I’ve felt as though I took a journey with The Beautiful American before I set eyes on the lovely ARC which arrived from the author for this blog tour. I remember finding out about this novel at least a full year before I knew of this tour and throughout the past year, I know I have happily come across readers who have appreciated the breadth of work Mackin has left for us to enjoy finding. It’s hard to say exactly when I caught sight of this story – but as I lament to my readers both on my blog and in the twitterverse, even if a book cover is fetching to my eye, catching me at a junction where curiosity has a will to bloom and a heart has the will to take the journey with the writer – I must find a connection somewhere within the synopsis in order to pick up the book directly.
Further still, when I formulate the questions I want to ask an author, sometimes I deviate a bit from the book in order to get a more personal accounting of the writer’s path. Other times, I feel my own writerly heart emerges through the questions I seek out of fellow writers, as it’s quite difficult to ‘hide’ the fact your a writer, even if your in the season of being a book blogger! I did attempt it initially back in 2013 before I launched my blog but after I started to work on this niche in the book blogosphere, I realised sharing a part of who I am as a writer would become a part of the background of who I am as a book blogger until the path emerges in front of me to walk into a new journey of my own.
Therefore, you might notice some of my questions move from interview to interview, as I like to get different thoughts and perspectives on certain questions which are curious to me whilst the rest of the questions I do try to draw out more about the central heart of the novel I’m reading for review or giving my readers and myself a chance to get to know the author I’m interviewing on a personal level. In this particular interview, I found a happy balance, and although, my interviews are on the longer side normally – due to all my tech woes between July – September, I’m simply thankful the author had time to squeeze me in after I could get my questions to her!
It was a pure delight to host Ms Mackin and I hope you’ll find joy in reading this interview with her as much as I had in receiving her replies! I will say too, I have a soft spot for two aspects of this story: war dramas and biographical historical fiction! Combine the two?
You’re golden!
As recovery from World War II begins, expat American Nora Tours travels from her home in southern France to London in search of her missing sixteen-year-old daughter. There, she unexpectedly meets up with an old acquaintance, famous model-turned-photographer Lee Miller. Neither has emerged from the war unscathed. Nora is racked with the fear that her efforts to survive under the Vichy regime may have cost her daughter’s life. Lee suffers from what she witnessed as a war correspondent photographing the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps.
Nora and Lee knew each other in the heady days of late 1920’s Paris, when Nora was giddy with love for her childhood sweetheart, Lee became the celebrated mistress of the artist Man Ray, and Lee’s magnetic beauty drew them all into the glamorous lives of famous artists and their wealthy patrons. But Lee fails to realize that her friendship with Nora is even older, that it goes back to their days as children in Poughkeepsie, New York, when a devastating trauma marked Lee forever. Will Nora’s reunion with Lee give them a chance to forgive past betrayals, and break years of silence?
A novel of freedom and frailty, desire and daring, The Beautiful American portrays the extraordinary relationship between two passionate, unconventional woman.
Biographical Historical Fiction is an intrinsic and interpersonal exploration into a living person’s soul and the hours in which they lived their life. Your novel The Beautiful American takes us front and center into the life of Lee Miller; when did you feel within your research and writings that her spirit touched you and left you keenly aware you were on the right path for this story?
Mackin responds: What a beautifully expressed question! There was a moment, early in the story, a scene with Lee and the novel’s narrator, Nora, playing together as little girls, climbing trees and chasing with Lee’s brothers around the yard. I felt a very strong connection then; it was so similar to my own childhood. Later, Lee’s and Nora’s joy at being in Paris; their deep but troubled friendship; a moment later in the story when they accidentally bump into each other in front of a store…they were all moments that seemed familiar to me, as if I had experienced them along with Lee and Nora. I felt as if I were remembering those moments, not inventing them, and those are the moments, as a novelist, when the work feels truest to me.
