Holly Would Dream

Holly and Denis were stranded when they missed the ship. On one of our cruises, there really was a woman who walked around pumping five-pound pink free weights all the time. That’s where I got that idea to have Sydney do that. On another cruise, there was a passenger who wore stilettos when she went to Pompeii (another silly thing I had Sydney do). On the day we visited Ephesus, a passenger brought the rugs she had purchased to the bar that night to show them off. She told people what she had spent on them. Details like that found their way into the story. Finally, Mark and I went to Rome last summer so that I could check out all the places I’d written about in the story. We stayed at the Hassler, where Holly and Denis stayed (and where Audrey Hepburn stayed when making Roman Holiday), ate at the restaurants, and visited the same sites as the characters. Researching this book was as much fun as writing it.

What made you choose Audrey Hepburn as Holly’s touchstone in the story?

I have always adored her movies, especially her early romantic comedies. They never fail to make me happy. I admire her because she was such a talented actress, devoted mother, and great humanitarian. Plus, she had her own unique style that has stood the test of time. You can go on youtube.com today and get advice on how to do your makeup like Audrey Hepburn. People still style their hair as she did. Every year, new books come out about her. There are scores of sites on myspace.com and facebook.com devoted to her. From the bios I’ve read, is seems like she was a lovely, authentic person. I felt it would be fun to create a character like Holly, who was completely enamored with Audrey Hepburn.

Now that you are a full-time novelist, what are some of the differences between writing part-time and writing full-time? What would you say is the best part about writing novels? What is the most stressful aspect of this career?

When you write full-time, you have no excuses for not producing. So that keeps me working hard. The thing I love most about writing novels is creating a world and filling it with characters I really get to know and love over the course of a project. I’m always sad to say goodbye to my characters at the end of the story. They feel very real to me. The most stressful part of a full-time writing career is that you live and die by your own work. For many years, I was a VP at American Express. If I missed a few weeks of work, I still got paid and the company never missed a beat. But now if I took a month off writing, nothing would happen. Also, at Amex (as is the case with many jobs), every project I worked on had twenty people’s handprints on it. As a writer, it’s my editor and me. So I feel total ownership of my writing. On the flip side, there is no one to blame if the critics don’t like my work (except my editor, of course).

Each of the chapter titles are song titles, such as “Isn’t It Romantic” or “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off.” What made you choose this device?

I’m a sucker for these old songs, and I thought they would make good chapter titles. It was such fun to choose the titles that seemed connected to each chapter. I made a playlist for my iPod of all the songs that I used as chapter titles. It’s a great list—you can easily make your own.

The Ivy Chronicles has been optioned for a film and there’s film interest in Wife in the Fast Lane. If Holly Would Dream were to be a movie, who would you like to see in the role of Holly?

It would have to be someone thin, because she would have to fit into the Hepburn costumes. One person I can see in the role is Heather Graham because she is beautiful and so talented at comedy. I could also imagine Jessica Alba, Anne Hathaway, or Renée Zellweger. I would love to see Holly Would Dream turned into a movie in the same style as the 1950s films that inspired it.

You open the novel with a very inspirational line from Audrey Hepburn. What made you choose this particular quote?

It is a line that reflects the journey of a woman who seemed to have had it all but in fact lived a very difficult life at times. Still, she always saw herself as getting the prize in the end. It is such a positive statement about Hepburn’s outlook on life. Also, Holly Would Dream is a bit of a fairy tale and I thought that line would tell the reader a bit of what was coming.

Strong family ties are evident in all your books, and Holly Would Dream is no exception. Holly and her father share a very close relationship. Does their relationship mirror any of your own?

I was very close to my own father who died about ten years ago. I wish he had lived long enough to see me publish my first book. My mother and I talk daily on the phone since we don’t live in the same city. We take a trip together—just the two of us—every year. So, yes, I come from a close family.

How much did you know about fashion and fashion history before starting this book?

Very little. All I knew was how much I adored going to fashion exhibits at the Met or the FIT Museum. I thought that writing about a fashion museum would give me a great excuse to learn what life is like working in one. Dr. Valerie Steele, who is the director of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, talked to me about how they come up