The Orchid Hour: Book Review & Conversation with Nancy Bilyeau

Posted on by - Fiction Favorites & Awesome Authors

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.

The Blue: Book Review and Conversation with Nancy Bilyeau

Posted on by - Fiction Favorites & Awesome Authors

For this installment of Fiction Favorites and Awesome Authors, I welcome author Nancy Bilyeau to VBlog.

Nancy’s recent release, The Blue, is a novel of suspense set in the rivalrous art and porcelain worlds of 18th century Europe. The protagonist, Genevieve Planché, is an English-born descendant of Huguenot refugees, a young artist who resorts to extreme measures in her quest to follow her dream. Her journey follows an unpredictable path of intrigue, danger, crime, and romance. The characters we meet along the way have their own personal agendas, whether political, commercial, scientific, artistic, or romantic.

“We see blue everywhere in the natural world, in the sky and the sea and the lakes…but what do we really see? It’s ephemeral. A reflection of something else.” So explains the chemist who feverishly works to capture the most desirable shade of blue and successfully apply it to the decoration of porcelain. In the midst of the Seven Years’ War, England and France are in a race to develop this elusive formula for their lucrative porcelain industries.

The Blue is meticulously researched, bursting with colorful details that draw you into the story, from the wild boar hairs in Genevieve’s paint brushes to the dangers of mining cobalt ore deep in the mountains of Saxony. In the month since its release, much has been written about The Blue (see blog tour links, below). It was the Goodreads’ Recommended Choice for Historical Novel in December 2018 and a BookBub Editors’ Choice for New Releases.

No spoilers here! I will simply say that if you enjoy historical fiction, crime and suspense, romance, plot twists, interesting characters, or just a great story, The Blue is for you! And now, to give us some fascinating details behind the scenes, Nancy has graciously agreed to answer some of my burning questions.

Welcome to VBlog Nancy! I understand that you drew on your own Huguenot background in writing The Blue and named a character, Pierre Billiou, after an ancestor. Tell us a bit about your ancestry and the part it played in your inspiration for this work.

I named a character, Pierre Billiou, after my own ancestor, though it is not his life I am describing. I wanted to pay homage to my Huguenot background by using his name. The Pierre in my novel fled France for England as a young child after Louis XIV took action against the Protestants in his kingdom in 1685—it’s called the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Basically, the King was canceling the measures of tolerance for Protestants. He wanted France to be One King, One Faith. Pierre and his family settled in Spitalfields, in London. My book takes place in England and France, so I needed to make these changes.

Now the real Pierre Billiou, not the one in my book but the one I am descended from, left Europe even earlier. France was not too welcoming to Protestants even before Louis XIV took such an action, and there were a great many Huguenot immigrants coming to America. They gathered in New York, South Carolina, and Virginia.  Pierre immigrated to New Amsterdam (now New York City) in 1661. One of his children was born on the boat crossing the Atlantic—I am actually descended from that son. I have two kids, and I can’t imagine giving birth on a boat crossing the Atlantic in the 1660s! I’m very curious about what life was like in all ways for him. What I know is that he built a stone house on Staten Island—it’s still standing today and is on the National Register—and he was involved in colonial government. But when the English sailed into the harbor, they took over. Changed the name of the city and demoted the Dutch and the Huguenots who were running things.

I was able to research Huguenot lives, beliefs, and values—which I was already interested in—while working on this novel, which gave it an extra level for me.

Some writers begin with the creation of character, letting the characters guide them to the story, other writers begin with the creation of plot. How would you describe your writing process for this novel?

I didn’t come up with my main character, Genevieve Planché, and then create a story for her. I came up with the idea of a spy story set in the porcelain world of the 18th century and then I figured out some specifics that led me to the characters. First, where is the story going to take place? I decided to make it about the rivalry between France and England that was so intense during the entire century (and longer!), extending into the porcelain business, so the story would begin in England. What kind of spy did I want to write about? Once I read that Huguenots and their creativity and artistry were essential in several English porcelain factories, Genevieve took shape in my mind. As for Sir Gabriel Courtenay, the “master spy,” he is based on research I did about espionage of the time—can’t say more because of spoilers. But espionage during this time is fascinating—and largely undiscovered country to readers today. I find with historical fiction you can’t come up with fully developed characters until you know your period well, otherwise they might not be grounded in reality. For me to say, I’ll write a brilliant police detective in the 1750s, pretty quickly I would run into the fact that the Bow Street Runners, the forerunners of the British police force, were in very early stages then. You have to avoid a modern mindset in character creation.

