I have read exactly one ebook in my life. I don’t even own a tablet. It was on my way to the Serengeti and there was no way the book was at a bookstore at JFK. I read it on my phone.
So, yes, my house is awash in Jenga towers of books made of paper.
Back in the day — prior to perhaps 2004 — my wife created my covers, working with my publisher. Her original, hand-colored photos are on the hardcovers of Water Witches, Midwives, The Law of Similars, and The Buffalo Soldier.
I am still deeply involved in my covers. But, obviously, I defer to art directors and marketing.
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Great question. Only once have I been somewhere and thought, THIS is a novel. That would have been on my third visit to Tuscany in 2008. (I have friends who live there, and I used to bike there.) I realized it had been a battlefield in 1944, and The Light in the Ruins was born.
Usually, I have had a premise for a book and THEN gone to the geography — i.e., Vietnam or Tanzania.
I agree. And, yes.
Also? I hope one of those emotions at the end was a bit of sadness. I love books that break my heart.
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Both are interesting countries. Vietnam’s cities have crazy traffic patterns, well I’m unsure there’s even a pattern.
I like Libby’s War or The Jackal and Libby Steadman.
Thanks for taking the time to answer all our questions.
What advice would you give an aspiring writer?
What question do you wish people would ask (or ask more often) about your work?
What are you working on now?
Read lots. Read in the genres you love. Know the first draft is not the last draft. Have fun.
I just finished my 35th book tour. Among the most interesting questions I have ever been asked was on this tour. It was asked by Barnes & Noble’s Miwa Messer for her “Poured Over” podcast. “Chris,” she asked, “what’s with all the grief?” It was so damn smart and such a precise surgical incision into my body of work.
In August of 2026 you will see “The Amateur.” The novel is about an 18-year-old likely LPGA golf superstar who, in 1978, drives a golf ball through the practice net at her swank country club in a suburb of New York City, accidentally killing a caddy — and classmate. It derails her life and the novel builds to a courtroom drama. In some ways, it’s reminiscent of my novel, “Midwives.”
You mentioned that your books go through several drafts. How far along are you on The Amateur? Do you have another book in the works you can give us a hint about?
Not a writing question, really, but more about the travel you’ve done in researching your books. I imagine COVID derailed some of your plans; were any of your novels delayed because you couldn’t do as much traveling then?
I admire your willingness to fly across the globe to research your books. What country do you think you’ll visit next? Is there a location on your wish-list, related to a book or not?
I was SO lucky when it came to researching THE LIONESS. I was SUPPOSED to go to the Serengeti in May 2020, but there were two cancellations on a late fall 2019 safari, and so my wife and I went then. This meant that I was able to write that novel in 2020.
I was in Las Vegas in the summer of 2021 researching THE PRINCESS OF LAS VEGAS. Among the strange Covid moments? The lines of people at the slot machines wearing masks, WITH HOLES CUT AROUND THE MOUTH SO THEY COULD SMOKE.
Now, I was supposed to be in Aleppo in 2011, researching THE SANDCASTLE GIRLS. I had to cancel when the Arab Spring became the cataclysmic Syrian war.
THE AMATEUR is done. It’s being copy-edited. That book will come out in 2026. So, I am writing a new play at the moment.
Oh, I thank YOU so very much.
I was actually in Vietnam on a bike tour. Biking in Hue and Da Nang was wild.
Oh, that’s too funny!
I expect you’ve seen a lot of crazy stuff in your travels, both during your research and your book tours. Any other anecdotes you can share?
I’m surprised that once a book is done, it takes that long to get it to market. How long is it, on average, from the time you finish the first draf until it gets to stores?