Book Birthday Blitz ~ Maid of Steel by Kate Baker

 

Maid Of Steel

It’s 1911 and, against her mother’s wishes, quiet New Yorker Emma dreams of winning the right to vote. She is sent away by her parents in the hope distance will curb her desire to be involved with the growing suffrage movement and told to spend time learning about where her grandparents came from.

Across the Atlantic – Queenstown, southern Ireland – hotelier Thomas dreams of being loved, even noticed, by his actress wife, Alice. On their wedding day, Alice’s father had assured him that adoration comes with time. It’s been eight years. But Alice has plans of her own and they certainly don’t include the fight for equality or her dull husband.

Emma’s arrival in Ireland leads her to discover family secrets and become involved in the Irish Women’s Suffrage Society in Cork. However, Emma’s path to suffrage was never meant to lead to a forbidden love affair…

Purchase Links

Publisher’s link: https://www.bookguild.co.uk/bookshop/book/486/maid-of-steel-SMwd/

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/191535269X/

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/191535269X/

Waterstones: https://www.waterstones.com/book/maid-of-steel/kate-baker/9781915352699

Author Bio – Maid of Steel is Kate’s first full length novel to be published. She also writes short stories and is presently drafting a second novel.

She writes at a desk covered in to-do lists and lights candles in the hope the lists disappear in the shadows.

She lives in East Anglia in the UK with her husband where they attempt to look after farmland for generations to come.

A small, very small, dog can be frequently found on Kate's lap. Otis is her first miniature dachshund.

https://twitter.com/katefbaker

https://www.instagram.com/KateFrancesWrites/

https://www.facebook.com/KateBakerAuthor

https://katefrancesbaker.com/

Author Interview:

Today on Teatime and Books I’d love to welcome, Kate Baker, author of MAID OF STEEL. We are so delighted you could join us today.

 

Thank you so much for inviting me to celebrate my debut’s first birthday!

 

What or who inspired you to become an author?

When playwright, Beth Flintoff, came to spend time with a group coming to the end of a self-esteem program at Ipswich Women’s Aid (myself being one of them), we were encouraged to write down our feelings and thoughts. She was writing a play about Maria Marten, who was murdered in Suffolk at the hands of a perpetrator in 1827. Beth wanted a greater understanding of how someone could arrive a point in their lives where they put their trust - and lives - into the hands of someone who could do them harm.

Watching Beth’s play at The Wolsey moved us all; it’s a profound moment when you realise the choices we make all lead somewhere, and I don’t necessarily mean a geographical location. Mental wellbeing has such a huge part to play in how we see ourselves and if it wasn’t for the work of the teams around the country at the Women’s Aid Centres, many women could not call themselves survivors.

 

After my course came to an end, I was determined to keep writing. I had found the process tapped into my natural creative side. I continued to learn the craft and in 2019 began work on a novel, inspired by a weekend away in Ireland for my fiftieth. In 2023, Maid of Steel was published. While the story is set in 1911 and 1912 Ireland, is woven through reality of politics of the time, the theme is definitely one of equality. I think even the title has a hint of where the last few years have taken me. My book is primarily about a suffragette, yes, but it’s not about a woman trying to be better than a man. It’s about equality.

 

What sort of research did you do to write this book?

I love doing research, although it can take over for months and stop you writing the story! I bought over ten books from ebay about Ireland and suffragettes and read articles written in the early 20^th century, so that when I did my first big edit, I could flesh out the scene ideas I’d thrashed out during Nano2019 and make the scenes authentic. Once I’d written that first draft, I also returned to Cork and Cobh – dragging (hardly) my friend, Hannah, with me so we could revisit some places and investigate others that we hadn’t been to the year before, such as Cork City Gaol which features in the novel when Emma is arrested.

 

What are you working on now? Any chance of a sequel?

Funny you should ask this, as a handful of readers have asked for one! Initially, I’d thought the story done, but there was a lot of material which didn’t make the pages of the novel, such as Emma’s grandmother’s story, set in 1854 when she escaped Ireland in the Potato Famine. I’ve also thought about a novella perhaps, which could show us what they do next (which could involve yet another visit, methinks!)

For now, though, I’m working on a second standalone – The Projectionist – and hope to have the first draft completed within a month. It’s at 62k words right now. It’s the dual-time line story of Frank who all his life was the projectionist at the cinema in a small town on the east coast of Essex. In the contemporary time-line he’s an old man who shuffles past the derelict cinema at the same time every day; for good reason. He knows that was the time his late wife watched his message home from Egypt which he was doing National Service in 1952. The historical time-line is set mostly in 1953 in Bradwich where Joan is left alone to deal with the great flood East Anglia endured on 31 January of that year.

 

Are you a pantser or a plotter? Or a mix of the two?

I recently learnt that I’m something called a Chaotic Plotter! There’s a chart with 9 specific author types between those two descriptions and while I don’t follow a rigid plan, I do have an outline in my head before I begin – perhaps post-it notes on the wall which occasionally float off and become walked over because I’m too busy writing to pick them up. I don’t do detailed character analytics before I start because I tend to find I learn more about them as the story unfolds in front of us both.