The Blue has wonderful passages about the creation and importance of art, and you’ve dedicated the novel to your father, “who loved art so very much.” Tell us about the place of art in your life.

My father from a young age loved art and wanted to paint. He came from the opposite of an artistic family. My grandfather moved his family from Tennessee to Detroit, Michigan, in desperation for work during the Depression. He got a job at Henry Ford that he was proud of. He thought the fact that my father wanted to be an artist meant he wasn’t manly and he was abusive about it. My father enlisted in the US Navy in World War II in its final months as soon as he turned 18. When he returned to Detroit, he went to art school on the GI Bill. He worked as a commercial artist in Illinois and Michigan to support his family, but he had an art studio in our basement and I have many memories of his painting watercolor landscapes down there. He sold his watercolors at art fairs, principally the Ann Arbor Art Fair, and a few Midwest galleries. I used to help out during the Ann Arbor Art Fair; he had a booth on Main Street. Those were long days! But it was a happy exhaustion. So for me, art was the heart and soul of my father, and I was part of that through watching him and helping him a bit. I understood that it was a calling for him that he almost couldn’t control. He always wanted to create. I absorbed the struggle to succeed as an artist and the intense competition and classism. A Michigan factory worker’s son is not going to have an easy path into the art world.

I am not an artist myself, but I am an avid museum goer; I love to look at great art.

In reading the novel, I felt Genevieve’s pain and frustration at the roadblocks to her aspirations as an artist. In your research of 18th century female artists, did the story of any single artist serve as inspiration for your character Genevieve?

I probably drew on some of my own frustration over roadblocks in success as a writer as well as watching my father struggle. He wanted to be acknowledged as a fine artist but he wasn’t treated as one or reviewed as one in his lifetime. His work did sell fairly well, and is still selling on eBay. I read an interesting analysis of his technique online that went with one of these paintings that I think would have made him happy.

I researched a few women artists who had to overcome the disapproval of their being artists in the 18th century because of their gender.  I found the life of  Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun enlightening in several ways. She was successful in the late 18th century and is famous for her portraits of Marie Antoinette. When she was in her teen years, she was painting professionally in France and her studio was actually seized for her practicing without a license! After that she married a painter and he helped her; that was a way for women to surmount the obstacles. She made use of family connections too. Once Marie Antoinette decided to give her commissions, she was obviously set. But what is interesting is that I went to an exhibit of Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and while admiring her body of work I thought some of the faces lacked expressiveness. Here’s the problem: In the 18th century, to be a great artist you needed talent and drive but you also had to have intense training. In my novel, Genevieve realizes she needs to work as an apprentice; she is clear-eyed about the technique she must master to reach a desired level. Her inability to find someone to teach her is what sets her on a certain risky path.

Masterfully woven into your story of riveting suspense are several thematic elements relevant to mid-18th century Europe, including political intrigue, industry and the economy, the roles of gender and social class, and the interplay of art and science. Did you set out to incorporate all these elements into your story?

I didn’t explicitly do that, no. But by being drawn to spying and politics and art and science when they were at this exciting juncture in the 18th century, these other issues naturally come out of that. And I am always drawn to social class in my novels, I think. After four books, I clearly can’t stay away!

I’m very heartened by the readers who like the fact that my novel delves into these areas. I’ve been criticized for it in the past. One industry professional said, “You’d have a much easier time if you’d write romances about dukes and pirates.”

Well, Nancy, I’d say that The Blue has far more to give than a romance about dukes and pirates! I so enjoyed it and look forward to reading whatever you have in store for us next.

I’m with Nancy and writer friends at Mystery Writers of America, NY chapter, holiday party

Dear Readers,

Historical Fiction Virtual Blog Tours is hosting a Giveaway of The Blue. Click here to enter by January 18. Visit the blogs on the tour schedule, listed below.

Nancy is also the author of three, very well-received novels in a Tudor mystery series, The Crown, The Chalice, and The Tapestry. Discover all her books on Goodreads and Amazon.

Blog Tour Schedule

Wednesday, January 9
Review at A Bookish Affair

Thursday, January 10
Review at 100 Pages a Day

Friday, January 11
Review at Passages to the Past

Saturday, January 12
Interview at Passages to the Past

Sunday, January 13
Interview at V.S. Kemanis

Monday, January 14
Review at Let Them Read Books

Tuesday, January 15
Review at Historical Fiction with Spirit

Wednesday, January 16
Excerpt at Umut Reviews

Thursday, January 17
Review at Reading the Past

Friday, January 18
Review at Tar Heel Reader

The Summer Before the War: Book Review and Conversation with Helen Simonson

Posted on by - Book review, Fiction Favorites & Awesome Authors

For this installment of Fiction Favorites and Awesome Authors I share with you an outstanding read by the bestselling author of Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand, Helen Simonson.

