If you loved Santa Montefiore’s Deverill Chronicles, you can thank Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes for the nudge.
In the mid-2010s, they were both guests at a house party. Fellowes asked Montefiore – who, at that point, had written more than a dozen novels – if any of her books had ever been developed into a television show.
Author Santa Montefiore’s books have been published in 25 languages and she’s sold more than eight million copies worldwide.Lezli + Rose/Supplied
“He said you need something that rolls like Downton Abbey – a series. And I’d never done a series before," says Montefiore.
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She had, however, just signed a contract for three books with Simon & Schuster UK. Despite her track record to the contrary, she felt that irrational panic faced by every writer who worries they’ll never think of another good idea. “And then I thought of what Julian had said, and I thought: Why not try something different?”
It paid off: What started with a vague idea about “three women and an Anglo-Irish castle” became a bestselling trilogy tracking a family across a century of turbulent history. The Deverill saga eventually grew to include three more books set in the same universe.
That wasn’t the first time that some well-timed guidance changed the course of the 56-year-old author’s career. When she was in her mid-20s, Montefiore wrote her first novel, which she describes as a “small book” inspired by the time she had spent in her mother’s native Argentina, narrowly focused on the lives of two people.
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After being rejected by three agents – and a three-month wait where she practically lost all hope – a fourth that she had previously contacted reached out to her, out of the blue. “She said, ‘I love the idea but I see a much bigger picture,’” recalls Montefiore on a video call, speaking from the London home she shares with her historian husband, Simon Sebag Montefiore.
Her 60,000-word draft became a 100,000-word manuscript. When it sold – after competition between two interested publishers – Montefiore’s editor asked for another 50,000 words, filling in a two-decade gap in the story that she had initially skipped over. The result was Meet Me Under the Ombu Tree, about love denied and then found on a ranch in the Argentine Pampas.
It set the stage for the sorts of sweeping, epic stories of love and family that have made Montefiore a beloved author, both at home in Britain and abroad. Her books have been published in 25 languages and she’s sold more than eight million copies worldwide. In Canada alone, she’s sold 150,000 print books and 24,000 e-books.
Secrets of the Starlit Sea, the second instalment in her latest trilogy about a “time-sliding” psychic whose gift now finds her aboard the Titanic, is now out in Canada. (“I couldn’t put it down,” blurbs Fellowes on the cover.)
“I want something that has spiritual depth, that I feel nourishes me. I want romance, but I don’t want cliche,” says Montefiore, referring to the kinds of books she loves – but equally, she could be describing her own. “I want love and loss. I want my heart to be broken and put together again.”
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When you were first rejected by three agents and the fourth was MIA, what did that feel like?
I had always written because I always loved it, but never had I looked at a bookshop and thought, ‘I’m going to be in there one day.’ It was a hobby. But when I started writing that first book when I was about 24 or 25, I really thought I had something good. I just never thought I would even know how to get an agent and a publisher.
And also, I had worked at Theo Fennell, the jewellery company, for two-and-a-half years, and then Ralph Lauren. I liked the environment, but it wasn’t what I wanted to do. It was my way out, and I had really held onto that little glimmer. If I could get a book published, I wouldn’t have to get up at seven in the morning and take the bus in to work.
When those three rejections came back, it was so disappointing. I really saw that opportunity as having gone – ciao, adios. I never thought the fourth would come back with a yes.
If that fourth agent had come back as a no, would you have said, ‘Oh well, that it’s for me then’?
No. I would have been bruised, but if you’re a writer it’s something you are, not something you do. It’s a part of you; it’s the way you express yourself. I’ve always had that itch and I just think I would never have given up. But I probably would have put the idea away, waited a few years and found something else to write about.
What do good days and bad days look like for you in this job?
A good day is when you receive inspiration – and I really do feel it’s a receiving. There’s something that opens up in you, and like a golden light, it pours through you into your fingers and you can’t stop writing. You feel that you are Tolstoy or Edith Wharton. And then a bad day is when it’s such hard work. It’s hurting your brain trying to get it out. I find, sometimes, it’s better to just put it away and do something else, because if I’m not inspired, my work is going to be under par.
Also, a lot of the book is the editing process. I’ve had the odd editor where we haven’t seen eye-to-eye, I haven’t liked their editing style. Or you get a copy editor and they’re picking up on things you don’t agree with. There’s a lot in the machinations that happen after you finish writing that can be very vexing or irritating. The joy is in the writing.
What are the hills that you will die on if an editor gives you a note that you don’t agree with?
Loads of things. For example, in my latest book, I had my elderly character say about a child who had died: “He’s with Jesus now.” And that was taken out because, “Oh, we don’t want to offend people of other faiths, so he is resting in peace.” And I said no, I’m not going to accept that. I believe in the integrity of my characters and I’m telling the story. I know who my readers are and I’m not going to offend anyone.
Who are your readers?
My readers are mostly women, but I get quite a lot of gay men. I would say the majority are over 40. I have quite an old-fashioned style. I would never compare myself to Daphne du Maurier in terms of brilliance, but if you like those romantic books set against landscapes that are beautiful, big stories, you’re going to like it. I want to appeal to younger readers more, because I do bump into people occasionally who say, “My mum loves your books.” And I say, “You can too!” I always have multigenerational stories, so anyone can identify.