MK Tod began as many of us do - researching her grandfather’s involvement in two World Wars without any thought of where it might lead, and discovered herself as an author who now has three historic novels published and more on the way.

Six things you’ll learn from this Joys of Binge Reading episode:

The shocking family event that led to her first novel

Why going to Hong Kong jump started her writing career 

The three things you need to be a successful writer

Robert Harris and other writers who inspire her

Why hearing the Last Post at Ypres gives her goosebumps

The secret camp for Canadian spies to infiltrate Nazi France

Where to find MK Tod:

Website: https://mktod.wordpress.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MKTodAuthor

Twitter: @MKTodAuthor

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.nz/mktod/

Blog: https://awriterofhistory.com/

Hi there: I’m your host Jenny Wheeler, and today Mary Tod talks about how starting some family history research ended up with her writing stories that unravel the secrets of love and war.

And now here’s Mary.  Hello there Mary, and Welcome to the show. It’s great to have you with us. 

Mary: Oh thank you so much Jenny, I have been looking forward to this for weeks, so I'm thrilled to be here.

Author MK (Mary) Tod

Jenny: It's lovely to call you Mary. Obviously your writing name is MK Tod, so let's clear this up at the beginning.  Why did you decide to write under the name of MK Tod?

Mary: Oh I'm so glad you asked! Here in North America there is a very famous woman called Mary Todd Lincoln, President Lincoln's wife, and when you Google Mary Tod first of all it corrects my name and adds on an extra "d" and then it finds several million references to Mary Todd Lincoln. So when I decided I was going to write seriously and try and get my books out there I thought it would be good to have a name that people could type in and not get so many references to Mary Todd Lincoln.  so I took the initials of my first two names Mary Kathleen MK and now people can find me.

Jenny:  Yes the surname Tod with one "d" is unusual enough in itself isn't it?

Mary: Yes  My husband's family - it is my husband's name - always said "If it's good enough for God its good enough for Tod."

Jenny: Oh great, we've settled that one.  I wondered if it was because you wanted a gender neutral name - sometimes people writing thrillers or mysteries want to choose a gender neutral name, but the sort of books you write that doesn't apply so much... OK, so great to have that cleared up. Let's get on the road here. . . .

Jenny: Was there a "Once Upon a Time” moment when you decided you wanted to write fiction? What was the catalyst?

Mary:  Yes, there was a Once Upon A Time moment  - and unlike a lot of people I wasn't one who could say I've always wanted to write.  In fact I worked in the technology and consulting world for quite a few years I'm a math and computer science graduate, I didn't do much English past high school and I wasn't very fond of history.

So that will tell people right away that I'm not your usual kind of writer.  However we were asked - my husband was asked in particular - to go to Hong Kong for three years - his company asked him to go and we hardly hesitated for a moment before we went.  The problem about Hong Kong for me anyway was that is was almost impossible to find a job. . .Hong Kong was having economic difficulties and it was hard to get work as an ex pat spouse.

So I didn't have much to do . . . OK you can walk the streets and go shopping and have your nails done, but for someone who has worked her whole life it was really challenging to figure out what I would do.