Kerry Anne King talks Improbably Yours on the Desideratum Podcast
Desideratum is one of my favorite podcasts for several reasons! First off, host Theresa Bakken is such a thoughtful and insightful reader and interviewer — during our conversation she made me understand things about Improbably Yours that hadn’t been clear to me before even though I’m the one who wrote the book!
For example, I realized how so many things in the book aren’t what they seem — the characters, the quest, Improbable House, and even Vinland Island! It’s not just that they are all keeping secrets, it’s that appearances are deceiving and we are, all of us, often mistaken about what we believe to be reality.
Another reason I love Desideratum is because Theresa also includes a clip from the audio book in her podcast episodes. I’m super excited about the audio book for Improbably Yours, because it has dual narrators! Teri Clark Linden, who has voiced most of my books, is back to read the part of Blythe, and Flynn’s POV chapters are read by Aaron Shedlock.
Listen on Desideratum (and follow it!) or listen right here!
Here’s a quick little Behind the Scenes clip!
Improbably Yours and friends -- a (very partial) list of atmospheric novels set on fictional Islands
Confession: Vinland Island isn’t real.
Yep. The island where most of Improbably Yours takes place only exists in my imagination — and in the pages of the book, of course! Mind you, the Viking and I took a very serious research trip to explore the San Juan Islands, (where I just sort of plunked Vinland down into an available space) so we could get the atmospheric details right.
And by “very serious research trip” I mean we rented a VRBO on Lummi Island, took ferry rides, ate amazing seafood, walked by the water, and drank wine while watching a small island ferry come and go. It was a grueling and exhausting experience, as I’m sure you can tell, but one of the sacrifices I am willing to make to write a book!
You can read about some other atmospheric novels set on fictional islands here. And you totally should, because I suspect that you, too, might want to read some of them.
I also recommend that you check out The Invisible Husband of Frick Island by Colleen Oakley, a wonderful book about a community all pretending to interact with a man who has died, for the sake of the grieving widow who carries on as if he is still with her.
Colleen Oakley also very kindly read Improbably Yours and had this to say:
“This book has it all—a quirky island, a hot Viking, even ghosts!—but most of all, it has soul. I was charmed and moved by this lovely story that reminds us sometimes we have to dig up the past to remember who we are in the present. A real gem. ”