WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY: Mari Reiza, Author

 

Mari Reiza against Verona's Romeo and Juliet 's wall.
Author: Opera and the Retreat

Mari Reiza is a romance author who “doesn’t set out to write romance.” Readers enjoy the emotions she brings to her stories. She writes both short stories where you can “live in the moment,” and novels where her characters can be developed and “turn around and surprise you, almost mocking you.” Her most recent novels are Opera described as “A scorching rendition of human resilience” and the Retreat, "an uncomfortable but fascinating ripening journey."

Born in Madrid and currently living in the U.K., Mari likes to travel, especially in the mountains which "clear her mind for writing." She enjoys hiking, climbing, and skiing with her daughter when she’s not writing. She plans to spend time in Nevada to write her next novella.

Q: You’ve written romances set in a variety of times and locations.  Readers tout the emotion you bring to your stories. What inspires you? Do you have a favorite romance author?

Mari Reiza: First of all I don’t set out to write romance. I only see, sense and speak, as a woman. And what I see is that the feeling of excitement and mystery associated with love still remains, at a risk of talking clichés, a prime maker and wrecker of lives. All around me. What more engaging is ever there to speak about than love or death? 

And romance per se is but the tip of the iceberg, the flame making us blind and fearless which is interesting but almost always transient. Empathize with Opera’s Ivanka who can’t stomach grievers orbiting around her, live with her through the agitation and accident of her encounter with Maria (a man, despite the name), followed by a growing love-force determined to push out the most unmovable of deadlines. Or with Carmela’s cousin in Caro M, beautiful and innocently in love with him and her wedding dress, ready to embrace marriage like a magic portal. 

But it never lasts. 

And still, there’s nothing more real than the dream of love.

Although falling out of love can also prove intriguing. PHYSICAL’s Fátima, for example, drops out of love with herself then with her husband. ‘And thus things were being taken away from me one by one,’ she complains. ‘How was I going to enjoy sex if I was a nobody? Not even earning any money?’ (Is sex a requisite for love? another question altogether.) 

It can be equally painful when your lover falls out of love with you. What are you supposed to feel then? ‘He asked me for the ketchup, in a whisper, and I gave it to him. Somehow, I felt that it was the least I could do, now that I understood I had been but a vague irritant for the last few months, that I did not arouse him anymore,’ tells us Kiki, Fátima’s friend. 

What I mean is, it’s nice to see people on a high but they are even more arresting when breaking down, forced from hero back into humbled human.

In essence, I like romantic books exploring female sexuality and power on the upturn then resourcefulness and resilience on the downfall from love. Deborah Levy’s Hot Milk, Margaret Atwood’s The Robber Bride and Lily King’s Euphoria are amongst my favorites.

Q: Your most-recently released novel the Retreat has been described by a reviewer as “a feminist, coming-of-age novel.” Do you agree? How would you characterize it?

Mari Reiza: In the Retreat, something has happened to Marie (a girl, unlike Opera's Maria) in her youth which she can’t get rid of, something that prevents her from building relationships, understanding her sexuality and the place for God in the world. It is definitely an uncomfortable if fascinating ripening journey and yes, almost everyone that counts in the novel is a female. The only man that could have made a difference is absent and from that you can draw your own conclusions.

Q: Several reviewers describe your recent novel Opera as “a Romantic story in the classical sense rather than what a modern romance story would be.” How would you characterize Opera? Do you consider it contemporary romance?  

Mari Reiza: Mmm… when I search contemporary romance it says: ‘Contemporary romance is a subgenre of romance novels, generally set contemporaneously with the time of its writing. ... Heroines in the contemporary romances written prior to 1970 usually quit working when they married or had children, while those novels written after 1970 usually have, and keep, a career.’ Puzzling. 

Well, Ivanka is a beautiful young woman born in Saint Petersburg, wedded to rich banker Alexey. She definitely lives like an old-fashioned heroine and has indeed quit her Operatic career to follow him to London. In addition, her love with Maria has the chivalric and supernatural feel of a classical tale. So, I can see why they call it a classical romance.

Q: You write both short stories and novels. Do you find that each offers you a way to better tell a story or deliver a theme? Do you prefer one over the other?

Mari Reiza: I love the short stories to live the moment; they can almost be cinematographic. However, the novel allows time for the character to show you her true colors then totally turn around and surprise you, almost mocking you.

Q: How do you make your readers care about your characters? Are their issues, problems, and joys relatable to readers?

