For this installment of Fiction Favorites and Awesome Authors, Nancy Bilyeau returns to talk about her new historical mystery, The Orchid Hour. (Isn’t the cover beautiful?)
Nancy first appeared here on VBlog after the release of her suspense novel The Blue, set in the rivalrous porcelain industry of 18th century Europe.
The Orchid Hour takes us to the Prohibition Era of the 1920s, when, despite the law, alcohol was flowing freely. The book’s title is the name of a speakeasy that serves as the focal point of the action. Aiming to appeal to a highbrow clientele, the world-class nightclub is decorated with a species of orchid that gives off a heady fragrance only at night. The club’s front is, appropriately, a flower shop, where one must have the trust of the florist to gain entry.
I remember getting a feel for the speakeasy days at a bar/restaurant called Chelsea Place, which operated from 1974 through 1992 on Eighth Avenue in Manhattan. From the avenue, you entered what appeared to be an antique shop. In the back of the “store,” you opened the mirrored door of an antique wardrobe to enter the piano bar and restaurant.
Exciting and glamorous, right? Well, in this novel, Nancy Bilyeau does not shy away from the underbelly of the Jazz Age: bootlegging, gang violence, rising crime, and the Sicilian Mafia (Cosa Nostra). The protagonist, Audenzia De Luca (“Zia”), is an Italian immigrant, young mother, and WWI widow. Two murders that hit close to home give Zia the motivation to transform her conservative appearance and get a job at the speakeasy, where, she believes, she will find clues to the unsolved murders.
No spoilers here! You’ll just have to read the book to find out what Zia discovers! Publishers Weekly (starred review) says, “Historical mystery fans will find this irresistible.” And so did I!
Welcome back, Nancy! Orchids and speakeasies: a unique and interesting combination! How did your vision of The Orchid Hour come to you? Was there any particular NYC nightclub in the Prohibition Era that served as an inspiration?
My vision of the novel began with wanting to write a main character who is touched by organized crime in New York City and that would be part of her story but not her whole story. I created a main character who is born in Italy and immigrates to New York City with her family in the early 20th century but does not act out the stereotypes of Italian American women that you see in movies and television shows.
Because it was Prohibition that basically created the mafia—one of history’s greatest unintended consequences—I thought that putting the novel in the 1920s made sense. I find the first part of the decade more interesting than the second.
The Orchid Hour is a cross between The Cotton Club (which opened at the end of 1923) and Chumley’s, another real-life club, this one a secret speakeasy in the West Village that attracted writers such as Dorothy Parker and Eugene O’Neill.
Your protagonist Zia, a young mother and widow living with her in-laws, is conflicted about her desire to behave according to the more liberal standard American women enjoyed in the Jazz Age as opposed to her family’s rigid expectations under the ordine della famiglia, “the unforgiving, centuries-old code of the villages of southern Italy.” How did these two standards for women differ, and how far did Zia deviate from the Italian code?
Those two standards were a world apart! The ordine della famiglia meant to live for the family, to subordinate yourself to the good of the family. Yet in the 1920s young American women, primarily in the cities, were cutting their hair, shedding their girdles, wearing modern clothes, going out dancing, and seeking independence from their families. To do any of those things was a deviation of the code for Zia.
Some of the characters in The Orchid Hour are purely fictional and others are actual people—especially some of the organized crime figures from the 1920s. What guides you in deciding to use historic figures rather than fictional characters in your novels? As a corollary, what guides you in placing the historic figures in fictional, as opposed to factual, settings and scenes?
I like to put real people in my historical fiction. My main characters are always imaginary, but I often have them playing off real people. From E.L. Doctorow to Philip Kerr, novelists writing fiction set in earlier times have done that. Even Tolstoy slipped Napoleon into War and Peace! These historical figures have had a big impact on the times in which they lived. As I like to put my stories in the thick of things, it seems fitting to populate my stories with these real figures. And they’re such fun to research and write.
Zia’s cousin, Salvatore Lucania, plays a big part in the novel. We get to know Sal through Zia’s eyes, first, as a sympathetic character, then, as she slowly awakens to his true nature and criminal behavior. I thought this was an inventive way to draw both sides of his character, the good and the bad. Any reader who goes into the novel without knowing much about the Mafia [I’ve withheld his more commonly recognized name here!] will be awakened along with Zia. Did you take liberties or stay true to your research in creating Sal’s gentler side?
I did a lot of research into Salvatore Lucania. We won’t give away his nickname, but he’s considered one of the “founders” of the American mafia in the 20th century. He didn’t give many interviews, to put it mildly, and the book about his life that was supposedly written “with” him is most likely a hoax. There’s a ton of contradictory information about how violent he was, how intelligent he was, and what his attitude toward women was. I did follow the most-accepted facts about his family background (abusive father), early poverty, education, and first arrests. Salvatore said he never wanted to have children because he didn’t want to have a son who’d be ashamed of a criminal father. That tells you a lot.
Finally, a question that may be of interest to writers. The Zia chapters are in first person, and other chapters with different POV characters are in third person. What considerations went into deciding this structure for The Orchid Hour?
All of my novels up to now have been written in the first person. I wanted to experiment in this book. I think it increases suspense to bring in other points of view. Sometimes the reader knows more about a threat to Zia than Zia knows herself!
Thank you, Nancy. We look forward to your next great novel!
Dear readers: If you happen to be in Manhattan, pick up an author-signed copy of The Orchid Hour at The Mysterious Bookshop. (They also ship if you want to order online.)
The Orchid Hour is also available wherever books are sold, including these: Bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon (P.S. The e-book is currently on SALE for 99 cents on Amazon for a week).
Nancy loves to place strong female heroines in fascinating historical settings. Check out Nancy’s website for descriptions of all her novels.