Strangers in the Night

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: I’m not sure how I got my hands on the first one. It might’ve been a Photoplay, one of the big glossy movie magazines.  

I would get them from the drugstore--they were a quarter, could that be? Why my mother let me read them I’ll never know, but I would devour them. Looking at the glamorous movie stars, the beautiful clothes, and the stories of dancing and desire and romance and spotlights.  I believed every word of it. 

 Of course, I had no idea about publicists, or press releases, or the dark side of Hollywood, or even… lighting. But I knew about costumes and headlines and The Brown Derby. Being discovered at…Schwab’s?  And I knew, completely knew, that someday I would be a movie star. What can I say, I was… 11. 

(Hallie saw the reality, I know, but for  little girl me in Zionsville, Indiana, it was a fabulous glorious magical possibility.)

Did you know Ava Gardner came from Grabtown, North Carolina? Her real name was Ava Lavinia Gardner, and when she arrived in Hollywood, , she married Mickey Rooney, and then Arties Shaw  and then…. Frank Sinatra dumped his wife for her. That’s not all. It was the stuff of dreams, and now, courtesy of the brilliant Heather Webb, the stuff of fiction. 

(And ooh, Heather’s giving away a book to one lucky commenter! And just look at that fantastic cover!)

Old Hollywood Glitz and Glam, and the Allure of Toxic Relationships 

     by Heather Webb

What is it about toxic relationships that we find so appealing to read or watch? (Certainly none of us wants to be in one!)

I found myself asking this question as I wrote my new novel, Strangers in the Night. It’s the story of Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner, their wild and rocky relationship, the glamor and the underbelly of Old Hollywood, and the cost of celebrity.

There’s so much more to it, too; different kinds of love, sexism in Hollywood, the studio culture, friendship, too. But one thing that really stood out to me as I was deep in my pile of research was the very real draw in reading about toxic relationships. 

I got to thinking about what draws me in personally. It boiled down to a few points.

 1.) Fascination. I found the way Frank and Ava interacted on such an unhealthy level truly fascinating. How long would someone put up with poor behavior in a relationship before they called it quits? Would they grow from their failures? What would they learn about themselves in the process? These are a few of the questions that fascinated me. Plus all of that delicious information about movie sets and starlets and music honors, and more…  

2.) Sympathy. I felt for both Frank and Ava, as they struggled to do their best—and their worst—to corral their passions and achieve that intangible goal of loyalty and lasting love. Love may make everything better, but it also makes everything harder. This is a universal truth, and I couldn’t help but sympathize with them as they struggled to arrive at some comfortable, perfect happy medium. Plus, I could sympathize since I’ve had my own toxic relationship. 

3.) Trappings of Control and the struggle for balance. Toxic relationships often thrive on an imbalance of power, even if that imbalance is imagined. I truly delight in watching people/characters find their footing, learn to exercise their own voice, step into who they truly are and who they want to be. I admire those who can restore the balance to their lives and absolutely root for these characters to come into their own. 

What about you? Why are you drawn to watching or reading about toxic relationships? Or do you avoid them altogether?

HANK: Oooh. They say people watch car accidents on TV news to reassure themselves that it’s NOT them. Maybe it’s the same thing?

What do you think, Reds and readers?  And were you fans of Frank and Ava?

And did you read movie magazines? What are your memories of that? (And are you singing doobie doobie doo now, like I am?)

Heather Webb is the USA Today bestselling and award-winning author of nine historical novels, including The Next Ship Home, Strangers in the Night, and the up and coming Queens of London. In 2015, Rodin’s Lover was a Goodread’s Top Pick, and in 2018, Last Christmas in Paris won the Women’s Fiction Writers Association STAR Award. Meet Me in Monaco, was selected as a finalist for the 2020 Goldsboro RNA award in the UK, as well as the 2019 Digital Book World’s Fiction prize. To date, Heather’s books have been translated to seventeen languages. She lives in New England with her family, a mischievous kitten, and one feisty rabbit.

Meet Me in Monaco

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:     I mean, look at this photo. Do you absolutely swoon? Grace Kelly has got to be one of the most glamorous but mysterious women ever—

from her iconic roles with the likes of Cary Grant

and Jimmy Stewart

her terrifying “relationship” with Alfred Hitchcock

to her effortless fashion sense to her fairy-tale-seeming wedding to the Prince! Of Monaco

and then her children, and her tragic death—

It seems like the stuff of fiction, doesn’t it? And now, it is.  The wonderful Heather Webb (under the talented and confident hands of  Heather Webb and Hazel Gaynor) bring  her to fabulous fictional life is their Meet Me In Monaco—a brand new book with non-stop buzz.

