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Q&A: Lisa Gabriele taps into teenage gothic for The Winters

Lisa Gabriele is back in the world of riveting, dark romance. After penning the erotic S.E.C.R.E.T. trilogy, the Toronto-based author has returned to the storytelling style of her first two novels in her sixth, The Winters (Doubleday Canada, $24.95). The story is a modern update of Daphne du Maurier’s classic Rebecca: an unnamed young protagonist who lacks stability and direction is working at a boat charter in the Cayman Islands. Suddenly, she is swept off her feet by Mr. Winter, a rich white man, and they relocate to his isolated estate in the Hamptons. The soon-to-be Mrs. Winter is caught in a tumultuous relationship with his daughter, Dani, who seems to be getting in the way of the marriage – until the truth is revealed.

The book is typical of Gabriele’s ability to write breezy stories about complex young women, and their relationships with each other, without being overly cerebral or serious. It’s light but absorbing – the best kind of chick lit. I caught up with the author to talk about her writing style, Rebecca and relating to teenage girls.

The Winters was inspired by Rebecca. Why is that book special to you?

We didn’t have a lot of money growing up, so Rebecca was one of only a handful of books we actually owned, along with Chariots Of The Gods and the Selected Poems: Alfred Lord Tennyson – which explains a lot. We were library people. So while I was always aware of du Maurier’s novel, I came to the story via the Alfred Hitchcock film first. There was a show out of Detroit called Bill Kennedy At The Movies, and Rebecca seemed to play on a loop. It was my mother’s favourite, therefore mine, though I didn’t really understand the horror beneath the romance until I read the much darker book in high school.

You have an extraordinary ability to capture relationships. With both The Winters and your first novel, Tempting Faith DiNapoli, I felt emotionally invested in the characters, almost as if I were living the story. How do you write this way?

When a reader tells you they feel like your characters are as real to them as they are to you, you feel like maybe you’re not so crazy. I don’t have any kind of method for getting a reader emotionally invested in my characters beyond just really caring about them myself. If you pay close attention to your characters, they do tend to guide you in the direction that’s authentic for them. Your job is to follow behind them and render their experiences, even if you, the writer, don’t agree with their decisions.

The ending was very unexpected. Do you decide on the endings before you start writing a book?

Yes. Not in great, granular detail, but I usually have a vague sense of how things will wrap up before I start writing a book – especially this one. The Winters is written as a response to Rebecca, so in many ways I had to begin with my ending and engineer The Winters backwards. I had a visceral reaction to watching Rebecca around the time of the U.S. election, and said to myself, this would not fly in a modern-day setting, and then went about proving how much women have changed and how some men – rich, white, powerful – really have not. You need not have read Rebecca to enjoy my book or where it takes you, but I think it makes reading The Winters that much more fun.

You have a teenage goddaughter and nieces. How do your relationships with them influence the stories you tell?

I love teenage girls, how mercurial they are: happy in the morning, crying themselves to sleep at night. This, of course, is easy to say because I am not a mother. But I love seeing their selfies, how they play with angles and filters, taking up so much more space than I ever did, and demanding to be seen on their terms. I remember being 15 I was far more interesting and complicated than I am now, and I say this with great relief. So if I get anything right about my little 15-year old nightmare, Dani, it’s because of the girls in my life. And I say this with love. That’s why The Winters is dedicated to my nieces.

books@nowtoronto.com | @checkoutrach

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