Blooms of War received a 4+ star review, making it an IndieReader Approved title.
Following find an interview with author Suzanne Tierney.
What is the name of the book and when was it published?
Blooms of War was published on August 27, 2020.
What’s the book’s first line?
“Everyone has one defining sentence, the grammar precise, the words impersonal, the tone officious.”
What’s the book about? Give us the “pitch”.
During WWI, a woman runs away from home, changes her name, fakes her nursing credentials, joins an ambulance hospital on the frontlines of France, and falls in love with an enigmatic doctor who may be bombing hospitals in a bid to end the war. A year later, the doctor is on trial for the murder of the a national hero and she has seven days to save him from the gallows.
What inspired you to write the book? A particular person? An event?
My parents fell in love during the Vietnam War. My father was an officer and my mother a translator. Their love story is a story that illuminates the very best in humanity—they came together despite the divide in culture and the brutality of war. Their optimism, romanticism and connection are the reason I write. Because even if I tell love stories via fiction, love is not a fiction. It represents the very best of us.
My parents, however, would like readers to know they do not at all resemble the characters in Blooms of War.
What’s the main reason someone should really read this book?
I hope that Blooms of War plunges readers into an epic love story that is filled with action, mystery, intrigue, and lush historical detail. Along the way, I hope it fills the reader with hope—no matter how hard and how dark things get, the goodness in humanity triumphs. Even if it means that the heroine has to subvert the rules, challenge institutions, and risk her life.
What’s the most distinctive thing about the main character? Who-real or fictional-would you say the character reminds you of?
The heroine is an honest liar. She skirts the facts, but tells the truth. She is a ball of energy (sometimes chaotically so), loyal, fearless, and fierce. In some ways, she reminds me of Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag in Season 2, a woman who is bruised, but learning again how to connect.
Is there something in particular that motivates you (fame? fortune?)
When I decided to become a writer, I clipped a quote from my favorite author, E.B. White, “All I hope to say in books, all that I ever hope to say, is that I love the world.”
I write to connect with readers, to bring something rich, lush, and inspiring to their lives in the same way that my favorite books have fulfilled me. And if I’ve accomplished that with one reader, then I am thrilled and humbled.