Where did this book come from?  Well, of course.  We have it for you first- hand.

Meet Me in Monaco: A Novel of Grace Kelly's Royal Wedding

                 by Heather Webb and Hazel Gaynor

Set in the 1950s against the backdrop of Grace Kelly’s whirlwind romance and unforgettable wedding to Prince Rainier, MEET ME IN MONACO is a novel about passion, fate, and second chances in an evocative sun-drenched journey along the Côte d’Azur. It's about legacy, about the challenge of artisans to stay afloat in an ever-modernizing world, and it's about taking chances. 

The story revolves around the intersecting lives of the future princess, a passionate French perfumer, and a loveable British press photographer. As a summer book it is deliberately full of 1950s glamour, and while there is romance at the heart of the story (there’s a wedding between a prince and a princess after all!), it is also about so much more.

We especially loved developing our protagonist, Sophie Duval, and her world as a struggling perfumer. Sophie was desperate to preserve her father’s legacy in Grasse, Provence - the perfume capital of the world- and she is tested by everyone she loves to see just how far she's willing to see her vision come to life.

 Capturing all the evocative scents on the page as she hones her craft was great fun to write from the fragrant tuberose and night jasmine, to the salty breezes wafting over the rocky soil of Provence. La Belle France is all about appealing to the senses, n'est-ce pas? It was the perfect backdrop for blooming love, both for Sophie and James, as well as for Grace and her prince.

We also wanted to delve into what influence a woman like Grace Kelly might have had on those who came into contact with her, however briefly. We wanted to understand the very ordinary people caught up in a most extraordinary love-affair between an American actress and a little-known Prince. 

We wanted to highlight the people who surrounded Grace in the months, weeks and days leading up to her wedding, and later, who were deeply affected by the untimely death of one the most loved stars of Hollywood’s golden era. We wanted to illustrate how Grace’s kindness, influence, and courage touched the lives of many around her. The question of legacy, in our book, takes on several meanings here, for all of our characters.

Our story began with the basics, however--lots of research. Research is everything for a historical novelist, and between books and articles, old newsreels and newspaper reports, we discovered a tantalizing detail about Miss Kelly’s wedding dress being packed for its journey from New York to Monaco amid rolls of tissue paper scented with a perfume that had been especially made for her wedding day. 

Again, our novelists’ minds saw an intriguing angle to the story. Who was the perfumer who made that scent? And who were the harried photographers chasing the perfect shot of the most famous woman in the world, and who caused near riots in the days leading up to the wedding?

This is where our fictional protagonists—Sophie Duval: a passionate perfumer, struggling to secure her father’s legacy, and James Henderson: a press photographer searching for far more than Hollywood glamour through his lens—were inspired by real people and roles that were connected to Grace and the royal wedding in surprising ways. 

Our novelists’ gaze also wandered behind the scenes of those famous images of Princess Grace on her wedding day. Who was the woman behind the Hollywood smile? What were her private thoughts behind the many public appearances?

In writing Meet Me in Monaco, we discovered that Grace Kelly was far more than an icon of the silver screen, or the Princess she became. She was also a dear friend, a devoted daughter, a loving wife and doting mother. 

Through the lens of Sophie and James and their proximity to Grace Kelly during her transition from Hollywood star to Princess Grace of Monaco, we hope to have honored her memory, and brought her story to a new generation of fans, as well as showing a different side of her to those of us who, like us, have long admired her.  

We are so thrilled to see Meet Me in Monaco resonating with our readers, and we celebrated when we discovered it was named one of InStyle's best books to put in your tote bag for the summer, as well as one of Popsugar’s best books of July!  We hope you'll enjoy your trip to the Cote d'Azur, over the rolling fields of Grasse, and the beautiful cliffs of Prince Grace's Monaco, too!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Sigh. Shall we talk about Grace Kelly? What’s your favorite movie? Or story about her?

And a copy of MEET ME IN MONACO to one lucky US commenter!

Hazel Gaynor is the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of six historical novels including The Girl Who Came Home and, most recently, The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter. She was the recipient of the 2015 RNA Historical Novel of the Year award, and shortlisted for the 2017 Irish Book Awards. She lives in Ireland with her husband and children.

Heather Webb is the internationally bestselling and award-winning author of six historical novels set in France, including Becoming Josephine and Rodin’s Lover, and the upcoming Ribbons of Scarlet, Oct 2019. She was the recipient of the WFWA 2018 STAR award. She lives in New England with her children and husband. 

