In this month’s newsletter (check it out HERE if you missed it) I interviewed L M Nathan about unsettlingly brilliant YA dystopian The Virtue Season, where 18-year-old Manon is a debutante entering the Virtue Season – a time when she will be matched with her genetic mate. That’s until her mother’s actions call the unwanted attention of the council, who may yet decide Manon is unfit to be matched to anyone… This was a gripping and sinister opener to the series, and I can’t wait to see what happens next.
After hearing about the author’s inspiration for the book, I had to find out more about L M Nathan herself.
Enter the 5 Random Questions!
Have you ever had a ghostly encounter?
I was lucky enough to stay in John Osborne’s house recently and was told he had a habit of making his presence known. I went to bed and was falling asleep when my phone launched itself across the room with some force. I was petrified and fully believed it was the playwright, as angry as he ever had been, here to reckon with me. In the morning, I realised the whole floor was on a slant and it had probably just slid off, catapulted by the angle of the bedside table!
What’s something people are always surprised to learn about you?
When I was at university, I tried to teach myself guitar. To this day, I can still only play about five chords but you’d be surprised how many songs that means I can take a passing shot at…
You have one day until the world ends. What are you going to do?
Read! I often tell my kids ‘If I never do anything other than read, I won’t consider my time wasted.’ But I don’t get enough time to read, so I wouldn’t want to waste what was left doing anything else.
If you had a magic ticket to see any band in the world, what would you see?
The Stone Roses at Spike Island in 1990. I was too young to even know it was happening at the time. I was only 11 and probably hadn’t even heard of The Stone Roses at that time. But they became the soundtrack to my teens, and I wish I had been there, on that reclaimed toxic waste dump, to witness it.
If you could be famous for something other than writing, what would it be?
I wanted to be an actress growing up, but I wasn’t very good. I did manage to perform at the Bristol Old Vic once, but it was sort of by default. My university was staging a production of Hello Dolly and needed a 70-strong chorus. You didn’t even have to audition – they let anybody be in it.
About L M Nathan
L.M. Nathan grew up in the East Midlands, moving from there to Bristol where she studied English and Drama and then to Malta where she completed an MA in Literature. She also has an MA in Journalism which she studied for in Manchester. She was an English teacher for sixteen years.
She now lives in rural Lancashire in the shadow of Pendle Hill.
Her first novel, inspired by the wild landscape of home, was completed in 2021 when she was selected to be part of the Curtis Brown Creative novel course.
You can follow her on Twitter/X and Instagram.
If you missed my newsletter interview with L M Nathan about The Virtue Season, catch up here. Also remember to sign up for my newsletter which I send out every month – next month’s goes out on Friday, 2nd August and will feature an interview with Kara A. Kennedy about her supernatural thriller debut, I Will Never Leave You as well as a fabulous international pre-order giveaway for The Madness by Dawn Kurtagich (so if you pre-order the book now – which you definitely should – save your receipt.) Don’t miss it!
Kat Ellis Writes 