Melissa Senate

A few weeks ago I was asked (for a writing blog) what fictional world I’d like to live in and why, and my immediate response was: “I’d like to live with the March sisters and wonderful Marmee.” As a tween, I was enchanted by Little Women and wanted to be Jo March. My own girl. Headstrong. Proud. Determined. Smart. Funny. Passionate. And: a writer. When Jo cuts off her hair to fund her mother’s trip to see their ill father, I was truly changed. Through Jo March, I learned you can be both selfless and true to yourself. I loved her, loved the book and film adaptions. And I love anything to do with Little Women. So when I heard about a new novel called THE LITTLE WOMEN LETTERS by Gabrielle Donnelly, I was intrigued and invited Gabrielle to share a bit about the book and herself on my blog. (The UK version, published by Penguin, has just been published. The U.S version is due out in early June–check out the US cover by visiting Gabrielle's website, hyperlinked below)

Introducing THE LITTLE WOMEN LETTERS by Gabrielle Donnelly

You loved Little Women.  Now discover Jo March’s descendants…

Little Women, Louisa May Alcott's treasured classic, has been loved by women throughout the ages, the world over.  This heart-rending tale about the Marches –a family that loses its wealth and gains much more: love and unity– touches readers as strongly as it did when it was first published in 1868, against the aftermath of the American Civil War.  Now, Gabrielle Donnelly reopens a door to the tale that you’ve read, and reread, and imagines what Jo March’s descendants –transplanted to modern day North London– would be like.

When Josephine March’s great-great-granddaughter stumbles across her ancestor’s letters, the Little Women shed a glorious light on a new generation of sisters. The Atwaters are a loving, sprawling mess of a family and Fee’s three daughters, Emma, Lulu and Sophie couldn’t be less alike if they tried. Emma is planning her wedding, Sophie is an up-and-coming actress, but Lulu – the cleverest of them all – is more than a little lost.  Grandma Jo’s letters had been gathering dust in the attic for decades, but when Lulu gets her hands on them, everything seems to change and different worlds begin to open up. And even though dark family secrets emerge, Jo’s words offer comfort and guidance across the centuries. Sometimes family is all that matters. And sisters are the closest friends you can find.

“Gabrielle Donnelly's The Little Women Letters radiates a rare warmth and charm that had me smiling from beginning to end. The characters absolutely live and the story is utterly compelling. I quite simply love Donnelly's voice!”

–Santa Montefiore, author of The French Gardener and The Mermaid Garden

My Q&A with Gabrielle Donnelly:

Q: Tell us about your novel

A: It's called THE LITTLE WOMEN LETTERS and it's a sort of modern take on Louisa May Alcott's much-loved classic LITTLE WOMEN.  The main story is of three sisters, young women in their twenties living in modern London, who happen to be the great-great-granddaughters of Jo March.  One of them finds a cache of letters that Grandma Jo had written to her own sisters when they were all young, so it's partly a modern novel and partly a behind the scenes look at LITTLE WOMEN and GOOD WIVES.

Q: What do you think women will most relate to about your book?

A: I hope they'll find it a good excuse to re-visit LITTLE WOMEN!  I have yet to meet a Western woman who did not adore that book, and this is an examination of how three of the March sisters might have turned out if they had been born a century and a quarter later and in big, cosmopolitan London instead of sleepy little Concord, Massachusetts.  It was a very interesting exercise for me to take the nineteenth-century characters and place them into modern society.  Inevitably the modern girls have many more opportunities than the older ones.  But they also face challenges that would never have occurred to the Marches … It's up to the reader to decide when and where she would rather have lived.

Q: What would most people be surprised to know about you?

A: I was born and brought up in London and although I have lived in Los Angeles for most of my adult life, I still sound as if I have never in my life travelled more than five miles from Hyde Park Corner.  I don't know why this is: I love America, my husband is American, I eat American food and even use American vocabulary - I fasten my bathrobe with a tie and throw my garbage into the trash can with the best of them - but for some reason the accent just won't take.  I occasionally try for the California drawl but all my friends fall around laughing and tell me I sound "cute."  Which is not what I'm aiming for.

Having an accent is surprisingly boring.  People feel compelled to comment on it, and while they usually do so nicely, there's really not much reaction I can provide beyond "Yes, you're right, I do sound different."  I actually trained myself to say "tom-ay-to" in order to avoid the inevitable "Gee, I love the way you said that," which is a completely sweet thing for anyone to say, but good lord after you've heard it a few dozen times …! And then met my New York agent for a business breakfast in a highly sophisticated New York hotel, where I ordered coffee … orange juice … and a cheese and tom-ay-to omelette … only to have the waitress sigh and murmur plaintively, "Darn, I was hoping you'd say tom-ah-to."

