Awesome Authors: Mover and Shaker Carol Wallace, Author of The Official Preppy Handbook and To Marry An English Lord Chats with Whom You Know about Leaving Van Gogh, the Coming of Downton Abbey Season Three and Her Best Cures for Downton Withdrawl Symptoms Our Coverage Sponsored by ECO SWIM BY AQUA GREEN
Carol Wallace
ECO SWIM BY AQUA GREEN is a sustainable-minded collection
of eco
bathingsuits that is committed to making a
difference through fashion. ECO SWIM BY AQUA GREEN's focus is to
promote
ocean awareness and responsibility for our planet while
providing an
alternative that compliments a discerning mindset for leadership
in style
and fashion.
ECO SWIM AQUA GREEN swimwear is made in
America with every effort to reduce
your carbon footprint in the sand™. ECO
SWIM BY AQUA GREEN is about feeling
good about your purchases and conscious
actions today that create a better
world for tomorrow.
***
Since being interviewed in January, Mover and Shaker Carol Wallace has been on safari in Kenya! She was gone for almost three weeks and fell totally in love with the wildlife, the birds and especially the elephants. It was an incredible experience for her and one she never expected to have. Plus, she missed several New York City snow storms!
Whom You Know has reviewed To Marry An English Lord and Leaving Van Gogh. Carol sets the standard in the industry for great writers and we have known that since we first saw the beloved Preppy Handbook in the early 1980's. That was one of the first books Peachy Deegan ever read. We could not be more thrilled to present Mover and Shaker Carol Wallace as our latest Awesome Author. Peachy Deegan interviewed Carol Wallace for Whom You Know.
Peachy Deegan:
What was it like to write Leaving Van Gogh?
Carol Wallace:
It was a lot more work than I ever bargained for. I loved doing the research – the library time, the travel to Auvers and Paris – but having to think myself into Van Gogh’s head or Dr. Gachet’s head was very strenuous. I’m usually a pretty quick writer but if I could squeeze out 500 words in a work day, that was doing well. I took a lot of naps.
Do you have more plans for historical fiction and if so would it be American or European?
I do have an idea for a 19th century French subject, but it’s still at the stage where I’m just collecting material. And I’m not saying anything more, in case I jinx it! (That happens, you know, I swear…)
Did you enjoy writing historical fiction more or less than guidebooks like The Preppy Handbook or To Marry an English Lord and how is it approached and executed differently?
The processes are so different! The sections of The Official Preppy Handbook that I wrote came from my own experience. They were really a matter of looking at something I knew very well from a slightly new angle. To Marry an English Lord is actually a bridge between that and historical fiction because it’s so research-heavy: it took my co-author Gail MacColl and me five years to research and write that book. (I did also produce a baby and a novel in those five years.) So in a way Leaving Van Gogh just took the process one step further: take the research and add the imaginative effort, which in some ways is the most challenging part. It’s like creating a movie in your head.
How do you think mental health issues could be better addressed in the world that we live in today?
I was fascinated by the research I did into the history of mental illness in 19th century France. It’s true that they were just beginning to deal with it as illness, but it’s also striking that we are still not sure about what causes mental illness, or how best to treat it. It looks like there’s some new research on genetics that may expose the causes and then lead to better treatment plans.
Do you think most talented artists are troubled?
No, I don’t. Some unquestionably are. There’s an excellent book called Touched With Fire by Kay Redfield Jamison that explores the correlation between artistic genius and manic-depressive disorder. But there are plenty of artists in every field who are paragons of mental health.
Do you think mental health issues have evolved appropriately since Van Gogh's time? Why or why not?
Hard to answer this, since I’m not a medical professional, but it does strike me that we are still looking for where mental health is located. Is it physical? Can it be medicated into remission? Or is it caused by experience, as in the Freudian model? Or a little bit of both?
What would you like the world to know about Leaving Van Gogh?
I’d like readers to know that it’s a sympathetic look at an artist who believed his paintings could help “console” (his word) people in pain. Which I think they do, don’t you?
