A Bookchat about The Lady with the Dark Hairwith Erin Bartels

About the author

ERIN BARTELS writes character-driven fiction for curious people. Her readers know to expect that each of her novels will tell a unique story about fallible characters so tangible that it’s hard to believe they are not real people. Whether urban, rural, or somewhere in between, her settings come alive with carefully crafted details that engage all the senses and transport the reader to a singular time and place. And her themes of reckoning with the past, improving the present, and looking with hope to the future leave her readers with a sense of peace and possibility.

Author questions

After all those years in the big city, what’s your favorite thing about living in a small town, and is there anything you miss?
Other than reading, what are some of your hobbies and favorite ways to relax?
What is the thing you collect, and what’s the story behind it? (Like some people collect teacups, or some people collect anything with a turtle on it, or things like that.)
Is there anything especially interesting that you haven’t covered in other interviews that you could share with us or perhaps there is something God has laid on your heart that you would like to share with your readers?

About the book The Lady with the Dark Hair.

A charismatic man with a legacy that long outlives him. A forgotten woman whose fate is forever tied to his. And the family whose history is still being written.

Toulouse, France—1879

Catalan orphan-turned-fugitive Viviana Torrens has found sanctuary serving in the home of an aging artist in Southern France. It is in his studio that she meets Francisco Vella, a Gibraltarian merchant who sells artists’ pigments. When her past catches up to her, she is compelled to pose as Vella’s sister and join him on his travels or be deported back to Spain to stand trial. Along the way she will discover that the many parts she has been playing in order to hide her identity have far-reaching implications she never could have foreseen.

East Lansing, Michigan—Present Day

Esther Markstrom and her artist mother have always been proud of their ancestor, painter Francisco Vella. They even run a small museum and gallery dedicated to raising awareness of his scandalously underappreciated work. But when Esther reconnects with her former art history professor, she finds her once-solid family history on shaky ground as questions arise about Vella’s greatest work—a portrait entitled The Lady with the Dark Hair.

This dual-timeline story takes you on a captivating journey across time and continents, where past and present converge in a relentless search for truth, identity, and the freedom to follow one’s dreams.

This time period is interesting–Victorian years, but not set in England–and I love the premise of exploring the world of art in the 1800s. And way to plunge us into some deep themes and dangerous intrigue!

Viviana is the heroine of the historical timeline, but the blurb doesn’t tell us overmuch about who she is. What else can you share about her? (Without giving too much away, of course.)
The cool thing about split-time fiction is how directly it explores the way the past touches us today. Why is reckoning with the past an important theme for you personally to weave into your stories?
Did you learn anything surprising about nineteenth century France or Spain while you were researching for the historical timeline?
What’s next for your writing?

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