By Amanda Keats
Jane Green says she is 'having a really lovely time' when I talk to her about her new book The Patchwork Marriage and how her UK book tour is going. The bestselling author was over here recently to promote the book, catch up with old friends and generally reacquaint herself with 
her native England. The author, who now lives in the US with her husband, children and numerous pets – which include two cats, chickens and now two dogs – was one of the pioneering authors for the chick-lit genre back in the 1990s with books like Straight Talking and Jemima J.
In her latest offering, Green writes about a woman, Andi, who finally marries her dream man but struggles to cope when one of his two daughters from a previous marriage is nothing but difficult and hostile towards her and tries very hard to break up their marriage.
"I did a lot of reading and anonymous lurking on various step-parenting forums. There was one particular dynamic that I found fascinating and I kept coming across it. It was the woman who marries the man with children and the children don't like her. She thinks, 'I'm a good person, and all these children need is enough love and kindness and they will love me. I will make them love me and we will create, I will create, this happy family.'" - Jane Green on the research for The Patchwork Marriage.
The new book The Patchwork Marriage is about a woman who marries a man who already has children. You have a bit of a patchwork family yourself – is that why you wanted to write about this subject?
JG: Yes. I got a bit stuck after I finished The Love Verb, because I think it was so emotionally draining for me. I had every writer's worst nightmare in that I just ran out of stories and had no idea what to write next. My editor took me out for lunch and said: 'Well, what's going on in your life? What are the themes? What are you interested in? What are you thinking about?'
Of course, I'd just got married for the second time and found myself with a blended family and in a bid to try to understand what that meant and figure it all out – because it definitely presents unique challenges – I did a lot of reading and anonymous lurking on various step-parenting forums. There was one particular dynamic that I found fascinating and I kept coming across it. It was the woman who marries the man with children and the children don't like her. She thinks, 'I'm a good person, and all these children need is enough love and kindness and they will love me. I will make them love me and we will create, I will create, this happy family.'
Of course that seemed to be so rarely the case.
That became the foundation for this story.
Why did you decide to show both Andi and eldest step-daughter Emily's perspective in the book, instead of just sticking to one of them?
JG: The beginning of the book is all Andi's point of view but after a while, she just comes across as being completely self-absorbed. As soon as I started writing as Emily – who I really didn't like – I understood her and I understood that this wasn't personal. She didn't hate her stepmother – in some ways she wanted to love her – but she couldn't because she felt she would be betraying her mother. She was a child in pain and she didn't know how to express that pain. I really empathised with her.
It threw a completely different light on where the book went after I started writing in her voice.
So at the beginning, was it just meant to be Andi's perspective?
JG: Yes! I had no intention of writing as Emily and in fact it was my editor's suggestion and I'm so glad she did. I was very nervous when she suggested it, I didn't think I could do it. As soon as I started, though, it made perfect sense and I just felt like I understood what this girl was about.
They're both flawed. There isn't an obvious heroine here. As I get older, I'm far more interested in writing about people who are flawed because we are all human and we're all doing the best we can. It just isn't realistic to write about people who are leading perfect lives.
There were moments when I read the book that I wanted to scream at the characters – particularly Ethan – to stop being so stupid. Did you consider that kind of reaction when you were creating the characters?
JG: I don't think I found him quite as frustrating as clearly people do but I think that's why marriages come apart. During my research, I found that so many second marriages come apart and so many people I spoke to put the reason down to step-children and to the husbands not standing up for their wives. I think that frustration that you felt reading it was probably an accurate reflection of how these women felt about their husbands.
"I could argue till the cows come home that it's a pejorative and the problem is in the definition but people have been arguing that since 1996 and honestly – you're not going to change how people think of the term, or what people assume the definition of 'literature for chicks' means, so why bother?" - Jane Green on the term 'Chick Lit'.
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