I love how you took us back through how the characters and the story alighted through your mind’s eye and how the realism of those moments drew your own spirit directly into their world. Almost as if as you said your revealling a part of your own lived past, where their lives intersected with yours – and in many ways, they did! Novelists have a beautiful cornucopia of experiences – the ones they live truly and the ones they feel within their souls as they pen the stories which speak to them to write.
Photography has such an incredible history to both the art and the exploration of the craft through being a profitable trade. Did you uncover any tidbits of how hard it was to take photography and use it professionally to earn a living wage during Lee Miller’s time or other nuggets of interest that can juxtaposition the differences between contemporary photographers and her era?
Mackin responds: Ah. Having worked as a freelance journalist, I can attest that people often just don’t earn a living that way. Much of Lee’s early income came from her work as a model; occasionally her father helped her a bit. During the war, though, Lee convinced Vogue to let her cover the war (a fashion magazine doing war stories! Shows how convincing she could be.) I’m sure Vogue paid well enough! If she hadn’t already had strong connections at the magazine, she might never have gotten that work, though.
Ooh, now this is interesting – through my own research into the war eras, I did unearth fashion zines taking on stories from the front because they had to diversify what they could offer their subscribers and readers – everything about the normalcy of life was changing so very quickly, I felt it was a clever solution to an impossible situation. I definitely agree with you on a living wage, without the support of family, most couldn’t move forward with their lives or hope to get situated in a position where they could become self-sufficient.
What do you think led Lee Miller to have a confidence about her where she felt wholly comfortable in her own skin and choosing to lead a non-traditional life (amongst her peers)? Do you think she was influenced by the generation she was a part of or the manner in which she was raised?
Mackin responds: I believe her father helped her greatly. After that terrible trauma of her childhood, the rape, her father went out of his way to make her feel good in her skin, to separate her own true self from the experience of what had happened, rather than carry the guilt of it, as victims often do. The confidence that is required to live the kind of life Lee lived would come from her own very strong personality, the times themselves (she wasn’t the only young woman drinking and partying heavily, by a long shot) and by the free-thinking confidence her father helped give her. In the years immediately following World War I, when Lee was growing up, there was a sense of looseness, change, anything goes, as Cole Porter put it. Lee went with that mood. And, Lee was extraordinarily beautiful. Her own mirror would have given her confidence.
I think what is beyond incredible is how far her father went to ensure not only her emotional well-being but her psychological well-being – especially considering the time in which the crime occurred. It speaks volumes on behalf of him but also, gives a measure of insight on how the power of love and positive encouragement past an adverse moment in life can re-inspire someone to soar past where their life was interrupted. (side note: I love Cole Porter’s songbook!) Yes, I think your quite keenly insightful – it wasn’t just her father influencing her and giving her liberty to take control of her life and the way in which she lived; it was the times she was living in. They gave her the ability to be a shooting star.
I loved how you created Nora as the type of a friend Miller would have appreciated had history been different in her own life; how did you make the choices of separating them by class and by lifestyles whilst keeping them interested in each other? How did you bridge their differences to knit together a friendship?
Mackin responds: Deep friendship, like love, doesn’t recognize boundaries. Friendship is a kind of love, isn’t it? Lee and Nora have many differences: Lee comes from a wealthy, free-thinking family, Nora is low-income with a strict mother; Lee is very confident and brave, Nora less so. Yet they also have much in common: that yearning to see the larger world, to love and be loved. They both love Paris and France and both rely on a specific sense to be fully alive: for Lee it is vision, for Nora, it is her gift of scent, for analyzing and describing and creating moods through fragrance.
I definitely agree! Friendship not only is ‘as powerful’ as love but sometimes, friendship can be more powerful than love. True friendship doesn’t seek anything except compassion, empathy, acceptance, and a conjoined journey between two people who’ve found within their lives another person who gets them without validation or question. I love how you’ve cross-compared their differences and yet, showed how through their differences they still had an incredibly strong bond and a high yield of faith in each other.
Do you find writing historical persons of the past more complicated than the imagined characters who take a whisper to our imaginations and inspire us to tell their stories? Why do you think historical persons are so tricky to reincarnate through historical fiction?
