Welcome, Glynis!
How did a girl from Portsmouth come to settle in New York?
A pretty simple story, really. I married an American! What led up to it was: I was working in London for an industry lobby group at the time Britain joined the Common Market (as it was then). At a meeting one day, the boss asked if anyone spoke French. The nuns at the convent I was brought up in were a French order and I’d been around the language for years, as well as studying it, so I put my hand up. The result was I was sent off to Brussels for an information tour with our European sister organization.
I’d been there about a week when they asked if I’d stay and take a job with them. They needed someone who could speak English! I said yes, and that was it! I never went back to live in the UK again!
The British Embassy in Brussels had a Singles Group called The British Birds Club (!) and they had a party one weekend. I went, a bit unwillingly, actually, but my secretary was one of the organizers so I felt I had to, and that’s where I met my husband! It was a Baked Potato Party, with all sorts of toppings for the potatoes. So when I met him I had my mouth full!
We were in Brussels for four years, and then went to Bonn, which was the German capital at the time. We were there for just over three years. I had learned German in the convent, so it was great to use the language. In fact, I had one baby in Brussels and twins in Germany, so I often say I never had a baby in English! We moved to upstate New York in 1978 and we’ve been here ever since. It’s really lovely here – semi-rural, with not a skyscraper in sight! We’re half way between New York City and Montreal.
You have dedicated your novels to your lovely sister. What was it about the Regency period that led you to create your own book set based within the era?
My sister was with me in the convent. We used to read Georgette Heyer under the covers with a torch after lights-out, and we both always loved her Regencies. When my sister died unexpectedly in 2018, I just felt compelled to write in that genre. I think now it was part of the grieving process. I feel her with me when I write. My books are sort of humorous, like Heyer’s are, and I know she’s laughing with me when I write. But quite apart from that, I find the period fascinating. It really is the beginning of the modern era. We see the results of the Industrial Revolution both in its good aspects, and its bad – the development of the railways making travel possible for everyone, but also the growth of factories and the appalling working conditions in them. I deal with this historical background a lot in my books.
What can readers expect from a G.L. Robinson novel?
You can expect to smile a lot and not cry very much, if at all. You can expect gorgeous strong women and hunky men who appreciate them (sometimes only in the end, but you know they will). You can expect a writing style that is very classically English and very proper. I really do try not to have linguistic anachronisms in my work, and because of my background in languages I know a lot of words. There are no sex scenes, though there is sexual tension. I write about real places, real historical events and I hope my characters are interesting. I’m especially proud of my latest, The Lord and The Bluestocking which is currently on Amazon pre-order, because my MC is a man who nowadays would be diagnosed as being on the Asperger’s Spectrum. He’s really great, but he’s a bit odd, and it takes a special woman to see past that. You can listen to the first chapter, which is really quite funny, on my website: https://romancenovelsbyglrobinson.com
Pre Covid did you regularly visit the UK to visit actual locations of the period? If so, which was the most memorable?
I have always gone to England at least once a year for a month or more, because my family is there, including my dear old Mum, who’s 96, nearly 97. I was at university in London, so I know it fairly well, though it’s changed enormously since the 1960’s! Brighton isn’t far away, and I’ve been there a lot, especially the Pavilion, which features quite often in my books. I know Bath, too, as a family member used to live there. Those are the three places I most often refer to in my books. I can’t say which is the most memorable, as I’ve known them all forever. The biggest fun I had was putting Portsmouth, my home town, in Cecilia or Too Tall To Love because I was able to talk about the seafront and the Dockyard, which I’ve known all my life. It’s a wonderfully historical city. I’m so lucky to have come from there. I was born around the corner from where Charles Dickens lived (no, not at the same time!)
Did your early life strongly influence your love of literature?
Very much so! I’ve told you I was brought up in a convent (my father worked in Africa), and we had no TV, no radio, no telephone. What did we do? We read! It was a very old-fashioned place and the school curriculum was almost wholly the Humanities. I studied Shakespeare from about aged 11 onwards. By the time I was 16, I could read all the French classics in the original, plus we did Chaucer in Middle English, and I did 8 years of Latin. Language and literature completely formed me. It’s no surprise I became a literature professor!
Animal welfare features in your latest title; do animals feature in your family life?
I didn’t have a pet growing up, because of being in the convent. But we had a dog when my kids were growing up, and they all have dogs. Three kids, seven grandchildren, five granddogs!! I’ve never had a cat because both my sons are allergic, but I have lots of friends with cats, and they gave me lots of ideas for Horace in my last book. I love the way cats are sure they’re in charge. Horace certainly is. I was inspired to write The Lord and The Cat’s Meow because 2022 is the 200th anniversary of the first Animal Rights Law. I was going to release it in 2022, but I was too excited once I’d finished it!
Is there a period of American history that you would consider writing about?
No, I don’t feel I know it well enough. Not like British history that I grew up with and is in my bones. But I’m now writing my second contemporary American crime book and I LOVE IT! My characters don’t sound a bit like me!
During lockdown many families in the UK have had to endure long periods of separation, even when living near to each other, how have you been affected by the Covid 19 situation Stateside?
We were on lockdown pretty much from March 2020 to May 2021, so I didn’t get to see my kids and grandkids for over a year. They don’t live near us anyway, so we were used to Face-timing etc. But it wasn’t easy. We cancelled a family reunion in the Mid-West in June, which broke my heart. But in November 2020 my Mum fell and fractured her hip so I spent four months in England with her. That was worse. The lockdown in the UK was much stricter than in the US, and my Mum was quite poorly after being in hospital, so I think I left the house maybe ten times in four months. Thank God for writing! I wrote the whole of The Cat’s Meow and began another Regency, which I’ve since finished.
When not writing, which genre/author’s novels do you read for relaxation?
I have a very wide-ranging taste, probably stemming from my upbringing. I still read Georgette Heyer and Jane Austen compulsively, all the time. I love the British writer Barbara Pym who wrote social comedies in the 1950’s. She is honestly a bit dated now, but her books are so funny and her characters so well drawn, I re-read them with pleasure. I think Kate Atkinson (Brit) is the best female writer alive today, closely followed by Ann Tyler (American). Then I like the American authors Wallace Stegner (died 1993) and Amor Towles whose book A Gentleman In Moscow is definitely the best book of the 21st century so far. And who doesn’t love Lee Child and the Jack Reacher books? I devour them at one sitting. You can see – I read all over the place!
What is next for G.L Robinson?
Forgive me for quoting a poem I learned in the convent and now appreciate even more, like Tennyson’s Ulysses in his old age, I intend To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths/Of all the western stars, until I die. In other words, I’m going to keep on keeping on! I’m 75 this year and I figure I’ve got ten good years to keep writing! I have a Regency on pre-order , another ready for publication in 2022, a contemporary American crime series begun (book one is done, book two is well under way) and I’m collaborating with six other writers on an Anthology called Love Yesterday, Today and Forever, a set of all sorts of different genre romances we hope to publish for Christmas. I hope you don’t mind my adding: if you’d like a short story, or to hear me read from my nine published novels, please go to my website: https://romancenovelsbyglrobinson.com
Thank you, Glynis, for sharing with us.
Please leave comments and/or questions below.
valerie holmes, author 