featured and read aloud on NPR and named notable by the Association of Jewish Libraries.
Franklin's new novel is The Lioness of Boston.
My Q&A with the author:
How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?Visit Emily Franklin's website.
When I began this novel about the life of Isabella, Stewart Gardner, I kept coming back to the idea that she evolved into the art collector/museum, founder/Boston, scandalous society person from her beginnings as a social outcast. Initially, the novel was called Becoming Isabella. However, once I had finished writing the novel, I realized that unless a reader knew who Isabella Stewart Gardner was, the title wouldn't mean all that much. I also realized that I wrote about this woman in the 1800s becoming herself as Boston was becoming the city it is today, so I wanted to ground the story in a location. The entrance to the Gardner museum is flanked by two Lions, and there's a story of Isabella parading two Lions down Commonwealth Avenue in Boston. Once I incurred the novel title in Boston, the lions quickly followed. The Lioness of Boston is truly about a woman finding her own voice and being able to roar.
What's in a name?
Isabella, Stewart Gardner and numerous people in this novel: Henry James, John Singer, Sargent, Berthe Morisot, George Sand, James McNeill Whistler, Oscar Wilde - were all real folks so I didn't have to name them. Other characters that I did create were given names that suited the time (Miles Louris) or a character trait (Mr. Valentine).
How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your new novel?
My teenage reader self would not be completely surprised by this novel. I did grow up going to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and was completely captivated by it… I also loved Edith Wharton and EM Forster, and this novel certainly fits into that genre.
Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?
I have always found both beginnings and endings come rather easily to me. That said, I more often know the exact ending, including a last line of what I'm writing, whether it is a short story, or poetry, or a novel, and the opening pages are more likely to shift. I end up changing the first chapter once I've gotten further along in the novel because generally that's before I found the voice completely.
Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?
Probably all of the characters have a little bits of me a little bits of other people I know, and certainly a great degree of imagination to make them fullyrealized on the page. I think I identify with Isabella's outspokenness, her inability to fit in completely with one group or another. I enjoyed writing the witty banter between Isabella and many of her friends, because that is certainly how some of my friends and I like to talk, so I identify with that fast-paced wit. Ultimately, I suppose I do feel similar to Isabella and the friends she finds in that it took me a while to find my lunch table. In terms of the world, these characters live in, a lot of Boston, still retains its historic architecture, so that was not too big of a stretch, but the social mores of the 1800s were a far cry from anything I have experience personally, though growing up in the UK in the 1980s and 90s there were still some remnants of those old social rules (which I often broke).
What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?
My first novel was all about mix tapes. I find music and lyrics at the heart of a lot of my influences, and listen and enjoy all types of music. Weirdly, I cannot listen to music when I write, because I find it leaks onto the page. Nature is also a huge part of my writing, and does show up in everything I write. To break up my workday I take a lot of walks with my giant beast dogs and find the natural world full of inspiration. My family is a constant influence - both my chosen family and my family of origin.
The Page 69 Test: The Lioness of Boston.
--Marshal Zeringue