Susan
Meissner is the multi-published author of seventeen books, including A Fall of Marigolds, named to Booklist’s Top Ten Women’s Fiction
titles for 2014, and The Shape of Mercy,
named one of the 100 Best Novels in 2008 by Publishers
Weekly. She is also a speaker and writing workshop leader with a background
in community journalism. She and her husband make their home in Southern California.
1. Susan, tell us where the idea for Secrets of a Charmed Life came from.
The story began first as an image in my
head of an impoverished girl on the brink of adulthood sketching wedding
dresses in the tiny bedroom she shares with a younger half-sister. I could see
her in my mind’s eye imagining a life far different from the one she is living.
She wants a fairy tale life where love and comfort and happiness are in
abundance, and for her, that charmed life begins with a wedding dress worn on that
blissful day a girl’s childhood dreams come true. I decided to set her in
London at the start of the war because I knew that even for a young woman not
yet sixteen, war is a crucible. It is a tester of dreams and desires and
determination. I knew the London Blitz was an opposition that would bring out
the very best and the very worst in this girl, as war so often does.
2. What is the story about, in a nutshell?
Like
many of my other novels, Secrets of a
Charmed Life is historical fiction framed by a contemporary layer that links
to a story in the past. An American college student named Kendra, who is
studying abroad at Oxford, interviews Blitz survivor Isabel McFarland just when
the elderly woman is ready to give up secrets she has kept all her life – beginning
with who she really is. The story then takes the reader to England in 1940. An
unprecedented war against London’s civilian population is about to take place and
half a million children are evacuated to foster homes in the countryside. Fifteen-year-old
Emmy Downtree and her much younger sister Julia find refuge in a charming
Cotswold cottage, but Emmy’s burning ambition to return to the city and
apprentice with a fashion designer pits her against Julia’s profound need for
her sister’s presence. The sisters’ lives are forever changed when—acting
at cross purposes—they secretly return to London on the first day of the Blitz.
3.
What drew you to include in your story the evacuation of London’s children?
Prior to researching for this book, I was
only minimally aware of what London’s parents did to keep their children safe
during World War II. I’d long ago read C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia and I knew the four children in those
stories had been sent out of London into the countryside at the start of the
war. But I didn’t know that for tens of thousands of children just like them
that stay in the countryside lasted for the duration of the war. We’re talking
five years. How difficult it must have been for the parents and their kids to
be separated from each other – with just occasional visits – for half a decade,
and during a time of fear, danger, and deprivation. From a storyteller’s
standpoint, the emotional pull of this situation is intense. I knew I wanted to
explore what this scenario might have been like for two young sisters.
4.
Is this a book about sisters, then?
It is that, but it is also a book about
mothers and daughters, and other family bonds as they relate to children. The
universe of children is rather small – home and family are pretty much their
world. They don’t always see how their decisions are impacted by the decision
of others, nor do they have much frame of reference for war, which is an
especially cruel teacher to a child.
5.
What is the significance of Emmy’s wedding dress sketches?
Those bridal gown designs represent Emmy’s
naïve notions about the happily-ever-after life that she believes begins for a
girl on the day she wears a dress emblematic of bliss and perfection. Emmy sees
her unwed mother as someone on whom fate has frowned and that she is somewhat
to blame for that. Emmy’s vision for her future is to rise above the
constraints of her mother’s unlucky life. But those sketches blind her at first
to the larger forces at work. And there are always larger forces at work.
6.
What were you most surprised by in your research for Secrets of a Charmed Life?
I think many of us who were born after
World War II have a limited understanding of what England suffered because
there were so many other more shocking situations, like the slaughter of
millions of Jews, the occupations of nations like Poland and France, the
bombing of Pearl Harbor, the storming at the beach at Normandy, and the Bataan
Death March, to name just a few. I didn’t realize the magnitude of what London
suffered until I took a closer look. The city was never occupied by Hitler’s
forces but it was bombed relentlessly. Seven of Christopher Wren’s beautiful
churches were destroyed, as were thousands upon thousands of homes. More than
sixty thousand civilians were killed in the whole of the British Isles. Those
are staggering losses. And yet the British people were and are resilient. Their
rallying cry of Keep Calm and Carry On
(I truly can’t stand trivializations of this motto!) is truly the hallmark of
that resiliency. You can go to London’s East End now and see street after
street of 1950’s-era buildings, framed by a quiet horizon of much older
buildings that the war did not flatten. London, Coventry and the other bombed
cities rebuilt what was destroyed and moved on. The memories of the war aren’t
in the streets but in the museums, and in national cemeteries, and sometimes,
if you look closely enough, in the faces of those who survived it.
7. What would you especially
like readers to take away from Secrets of
a Charmed Life?
The
title of this book, which I love, is meant to cause the reader to wonder if
there really are secrets to living a life that has happily-ever-after written
all over it. The title seems to suggest there are hidden truths to being able
to have everything you’ve always wanted. But in actuality, and what I hope
readers will take away, is that a happy life is not made up of what you have chased
and achieved, but rather who you have poured your life into, who has poured
their life into yours, and the difference you’ve made in the lives of others.
Most of the dreams we pursue don’t have intrinsic worth, but people always
do. It’s not a perfect world, and we can
only play our own hand of cards – if you will – but if we play the hand as best
we can with love for others as the motivation, I think we can rest
content.
8. What are you working on
right now?
My next book is
set primarily in Hollywood’s golden age, specifically in 1939 when a treasure
trove of timeless movies was released, including the most iconic movie of all
time, Gone With The Wind. Two studio
secretaries who become friends on the set of this movie forge a tale of love,
desire, and survival that hints at the dynamic between the characters Scarlett
and Melanie. The contemporary thread features a woman whose vintage
clothing shop specializes in updated designs of classic Hollywood fashions.
When her version of the
infamous Gone With the Wind curtain
dress is photographed for a local newspaper, a surprising delivery comes her
way that ushers the reader back to old Hollywood and the two studio secretaries
who, like Scarlett O’Hara, must decide what they are willing to do to get what they
want most. The novel will release in February 2016 and is tentatively titled Stars Over Sunset Boulevard. I’ve always
loved the movie Gone With the Wind;
the sound track alone can stop me in my tracks. It has been a wonderful
experience researching the details of how this film came to be made. Like most
unprecedented endeavors, there was plenty of drama!
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Now for the giveaway...
Susan has graciously offered to supply an autographed copy of Secrets of a Charmed Life to one of my readers who leaves a comment on this post. So please see the rules below.
1. Giveaway is open to US and Canada
2. No PO Boxes please.
3. Answer my questions below for one entry - +1..
4. For extra entries you may do one or all of the following & be sure to mention it in your comment:
-- become a Google Friends Connect follower of my blog +2
-- become an email subscriber +1
-- invite a friend to become a follower of my blog. If they become a follower & mention your name, you will both receive 5 extra entries
5. Include an email address where I can reach you if you are selected as the winner of this giveaway. Please enter your email address in this format winner[at]yahoo[dot]com
To make sure your entry counts, please answer the following questions:
What is your favorite book set during WWII?
Do you have a favorite author for the WWII time period?
Have you ever heard about the London Blitz before?
Giveaway will run through February 3rd (release day), and one winner will be selected to win an autographed copy of Secrets of a Charmed Life. Good luck! It is an awesome book!
Smiles & Blessings,
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