Mackin responds: Are you a writer yourself? That is surely the kind of question a writer would ask. In fact, the historical characters have to whisper in my head as strongly as the invented characters. If they don’t, that means the book isn’t working. The difficulty with the historical characters is that I feel compelled to stick to the facts of their lives – the exact year Lee went to Paris, the war she left, the names of her lovers – and then I work the story around the facts. But yes, the historical characters talk to me as much as the invented ones.
Yes, I am! It’s a question I like to ask to gauge how different writers are approaching this interesting complexity in historical fiction. I do agree with you – if the words and the world are not alighting of their own free will, it’s being forced and thus, it will not read as well as if the pages were being inked of their own accord. I love how you knitted in the details, expanding on what was known and giving us a lot of ‘unknown knowledge’ in-between the tidbits of fact. To me, this is why biographical historical fiction is such a fun section of literature – to step more fully into a living person’s shoes moreso than non-fiction (unless Creative Non-Fiction) as it allows you to make the emotional connection.
What do you hope readers will takeaway the most from The Beautiful American?
Mackin responds: How beautiful the world can be. How important it is to be able to forgive. To be brave and open-hearted in your loving.
What creative outlets inspired you as a child to become a writer as an adult?
Mackin responds: I grew up in what was for me an almost idyllic place – a small house at the edge of a very small town, surrounded by fields and forests and lots of places where a little girl can get muddy and climb trees. I had lots of playmates, we ran in hordes, it sometimes seem, looking back, but I also had plenty of time for solitude and daydreaming. It’s such a mistake to keep children busy,busy,busy. We need down time to do nothing. That’s often the most creative, productive time, when we have to search our own imaginations. And when I was alone, searching mine, I found stories I wanted to write.
My second major influence as a child: my grandmother’s house had a small room that was just for books and reading. A library of sorts, though smaller than you think of when you think of a library. I was allowed to sit in there and read whatever I wanted: Zane Grey, The Outdoor Girls, any of the more grown up volumes. Third influence: Catholic school. I loved reading the lives of the saints. I found them exciting, often exotic and bizarre. The writer Andrew Greeley, who was also a priest, said Catholics were lucky because we grew up with such great narratives!
You’re growing years were as blissful as my own – pursuing your own creative heart and surrounding yourself with a natural intuitiveness about how to bring out your own creativity! I agree with you about allowing children to live and grow on their own time; giving them space and giving them flexibility to seek out what draws together their passions; my own parents and family felt the same as yours, as I had the same freedoms. Books were portals of unseen worlds and I loved being able to see the lives of such a varied and eclectic mixture of characters whilst expanding my own literary horizons through time and imagined worlds. The outside world has long held a passion for me, and it’s a beautiful childhood when you can spend hours outside and simply become innocently caught up in that rhythm.
What was the impetus which gravitated you into writing? And, when did this occur? Who was your best cheerleader?
Mackin responds: Aside from a few years of wanting to be a dancer (or for a brief while a nun!) I always knew writing stories was how I wanted to spend my life. I started writing fairy-tales when I was about seven years old; in high school and college the only classes that completely entranced me were those that required me to write essays. When I settled down after some years of traveling and lots of partying, I started working as a journalist. And then, when I had matured a little more, I began writing historical fiction. My best cheerleader was my own need to do this. I get sad when I’m not writing.
I can relate to what your saying – writing is such a true vessel of joy for the writer, it boomerangs back to our spirit as much as what we give to it initially. Even as a book blogger, I can attest to the joy that comes with creating a way to translate to my readers how a book resonated with me in such a way as a reader can feel what I felt as I read a story. To me, no matter how we write or where we share our writings (especially across mediums and platforms) if we can connect what we see within ourselves and are able to give that back to an audience, a beautiful circle emerges. I love how each of us found writing when writing was meant to be found; not a second sooner.
What centers your joy when you’re not creating or working professionally?
