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Irina is the strong and compelling central character in author Philip Warren’s novel of the same name. What muse led him to write about the elusive time period and the shadowy figures that populated it in his book?

Poland, the Black Death, the Depression, religious tensions … these are each topics that could be fictionalized to a high degree and put under a microscope by historians and readers alike. All together, they combine to create a fascinating and multifaceted story that pulls you in and causes you to both reflect and question while also thoroughly enjoying the literary journey. This is Irina, and this spotlight is a chance to find out more about Warren’s inspiration, process and personal connection to his tale. Don’t miss BookTrib’s review of this intriguing and intelligent book, either! Read it here. 

Q: What first inspired you to write this novel, and how did that idea grow?

A: Had my mother been born in Poland, her name would have been Irina Kwasniewska, and there are a few parallels between her job as a servant in a Jewish household when she was the oldest child at the Depression’s beginning and what Irina experienced as a servant helping her family some 600 years earlier. I also always wondered about the relationship between the Jewish and Catholic religions as well as the tension that existed for two millennia. After a bit of research, the two notions together gave rise to a story about a young woman alone in a world dominated by men and the church. 

Q: What kind of research did you do on the historic background and the everyday lives of people during that time period? What did you learn that most surprised you?

A: The bibliography at the end of the novel lists some of the research into Poland during the 14th century, of which there is relatively little; about the medieval times, there is much. The Black Death and the Great Mortality — deadly forms of the plague striking Europe over a period of some 60 years — as well as civil, military, and religious history of the times provided a deep well from which to draw. Details about clothing, food, and shelter revealed a fascinating glimpse into the lives and health of royals and commoners alike, what colors they wore and what foods they ate. Two surprises surfaced: the notion of two sleeps and an answer to the question of why so many Jews wound up in Poland before World War II.

Q: What was your writing process like? Did you outline the book and then write it, or did you write it as you went along?

A: I have never been a disciplined writer, the kind who writes so many hours a day. I am a binge writer, someone who revels in the research, lets it percolate, then sits to write for hours on end until I’m bleary-eyed and have to stop. Naturally, curiosity breeds more research along the way, but from the beginning I knew how Irina’s story would begin and how it might end while knowing nothing about the in-between.

Q: Irina learns much from her companion, Father Madrosh. Tell us a little about Irina and the Father’s conversations, and your choice to make these a central recurrence along Irina’s journey.

A: When I realized that Irina was embarking upon a long journey across Europe, aside from the murder, mayhem, treachery and vengeance which seemed to follow her, Irina and Father Madrosh had to talk about something. Her deep and natural doubts about God provided a natural litany of topics with which to challenge Madrosh; and for his part, Madrosh used her questions as an opportunity to explain God and his presence in the world of good and evil, and help Irina in her role as a noblewoman.

Q: There are many fascinating characters in the novel, and we get to see the action through many of their eyes. What were your challenges in choosing this style of storytelling?

A: It’s often difficult to choose between omniscient and individual point-of-view storytelling, and so I carefully used both. As with most writers, the characters are metaphors, in this case especially exemplifying shades of good and evil for both the reader and Irina to understand what Madrosh was attempting to describe.

Q: What projects are you working on now?

A: I am part-way through a crime novel taking place in a small Pennsylvania town where I lived for nearly a quarter of a century. Winter’s Dead will come out near the end of 2021, I hope, and may be the start of another series.

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About Philip Warren:

Philip Warren is a Buffalo, NY, native of rich Polish and eastern European heritage, but fortunate to have lived and worked in many states east and west of the Mississippi before settling with family in western Pennsylvania. Irina represents several years of research into life in the Middle Ages, but earlier came Turnover and TurnAround (as John P Warren), political thrillers which were published in 2014 and 2015. He is currently writing a crime thriller, Winter’s Dead, with an eye toward a late 2021 release.

BookTrib

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