MacIntosh's new novel is The Champagne Letters.
My Q&A with the author:
How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?Visit Kate MacIntosh's website.
Over twenty years ago, I was lucky enough to be traveling in France and I visited the Champagne region. In between tours of different wineries and copious amounts of free samples, I heard the story of Barbe-Nicole Clicquot, the founder of Veuve Clicquot. How do you not find a woman fascinating who runs a business, develops new innovations, works with smugglers to get her champagne out of the country during the Napoleonic war, and was a widow raising a daughter? I scribbled in my travel journal that I thought she would make a great character. That’s when I learned widows founded many of the great champagne houses. At the time, the only way a woman could own a business was if they were a widow. The present-day character is divorced, but she often thinks it would be easier if she were a widow, if her husband died instead of that he chose to leave her. That gave me the initial title for the story: The Champagne Widows.
When I had a publishing deal, the editor and I discussed the title. There was already a book with the title The Champagne Widows. Although there are many books with the same title, we decided to change it to avoid confusion. There were endless lists of options. Contenders included: Champagne Secrets, The Women of Champagne, The Widow’s Guide, The Champagne Gamble. In the end we went with The Champagne Letters, which, when we stumbled upon it, seemed the perfect fit.
The book goes back and forth between the 1800s where the Barbe-Nicole Clicquot is writing letters to her great-granddaughter to tell her about her life, and the present day when Natalie has fled her divorce and run away to Paris for vacation. Natalie finds a book of letters from the Widow and uses those to help her chart her new direction.
How surprised would your teenage reader self be by your novel?
Growing up, I spent so much time worrying about what other people thought. Were they mad? Did I have their approval? Did I seem to them as awkward and odd as I felt? I would love to have my teenage self read the book and perhaps begin to understand that there’s never a way to make everyone happy. Trying to please people (sometimes total strangers) and constantly checking to see other’s opinions, is a recipe for disaster. Hopefully, my teenager self would be inspired to consider what she wants for her own life.
I’m also quite certain that my nerdy teenage self would love all the historical details and odd facts. History has always fascinated me.
Do you find it harder to write beginnings or endings? Which do you change more?
The beginning of the book was always clear. I knew I wanted to start the Widow’s story with her husband dying, as that was when her life as an independent woman began. ForNatalie in the present day, I knew I wanted to get her to France as soon as possible, that’s when her adventure starts. The ending, however… that was much murkier.
The story in the past is based on the real life of Barbe-Nicole Clicquot, so her story already had a clear timeline. My only challenge was deciding what to include and what to leave out. My story ends with her success in launching the champagne house, but she would live until her 80s and had many more adventures.
The present-day story kept surprising me. I thought I knew what would happen, but suddenly things took a turn I hadn’t expected. An early reader commented, “I didn’t see that twist coming,” and I thought neither did I. I did several revisions of the ending and when I came up with the final scene, it seemed as if it had been planned. Various details, the jeweller the ring etc, were already in the story, so perhaps a corner of my brain (or my heart) knew it before the rest of me.
Do you see much of yourself in your characters? Do they have any connection to your personality, or are they a world apart?
As I mentioned earlier, the real-life story of Barbe-Nicole Clicquot was a big inspiration. The biography The Widow Clicquot, by Tilar Mazzeo, is fascinating.
However, the present-day story line had a more personal connection. A few years ago, my marriage blew up. It was right before my 50th birthday and our 25th wedding anniversary. We’d already booked, and pre-paid, for a big anniversary trip to France. Unexpectedly, I’d lost the person I thought was my best friend, my home, and half the belongings we’d spent our lives collecting. I was sure as hell not going to lose that trip. So, I went without him. Unlike the character in my book who ends up in several adventures, including one with a dashing Frenchmen, I spent a lot of time walking around Paris and eating my body weight in cheese. But I left that trip with an idea for a novel and the reminder that I’m a capable and strong person. The character Natalie isn’t a direct reflection of me or my former marriage, but I certainly used that experience. One of the best parts of fiction is unlike real life, you can control it.
What non-literary inspirations have influenced your writing?
What doesn’t influence my writing? Wine, great food, travel, history, just about any random show on the BBC, overheard conversations, news, my life, and stories of friends and family. When I’m asked where to find ideas for books, I think that is never the problem. Finding time to write all the ideas I have is the daunting task. I find the world a fascinating place and I'm constantly asking myself, what if….?
The Page 69 Test: The Champagne Letters.
My Book The Movie: The Champagne Letters.
--Marshal Zeringue