Philadelphia Story

Meet Cordelia Frances Biddle

Today we're visiting with one of our very first friends on Jungle Red, Cordelia Frances Biddle.

Cordelia is the author of the Martha Beale series set in 19th century Philadelphia, and if there's anyone who knows Philly, it's Cordelia. There have been Biddles in Philadelphia since the 1680's.

I had a chance to catch up with Cordelia when I was in town for the Flower Show and she was taking a break from touring for her latest novel, Without Fear. This latest installment of the Martha Beale series was inspired by a serendipitous conversation at one of her talks.

"I was speaking at the Union League when a gentleman asked me if I knew about the headless corpse that had been found on an ice floe in the Delaware River during the 19th century." That research lead her to the Joseph Bonaparte estate just outside of Philadelphia.

"Without Fear is not that particular story, but that was the start of my research. Of course, I've added a corpse or two!"

In Without Fear Martha Beale is exposed to the grandiose – albeit sinister - realm of the former Comte de Survilliers, Joseph Bonaparte, at his estate Point Breeze on the Delaware River while also drawing her into the dangerous world of Philadelphia’s textile workers. The time is March, 1843; the city (“the Athens of America”) is a place divided between the heights of culture and sophistication, as epitomized by the Bonaparte family; and the depths of squalor experienced by the mill hands and other common laborers. When a headless corpse is discovered on the Bonaparte estate, Martha is drawn into a world of mistaken identities, vanished wives and thwarted desires.

Cordelia's scrupulous attention to detail is one of the things that really sets her books apart. She can routinely be found at the Library Company of Philadelphia. Founded by Ben Franklin in 1731, the Library Company houses 400,000 books, including first editions of Moby Dick and Leaves of Grass. It's also home to centuries of old newspapers which Cordelia pores over looking for that snippet of information which will add yet another layer to her prose.

"You can tell as much about the time by the advertisments, the shipping news and the weather as well as the articles."

As a direct descendant of Nicholas Biddle, Cordelia is also fortunate enough to have access to a treasure trove of legend and history in both the family archives and in the reminiscences of relatives.

"I can remember one elderly relative telling me that the secret to a successful marriage was to make one's husband think he's smarter than you. And she believed it."

That may still be true but it does show how times have changed. With all research, it's important to know when to stop. A former actress, Cordelia frequently gives talks in an elegant period costume, but she is not one to be trapped in her hoopskirt.

"There are no exhaustive footnotes necessary in my books.." And that's true, the research is there but it is seamlessly tied into her compelling stories.
Cordelia is also (with her husband Steve, a playwright) the author of the Nero Blanc crossword puzzle series, and she is currently working on a biography of one of her illustrious ancestors.

Cordelia will be here today and tomorrow to chat and answer questions. You can also visit her on her website http://www.cordeliafrancesbiddle.com/

How many more days until Spring??

RO: Just about every year for the past 20 years I've gone to the Philadelphia Flower Show. Some years it's better than others - or maybe it's my expectations. Or perhaps there's a direct relationship to how much snow is on the ground! In any event flower show season signals the beginning of the end of winter and a lot of us are ready for that.

This year the theme was Passport to the World and it was one of the best shows in the last 10 years. None of the pictures will do it justice....the giant hot air balloon made out of flowers, the moss elephant, the African manyatta. (In fact those pix wouldn't load for some reason...)

The parrots from the Brazilian garden refused to stay put and there was no shortage of anxiety as they flew around the convention center, screeching and threatening to, um, make a deposit on someone's prized plant.

As usual the orchids were spectacular. As someone who's killed every orchid she's ever touched these other-worldly plants never fail to mesmerize me, and the ones at the show are flawless.
Of course I went to the show for myself..and I do volunteer there at the Horticultural Information Booth. It's one of the most nervewracking things I do all year long.

With the advent of cellphone cameras, anyone can take a picture with their cell and bring it up to the info desk and ask...Why did my plant die? or What's the name of this plant? I think there was only one the hort team couldn't identify, but talk about pressure! Two hundred opportunities to feel like an idiot in a three hour period.

I'm also working on book four in my Dirty Business series which is set at a flower show and the thing that most astounded me in Philly this year was the existence of an urban garden display exactly like one that I had created in my story. It was uncanny! Has anyone ever had that happen...something you've made up turns out to exist??

HANK: Oh, sure. Absolutely. Frighteningly so. Hilariously so. Where to start...
First, I struggled to come up with a name for a very important character in my Charlotte McNally books. He needed a last name--I wanted it to be of indeterminate ehtnicity, strong, two syllables. My first boyfriend (age 10 or so) had the last name "Gelston." So I thought--okay, Gelston, that'll work. But his real first name was (is) Phillip. And I couldn't use that, of course, because of Phillippi in my name.
So I thought: I need a one syllable first name. Strong, masculine, not cute, potentially but not necessarily romantic, appropriate for someone who's fifty or so. Jake, I decided. Ben. Luke. Nick. Sam. Josh. Josh! And so in that complicated way, Josh Gelston was born.

And then soon after PRIME TIME came out, I got an email. And the subject line was: "from Josh Gelston." He was a real guy (and very cool, I might add!) And he has a brother named Ben! And now we're Facebook friends.

And just after I wrote a character who is an undercover investigator for the IRS, it was BIZARRE when a glass mug appeared by the coffee machine in our office--with the logo "Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division." No one knew where it came from.
I have to admit, I'm still a little creeped out by that.

RO: Mundo Bizarro. Life imitating art?

A lot of what we write about is as they say "ripped from the headlines" but what if the headlines are hundreds of years old? In Philly for the show I had a chance to visit with one of my favorite Philadelphians. Stop by tomorrow when we chat with Cordelia Frances Biddle, author of Without Fear, the latest in her Martha Beale series