Her second novel, The Summer Before the War, set in the idyllic English town of Rye in 1914, is beautifully written and meticulously researched. Much of the tale is a social comedy of manners, an insightful, if subtle, exploration of gender and class, full of wit, humorous dialogue, and masterful characterization. The traditions and biases of the upper middle-class are juxtaposed tellingly against those of the servant classes, Gypsies, a spinster schoolteacher, and impoverished war refugees from Belgium.

In 1914, gender equality is advancing in baby steps. Simonson aptly illustrates the status of women with several well-drawn characters, most prominently Agatha Kent and Beatrice Nash. The indomitable Agatha, married to a well-respected civil servant, is one of two women on the local school board. She takes the revolutionary step of seeking the board’s approval to hire a woman, Beatrice Nash, as Latin instructor. Beatrice is an independent woman in her early twenties, nearly penniless after her father’s death, unable to make ends meet on a meager inheritance controlled by patronizing trustees. The teacher position is bread and butter to Beatrice, but this reality clashes with Agatha’s tenuous position in recommending her. Agatha warns, “let’s not mention any such awkward necessity” as money when seeking board approval—better to emphasize “teaching as a service rather than a profession.”

Another “awkward” subject is Beatrice’s desire to become a published writer. Agatha tells her to keep this yearning under wraps because it would be “an absolute disaster for a lady in your position to earn a reputation as a bohemian.” Beatrice has no trouble following this advice the first time she’s introduced to Mr. Tillingham, a renowned novelist in Agatha’s social circle. When the subject of female writers comes up, the arrogant and pompous author says he has received “several slightly hysterical requests to read such charming manuscripts” and “would rather cut off my right hand” than read them. He gives the manuscripts to his secretary “to compose her own diplomatic replies and to consign the offending pages to the kitchen stove.” Later on, a publisher sends Beatrice a condescending missive, rejecting her proposal to publish an analysis of her father’s work. Ironically, the publisher has decided to commission Mr. Tillingham for the project!

Agatha is childless but is close to her two nephews, Hugh Grange, a young surgeon, and Daniel Bookham, a poet. Growing up, the cousins spent summers and school holidays in the Kent household. Their chosen professions foreshadow later events during the war. In these characters, we see the personal turmoil wrought by social convention and judgment: in Daniel’s case, discrimination against homosexuality, and in both characters, the pressure to forge marital unions based on class and status rather than love and compatibility. The relationships between the cousins and with their Aunt Agatha are the highlights of the novel, believable and emotionally compelling.

In the first part of the novel, the townspeople live in polite denial of impending war, as hints and irony foreshadow tragic events on the horizon. When spoken of, the war is romanticized as a great adventure. The son of a nobleman joins the Royal Flying Corps because he doesn’t want to enlist in “an ordinary war” and thinks that flying airplanes is “damned good fun!” To complete his image, he shops at Burberry’s because “they do a very good aviator helmet with goggles.” Marriageable young women launch a recruitment brigade, shaming any reluctant young man into enlisting by handing him a white feather (symbol of cowardice), along with a subtle bit of sexual bribery: no offer of marriage will be accepted unless the man is marching off to war. For a proper sendoff, the town hosts a parade with a brass band, displays “model trenches” on the fairgrounds, and tops it off with a grand ball.

The last part of the novel takes us to the front, into the real trenches and a battleground hospital. A strength of the narrative lies in the gradual loss of innocence of the main characters, the contrast between the naivety of their grandiose expressions of patriotism and the tragic reality they ultimately experience. The novel also touches on divided loyalties of family and nationality when the German husband of a British woman is called home for military service. This is an intriguing theme that is so wonderfully explored in William Burton McCormick’s book, Lenin’s Harem, which I reviewed here on VBlog.

Fans of historical fiction are sure to love Simonson’s sweeping novel full of colorful characters, scintillating dialogue, and insightful exploration of relationships during an era of great social change. In this video [click here], the author aptly sums up the major theme: the book is ultimately about “what you think is important to build in your lives, what remains when everything is falling apart, and more specifically, what is destroyed by war and what is burnished in the fire.”

And now, I welcome Helen Simonson to VBlog. Thank you for joining me, Helen! I loved The Summer Before the War, and Major Pettigrew is now on my ‘to-read’ list.

