AN INTERVIEW WITH ROMA CON ARTIST CLARA SHANNESY BLYTHE FROM AUTHOR LYNN HESSE'S THE FORTY KNOTS BURN

Today we sit down for a chat with Clara Shannesy Blythe from The Forty Knots Burn by author Lynn Hesse. 

What was your life like before your author started pulling your strings?

Before the author knew me, I was a happy twenty-seven-year-old con artist, traveling with Victor and my adopted uncle, Roman. Victor, my mentor, is a British Shakespearean actor— when he can get a gig. We are pros with principles, no small gigs, only rich people scams unless the money runs out. 

 

What’s the one trait you like most about yourself?

I am a survivor. Dad wanted to marry me off at fourteen; I ran away. I met Roman and Victor in Indiana on a train bound for Chicago.

 

What do you like least about yourself?

I can carry a grudge.

 

What is the strangest thing your author has had you do or had happen to you?

I fall in love for the first time during this novel.

 

Do you argue with your author? If so, what do you argue about?

I don’t like my Aunt Amorosa. At one of the most vulnerable times in my life, the author lets my aunt find me in Atlanta. Okay, she brought me a gorgeous quilt made by the clan women, but the old matchmaker always has an agenda.

 

What is your greatest fear?

I fear I will let my partners down or disgrace myself or my family.

 

What makes you happy?

Freedom. I can’t stand to be confined.

 

If you could rewrite a part of your story, what would it be? Why?

I wouldn’t make the mistakes that separate my love, Hernando, from me.

 

Of the other characters in your book, which one bugs you the most? Why?

Besides my aunt, there is Sadie. She is after my uncle Roman, and she accuses me of stealing from lockers at the gym. Get real, petty theft is not my thing. I’ll read palms before I would stoop so low.

 

Of the other characters in your book, which one would you love to trade places with? Why?

I would be Alexandria. She is loved and protected by her father, Hernando. He would do anything for her. Watching Hernando with his child, fostering his daughter’s magnificent singing voice, are tender, touching moments.

 

Tell us a little something about your author. Where can readers find her website/blog?

Lynn is a retired cop, a dancer, and a grandmother. I like that she is a walking contradiction, an outsider like us. She doesn’t fit succinctly into the artist or paramilitary niche. She is shy and quite content, spending many hours in the library and online researching, in this case, my Roma culture. 

 

Lynn's sister made a blessing quilt for her from cloth patches given to the guests at her first book launch and returned with their wishes for the author’s success with Well of Rage. You can see it pictured above.

 

Learn more about Lynn and her books at her website. 

 

What's next for you?

Uncle Roman and I live in Croatia, but I have the itch to travel. Maybe, Spain, because I have a good reason to visit Hernando’s family. 

 

The Forty Knots Burn 

A con artist trio is stuck in Atlanta without funds when the oldest member has a heart attack and suddenly dies. Clara Shannesy Blythe and her adopted Uncle Roman are crushed at their mentor's death, but she must take over the reins of a cutthroat crew and pull off the risky art heist of an Edward Hopper painting. She falls in love for the first time at twenty-seven and realizes too late Hernando is the Hopper painting's forger, and his brother is the man trying to kill her.

 

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