Joanna Trollope live webchat 4 April 1-2pm

I hated Petra! I thought she was passive-agressive and lacking in any will of her own. Is she a product of research as well?

You have written a great many novels (I am pleased to say!) How long does it take you to write a book from beginning to end?

Welcome to Gransnet, Joanna. Your books are the opposite of cosy, I think and yet you have a slightly cosy reputation. Do you agree and is that something you try to get away from?

Do you do an immense amount of research? I love the way you get at the emotional truth of your characters - or does that come straight out of your head?

Hoping it's ok for me to ask another question. Do you have any advice for people who would like to write? Thank you

As a daughter in law I always felt I was working hard to make the relationship work and not to upset my mother in law. As a mother in law I find I'm doing the same thing!! I haven't read the book yet but will be getting a copy straight away.

Sigrid's mother says she is saved from empty nest unhappiness by work and (spoiler alert!) this also seems to be the conclusion Rachel reaches at the end of the novel.

Do you think that older women benefit from/need to work/ can lack a role if they're not careful?

Thanks

Do you write with a single reader in mind, or a generalised idea of readers, or simply for yourself?

Your recent novels all seem to have been "emotional issue" novels. I wondered, does the issue come first, or the story?

Sorry, I'm not going to be able to join you today, but I'm a fan and I'm looking forward to catching up with this later.

My question is - you seem quite hard on Rachel. Is that because you think it's the responsibility of the mother-in-law to make the relationship work?

I felt Daughters-in-Law was really about Rachel. She was the one who had to make the most progress through the novel (or give up the most, looking at it another way). Were you ever tempted to call the book The Mother-in-Law? And do you think it would have sold as well if you had?

Thanks.

You seem to have shaken off the Aga saga label you had a few years ago. I read somewhere that you hated the term. Is that true and did you think it was unfair on your books (all of which I've loved, by the way!)

How did you first get into writing? And how on earth do you manage to keep coming up with ideas for all your books?

Hello Joanna,
Do you have a degree in psychology?
Your understanding of human nature is mind blowing.

Sorry, Joanna, me again. I have been thinking about Petra. She is treated very much as a family pet - a stray dog to be moulded to their ways. Did you choose her name as a play on this idea?

I too enjoyed the book. I wondered do you have daughters in law? And if so did you make Rachel everything that you never wanted to be as a mother in law?

Hello Joanna
First of all thank you for an enjoyable read. As ever the writing was lucid and clear, the description rich and evocative and I had to restrain myself to make the book last a bit longer. Like others I was very irritated by Rachel and kept thinking "you need a proper job", until she realised that herself at the end. I was a bit surprised she chose B and B with a lifetime of picking hair out of shower traps, cleaning behind toilets etc, but still.
What interested me most was how she behaved as a grandmother. I think most people on here would see their relationship with their grandchildren as much more important than Rachel seemed to do. I would have thought she would have apologised to Charlotte (why ever not?) in order not to risk the relationship with the new grandchild, would have fought much harder to stay in touch with the little boys nearby and would have thought her grandaughter was worth the occasional trip to London. I would be very interested to know why you felt that she was so stuck in her role as a mother of sons, that she hadn't moved on to her role as a grandmother.
The character that I identified with most was Sigrid's mother. As a grandmother in France with my children and grandchildren in England and Spain, I thought that she represented an issue facing many families today. Is there a new book there?

I aggree Annobel !! Rachel would be the MIL from hell !!!!! Thank goodness none of my daughters married a ''Mummy's boy'' or myself !!!. I actually got on better with my MIL than my Mother.

Apologies, Joanna if all that sounded a bit rude. Afraid I speak as I find and I'm sure you have had worse critiques than that...

Sorry, Joanna, I HATED Rachel. None of my friends who have DsiL behave like that and I am thankful that my DsiL are my friends and, indeed, like the daughters I never had. Where on earth did you get this unpleasant control freak character from? Of course, as portrayed, she has never been anything other than a wife and mother whereas most of my contemporaries have had a life outside the family.

In the last 4 months my daughters have presented me with 2 more grandchildren, making me a grandmother of 3. I read Joanna's book whilst waiting for the latest arrival, and so identified with Rachel that I couldn't put the book down. Thank you Joanna for a timely insight and a wonderful book. It should be a legal requirement for all mothers of sons ( and daughters) to read and memorise, and be regularly tested on it. I shall be mending my ways forthwith

Daughters in Law was the first book I downloaded onto my new Kindle and I couldn't put it down.
I loved the diverse characters and found it very interesting how a woman with Daugters in Law is a has a very different perspective of her childrens marriages to myself who has three Sons in Law.
I am now on my 3rd Joanna kindle novel and loving them all. [thanks]