a different thing entirely. I became an author when I was twenty-nine, and working as an intelligence officer at the CIA, because I envisioned an alternative life and committed myself to chasing it. On a dare from my husband, I sat down and outlined my first novel. Then I sat down and wrote it, in the evenings after work. When I had completed a first draft, I found an agent. And he found a publisher. It was a remarkably linear process, which I recognize is unusual--but it began with commitment.
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook: All of them. All the time.
The last book I read: An advance copy of Lauren Willig's THE SUMMER COUNTRY, due out May 2019. It's utterly compelling.
Author Interview - Stephanie Barron
Pen & paper or computer: Computer. I have to see my words in print to hear them sing.
Book character I think I’d be best friends with: Lord Peter Wimsey
Author Interview - Stephanie Barron
If I wasn’t (an author) a writer, I’d be a(n): Unhappy person, impossible to live with.
Favorite decade in fashion history: 1910-1920. Edwardian dresses are so exquisite, and hats were still possible.
Place I’d most like to travel: Istanbul. I am dying to pass through The Dardanelles.
My signature drink: Pinot Noir
Favorite artist: John Singer Sargent. And not just because he sketched Jennie Churchill's immortal face. I would love him for his painting "El Jaleo" alone. It's in the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum in Boston.
Author Interview - Stephanie Barron
Number one on my bucket list: Learning to fly. I'm hoping if I understand the mechanics, I'll be less terrified of falling from the sky.
Author Interview - Stephanie Barron
