Features Eliza Jane Brazier

By Mindy Carlson

In her newest novel, IT HAD TO BE YOU, Eliza Jane Brazier tells the tale of star-crossed lovers that Romeo and Juliet would’ve envied. Jonathan and Eva are assassins who happen to meet on the sleeper train from Florence to Paris. He’s wounded, and she’s fresh off a successful assignment. Lust at first sight threatens to consume them, even though each knows this can’t be more than a one-night stand.

However, neither can forget about the other and when Eva sees Jonathan six months later in the Palace of Versailles, their delicious chemistry bursts alive again. But while Eva’s there for him, it isn’t to rekindle their romance. He’s marked for death, and she’s his executioner.

But things aren’t what they seem, and soon, secrets are revealed that threaten both their lives. As they race through Europe, it also becomes clear the lives of the few people they consider family are also threatened. So, instead of simply disappearing, they need to stand and fight for those they love, even if it means they’ll both die.

IT HAD TO BE YOU is a slick and sexy international thrill ride with hints of Mr. and Mrs. Smith and John Wick that will leave you breathless and panting for more.

Eliza Jane Brazier
© Beverly Brooks

The Big Thrill was delighted to sit down with Brazier to discuss screenwriting, the fantasy of train travel, and love at first sight.

IT HAD TO BE YOU starts off when our heroes, Jonathan and Eva, meet on a train from Florence to Paris. Their meeting feels fated, like a love at first sight worthy of Romeo and Juliet. Do you believe in fate and love at first sight?

I’ve had times where I instantly knew someone was going to be in my life. Like with my husband, I flew to England and went to a concert that night, where I met him backstage. The first thing I said to him was, “You look familiar.”

Chances are I’d probably seen him somewhere in the crowd because it was a concert. And it wasn’t like we started dating instantly, but [our relationship] did happen really fast. So, yes, I would say that I have experienced that kind of thing.

Jonathan is an incurable romantic with a penchant for killing with antique weapons. Eva is more pragmatic and calculating but also a romantic at heart. Where did your inspiration for them come from?

I developed these characters in 2010. I actually wrote a similar story where they were assassins, and they met up by chance in Europe. It was erotica, and they had sex everywhere. I just loved the story. Those characters stuck with me.

Harold Bloom talks about this thing in his book Genius—which is not to say that I’m a genius, but he says that every artist has [creations] that are part of their purest, undiluted self. I feel like these characters really speak to that. That might be weird to say, but I think that there’s the side of me that’s like Eva, who’s very funny and pragmatic, and then there’s part of me like Jonathan, who’s fairly romantic.

Eliza works with her horses

IT HAD TO BE YOU has a wonderfully slick, international feel. What did it take to build a lushness of setting that worked in harmony, and didn’t get overshadowed by, action going 100mph?

I struggle to write description, and I’ve struggled with it as a reader, too. I don’t want to read… this long description of a house or even long descriptions of characters and what they did in the past, what books they like, etc. I like the idea of allowing readers to use their own imaginations. So, if I say they’re in a house, you can imagine a house. I don’t need to tell you what color the door is or what the view from the window is unless it’s important to the story. That’s naturally how I am, to be honest.

Eliza does Dapper Day at Disney

When I developed these characters initially, I’d lived in London for ten years. And when I was younger, I traveled a lot. I got a Euro pass and would go from country to country on the trains. The very first time I went to Europe, I actually took the sleeper train from Florence to Paris, which doesn’t exist anymore. Part of my experience of being an American in Europe was everything feeling like a fantasy. So, when I was developing these characters, that [feeling of fantasy] had to be part of the story.

You’re also a screenwriter. How is adapting a novel into a screenplay different from starting with a blank slate?

I’ve actually been working on an adaptation of IT HAD TO BE YOU. Adapting a novel is easier and harder. It’s easier because you’ve already done so much of the groundwork—like developing the characters, developing the setting, and developing the story. Your first draft doesn’t feel like a first draft.

The hard thing is when you’ve fallen in love with certain things—scenes, characters—in the novel, it can be very hard for you to cut them. The desire to keep my favorite scene or moment can sometimes be really hard to get over. However, it’s also a chance for me to go, “Hey, maybe I can make this part better.”

Eliza runs Half Marathons

What’s next?

I’m actually taking a year off from writing books because I really want to focus on screenwriting. Screenwriting is my dream. My whole life, I’ve wanted to be in LA and work in film. I wrote and sent my first screenplay [to Hollywood] when I was ten to a random address. Of course, nothing happened, but I told my friends, “Just you wait, guys. I’m going to make a movie.”

The Big Thrill Interviews Author Eliza Jane Brazier