Q&A with author M Jonathan Lee

Happy publication day for Broken Branches by M. Jonathan Lee. You can read my review here.

In order to celebrate I invited Jonathan for a chat and I am also offering up my pre loved copy up for competition.





Thanks for taking time to stop by and chat with us. Congratulations on the release of your new book Broken Branches.

Tell us a bit about the book.

Broken Branches is a story about families, about grief and loss. It’s really a study of the effects that loss can bring on a family and how it affects so many generations. It’s also based on the true story of my great-great-great-great grandfather who allegedly set a curse running through my family by his mistreatment of a dog!


What do you hope readers take from the book?

I hope that readers will firstly enjoy the journey that Ian takes to ultimately find the beginnings of light from perpetual darkness. I also hope that readers will follow the story only to find that things aren’t exactly as they appear.


There are some heavy themes to Broken Branches, mental health being one, what made you choose this for the book?

Mental health is a major theme in my life, I lost my brother to suicide and I do feel that drawing people’s attention to the struggles that others suffer can only be helpful in removing the stigma attached. As a by-product of my brother’s suicide, I was also affected with depression and some of the characters in Broken Branches also suffer difficulties due to events out of their control.


Has any of the book been drawn from personal experiences or situations/people in your life?

Yes. As I mentioned earlier, I discovered the alleged curse in my own family when looking at the geneology of my family. Is it a curse though?


Is any of your other books like this, in regards to themes?

It depends what the question means. All of my books have twists in them. Tricking (or at least encouraging) the reader to think one thing and then uncovering the reality beneath. So, yes, I love Roald Dahl, I love his Tales of the Unexpected. My third novel (A Tiny Feeling of Fear), deals candidly with mental health, but is a story of hope. It has the most unexpected twist of all time in my opinion. I loved writing that.


Are you writing anything currently?

I’ve finished “How Was I Supposed to Know How It Would Be?” my fifth novel. A story which looks at the dangers of the old adage of “the grass is always greener”. I’m about half way through my sixth novel, currently called “The Devil, Idle Hands and a little thing called choice.” Guess what? They all have twists…


What is next for M Jonathan Lee?

We’ve just released a documentary short called “Hidden” which is based on A Tiny Feeling of Fear. You’ll find it on youtube if you search for M Jonathan Lee Hidden. I’m currently heavily involved in setting up a local mental health facility to help people in my locality. That aside, I’m lucky to be writing as much as I am just now.


What does the M stand for in your name? (sorry I am so nosey)

Ha! When I first got a publishing deal we were threatened by the publishers of another author called Jonathan Lee. They advised that we should use a different name to differentiate. I came up with M Jonathan Lee. The M standing for ‘meaningless’… true story.


Where can fans find you?

Okay, so we have www.jonathanleeauthor.com. There is a /mjonathanlee facebok page @mjonathanlee on twitter and I think my publishers say a bit about me on their site. I also write for the Huffington Post regularly.


Anything else you wish I had asked or you would like to highlight or talk about?

Not at all. Thanks so much for having me. Feel free to tell the world about Broken Branches whenever you have the chance…(!)


As always, to enter the competition please use the Rafflecopter below, the more entries you complete the more chances you have.

a Rafflecopter giveaway