Stephanie Barron’s popular Jane

Austen mysteries feature the famous novelist as a crime investigator and are so

close to real life that Stephanie sometimes hears Jane’s voice in her head as

she writes.

Hi there, I’m your host, Jenny Wheeler and today Stephanie talks about channelling Jane Austen, World War II espionage novels, and That Churchill Woman, her latest novel about Sir Winston Churchill’s controversial American mother.

Six

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

How CIA experience helped with espionage novelsJFK's 'secret' Moscow mission revealedWhy Pommie power brokers found Jennie hard to takeMourning the loss of bookshops and newspapersHaving a double writer identityBeing an opera composer in the time of The Beatles

Where to find Stephanie Barron and her alternative author name -Francine Mathews: 

Website: 

http://www.francinemathews.com/ (historical fiction like That Churchill Woman)

Stephaniebarron.com (Jane Austen mysteries)

Facebook: @francinemathews or Stephanie Barron

 Twitter:  @FMathewsAuthor

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stephaniebarronfrancinemathews/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.nz/fmathews1777/that-churchill-woman/

What follows is a "near as" transcript of our conversation, not word for word but pretty close to it, with links to important mentions.

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Before we get to Stephanie, we're delighted to offer a Christmas Giveaway - a paper back copy of Stephanie's recent Jane Austen mystery - Jane and the Twelve Days of Christmas. Inhabit Jane Austen's world and experience Christmas through her eyes as she solves yet another mystery.

ENTER THE DRAW and be in to win. Contest closes December 12, and we'll do our best to get it delivered before Christmas - but no promises!.

Jenny: But now, here’s Stephanie.  Hello there Stephanie and and welcome to the show, it’s great to have you with us.

Stephanie: Oh, it's my pleasure, Jenny. Thanks for being interested in my work.

How Stephanie got started

Jenny: Oh, I love your work, but tell me, and I'm sure your readers will want

to know, was there a Once Upon A Time moment when you realized that you wanted

to write fiction, and if so, what was the catalyst for it?

Stephanie: Well, I think like many writers I was born writing, or at least I

personally believe that each of us has particular way of processing our

experience. You know, I can't draw. I'm pathetic at anything visually artistic.

I can't sing, I don't play an instrument, but words have always been my “superpower”

right there.

Stephanie Barron - and Francine Mathews - author of Jane Austen mysteries, espionage and crime novels, and controversial history.

They’re my way of processing everything

that happens to me, making it comprehensible and hopefully gleaning something

from it that I can pass on to others. I firmly believe that we all use

storytelling as a way to understand how to live and that's why stories of every

type are so critical for children and for how we relate to one another and

simply get through what can be very difficult at times, just daily existence.

Writing 'a leap of faith'

So, I was always a writer.