Chick Lit Adventure
Date Published: 19 April 2018
Maya and Una are two best friends from Croatia, living life a bit more recklessly than they should. This time, they embark on a new adventure along with some friends. Soon their friendship, which seemed tight in Zagreb, becomes challenged on their trip to Barcelona.
The two girls and their friends experience some misfortunes that shape their voyage in a completely different way from what they were expecting. Luckily, they meet new and interesting people who help them to forget their problems and focus on love, fun, and the beauty of the landscape and places they visit.
Interview with Maya Berger
Can you tell us a little bit about the characters in Zagreb, Milan, Nice, Barcelona: The summer of heartache and fickleness?
I'd be happy to! Maya and Una are two cheerful, lively, and sometimes reckless best friends in their twenties just starting their adult life after graduating college. They live in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, where people are getting used to the idea that their country—which was once socialist—is now capitalist. Many things had changed since their school years, but their country is now a place where they can feel safe and free spirited. That’s how Una and Maya feel embarking on new adventures, meeting new people, feeling there is nothing that can stop them from making their dreams come true. Their social life is busy and colorful and they are always open for new friendships and new experiences. Maya and Una love to travel and discover new cultures, architectures and landscapes. In this book, they embark on an adventure with their friends Daria and Jakov, a very unstable and explosive couple who pull them and their friends Sasha and Helena (two quieter and more rational youngsters), into their quarrel resulting in the splitting up of their travelling group and causing doubts about their friendship.
Can you tell us a little bit about your next books or what you have planned for the future?
More than anything, I love to travel and I implement that element of my interest in my books. I try to bring readers closer to the destinations I’ve been to and portray the places and countries as I experienced them through writing my Chick Lit adventures. The next book will be about Maya and Una travelling through my beautiful country, Croatia's coast. The Adriatic Sea is becoming better known through series such as Game of Thrones and Emerald City and the movie Star Wars: The Last Jedi was filmed in Dubrovnik. But there are so many places and islands in the Adriatic Sea that are possibly even more beautiful than Dubrovnik, so I want readers to discover them through reading a new adventure about Maya and Una.
How long would you say it takes you to write a book?
My first language is Croatian, but I write books in English. I spent a year in the US though I still can’t say I write without consulting my dictionary from time to time so that makes the process of writing slower. It takes me about five months to write a draft version of a book.
What is your favorite childhood book?
The first book I read was The Adventures of Pinocchio and I loved it!
If you could spend the day with one of the characters from The Shadow of the Wind, who would it be? Please tell us why you chose this particular character, where you would go and what you would do.
I would spend a day with Daniel Sempre, the main character from the book. Ever since I was very young I enjoyed mysteries, maybe because I would watch them with my dad in the movie theatre or on TV. I loved Agatha Christie movies and when I was around twelve, I started to read her books. The Shadow of the Wind is also a mystery, but has so many other appealing factors. The mystery is about a book Daniel finds in the
Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a huge library of old, forgotten titles lovingly preserved by a select few initiates. I've always loved libraries for their peacefulness and stillness and the smell of old books which makes me feel at home. So I would definitely go to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books with Daniel, enjoy the atmosphere and look for my own special forgotten book. Because according to tradition, everyone initiated to that secret place is allowed to take one book from it and must protect it for life. Then, I would probably explore the city of Barcelona in the mid-1930s with Daniel Sempre and go to the villa where the love of the author of Daniel’s book, Penelope Aldaya lived and died. I chose this character because he’s investigating the mystery of the missing author of the only copy of the book. In this book there are all the elements I love: mystery, a foreign country, the story of the missing books and it is written in most beautiful, romantic style.
What was the hardest scene from Zagreb, Milan, Nice, Barcelona to write?
I struggled with the idea that came to me almost at the end of the book when Maya is angry with her friends and leaves them behind. I wasn’t sure if she should go to see her loving boyfriend in Barcelona or maybe search after a boy she accidentally met on her journey and who made her trip much more interesting than it would be if he wasn’t there.
What made you want to become a writer?
I love to read as many others, but I had to become very ill in order to discover my love for writing. I got an illness and no one could explain what was happening to me. I spent most of my time tied to the bed. When I wasn’t in my bed I was visiting modern medicine doctors or alternative doctors. From those visits I collected so many stories I decided to write a book.
Just for fun
Favorite songs:
Janis Joplin : Mercedes Benz
Aretha Franklin : Say a Little Prayer
Hozier: Take Me to Church
Favorite books:
Prisoner of Heaven by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
Favorite movies:
Deep Blue
Emperor of the Sun
Shawshank Redemption
Favorite tv shows:
Poirot
Lost
Favorite Food:
Bolognaise
Eggplant Moussaka
Favorite drink:
Prosecco
Wine
Favorite website:
Facebook ;))
Thanks so much for visiting with us today!
It's a pleasure, thank you so much for having me!
About the Author
Maya Berger is the author of Luna Tree, a memoir focusing on personal growth and its sequel, In the Pursuit of Change. She took a break from writing about life and personal growth to write two chick lit adventure stories, Girls with No Plan and its stand-alone sequel, Zagreb, Milan, Nice, Barcelona, a second story about Maya and Una who, this time, voyage through Italy and France to visit Maya’s boyfriend in Barcelona, Spain.
Maya is a 43-year-old living in Zagreb, Croatia, with her husband and their four-year-old daughter. She is a passionate traveler who spends every free minute either planning a trip or traveling with her family.
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