How would you compare and contrast Season 3 of Downton Abbey with 1 and 2?
I have a sense of the modern world coming ever closer to Downton, and that’s not going to be a happy thing for most of the residents. There will be alternative employment opportunities for the servants (like the maid in Season 1 who went off to become a secretary) and that ever-present financial pressure on the estate. A big agricultural estate like Downton is really a survival of the 18th century, and it’s going to have to change to survive. Lord Grantham and Carson are the holdouts, and that’s a big part of the drama.
Does Julian Fellowes ask you for advice? If so how is he doing? If not what would you tell him?
No, Julian Fellowes does not ask for advice though he has been very polite and generous about the credit he gives To Marry an English Lord. I’d like to see him write the prequel I saw mentioned in the news a few months back. There were rumors that we’d get to see how Cora and Robert met, and the process of their wooing. It would be fun for the costumes alone, let alone the romance.
Do you think you might write a sequel for To Marry an English Lord to guide Julian along for future seasons?
It’s an interesting idea, but my area of expertise is really the 19th century, not the 20th, so I wouldn’t be much of a guide!
Is Lord Grantham still your favorite Downton character?
Oh, yes, I’m steadfast. Season 3 doesn’t show him in a very good light, but he tries hard. Though I am beginning to wonder how smart he is. You know how he’s always the last to know something? But he feels so responsible for the estate and the people on it. That’s rather endearing.
What did you think of Shirley MacLaine in Season 3?
Ummmm. I’m sort of afraid she’s going to jump out of my computer and get me…. But I thought she was rather flat and unconvincing. As if she was acting via Skype or something. I gather we’ll see her again in Season 4, though – do you think Mary is going to visit New York?
There was a lot of death in Season Three-almost too much for us. Please comment on the characters we lost.
We know that Matthew clearly is not coming back and now O'Brien won't either we see in the recent news. What will you miss most about each and why?
Sybil: her crackly voice and her warmth.
Matthew: those blue eyes. And his energy.
O’Brien: I loved how strategic she was. That woman never did anything without thinking several steps ahead about how it could benefit her. Not a quality you’d like in a friend, but in a character on a TV show, it’s great.
What shenanigans do you think young Rose has in store for the audience and the Crawleys?
Rose is very useful, because she represents the heedless younger generation of the 1920s. I imagine we’ll see some very skimpy dresses and scandalous dances; lots of drink and cigarettes; and more inappropriate boyfriends. I hope we don’t get too much sentimental stuff about how Rose is just acting out because her parents’ marriage is so terrible. I hope we’ll see her father “Shrimpy” again, though. He was so sad and so dignified, despite that ridiculous nickname.
How do you think Lady Mary's love life will evolve-what is the proper amount of time for her to mourn?
Society would have said at least a year, in those days. (And by the way, didn’t you love seeing all the mourning clothes for Sybil? When suddenly everyone is wearing black, you get a real visceral sense of an enormous change in their lives.) But of course television may need to compress the mourning timeline. And then Mary is so prickly! My guess is that the next love interest will be superficially inappropriate and that Mary will hold him at arm’s length. That would be a way to spin out the suspense.
What is Edith's biggest obstacle in love and how should she overcome it?
Aside from her sheer bad luck, do you mean? The numbers are against Edith, don’t forget. A huge proportion of the young men who would have been appropriate husbands for Edith died in the trenches, or were wounded or shell-shocked. This new romance with her married editor may be all the opportunity she gets, and I think she should grab it.
The Dowager Countess, Violet, claims she is never wrong. Do you agree? Why or why not?
Well, she’s never wrong in her own view of the world. And I love the way Fellowes gives her the chance to be inconsistent and unpredictable. She seems to be intent on defending the world of the past, until you realize that under her bluster, she would do anything to promote the happiness of her family. In that way, she’s just as ruthless as O’Brien.
Do you think Daisy will become entrepreneurial and run the farm?
