Two topics seem to come out strangely from your books: your interest for human stories during war time and your love for Yugoslavia and the Balkans. Can you tell more about that?
Sylvie Nickels: During thirty-plus years as a travel writer I became particularly attached to certain countries, one of which was the former Yugoslavia. I visited it many times from the early 1960s onwards, wrote a couple of travel books about it and made many friends among the different ethnic groups. The first novel - Another Kind of Loving - of what has turned into a trilogy tells something of the effects of that war on a few ordinary people caught up in it.

In fact, the theme of the whole trilogy is the effect of war on the children and grandchildren of participants. I have always been interested in the strong principle of cause and effect and I think war offers some unexpected as well as obvious examples.

What stories struck you most over your time in the Balkans? Have you drawn inspiration by any real events?
Sylvie Nickels: One of my very old friends was in Sarajevo for part of the siege and kept a diary in English. I was privileged to be given a copy of it so had a first hand account of those events and their consequences on the inhabitants. Coincidentally around this time, we became guardians of a Romanian girl (about the same age as my young heroine, Minkie) who came to the UK for her education. We learned to see our own country through her eyes and also of the traumas of growing up with a foot in two different cultures.

In the two books, there are many strong relationships taking shape. Particularly I am thinking about Mike and Minkie. Is there any of those relationships you love more than the others?
Sylvie Nickels: I was always interested in the relationship between Mike and Minkie which grew over the two books organically - almost without any interference from me! I was also interested in the relationships which developed round the character of Justin and his posthumous effect on some the characters through his diaries.

In which way did 9/11 affected you personally?
Sylvie Nickels: I shared everyone else’s horror, but it also made me think much more about how the actions of a person, a group of people or even a nation have their effect not only immediately but for a long time, even centuries, to come.

Can you identify yourself in any characters of the books?
Sylvie Nickels: I suppose there is a bit of me in many of them, but perhaps mostly in Minkie herself.

Not all the stories in the second books are related to the Balkans, also to the two World Wars. What’s your "personal" - even if presumably not direct - experience at this regard?
Sylvie Nickels: Indeed. My childhood spanned the years of World War Two, though it was not until adulthood that I began to understand the effects it had on some families - for example children whose fathers had been in Bomber Command or, in the case of World War One, battles such as the Somme.

As you are clearly emotionally bound to Yugoslav events and history, was it difficult to write about it? When did you decide to write a novel about it?
Sylvie Nickels: I got to know it very well in the course of many visits over several decades. I felt at home there from the beginning. I had already written a couple of travel books and scores of articles, but felt moved to try and understand more about the inter-ethnic strife that evolved from its turbulent history. The decision to write the first novel came when circumstances, such as my friend’s Sarajevo diary and our guardian of the Romanian girl, came together. I also felt that the reporting of the war was not fairly balanced.

Are you planning to continue the sequel?
Sylvie Nickels: Absolutely, it’s well on the way. In this case the effect of war was on Mike’s father which had a major influence on Mike’s childhood and a chain of events which returned to haunt him in his middle age.

Why did you decided to self publish?
Sylvie Nickels: Obviously I would have preferred to publish through a mainstream publisher, but in the long run I decided the books had something worth while to say and that it was worth the relatively modest cost of Print on Demand in order launch them into the world. The real problem with this method is marketing as there are so many obstacles, such as the huge commission rates required by main bookshops, and the difficulty of getting reviews. However, I have no regrets. The reaction from readers, reading groups and other groups to whom I have given talks has been very positive.