Mari Reiza: I should not be saying this perhaps, but I do not worry too much about the reader when I’m writing characters. My assumption is, this is a story that is happening or has happened or if not exactly so, it could have happened or may still happen. It's real despite being fiction. Then I try to focus on the humanity of my heroes and inject as much humor as possible. I hope this will help make the tale entertaining, relatable and readable but perhaps it won’t work for everyone. I’ve learnt, at the end of the day, I have to do what works for me. Writing, like the other arts, should be an expression of what we have inside, even if perhaps it’s not very commercial half the time. But hopefully it may still make a small difference.

Q: Why do you write? Do you choose topics that concern you to help reveal them? Or, do you want primarily to tell a story? 

Mari Reiza: I do not write with a topic in mind, for any audience in particular or with a specific aim. I only relate things I have observed, often mismatching the different bits, throwing them together to play the what if game. 

In Physical: What if we put the anarchic girl with curly black hair and thick-rimmed glasses with the straightforward, rational and practical woman, fair-haired and attractive in a sexy-cute kind of way without being stunning? 

In Opera: What if Ivanka’s masseur slim as a river reed and pretty despite his cut-rate-dental teeth, was hired for his osteopathy services but tried to cure her of her fatal illness instead? What if her trusted prince was not to be trusted, but was instead wanted back in Moscow by a hysterically resentful, erotically hyper-charged Cuban (male) ex-lover, and Ivanka's masseur was (again) the only one who could help him?

What if... 

You get the picture. 

Q:  You were born in Madrid and now live in the U.K. and you write frequently about women’s issues. Do you find that your topics are applicable across broad national boundaries and are as relevant in Europe, Asia, United States etc.? 

Mari Reiza: We call ourselves a global society but I think there are still tremendous cultural differences between countries, even regions you consider close neighbors. I like the differences to last, but in my books I ensure they co-exist. I often write about London, situations where different people come together. In Room 11, the patient's husband is Italian but the nurse is an African immigrant and the doctor is of Indian origin. In Opera, the heroine and her accomplice are Russian but the masseur and the composer are Italian. In Physical, one lady is Brazilian and the other is from Northern Italy… (what's my fixation with Italy you may ask?) It's undoubtedly my background. I left Spain at twelve and have lived since in Brussels, Amsterdam, the US, Milan and the UK (and loved almost exclusively Italian men.)

Q: How and why did you make the transition from investment research writer and management consultant to author of contemporary romance novels? 

Mari Reiza: I’ve always been an avid reader and written on the side, short stories and poems since school, first in Spanish then in English. My jobs took me away from fiction but still involved a lot of writing. Although of course it was a very different kind of writing. I knew I loved the writing and the salary but had not much interest in the subject matter. The opportunity came to step down, perhaps it wasn’t seen as an opportunity at first to be honest but more like forced upon, and I took it. The rest is story.

Q: What’s next? 

Mari Reiza: I’m off to Nevada this Easter. A writer I like back in my land of origin, the Basque country, Bernardo Atxaga, wrote his days in Nevada some time ago. I love that book. I’m thinking to write my own little Nevada novella perhaps.

Q: Tell us something about Mari Reiza. What do you like to do when you’re not writing? 

Mari Reiza: I have become passionate for the mountains: the Dolomites (Italy again!!!). I enjoy hiking, skiing and climbing with my daughter. We are there whenever we can. The scenery helps the writing too: it clears the mind, for more.

About Mari Reiza

Mari Reiza was born in Madrid in 1973. She has worked as an investment research writer and management consultant for twenty years in London before becoming an indie fiction writer. She studied at Oxford University and lives off Portobello Road. Also by her, Inconceivable Tales, Death in Pisa, Sour Pricks, Pack of Wolves, STUP, Mum, Watch Me Have Fun!, Marmotte’s Journey, West bEgg, PHYSICAL, Room 11, Triple Bagger, Caro M, Opera, the Retreat.

About Mari Reiza’s Books

the Retreat: An uncomfortable but fascinating ripening journey

Ahmed has abandoned her. Nadia is gone the way Isabelle did before, her two fallen warriors. But Marie can still hear His voice clearly. A deep call for justice takes hold in an impressionable teenage girl from a recently broken family during a religious retreat; what happens next will mark her life for years to come. the Retreat is a story of men playing God, of hurt that doesn’t find its way out.

Opera: A scorching rendition of human resilience 

Suffering Ivanka, once an arts patron in Moscow, receives a wrongly delivered letter at her secret address in Kensington. Her therapist Fer recognizes the intended recipient immediately, leading her into the hands of Maria, a faded Italian pop-idol living a reclusive life only a few houses away. Maria unintentionally wakes Ivanka up to the nature of the spiritual depth she has been craving, convinces her it's the lack of it that has made her sick. Can she, with the help of Igor, her sweetest long-life friend and accomplice, help Maria back into music?


Links

Amazon Opera

Amazon the Retreat

Amazon Author Page 

Twitter and Instagram address @mari_reiza

Wixsite