Melanie Benjamin’s historic fiction successfully combines romance with thriller plots and famous real life heroines, so its perhaps not surprising her books regularly grace the New York Times and USA Today best seller lists.
Hi there, I’m your host Jenny Wheeler and today Melanie talks about her latest book Mistress of the Ritz, a World War II story based in the landmark Paris hotel taken over by the Nazis. It’s a love story and a suspense thriller all in one.
Six things you’ll learn from this Joys of Binge Reading episode:
Melanie's vital "second start" as a novelistOn being brutally honest about your workThe change from modern to historical fictionHollywood's "golden years" for womenHer podcast with fellow authorThe little know Brit she binge reads
Where to find Melanie Benjamin:
Website: https://melaniebenjamin.com/
Facebook: Melaniebenjamin.author
Twitter: @MelanieBen Goodreads: Melanie Benjamin
What
follows is a "near as" transcript of our conversation, not word for
word but pretty close to it, with links to important mentions.
Jenny Wheeler: But now here's Melanie. Hello there Melanie, and welcome to the show.
It's great to have you with us.
Melanie Benjamin: Well, thank you so much. I'm so happy to be here. Thanks for
thinking of me, Jenny.
Bestselling historical fiction author Melanie Benjamin
Jenny Wheeler: Melanie, you're a New York Times and USA Today best selling
historical fiction author. You've got foreign rights sold in a dozen countries.
You sound as if you're really at the top of your game, but was there a Once
Upon a Time moment when you just knew you had to write fiction? How did it all
start?
Never like 'in the movies'
Melanie Benjamin: Yes. It's never quite like it is in a book or a movie. Just one moment. No, it's never quite like
that. You know, I came to this fairly
late in my life. I didn't even consider being a writer until I was nearing 40.
It's a long time ago. My first love was
theater and I really wanted to pursue an acting career, which was not supported
by my family. So that led to a lot of anxiety about dropping out of college and
running out, wanting to go off and do my theater and pursue my acting.
And it was just kind of a muddle. And then
I get married. And then I had children very young and I did a stay at home mom
thing and the - what we call the PTA up here - the Parent Teacher Association
president thing. But I wasn't very
happy. However, I was always a reader, although I had never considered writing
as a career.
It was just something that came very
naturally to me and helped me through all my years in college and high
school. Writing was always an easy thing
for me. A dear friend of mine said. - I
was coming up on my 40th birthday - and she said,” you know, I always thought
you'd be a writer.” And to this day, she doesn't know why she said that.
A light bulb moment
But when she did say it was like a little
light bulb went off over my head. Certainly I was a very articulate, highly
verbal person. I lived in my head a lot. I pretended a lot. I was a huge
reader. And so I set out to start to write, and I wrote a couple of little
essays that got me a column in a parenting magazine.
And then I wrote a short story that went to
contest. That was just a dangerous enough amount of success to keep me
going. I thought if I was going to be a
writer, to me that meant writing novels, because I do love novels. That's my
preferred form of reading. Although I do read a lot of nonfiction as well.
But to me, being an author meant writing a
novel. And so that started me on the path of a lot of trial and error, of
little successes and a lot of big failures. Until finally I was a novelist.
Famous women, fascinating stories
Jenny Wheeler: Fantastic. So now you've published six historical novels, and each one is focused on fascinating and sometimes very famous woman. You've done Babe Paley in The Swans of Fifth Avenue,
