![\"book-review\"](\"http:\/\/www.british-weekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/book-review-2.gif\")
This book\u2019s narrative moves between London and Paris and shows how one decision can change your whole life. The descriptions of Paris and London are vivid and romantic images. The characters not so much, and could benefit from more emotional depth to connect with the reader.<\/p>\n
Kat Lind met Daniel, a young artist, in Paris when they were 19 years old. They had a passionate affair. Kat goes home, leaving Daniel. Years later, Kat is living in London with her husband Jonathan and their child Will. A notice of a solo art exhibit by Daniel draws her to go see him, to see if he remembers her. She discovers he has painted many pictures of her as a young woman, that he\u2019s obsessed with her. Their relationship rekindles. He continues to paint her. Kat must choose between her family and passion.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got the idea for The Blue Bath during the time I was living in London, sometime around 2007,\u201d says Waters-Sayer. \u201cI have always harbored the secret desire to write a novel. For the next few years the manuscript was my constant companion, keeping me company as I left Europe and returned to the U.S. It was a delightful companion, allowing me to keep spending time in all those places that I had left behind, but that are still so much a part of me. I think it\u2019s in our nature to try to contribute to the things we love, the things that we find beautiful and have reverence for. Books are high on that list for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
For research, Waters-Sayer use the internet and read books on art and painting. She also spent a good deal of time in museums, notably London\u2019s National Gallery and the Tate Modern, and among the Rodin sculptures in Stanford University\u2019s Cantor Arts Center.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am a great fan of the visual arts, painting in particular,\u201d says Waters-Sayer. \u201cAnd, as someone who has absolutely no talent for painting, it was brilliant fun to be able to create works of art entirely out of words. Every single painting in the book is utterly real to me. I can see each one of them absolutely clearly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Waters-Sayer was first a writer as part of a career in public relations and investor relations. \u201cDecidedly nonfiction,\u201d says Waters-Sayer. \u201cAlthough a very different type of writing, the experience was valuable. It acquainted me with the terror and beauty of impossible deadlines. It gave me confidence in my abilities. And, it made my skin a little thicker.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Blue Bath has yet to be optioned for film or television.<\/p>\n
Elizabeth Beier at St. Martin\u2019s Press is Waters-Sayer\u2019s editor. They were introduced when St. Martin\u2019s Press was considering buying the book. \u201cThe editing process…I find subtracting more painful than adding,\u201d says Waters-Sayer. \u201cA few darlings were definitely sacrificed in the making of this novel, but they were all necessary cuts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Susan Golomb is Waters-Sayer\u2019s agent. \u201cI compiled a list of writers whose work I admire, and I queried their agents,\u201d she says. \u201cSusan was at the top of that list.\u201d<\/p>\n
Waters-Sayer lives outside of Boston with her family. She was born and raised in New York, but lived twelve years in London.<\/p>\n