I do. I think it would be a nice change for viewers to see Daisy with more authority. I think she’s more capable than she knows. This is an era of expanding roles for women, and I think Fellowes is very sensitive to that issue. Also the farm would give us something new to look at. Sheep. Cows. You know.
Lord Grantham is not a fan of Tom Branson but he is warming up...do you think their relationship will continue to evolve?
I was thinking Tom would go back to Ireland and get caught up in the struggle for Irish independence – he was such a hot-head to start with. But now that he’s got baby Sybil and seems to have grown up a bit, I could see him becoming more of a companion for Lord Grantham. Which would be good for the Earl, too, don’t you think? I also suspect Branson may be more tactful than Matthew about some of the changes that have to be made at Downton. Allen Leech, who plays Branson, may also have to take on Dan Stevens’ role as Downton eye-candy.
Do you think Dr. Clarkson will get together with Cousin Isobel in Season 4?
It felt to me as if Isobel shut that door pretty firmly. But it does seem like a very appropriate match. Maybe they’ll do one of those things where one wants the relationship and the other doesn’t, and then they switch, and then, finally, they get together. Oh, wait, that was Mary and Matthew’s trajectory. Well – that worked pretty well.
Do you think it is all sunshine and rainbows for Anna and Bates now?
Goodness, I hope so. It’s about time for those two to relax and start having babies in that cute little cottage.
You said anxiety and coffee fuel you-what kind of coffee is your favorite?
Oh, Peachy, you shouldn’t have asked, I’m a coffee geek. So I will tell you. I get whole beans from Blue Bottle Coffee, or Joe NYC, or sometimes a Brooklyn outfit called Crop to Cup. There’s a new Ethiopian café in my neighborhood called Café Buunni and they roast regularly, so I buy from them, too. And I grind the beans at home, make my coffee in a French press, and drink it black. Rocket fuel.
If any of our readers want to marry an English Lord, what should they do?
Julian Fellowes’ novel Snobs would be a pretty good instruction book. Problem is, being English is almost a prerequisite.
So...would you still want to be a Countess if you could pick titles among the Peerage? Downton Season Three sees this hierachy tumble a bit and Daisy's father-in-law predicts a bit of a demise...
The early 20th century saw a huge slide in the power and wealth of the aristocracy, no question about it. But in the realm of fantasy, yes, Countess sounds nice to me. Which is pretty silly considering that after 30 years of marriage I still can’t bring myself to use the title “Mrs.”
Have you found any appropriate jewels for your fantastic-candidate-shoulders? What brands should we chat up for you?
Pearls, darling. A woman can never go wrong with pearls. Though I did think that Tiffany diamond necklace that Anne Hathaway wore at the Oscars (backward!) was deeply fabulous.
What is your best advice for combating Downton Abbey withdrawal symptoms? You mentioned a BBC show called The Hour?
There are some people – and I admit to being one of them – who like everything better with an English accent. For us, almost anything produced by or aired on the BBC is deeply satisfying. “The Hour” is a serial about a news show, set in 1956 (hey, it’s even about the BBC!) and it stars the delicious Romola Garai, along with Dominic West of “The Wire” and Ben Whishaw, last seen as “Q” in “Skyfall.” I also liked the original, English version of “Shameless,” even though I often didn’t understand what the characters were saying. It’s very funny, and James McAvoy is in it. But for real Downton withdrawal, I think “Upstairs, Downstairs” is probably the best medicine. Or repeated viewings of “Gosford Park.” (With Clive Owen in the role of the sketchy footman, later developed into Thomas.)
What else should Whom You Know readers know about you?
They should know how much fun this all is! My co-author Gail MacColl and I had a great time writing To Marry an English Lordback in the 1980s, and it was fun to promote it then. But I can’t tell you how delightful it is to be part of this Downton phenomenon, because everyone is so enthusiastic about it. It’s just pure pleasure.
How would you like to be contacted by Whom You Know readers?
There’s an email address on my website: carolwallacebooks.com