About Meet Me in Monaco

Set in the 1950s against the backdrop of Grace Kelly’s whirlwind romance and unforgettable wedding to Prince Rainier of Monaco, New York Times bestselling author Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb take the reader on an evocative sun-drenched journey along the Côte d’Azur in this page-turning novel of passion, fate and second chances...

Movie stars and paparazzi flock to Cannes for the glamorous film festival, but Grace Kelly, the biggest star of all, wants only to escape from the flash-bulbs. When struggling perfumer Sophie Duval shelters Miss Kelly in her boutique to fend off a persistent British press photographer, James Henderson, a bond is forged between the two women and sets in motion a chain of events that stretches across thirty years of friendship, love, and tragedy.

James Henderson cannot forget his brief encounter with Sophie Duval. Despite his guilt at being away from his daughter, he takes an assignment to cover the wedding of the century, sailing with Grace Kelly’s wedding party on the SS Constitution from New York. In Monaco, as wedding fever soars and passions and tempers escalate, James and Sophie—like Princess Grace—must ultimately decide what they are prepared to give up for love.

Every Good Book is a Mystery--Even When It's Not @msheatherwebb

LUCY BURDETTE: Is there anything more special than a debut novel? Not much! So when I met Heather Webb at the Big Book Club event in Old Saybrook, CT, last fall and heard she had a debut novel coming out in December, I asked her to join us. And she's brought some wonderful thoughts about the mystery of fiction. Welcom Heather!


HEATHER WEBB: I write historical fiction. WAIT! Mystery readers, don’t run off just yet. Sure, I enjoy sparkling details of different eras—the frothy petticoats of a princess, a lamb bone used for buffing marble, steam cars cranked by hand—though these little gems may make historicals magical, they don’t make them INTRIGUING. A story’s intrigue boils down to the one thing the Reds and Red-loves can’t get enough of—mystery.
In a historical (or any novel, really):


 
IT ALL BEGINS WITH A QUESTION

My recently released novel BECOMING JOSEPHINE   is about a young woman from Martinique whose world is turned upside down when her sister dies of fever. Distraught, she visits an island shaman for a glimpse into her future. The wrinkled voodoo woman gives her cryptic advice and voila! We have our first mystery. Will our heroine “be married in a distant land”? Will she “become more than queen” as the shaman predicts? Readers will turn pages to find out.

 
BUT ONE CENTRAL QUESTION ISN’T ENOUGH 

Layering many, smaller mysteries in the story enriches a novel. For example, we already want to know if Josephine will become more than queen in some distant land. But once she’s there and meets her new husband, we want to know—will her new husband love her? Will she be accepted into Parisian society? Then the Revolution comes along and the big question becomes: will Josephine survive the violence? And how does she meet Napoleon anyway? Readers will turn pages to find out.

And those are just the questions pertaining to the protagonist. A good book weaves together loads of other questions, or mysteries, so that:

MANY STORIES CONVERGE

Each multi-dimensional character brings their own story to the table; where they’re from, their backstory—how he/she came to be the way they are. When Napoleon shows up on the scene, he’s a filthy, intense little man with poor manners. Still, the way he seems to know what others are thinking, his brilliant strategist mind, and his passion make him a compelling character. This leaves us wondering about his origin. How does his past shape his personality? His actions? Will his actions thwart his goals? Readers will turn pages to find out.

A FEW WONDERFUL MYSTERIES THAT AREN’T MYSTERIES
 
For good measure, I thought I’d share a few books I adore that are mysteries that aren’t mysteries. Say that five times fast.

The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins: Will Katniss survive? Will she choose Peeta or Gale? Will the revolt against the Capital be successful? (And there are so many more)

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness: What are Diana’s powers? Will she fall for Matthew? What is her witchy family’s past? Will she survive the attack from her enemies?

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly: How did Andi lose her brother? What will she uncover in that old diary from the French Revolution? Will she fall in love? Will she ever forgive herself?

So yeah, I write historicals. But I chock them so full of questions, small mysteries and larger ones, that I can safely say, mystery readers might like them. After all, any genre, any GOOD book is a mystery. 

What are some of your favorite novels that aren’t mysteries? How did their intrigue keep you turning pages?

Heather Webb is a freelance editor and contributor to popular writing blogs Writer Unboxed, Romance University, and The Debutante Ball. Her debut historical, BECOMING JOSEPHINE released to acclaim from Kirkus Reviews and the New York Journal of Books December 31, 2013 from Plume/Penguin. When not writing, Heather flexes her foodie skills or looks for excuses to head to the other side of the world. She loves to chitchat on Twitter with new reader friends or writers (@msheatherwebb) or via her blog. Stop on by!