 

Which type of genre do you love most, and why?

It really depends which mood I’m in as to what genre I read. And while I’ve been finding my voice as a writer, I think the same thing applies. It’s still early days so I can’t yet say my writing can be branded, although I certainly am enjoyed that historical family drama which seems to come under ‘women’s historical fiction’. This description slightly irks me, as I fear men could be put off reading it. Yet Mark Stay (of Bestseller Experiment) did an edit for me and loved it, as have a handful of men I know have read it. Okay, one is my father which may not count as someone who genuinely ‘found me’; he knew I’d been writing it for years and it was natural he’d want to read it, being a voracious reader himself. But because his favoured genre is policital and coldwar thrillers, I was touched that his feedback was really positive regarding pace and storyline. (He’s a tough one; ex-military and calls a spade a spade!)

 

I had a go at writing science fiction a couple of years back, but that’s so so hard! I’ve written a ghostly fantasy short story for an anthology which members of The Bestseller Experiment are self-publishing this May, so we’ll see what readers think of that soon enough! I’ve had five shorts accepted by People’s Friend magazine which are more the type of stories their readers expect – wholesome, happy-ever afters with no sex or violence on the page.

 

What’s your favorite novel of all time, and why?

What a difficult question! I stayed up all night to read The Book Thief by Markus Zuzak and bawled my eyes out; again that fictionalized reality is what really gets me. But I also adored Nicholas Evans’ The Horse Whisperer, which I read long before Robert Redford made the film. That unhappy ending was what really left me affected for days (but it was important for that story; her husband was a lovely man after all). One last title I must mention is Gail Tsukiyama’s The Samurai’s Garden set in Japan in 1939. It’s a coming of age story about a young man sent away to the coast to his family’s what we’d call a summer house; away from the city where his illness is worse, and away from the threat of conflict. The beach house is cared for by Matsu, an elderly and wise man who lives simply. It’s a real lesson to us all about what life is really about. I found it profound and my husband and I watch Love Island sometimes – which we love – but then conclude, ,”It’s not very Matsu, though, is it?” !!!

 

What fellow author do you recommend reading, and why?

I adore Rose Tremaine for her storytelling, and Lucinda Riley for her family connections, Sophie Hannah for her clever mysteries, Kristin Hannah for her locations all over the world, Stephen King for his ability to reach into my soul to terrify me, Mark Stay for an entertaining delve into 1940s village life with woodland and witches in his ‘Witches of Woodville’ series. I do also occasionally read a literary author, such as Margaret Attwood. While I’ll never be as good an author, reading wordage by such talent might rub off, you never know!

 

When you’re not writing, how do you spend your time?

I’ve run my own one-man band business on our farm for 17 years. The Rug Room washes and reproofs and repairs horse rugs for clients in a 20-mile radius of our farm. I have a workshop seventeen paces from the back door, so the commute is not too bad! I’m an insomniac so can frequently be found sewing patches on clean rugs at 3am.

I also do the farm accounts for our family farm and although I don’t sit down for two solid days a week, it’s probably a correct guess at the time I spend doing that plus all the emails and form-filling that goes with modern farm life.

 

Do you listen to music when writing? If so, what type?

Usually Hans Zimmer instrumental tracks from the films. He’s done so many over the last couple of decades and the cinematic vibe listening to them brings helps me to ‘see’ the scenes as they grow on the page. I can change the tone of the music to help with the tone of whatever I’m writing. Occasionally I type in silence, but more often than not, I do have something playing.

 

Any advice you have for a blossoming author?

Yes! Beware who you show your early work to. By all means, sign up for creative writing workshops and join writing groups, but sharing embryonic scene ideas to be critiqued can shred your confidence and stop you before you’ve started. Let your writing world grow around you. Play with words; do short stories as well as thinking about a novel. Even have a go a flash fiction, utilizing your existing characters and put them into situations that won’t appear in the book. This can really help to drill down into who they are. We relate best to stories where we care about the character. Some say write every day. I’ve tried that, but can’t do it; not unless you count email writing or blogging.

Another fun thing to do is while you’re watching a film or TV, think about what the director has done for us. How has he/she captured our attention, how are they maintaining pace, how have our heartstrings been pulled? Why do we care? Why do we keep watching and not scroll on our phones? How did the scene begin, how did the film begin? What was the book? Most of the fiction on screen began life as a novel so it’s the perfect way to absorb aspects of the craft.

 

Just for Fun:

Do you like tea or coffee?

Tea; earl grey with milk (and I don’t care that’s seen as ‘wrong’ by many!)

Do you have any pets?

A miniature dachshund called Otis who sleeps 22 hours a day and is not helping my failing fitness regime

What’s your favorite color?

Blue

What’s your favorite season?

The warmth of summer

What’s your favorite movie?

Top Gun

 

Interview Closing:

This was so much fun! Thank you, Kate, for joining us.  We wish you all the best on your continued writing journey and we are looking forward to your next book.

Thank you for having me; I’ve loved chatting books and reading! xx

Giveaway to Win a signed copy of Maid of Steel, candle and lipsil (Open to UK Only)

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