Mackin responds: Beautiful question. Being in nature is a very calming and joyous thing for me. I like to go down to the lake and just sit and look at the water, the trees. I walk in the park, down a path surrounded by tall pines and that is a kind of heaven. I have some wonderful friends with whom I regularly spend time, and my husband and I watch comedies or mysteries in the evening and drink red wine. Joy can be elusive. We have to constantly remind ourselves to be open to it. Deep breathe. Look hard and lovingly at something or someone near you; experience fully with joy.
I’m so very thankful you said, so! I have happily found responses to this question where the author appreciated what I was attempting to see them share with me and my readers. Alas, nature! I oft return to the natural world to feel rejuvenated myself – it’s such a calming spirit and a place where you feel lighter simply by being amongst the flowers, trees, and wildlife. Most definitely – I completely agree with you Ms Mackin – joy is surrounding us at all times. Even in our adversities, joy is waiting for us in kind moments of renewing hope and it’s the simple things in life which envelope our heart the most in the end.
Converse via: #TheBeautifulAmerican
About Jeanne Mackin
Jeanne Mackin’s novel, The Beautiful American (New American Library), based on the life of photographer and war correspondent Lee Miller, received the 2014 CNY award for fiction. Her other novels include A Lady of Good Family, about gilded age personality Beatrix Farrand, The Sweet By and By, about nineteenth century spiritualist Maggie Fox, Dreams of Empire set in Napoleonic Egypt, The Queen’s War, about Eleanor of Aquitaine, and The Frenchwoman, set in revolutionary France and the Pennsylvania wilderness.
Jeanne Mackin is also the author of the Cornell Book of Herbs and Edible Flowers (Cornell University publications) and co-editor of The Book of Love (W.W. Norton.) She was the recipient of a creative writing fellowship from the American Antiquarian Society and a keynote speaker for The Dickens Fellowship. Her work in journalism won awards from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, in Washington, D.C. She has taught or conducted workshops in Pennsylvania, Hawaii and at Goddard College in Vermont.
This author interview is courtesy of: Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours
{ click-through to follow the tour & find more reader’s impressions! }
Similar to blog tours where I feature book reviews, as I choose to highlight an author via a Guest Post, Q&A, Interview, etc., I do not receive compensation for featuring supplemental content on my blog. I provide the questions for interviews and topics for the guest posts; wherein I receive the responses back from publicists and authors directly. I am naturally curious about the ‘behind-the-scenes’ of stories and the writers who pen them; I have a heap of joy bringing this content to my readers.
{SOURCES: Cover art of “The Beautiful American”, book synopsis, author photograph of Jeanne Mackin and the tour badge were all provided by HFVBTs (Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours) and used with permission. Ruminations & Impressions Book Review Banner created by Jorie in Canva. Photo Credit: Unsplash Public Domain Photographer Sergey Zolkin. Comment Box banner created by Jorie in Canva. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination.}
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2015.
I am a social reader | I love to tweet & chat
#amediting an #author interview in conjunction w/ #TheBeautifulAmerican; such a delightful discovery in #histfic! Stay tuned! More soon! :)
— Jorie Loves A Story (@JLovesAStory) September 29, 2015
@JLovesAStory @BerkleyNAL Thanks Jorie. Great synopsis in 7 words! excellent. Hope people enjoy The Beautiful American. Visit Paris in 1930!
— Jeanne Mackin (@jeannemackin1) October 1, 2015
Jeanne Mackin talks to Jorie about #TheBeautifulAmerican and her joy in being a story-teller!: http://t.co/nHfH5QBYor via @JLovesAStory
— Jeanne Mackin (@jeannemackin1) October 1, 2015
Author Q&A | Jeanne Mackin talks to Jorie about #TheBeautifulAmerican and her writerly joy in being a story-teller! http://t.co/r4Nm5QFCsU
— Jorie Loves A Story (@JLovesAStory) September 29, 2015
Jorie, I loved the interview you did, and your very thoughtful comments. That definition of friendship is the best I’ve read. Wishing you all sorts of luck and pleasure with your own writing! thanks!