Today's Chat with Sarah features Marsha Landreth author of The Last Soldier.
To view the official review, click here.
To view the book on Amazon, click here.
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1. What's your life like when you aren't writing?
After retiring from teaching high school British, AP literature, and drama last spring, I managed trips to Egypt and Japan before Covid-19 hit. I was busy traveling in my position as recording secretary for the International Order of Blue Gavel and fulfilling duties at home as Port Captain of Pacific Corinthian Yacht Club. Now I’m sheltering a home writing a screenplay.
2. Who has been the most influential in pursuing publishing a book?
When my husband finished his residency, we moved to Wyoming. For me, that first winter was much like what we are going through now. My husband would go to the hospital each day, our two little boys would go to school, and I would sit at home with the cats and dog watching the snow fall. One weekend we drove 140 miles to do some Christmas shopping. My husband bought a VCR and one VHS (only one because each tape was $18.) HBO came on the air at 6:00 p.m. and off at midnight. I would record whatever was playing from 10-12 and watch it the next day. Whenever I would have lunch with my friend Jane - a doctor’s wife, lawyer, and mother of three small children – I would regale her with recaps of the movie of the day. As time went on, we would meet for lunch and make up stories about the trucker who just walked in, the new waitress, or the couple at the next booth. So as my marriage began to crumb, Jane suggested I start writing. It was something I could do at home during the day when I was alone. A convention of Western Writers of America came to town one summer. I hung out in the bar with some of the writers and editors. I listened to all of them, and joined WWA as a patron member. Within the next three years two of those editors had bought my novels. So to answer your question – Jane was the most influential in pursuing publishing a book.
3. What's the typical amount of time you spend writing and editing your book before it's ready for mass consumption?
Typical? I've written a novel in three weeks and the last in five years. Six weeks is average. In 1993, I had contracts for two books at the same time. I finished one and mailed it off, telling myself I would get up bright and early the next morning to start the second one. I was up bright and early all right, but it was because I was living within five miles of the Reseda earthquake epicenter. My monitor was on one side of the office and the rest of the computer was on the other side. My editor at Signet called to see how I was doing. I asked her what the absolute deadline was. She gave me an extra month. I jumped up and down after I hung up yelling, “Another month, another month!” Well, it took another month before I was able to concentrate on writing. But the book was in on time and ended up #2 on the best-seller list next to THE FIRM.
4. Let's discuss your book The Last Soldier. This historical fiction novel takes place in the Channel Islands during WWII. How did you choose this setting?
For the last twenty years I have traveled the world during summer vacations. Sometimes I would take students, sometimes alone. One year I took a solo cruise and stopped for the day in Guernsey. I rode the bus around the island and went to the tunnel built by Russian prisoners for the Nazis. It was cold and wet. I got lost for a while in an area where the construction had stopped. I walked over to the crushed rocks, half-filled cart, and bulldozer. An old torn shirt was against the stone wall, half-hidden under the rubble. That was really powerful and I didn’t give it the attention it deserved in the novel, perhaps because it was difficult for me to relive. I can’t say it was the tunnel that made me want to write about it. What did want me to write this story was later when I was walking down a dirt road and came upon a farm with a rustic barn that was a museum. I went in to find an amazing amount of tanks, planes, and other artifacts left behind when the Nazis were rounded up and taken to England. On a dusty, rickety black shelf with all sorts of small equipment, I saw a typewriter. It was just over my head, but I was interested in seeing the German keyboard. I had to work a little to get a good look, but managed to find something to step up on. It was more than a typewriter, I discovered, it looked like an old switchboard as well. Then it dawned on me that I was looking at an ENIGMA machine! I told myself that there had to be a story in this. I went back to town and bought every local memoir I could find. I read those books for one year, but had no story. Finally, three weeks before school started, the characters came to me. I started working on the book, but had to get back to teaching. I would steal an hour here and there, but the book took me five years to write.
5. Why historical fiction?
This is my first historical fiction. I usually write mysteries.
6. The main character, Maggie, is a woman who ends up spying on the Germans. Was Maggie based on anyone you know?
No. There weren’t many women doctors at that time, but there were a few. I needed a woman, but I needed one important enough for the SOS to be interested in using her, and yet I needed her not to want to help, but doing so out of obligation.
7. The reviewer discusses your unusual phrases like "her pyloric sphincter's spasm." How did you come to use such colorful language?
Again, I’m from a medical family. Plus our older boy was born with a spasmodic pyloric sphincter. He could projectile vomit across a room. If I used other colorful language it must have been allusions to some of my favorite writers and poets that I have taught in literature for the last twenty some years. My usual style is minimalistic.
8. Is there another book on the way?
I need to finish a screenplay, then work on a prequel to THE LAST SOLDIER. However, there is a mystery that fills my head that I might have to write before the prequel.
I like to end on a few fun questions.
9. What's your favorite book?
TALE OF TWO CITIES. No, JANE EYRE. No, ENGLISH PATIENT. No, JOY LUCK CLUB. No, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. No, THEIR EYES ARE WATCHING GOD. No, HEART OF DARKNESS. No, GOING AFTER CACCIATO. What a cruel question!
10. Describe your perfect vacation.
Going to Europe to visit the museums and local sights.
11. Would you rather step barefoot on hot coals or broken glass?
I would rather step barefoot on hot coals because my feet would eventually burn the nerves and no long hurt. Plus, I would bleed out from the broken glass because I’m on a blood thinner.
12. Early bird or night owl?
Night owl.
