Johana Gustawsson is author of the dazzlingly dark, bewitching gothic thriller, The Bleeding, translated by David Warriner – out now in paperback with red-sprayed edges and the first chapters of her upcoming thriller, Yule Island, included.
1. My family’s history served as a major source of inspiration for my first and third books, Block 46 and Blood Song, both of which are part of the Roy and Castells Series.
Block 46 was inspired by my paternal grandfather. He was a woodcarver before integrating the French Resistance. He was then sent to Buchenwald concentration camp, and he was one of the courageous men who organised its liberation.
Blood Song was inspired by my two grandfathers. My paternal grandpa, who, just before integrating the French Resistance, fought for the Republicans in the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War in 1936; and my maternal grandfather, who was a young Spanish boy at the time, living in Barcelona.
2. I am addicted to three things.
I’ll start by the healthy one: Exercise. Every day, I wake up at five to exercise for around 45 minutes. This aids in calming my thoughts as I begin my day and then murder people in my books!
Cheese and bread are my other two addictions. I know it sounds like a caricature of French people, but that’s me: happiness is a slice of blue cheese on a slice of homemade bread.
3. I wasn’t a keen reader as a kid. My mother, a teacher, became incredibly desperate and was so disappointed that she had failed to instill in me the love of reading. Then, one day, when I was seven, she suggested I should read Agatha Christie’s A Mysterious Affair at Styles, which I completely fell in love with. This book changed my life. And that changed my vision of words and reading. It led me to the path I am now on as an author.
4. Until my mid-twenties, I dreamt of becoming an actress! I attended the Cours Florent, a famous Parisian acting school, but I soon realised that I didn’t like either castings or learning my lines, which is a bit of a problem if you want to become an actor! What I really liked, however, were the stories and the words themselves – and actually writing those things – more than interpreting them for the stage or screen!
5. Two years ago, I moved to Sweden, my husband’s home country, And my relocation inspired my most recent book, Yule Island, which will be published in the UK in December 2023. The inspiration came from a very small pedestrian island, located next to the island where I live, where there is a manor rumoured to be haunted. When a murder takes place, the subsequent investigation suggests that those rumours might be true…
Buy your copy of The Bleeding HERE
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