A: I've lived in France off and on, the last time I tabulated, it came out to about nine years, in Paris mostly, but also in a southern village, Sommieres, and some time on the coast at Villefranche, plus endless driving around--France has wonderful little roads that wander through the villages. I was always a Europhile, also a Francophile, someone called the American /French relationship a marriage that's been in counseling for two-hundred years. I have always really liked European authors, and books set there--Paris is still, even today, the romantic heart of at least Europe, maybe the world. Also, the great political battles of the 20th century took place there--between Fascism and Communism with democracy wandering about in the middle, and the intense political strife of that period is a dramatic natural for the kind of historical espionage novels I like to write.

Q: Your incredible knowledge of the complexities of espionage gives your thrillers a distinctive feature that is both impressive and informative. How did you come by this knowledge - was it through personal scholarship or did you have some intimate understanding from any type of personal experience?

A: No personal experience, but I discovered, when I started these books, Intelligence History, which is an enormous field with books and books about every possible aspect. For secret endeavors, it is astonishing how very much is written. Some of the best of the writing is technical, and emotionally very neutral, so the research isn't fun, but it is very illuminating, about Nations, about conflict, and about how nations survive the kinds of attacks--diplomatic and military--that are a sad feature of the world we live in.

Q: What is your greatest ambition at this point in your life, other than writing, and how would you characterize any future challenges personally and professionally?

A: My ambition really is in my work, for the kind of success that takes place in the public market place, but also, especially, to reach for those moments of elevation that take place in novels. I have had letters from a lot of readers who came to these books at very difficult moments in their lives, and found that they provided refuge, and escape. To be able to offer consolation to anyone who needs it is a huge privilege, and maybe my ambition is just to be better at it.

Q: If you could have lunch with anyone, past or present, who would it be and why?

A: I wouldn't mind lunch with Anthony Powell, the British novelist I very much admire and whose work more or less taught me to write. For my own period, it'd be good to have lunch with Franklin Delano Roosevelt to see what he had to say about the 1933/1945 period I write about. I'd like to have lunch with Wislawa Szymborska, the Polish woman poet who won the Nobel some years ago. Everything she writes, even in translation, just reaches me, she's the truly splendid writer of this century. I'd order lunch, and the ability to speak Polish.

Q: Did you ever have a 'watershed' moment in your life that propelled you to change direction - particularly toward writing as a career?

A: I've been a writer since I was nine. Born to it, I never really had a choice, though in a dark time or two I brooded about it. My watershed moment was a trip to the then USSR in 1983, writing for Esquire Magazine. That was my first police state, and, once I knew what that really meant, I was off on the writing of the novels I do today.

Q: With Russia so much in the news these days again, do you see a resurgence in Russian-USA relationships taking a more strained direction, and if so, do you visualize this as a boost for increased interest in historical espionage novels?

A: The Russians! Someday they may be a terrific country but they still seem to live in this persistent sorrowful tormented darkness. Their past is a good place for novels, since those who resisted were truly heroes, and those who led the suppression were truly monsters. But let's not have another Cold War, please, and I'll forego the extra sales. With pleasure.

Q: If you were to give a fledging writer some advice, what would it be?

A: If you believe you have talent, and people around you believe it, really believe it, then don't quit, no matter what happens. When I started as a novelist, I thought I would be a failed novelist or a successful novelist, but there was never an issue of being a novelist--that was given, no matter what happened afterwards.

Interview Date: April 2005
Profile and questions compiled by Rosanne L., Matthews Branch Library