From a writer’s perspective, I have a few questions I’m dying to ask you, especially because our writing processes are apparently so different. In your videotaped presentation, you mentioned, “I don’t write what I know—I write to ask questions and explore them and hope to find some answers for myself.” The historical setting for your characters required painstaking research, yet an intuitive knowledge of human nature and social interaction underlies your characterizations. Do you feel that you write what you “know” on an emotional or personal level?

I try to write about the characters in my head and they seem to be real people to me.  What is funny is that on an emotional level I can see that I am using my characters to work out things that puzzle me about the world and about how we treat each other. Social comedy as moral philosophy?  I do also have great fun slipping in small personal details—like my grandfather’s name or a house I’d like to own in Sussex—but I am not writing autobiographically. I think books are wonderful because they allow us to travel to places we cannot go.  Writing a book is no different; every page is a new adventure for me.

You also mentioned that you don’t write an outline of the story first but create the characters and let them lead you where they want to go. Did you have a broad sense of the plot when you started out, or was this story a complete adventure of discovery along the way?

Simply following the characters around is a frightening way to write a work as long as a novel.  But now I’m in the midst of a third novel I have no idea where I’m going—again!  With The Summer Before the War, I knew World War I was coming but I did not know how we were going to go there.  It was a great relief to realize my surgeon, Hugh, would go and I could simply follow him to the hospitals and trenches of the Western Front.  I don’t recommend my way of writing but it forces one to noodle about, leaving room for literary themes to arise and be explored.  If I had a plot outline I’m afraid I might rush along too fast.

I wonder if you can place yourself in Beatrice’s shoes and imagine what it might have been like to face the prejudice against female writers, as depicted by the character Mr. Tillingham and the publisher that rejected her project. Given your evident talent and love of writing, do you think you would have been daunted in such an environment or would have persevered?

The more I wrote about Beatrice the more I wondered if we have really come as far as we thought in terms of women being free and equal.  The pay gap and the #metoo movement suggest we are still fighting for basic respect.  I would have been daunted then and I’m still daunted now.  No writer I know has escaped rejection, and since writing is an act of great vulnerability it can be very painful.  It was not hard to imagine Beatrice’s hurt.  Just the term ‘female writer’ carries its own put-down.  I was thrilled to discover, in taking intermediate French conversation lessons recently, that the French word for writer doesn’t carry a pronoun.  There is no ‘le’ or ‘la’ so in French I am fully a writer—Je suis écrivain.  It feels good!

And it feels good to read your work! Thank you for this insight into your writing, Helen. We look forward to your next novel!

Lenin’s Harem: Book review, conversation with William Burton McCormick, and reflections on my Latvian heritage

Posted on by - Book review, Fiction Favorites & Awesome Authors

For this installment of Fiction Favorites & Awesome Authors, I welcome William Burton McCormick to VBlog. McCormick writes suspenseful historical fiction of considerable depth and intelligence in beautiful prose. His works should be on your “To Read” list!

I was first introduced to Bill McCormick’s fiction when we shared the pages of EQMM’s August 2016 issue, which included my story, “Journal Entry, Franklin DeWitt,” about a Soviet ballerina who defected during the Cold War. McCormick’s story, “Voices in the Cistern,” takes us back to ancient times, 50 A.D., where a war is raging in the city of Chersonesus between the Romans and the Scythians. The setting for this edge-of-your-seat tale of thievery and murder is a most unusual place, inside a great, underground cistern containing the city’s water supply. I loved the voice and pace of this story and was impressed by the author’s handling of my favorite theme in fiction: moral dilemma. In my legal thrillers, prosecutor Dana Hargrove is often faced with impossible choices between her personal life and professional ethics. You won’t want to miss the moral dilemma McCormick poses at the end of “Voices in the Cistern”—it’s a real whopper!

McCormick chooses historical settings for his fiction, and his work is meticulously researched. He holds a degree in ancient studies from Brown University, an MA in novel writing from the University of Manchester, and has lived abroad for many years, experiencing firsthand the countries and cultures in his fiction. Here lies another reason I was compelled to read more of his work. A personal reason. McCormick has lived in Latvia for several years and has studied Latvian history extensively.

My late father, Gunārs Ķēmanis, was a Latvian WWII refugee. He lived in a displaced persons camp in Germany from 1944 to 1949 and emigrated to the United States, where he met and married my mother and became a successful engineer. His gratitude to the U.S. was manifested by his complete Americanization; he did not speak Latvian at home, and did not observe Latvian traditions or holidays. In retrospect, I believe this was a coping mechanism for wartime trauma—even after Latvia regained its independence in 1990, my father did not want to visit because of lasting bitterness over the Soviet occupation. Our family name was Americanized, removing the diacritical marks and changing the spoken emphasis from the first syllable to the middle syllable, and my surname did not take on the feminine declension. (In Latvia, it would be written this way: Ķēmane). Conversations with my father and late aunt gave me secondhand knowledge of the Latvian wartime experience, some of which is woven into the stories “My Latvian Aunt” and “Stolen Afternoon” in my collection Dust of the Universe. I’ve also included a second-generation Latvian in my upcoming novel, the fourth Dana Hargrove legal mystery.

