Look at her closely and you could start to believe in miracles. Her slim appearance, her slight smile, her ethereal air; a pearl necklace and earrings, incisors bent like a little girl’s, and sea blue flat-heeled buckled shoes. She is that girl from your class in secondary school who never got less than an A (How did the exam go? Easy!). But Julia Navarro (Madrid, 1953), the clever classmate who no-one can remember the look of has ended up making a living in a world of vultures, snakes and celebrities: the world of the press, which she has been immersed in since childhood (her father was a journalist who went by the name of Yale, remember him?).
So, although she hates arguing, she has built her life around the daily struggle of radio talk shows. Fame horrifies her but she puts her name (often with a photo) to daily opinion columns in newspapers read by half of Spain. That is to say, she argues and shows her face simply as a job. But one day, while she was sitting on a deckchair on a beach in Huelva with five newspapers and time hanging heavy on her hands: the miracle happened. She read an obituary that gave her an idea for a plot that gripped her imagination and, with the aid of her practised writing skills, made her Spain’s best-read author of thrillers for the last two years. Who would have thought it of such a well-behaved student as her? So it all does seem like a miracle. But there is a trick to it: this nice, clever, normal girl always secretly loved adventure.
Q. Wasn’t adventure more of a boy’s thing?
A. Maybe it was. I read what we had at home and I loved it. I was crazy about Dumas, for example. And I am still a great reader of adventure stories. My friends expected the novel to be generational, intimist... I shattered their preconceptions, but when you write the things you really like end up coming out.
Q. How long did you wait until you dared do it?
A. No time at all. I had never planned on writing a novel. I did not feel the need to do it; I did not really want to do it. La Hermandad de la Sábana Santa [Plaza y Janés] came about by chance.
Q. Isn’t it true that you were tempted by literature a long time back and that you even dabbled in poetry?
A. I wrote a little book of poetry that was published when I was 17. A lot of journalists think they have unfinished business with literature, but I have written several books about politics: I did not need to publish anything.
Q. It was a tough task for someone so busy, not so young any more and with a reputation to uphold. What made you decide to go ahead with it?
A. Nothing really. What I had in mind was a book about the challenges of feminism. I was on holiday, relaxed... I mean, how often does something happen that makes you think of a plot? What happened was that I read a piece of news that made me think: that would make a good novel. Plus there was the fact I had time. I was able to use my holidays to do some research and make a start.
Q. How did it feel?
A. It was fun, not being sure what I was doing or what was going to happen.
Q. So you ended up going from writing poetry to writing a thriller. Is something easy to read with a detailed plot what people need? Is that what sells?
A. Some people have told me that my novels have all the ingredients of a bestseller. People can make up their own minds; what I say is not going to convince anyone. But I did not write a bestseller, I wrote a novel that the readers decided to turn into a bestseller. There are tonnes of novels with the same ingredients that do not sell.
Q. La Biblia de Barro [Plaza y Janés] is very much an anti-war book, while people who read thrillers are more used to military exploits in the style of Tom Clancy, Ken Follett, etc. Aren’t you worried you might disappoint them?
A. I tried to write a novel that had something to say as well as entertain. It is about the human condition, good and evil, revenge, and the characters also have opinions about war, not just the Iraq war. I never actually stopped to think about what the readers you mention are like, but I think a lot of people share that anti-war view, at least in Spain.
Q. Do you like the kind of novels I mentioned?
A. No, the thriller writers I prefer are Le Carré and Graham Greene, authors who go more into the psychological aspects. You do not have to be a hawk to like adventure stories.
Q. The novel has a foreboding tone shrouded in mystery. Did the historic event give you an advantage? Were you recounting things that had already happened?
A. Yes, that was an advantage for me, as was the vast amount of information we had: what happened in Iraq was a tale foretold. The novel deals with the lead up to the war: international tension, inspectors and threats. But I finished it last December, so events helped me add colour to certain aspects, like the plundering of Iraq’s artistic heritage.
Q. The plot links the Iraq war with the worst event in recent human history, Nazism. What is the point you are trying to make there?
