Georgie Blalock's new novel is The Other Windsor Girl: A Novel of Princess Margaret, Royal Rebel.From the author's Q&A with Deborah Kalb:
Q: Why did you decide to focus on Princess Margaret in your new novel?Visit Georgie Blalock's website.
A: I focused on Princess Margaret because she is such a fascinating character. She had it all but, as a member of the Royal Family, she didn’t truly have the freedom to enjoy it.
Also, postwar England is an interesting time of transition when a little of the old world of Downton Abbey still existed before swinging ‘60s London wiped it away for good. The change from one world to another, the loss of old traditions and a way of life, and the uncertainty and possibilities that those changes created offered a great deal of complex conflict to explore.
Q: What did you see as the right balance between the historic Princess Margaret and your own fictional version?
A: Princess Margaret gave me so much material to work with but she is still my fictional character.
I did my best through research to understand her and her world but I didn’t allow the strict historical record to become a constraint. I wanted the freedom to give her life my own interpretation, to adjust…[read on]
--Marshal Zeringue