We’re thrilled to have here today Annabel Taylor from Jane Jordan’s new Dark Romance, The Beekeeper’s Daughter. Annabel is an eighteen-year-old Bee Charmer living on Exmoor in the South West of England.
It is a pleasure to have her with us today at Beyond the Books!
Thank you so much for this interview, Annabel. Now that the book has been written, do you feel you were fairly portrayed or would you like to set anything straight with your readers?
A.T.: I feel that Jane Jordan completely understood my character and the Victorian Exmoor I grew up on, which led to the complex relationships that developed in my life. She understood the darkness in me and from where it came. When Jane Jordan started my story I was a child, she captured the essence of what it was to live, go to school and grow up in this time period, being surrounded by the wildness and landscape of old Exmoor.
Do you feel the author did a good job colorizing your personality? If not, how would you like to have been portrayed differently?
A.T.: Yes, she understood my personality, just how headstrong I could be, and fearless when faced with adversity. I have never given much thought to rules, but Jane Jordan delved deeper into my psyche to find that I have a strong moral sense of what is right and wrong.
What do you believe is your strongest trait?
A.T.: Confidence.
Worse trait?
A.T.: Reckless
If you could choose someone in the television or movie industry to play your part if your book was made into a movie, who would that be (and you can’t say yourself!)?
A.T.: Since I have never seen a television or a movie, I will have to defer to the author, Jane Jordan.
J.J.: The American Actress, Grace Holley, captures Annabel’s stunning green eyes and long red hair, also being very beautiful, she would be a perfect choice.
Do you have a love interest in the book?
A.T.: I have two, Jevan and Alex, but it’s complicated.
At what point in the book did you start getting nervous about the way it was going to turn out?
A.T.: When I married Alex, I knew Jevan would be furious when he found out, and my life would be in danger.
If you could trade places with one of the other characters in the book, which character would you really not want to be and why?
A.T.: Cerberus Saltonstall. Because he has been driven insane by the legacy, and along the way lost his moral compass. He is ambitious. He is willing to sacrifice anyone that gets in his way. He is powerful, but in a way, he is lost, dabbling in dark magic. So blinkered by his belief, he does not fully understand the devastating consequence of his actions.
How do you feel about the ending of the book without giving too much away?
A.T.: For me the ending is bittersweet, the character that is supremely evil is destroyed, but so is a character that, all along, was merely a pawn in someone else’s ambitious plan. I did not realize that at the time. Both these characters caused me great psychological suffering. However, I do end up with the right person and a future that promises to be happy.
What words of wisdom would you give your author if s/he decided to write another book with you in it?
A.T.: Both myself and the people I loved most went through so much in The Beekeeper’s Daughter, now, I could not bear to lose the one person that I hold most dear in this world.
Thank you for this interview, Annabel Taylor. Will we be seeing more of you in the future?
A.T.: As far as I know Jane Jordan does not intend to write another novel with my character, she is too busy finishing up a different story. Of course, nothing is set in stone.
Jane Jordan 