A. What I mean is that all wars are horrific and that Nazism is the worst episode in human history: there is nothing comparable and we need to be reminded so as not to forget. When I decided to speak of vengeance, what could have been a worse cause than the Nazi holocaust?
Q. Why does fiction with a religious theme sell so well?
A. What people like is adventure stories with a dollop of mystery, and religion always has some mystery about it, because ultimately it tries to provide answers to the unknown. Human beings are attracted by the unknown.
Q. What interests you more, religion as mystery or as power?
A. As mystery. The book is not about a revolution in the Vatican, but the theft of a few tablets that are extremely valuable historical material.
Q. In which Abraham makes the leap from polytheism to monotheism: isn’t that the basis of the church’s power?
A. Religion has been a part of people’s lives since the days of prehistoric cave-dwellers: it is part of the search for the meaning of life. It is part of human nature, which cannot be understood without that interest in religion, whether or not you believe and whether or not you are a practicing believer.
Q. One would have thought you would lean more towards political fiction. Is religion a higher form of political power?
A. I do not think so. In fact, the church was against the war. Do you think the church has more power than politicians in this country?
Q. Religion has more influence on people’s personal behaviour than the current Socialist government though for example, doesn’t it?
A. We are all the result of our upbringing, of certain norms and ideals.
Q. Are you the kind of person who believes and goes to confession?
A. I have a transcendent view of life: I do not think we are just a bunch of cells that have come together so we can pay the mortgage. Life like that would be so absurd. I am non-denominational and I do not go to mass, although I do think it is important to be aware of the dividing line between good and evil.
Q. If you are a believer, why are you afraid of dying?
A. You are mixing up the catechism with the transcendent view of life. Death, that step into the beyond, frightens me. I do not think anyone dies gladly: it is a leap into the void, an uncertainty that scares us all.
Q. The novel speaks of vengeance as one of the most human of feelings. Are you justifying or defending it?
A. No, I am describing it. It is not a feeling I share, I do not bear grudges.
Q. So is that why you are interested in it?
A. No, but sometimes I would like to be able to bear grudges, because I feel a bit daft. But instead I forget about things, I close doors, that is the mechanism I use.
Q. Having studied the Bible, can you tell whether Christianity forgives vengeance?
A. The advantage Christianity has is confession. I read the Bible for research purposes, but it fascinated me as a book of adventure stories: it is a great read and I recommend it.
Q. What can you learn from watching Parliament?
A. Everything: it is a reflection of society, with all the good and all the bad bits.
Q. Do you still spend hours and hours in the Chamber of Deputies?
A. No. Now I only go to very specific sessions that I am interested in. As I said, my mechanism is to close and open doors: with my novel I have unexpectedly opened a new one. But I do not miss the old times.
Q. You have said that your fiction starts in the newspapers. Don’t you think there are any other sources of inspiration?
A. There are plenty of others, but so far I have found my inspiration in the newspapers.
Q. How do you manage to combine two occupations with such anti-social hours - current affairs journalism and research-intensive fiction? Does your personal life, your family, lose out?
A. No, I lose out on sleep. I have a 12-year old son and I have tried to make sure he does not suffer from my new occupation. I have written at night, at weekends, while on holiday and I have had a good time doing something I wanted to do. I am very tired, sometimes I look in the mirror and see how it has worn me out, but you know, I would never have been able to imagine what has happened to me even in my wildest dreams.
Q. You are a daughter and wife of journalists. Is journalism something in your blood?
A. No. If I had not been born when I was I would not have gone into journalism, but rather my great dream, ballet. However, back then there were no classical ballet companies or schools. I had to content myself with doing it at school.
Q. You said you would wait and see what happened with your second novel before making a decision about the future: 200,000 copies sold in two months. Have you decided yet? Are you going to give up the day job?
A. I have decided to reorganise my life: I am not going to do everyday journalism any more, I will write more opinion columns. The success I have had with my novels will allow me to take a lower profile, to lead less of a public life and have more peace and quiet to write.
Q. Won’t you miss being out there?
A. I am not nostalgic or ambitious and I have never liked being in the spotlight. I do not particularly enjoy debating and going on talk shows: it is just a job.
Q. So it is a bit of a paradox...
A. That is right, you do not always choose the things you want the most.