Hey guys!
Today we have with us Reshma. She is the author of Fade into Red. I have read and thoroughly enjoyed the book. You can find my review of Fade Into Red here. So keep reading ahead for Reshma's interview and a fabulous giveaway at the end! :)
Summary-
Ayra always wanted to be an Art Historian. She saw herself flitting between galleries, talking Michelangelo and Dali with glamorous ease. At twenty–nine, life has decided to make her an underpaid investment banker juggling an eccentric family, a fading career and a long–distance relationship that is becoming a light-year one.
On a monsoon day in June, she is suddenly sent packing from Mumbai to Tuscany to buy a vineyard for a star client. What should have been a four day trip turns into a two week treasure hunt that finds her in the middle of midnight wine deals, dodgy vintners, rolling Tuscan hills, a soap opera family and one playboy millionaire who is looking to taste more than just the wine. Towards the end she finds that the road to true happiness is almost as elusive as that perfect glass of Chianti.
AUTHOR:
Reshma Krishnan Barshikar is an erstwhile investment banker who, one fine day, fell down the rabbit hole and discovered a world outside a fluorescent cubicle. She is now a freelance travel writer and contributes to India Today Travel Plus, SilverKris, Harper’s Bazaar, Grazia, National Geographic Traveller and The Hindu Business Line, where she profiles entrepreneurs for the Life section. She is also co-founder of the literary blog, The Caterpillar Café. Reshma divides her time between Mumbai and the Nilgiris. Fade Into Red is her debut novel.
INTERVIEW:
Tell
us a little bit about yourself.
Well, I am an erstwhile Investment banker who fell down the
rabbit hole one day and discovered a world outside a fluorescent cubicle. So
after 8 years of working in Corporate Finance and Investment Banking, I decided
to take a year off and travel. I raided my bonus, my PF savings and latched on
to my traveling husband very much like those pants and explored Europe, China and
the US quite extensively. The one-year stretched
quite nicely into two. During my travels, I found that I travelled differently
from others and realized that I loved to write about my experiences and so I
began to contribute to Travel magazines. Now Travel writing is my excuse to
travel and I contribute regularly to India Today Travel Plus, SilverKris,
Harper’s Bazaar, Grazia, National Geographic Traveller and The Hindu.
Interestingly enough I began my career as a Research Analyst for The Hindu
Business Line, so it’s quite surreal how life has brought me back full circle.
To keep in touch with Investment Banking, I teach Corporate Finance on the
weekends – those poor unsuspecting students. I am also the co-founder of the
literary blog, The Caterpillar Café. It’s the brainchild of Afsha Khan who was
generous enough to share the blog with me. We talk about the books we
love. You might infer from the lack of
posts that we haven’t read anything we love for a while, but honestly we’re
just lazy bloggers.
Tell us about your book, Fade
Into Red.
Fade Into Red is a multicultural
women’s fiction novel based in Tuscany and Mumbai. Ayra Krishnamurthy is a
dusky, slightly neurotic, convent educated, pretty girl’s sidekick that always
wanted to be an Art Historian. At twenty, she saw herself flitting between
galleries and calling out “Going thrice!” to high maintenance curators and
talking Michelangelo and Dali with glamorous ease. Instead at twenty-nine, life
has conspired to make her an underpaid investment banker in Mumbai juggling an
eccentric family, a fading career and long –distance relationship that is soon
becoming a light-year one. But on one monsoon day in July, she is suddenly sent
packing from Mumbai to Tuscany to buy a vineyard for a star client. What should
have been a four day trip turns into a two week treasure hunt that finds her
amidst midnight wine deals, dodgy vintners, rolling Tuscan hills and one
playboy millionaire who is looking to taste more than just the wine. Towards
the end she finds that the road to true happiness is almost as elusive as that
perfect glass of Chianti.
What
inspired you to write your book?
