LEX CROUCHER writes historical-ish rom coms for adults and historical fantasy rom coms for teenagers. Their latest novel Not for the Faint of Heart is a Sapppic historical fantasy adventure.
We asked Lex what their desert island reads are and what inspired their latest novel.
What are you reading now?
I’ve just started reading This Feast of a Life by Cynthia So! I loved Cynthia’s debut novel If You Still Recognise Me, which was about fandom, love and friendship, so I’m very excited for this one.
If you were stranded on a desert island and you could only have five books – what would they be?
‘The Locked Tomb’ series by Tamsyn Muir would unfortunately take up four out of the five, so I’ll count that as one book (sorry, breaking the rules already) and add:
The Secret History by Donna Tartt, Emma by Jane Austen, The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen, and The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden. All very different books, but I think they could keep me nicely entertained until the rescue helicopters descended.
Where is your favourite place to read?
On trains! I love a long train journey, perfect reading time. I also love to read by the sea or the pool; when I’m on holiday, I always say my job is reading, and usually get through about a book a day because it’s literally all I’m doing.
Do you read one book at a time or multiple?
I used to only read one book at a time but since becoming an author I’m often reading a few – some for fun, some for research and some because my friends wrote them and want feedback!
Do you use a bookmark or fold the corners of pages?
Neither usually, I just remember the page numbers. I’ve been doing that since I was a kid, and it works 9/10 times and is very annoying the rest of the time.
What sparked the idea for Not for the Faint of Heart?
I was watching Disney’s Robin Hood and I realised it would make loads of sense after writing a book set in the world of King Arthur to write about another English folklore hero. My version does have a fox in, inspired by that film, but only for the first few pages.
What elements of Robin Hood did you draw on for this story?
I like to take the legends and put my own spin on them, so instead of focusing on Robin Hood we’re with Robin Hood’s granddaughter, and the Merry Men operate quite differently to how they did in the original story. It’s fun to have the characters from Robin Hood be relatives of the ones in my own book, because you get to play around in the world of Sherwood Forest and imagine what happens next instead of retelling the events of the original myths.
What can you tell us about Mariel and the adventures she will go on?
Mariel is very dedicated to her cause, wants to prove herself to her father and isn’t great at accepting failure – when she kidnaps Clem, the other main character in this book, they end up spending a lot of time together and Clem starts to challenge Mariel’s worldview and her beliefs about herself and the Merry Men. Clem is also the opposite of Mariel in lots of ways, because she refuses to take anything seriously, and that’s a fun dynamic to write about as it both annoys Mariel and brings her out of her shell. The two of them end up having to work together to save Mariel’s father and the people of the wood.
What book character would you be, and why?
To be honest, main characters in books go through quite a lot of hardship, so I’d like to be a side character somewhere, living a peaceful life. Maybe I could be the friend in a rom com, who helps out with the protagonist’s romantic dramas but otherwise basically just gets to have a nice drama-free time.
If you could meet one author (living or dead) – who would it be and why?
Jane Austen! She was extremely funny, and I’d love to sit and gossip with her by a fire. She was one of the original rom com authors, so I’d want to hear her perspective on pretty much everything.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lex Croucher grew up in Surrey, reading a lot of books and making friends with strangers on the internet, and now lives in London with an elderly cat. With a background in social media for NGOs, Lex now writes historical-ish rom coms for adults (Reputation, Infamous) and historical fantasy rom coms for teenagers. Gwen and Art Are Not in Love is their YA debut.
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