The Path of the Vestal was the BEST FIRST BOOK/Fiction winner of the 2022 IndieReader Discovery Awards, where undiscovered talent meets people with the power to make a difference.
Following find an interview with author JD Easterling.
What is the name of the book and when was it published?
The Path of the Vestal, published November 20th 2021
What’s the book’s first line?
“There were few sounds Evelyn loved more than the beating of her horse’s hooves as they pounded against the earth and swept the miles away beneath them.”
What’s the book about? Give us the “pitch”.
At its core, The Path of the Vestal is about a young woman discovering love and making difficult choices as her world changes drastically around her.
Evelyn Dalton is born into wealth and nobility, but what she yearns for is freedom and independence. She comes to learn very quickly that not everyone has her best interests at heart, and that people are seldom who they seem to be.
Unwittingly, Evelyn finds herself in a love triangle as two men compete for her affections. Her biggest decision, however, ultimately lies not in which man to choose but what life she wants for herself.
What inspired you to write the book? A particular person? An event?
A friend of mine who was writing a novel told me that one of my previous projects didn’t have enough romance in it. They went as far as to suggest that I should finish writing the book and then give it to them so that they could subsequently overwrite the romance scenes. We challenged each other to write a romance scene and half an hour later I’d unwittingly drafted my first scene in The Path of the Vestal. I didn’t look at it again for a few months, but I kept thinking about the unnamed characters I’d started to write. I felt that they deserved more than just a throwaway scene.
When I sat back down and looked at what I’d written, I couldn’t help myself – I had to keep going. I spent most of the next two months writing at every opportunity I had until the first draft was finished.
And in case you were wondering about the outcome – I won the romance scene challenge. Comfortably.
What’s the most distinctive thing about the main character? Who-real or fictional-would you say the character reminds you of?
Evelyn is a woman out of time, both figuratively and literally. Her freedom is very quickly disappearing as her family prepares to have her married off, and the life she once knew has been pulled away from her. But more than that, she refuses to be the vapid, withdrawn, and complacent young woman society seems to want her to be. She is brave, she is strong, and she’s a survivor.
Evelyn is an admirer of the pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read, contemporaries of hers that she has read about. While she’s a far step away from jumping on a boat and becoming a pirate, she definitely believes there’s more to life than following the rules and expectations of society.
So, in that regard, Anne Bonny and Mary Read were the inspiration for writing a character that could bend the rules around her in a time when it was deeply frowned upon.
What’s the main reason someone should really read this book?
As a writer, I’m always trying to hit the sweet spot between action, comedy, and romance. Path of the Vestal is a historical romance that I hope will make readers smile, laugh, and sit on the edge of their seats. I write to escape from reality and bury myself in another world. I hope my readers feel similarly transported. This book exists to entertain and delight, nothing more and nothing less.
If they made your book into a movie, who would you like to see play the main character(s)?
As an indie author, I’d love to see some fresh talent in the cast for Path of the Vestal. However, my wife and I did start watching Netflix’s ‘The Witcher’ recently, and I could see Freya Allan playing the part of Evelyn. She’s got the comedic timing and the subtlety that a character like Evelyn needs if she’s to be done proper justice.
When did you first decide to become an author?
From a very young age. One of my earliest memories is of being in the backseat of the car, telling my parents a rambling story about characters that I’d made up going on an adventure. My mother worked as a librarian at an elementary school and then later at a children’s bookstore, so I got to meet a lot of Australian children’s / young adult authors as I was growing up.
Is this the first you’ve written?
It’s the first novel I’ve ever published, which is a little telling as I’m the recipient of the ‘Best First Book’ in the fiction category for the Indie Reader Discovery Awards. I’ve been writing for myself since I was a teenager but I’ve a very bad habit of thinking of a new and exciting story I want to write whilst still in the middle of an unfinished manuscript.
Would you go traditional if a publisher came calling? If so, why?
As a very wise young lady said once, “Why don’t we have both?” and I believe there is room for both worlds with every author. Traditional publication offers the recognition and wider distribution that most indie authors work for tirelessly and often struggle to achieve.
However, there is a creative freedom and authenticity to independent publishing that means it will always have its place.
So, while I wouldn’t change anything about how I’ve launched my first novel and I’m proud of what I’ve achieved as an independent author, I wouldn’t write off traditional publishing in my future.
Which writer, living or dead, do you most admire?
When I was ten years old, I had the privilege of meeting Sir Terry Pratchett, and he was truly an amazing and inspiring person. I still regularly read his works twenty-seven years later. His work is a wonderful blend of quirky humor, political satire, and fantastic world-building.