You can't win.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Gabrielle Donnelly was born and brought up in London, where she worked as a journalist on women's magazines before moving to Los Angeles to specialize in show business journalism. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, and has been an ardent fan of Louisa May Alcott since she was a young girl. For more information, including where to buy, visit Gabrielle’s website.

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I can’t wait to read the novel, which is on its way to my mailbox and will hopefully arrive just in time for the long weekend.  Thanks to Gabrielle Donnelly for visiting the blog today. Happy Memorial Day weekend, everyone!

My friend Elizabeth gave me one of her gorgeous handmade notebooks, and I use it to jot down ideas for my work-in-progress, ideas in general, and a list of titles of books I want to check out. The list is a combo of “Must-Read; Read To Find Out Why It’s A Critical Smash and/or Huge Best-Seller; and This Sounds Interesting. A couple of years ago, I took my pretty notebook to Borders and started collecting the ten or so books on my list —which included a debut novel called SOUVENIR by Therese Fowler. I took my books to the Borders café and settled in with a grande cappuccino.

I bought only one book that day: SOUVENIR. I’d read the prologue (and I am one of those readers and writers who LOVES prologues) and was gripped. Between the beautiful, evocative writing and the powerful, true, true, true heartfelt emotion, I was hooked. I took that book home, read it, loved it, and have been a big fan of Therese Fowler (and her story—her personal one, which you can find in her bio on her website (just click her name above)—ever since.

On Tuesday, May 3^rd, Therese’s new novel, EXPOSURE (Ballantine Books, hardcover), hits bookstores. It’s long been on my Must-Read list. EXPOSURE is not only a very timely novel about the consequences of teenaged “sexting,” but it’s a deeply personal novel inspired by the author’s son’s own experience—and arrest.

About the book: In Exposure, Therese Fowler has written her most gripping novel to date—a ripped-from-the-headlines story of ardent young love and a nightmarish legal maelstrom that threatens to destroy two families.

What others saying about EXPOSURE:

Complex, gripping, and rich with emotion, Fowler’s 21st-century Romeo and Juliet beautifully blends modern day drama with carefully drawn examinations of family, loyalty, honesty, and the power of love.” – Eleanor Brown, New York Times bestselling author of The Weird Sisters

“Provocative, timely, and compelling, Therese Fowler’s Exposure will leave book clubs talking for hours.” – Meg Waite Clayton, author of The Wednesday Sisters and The Four Ms. Bradwells

“Telling a page-turning story you can’t wait to pass on to your book club or your best friend, Therese Fowler brings the full force of her talent to bear on a gorgeous, heartrending story of young love and thwarted parental ambitions.” – Joshilyn Jackson New York Times bestselling author of Backseat Saints

“Headlines rarely reveal the truth. Exposure does. I truly couldn’t put it down.” – Randy Susan Meyers, author of The Murderer’s Daughters

Back to that “deeply personal novel inspired by the author’s son’s arrest.” Check out this recent article about the author and novel in USA TODAY:  Fowler gives 'Exposure' to dangers of teen sexting.

To celebrate the publication of EXPOSURE, I asked Therese Fowler to drop by the blog and tell us a bit about the new novel and herself:

Q: Tell us about your novel:
A: Exposure is a contemporary drama about young love, a sexting arrest, and the legal madness that follows. It has been called "a Romeo and Juliet story for modern times."

Q: What do you think women will most relate to about your book?
A: Mothers–and especially mothers of pre-teens, teens, and young adults–will understand the push and pull of trying to support and encourage children while also protect them from themselves. The very real dangers inherent in the use of modern technology will be especially relevant as well (as they still are to me, with three teens in the house!). Younger women and teen readers will appreciate how the story's young lovers see the world and long to live their own lives away from parental influence. I think they'll identify with both Amelia and Anthony and their views on what's appropriate for young people who are on the cusp of full adulthood.

Q: What would everyone be surprised to know about you, author of this sparkly new book?
A: That it was my own son's arrest for what's come to be known as a "sexting offense" that inspired this story. But what's so interesting to me is that even had we not lived through our particular version of this issue, this story would be exactly the kind of story I would want to write.

Did I tell you it was a Must Read? For more information about Therese Fowler, EXPOSURE and her previous two novels, you can find her online:

www.theresefowler.com

http://twitter.com/#!/ThereseFowler

http://www.facebook.com/theresefowlerbooks

Enjoy!