I had just returned from my
maiden trip to Tuscany when it crossed my mind how wonderful it would be if I
could go back for a wine transaction. That led to me thinking how it would be
perfect for a romantic liaison of some kind because Tuscany is made for
romance- wine, music, beautiful surroundings.
I told my mother this and she told me to write me a chapter and I began.
Are any of the characters in your book inspired by someone you know or are they complete results of your imagination?
The
kitchen scene and Ayra’s grandmother have been literally lifted off my childhood
memories and transferred onto paper; both the house and her ‘pati’ are an ode
to mine. Beyond that however, the characters are a combination of a lot of
people. Sandeep doesn’t exist anywhere but my head but my friends seem to think
that it’s their respective bosses. Kartik’s looks were modeled on Sendhil
Ramamurthy from the American TV show Heroes.
What
kind of research went into writing your book?
Once
I wrote the first few chapters, I realized that I needed to know a lot more
about wine than just how to drink it. While much of the plotline is dedicated
to Ayra sorting out her complicated personal life, she’s doing it while
executing an M&A transaction and that had to be authentic. So I visited a
couple of vineyards in India and then spent three weeks in Tuscany visiting
vineyards, wine cellars and taking part in a harvest. I wanted to immerse
myself in the environment to make is as authentic as possible. With regard to
Art History, I love the history of art myself and so used my time in Italy to
understand the art as well as I could.
Tell
us about the whole publishing process and how it went.
Aah,
the publishing process. I honestly think it starts off with a great query
letter – the letter you send to the Publishers or Literary agents. I spent a
fair bit of time on that. I also read up on the process and knew what to
expect. Once I had finished half the novel, I began to send the query letter
out to publishers. You know that whole story about rejections? It’s all true. I
got quite a few from publishers until I realized that I needed to find myself a
good agent. I was lucky enough to find three agents that wanted to represent me
and I chose Siyahi. They took the manuscript on from there and found me Random
House India.
Who
are some of your favourite authors and what are some of your favourite books?
My
all time favorite authors are P D James, John Connolly, Helen Fielding, Stephen
King, Ursula K Guin, George RR Martin, Robin Hobb, Neil Gaiman, Susan Hill and
Hilary Mantel. I deeply admire Shakespeare and force myself to revisit his
plays. Some recent novels I have loved include Hilary Mantel’s Bring up the
Bodies, Rachel Hartman’s Seraphina, Rainbow Rowell’s Eleanor & Park and The
Twentieth Wife by Indu Sundaresan. My comfort reads would be Lord of the Rings,
the Harry Potter series, The Song of Ice and Fire, any of the P D James books,
Bridget Jones Diary, poetry by Carol Ann Duffy and the Charlie Parker series
from John Connolly. Honestly, I can go on for quire a while.
What
do you like to do when you’re not writing?
Between my teaching and my writing I rarely seem to find
very little spare time. I try to take time out to learn a few new songs on the
guitar, repeatedly play the theme tune of Downton Abbey on the piano, catch up
on my favorite shows like Midsommer Murders or go horse riding.
What
are the three things you’d like to have with you on a deserted island?
The entire PD James, Harry Potter or John Connoly
series as well as a MY copy of the Lord of the Rings. Oh dear, is that three
already? Books count as one item. Writing materials. I would need food I
suppose and a sattelite phone so that I can call in for more books, food and
writing material. I don’t think I know how to play this game.
What
advice would you give to aspiring young writers?
Read
a lot and read everything because ideas come from everywhere. Read Stephen
King’s ‘Ón writing’- I think it’s the best book on writing there is. Find out
what inspires you to get into a creative frame of mind, for me it’s music.
Don’t be self-conscious when you write. And remember that writing is work. It
might be work that you love but it’s still a job. Being quite new to the
writing life myself, this last piece is something I have to tell myself
everyday.
GIVEAWAY:
Reshma has generously offered to giveaway FIVE signed copies of Fade Into Red to FIVE lucky followers.
The giveaway is OPEN INTERNATIONALLY.
May the odds be ever in your favor!
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