McCormick’s short story “Blue Amber,” set in 1910, and his novel Lenin’s Harem, spanning 1905-1941, are works incorporating Latvian history and characters. “Blue Amber” was a Derringer Award finalist in the category of long story. Here, the author pits the protagonist, a Latvian political prisoner, against impossible odds, likely death in either of two ways: at the hand of his Russian captors or in an escape attempt through the frigid waters of the Baltic Sea. This compelling and suspenseful tale kept me turning the pages.

McCormick’s novel Lenin’s Harem vividly portrays the traumatic events spanning the years from the first Russian Revolution in 1905 through WWI, and the Latvian declaration of independence in 1918 through the first Soviet occupation of Latvia at the beginning of WWII. The story is told from the point of view of Wiktor Rooks, a Baltic-German from a wealthy aristocratic family. The action starts with a Latvian uprising against the landowners when Wiktor is a young boy. His family loses the estate. Wiktor becomes a career soldier and ultimately joins the Red Latvian Riflemen, nicknamed “Lenin’s Harem.” As the novel progresses, Wiktor finds more distance from his aristocratic roots, loses his prejudices as he forms personal relationships with Latvians in his regiment, and falls in love with a Latvian woman, Kaiva, who believes in communism. The novel contains impressive insights into relationships that are fraught with conflicting societal and political tensions. One of my favorite scenes is the dinner party where Wiktor introduces his fiancée Kaiva to the family. All is going reasonably well, the family almost accepts her, when a family member mentions that he has petitioned the League of Nations for the return of the family’s land, “illegally seized” by the Latvian government. Idealistic Kaiva innocently professes puzzlement: “Your life seems more than comfortable. Why do you need more?” She observes that their land, which once supported a single family, now supports several Latvian families: “It’s simply a better use of the land.” Who could argue with that? Well, the insult is ultimately tempered somewhat when Kaiva is asked to consider how she felt when she was thrown from her home and became a refugee, causing her to admit that the loss of home is traumatic, no matter what the reason.

If you enjoy historical fiction, tales of war and revolution, political intrigue, psychological suspense, action, family saga, or any of the above, you’ll find it all in Lenin’s Harem, along with a tender love story, all packaged in beautiful prose.

And now, I’ll let Bill McCormick tell us what went into the creation of this superb novel.

Welcome to VBlog, Bill! I find it fascinating that you have chosen to live abroad for years at a time to write historical fiction about the countries you are experiencing firsthand. What led you to make such a dramatic life choice, and what led you to choose Latvia, in particular?

I have always wanted to travel, and I have always wanted a creative occupation. I’m sure those aren’t unusual traits in a writer. Merging them was always a long-term goal for how I wanted to live my life.

Bill at the monument to the Red Latvian Riflemen

As for my interest in Latvia, I was living in Alexandria, Virginia at the time and working on an outline for a sort of generic spy thriller I had dreamed up. In researching a setting for this story, I went to the Latvian Museum in Rockville, Maryland, and bought several books on Latvian history. I was moved about what I learned. I had little knowledge of the cruel events that occurred there. Because of the World Wars, Russian Revolution, Russian Civil War, Holocaust, Soviet deportations to the Gulag, and the exodus of the Baltic-Germans, Latvia lost more than a quarter of its population during the first half of the twentieth century. And I found tragic irony in the story of the Red Latvian Riflemen, who rescued the Bolsheviks time-and-time again and were key in the formation of the Red Army, only to be murdered by Stalin in his purges. After reading this, I ripped up my plan for a spy thriller and decided to write a serious historical novel. At the time, there was little information available on the internet on this era in Latvian history, and what was available was usually in Russian with a decidedly Soviet perspective. So, with a detour through Manchester, England to learn the writing craft, I moved to Latvia. I did not want to depend on third or fourth-hand sources. I wanted total immersion to see the places, the culture, and do the research myself. I arrived in Rīga, knowing no one, without a job, apartment, or command of the language, but determined to write a book that would illustrate to the English-speaking world what happened in Latvia in the twentieth century. I worked with historians, museums, archivists, and interviewed survivors and family members of some of the later events. It quickly went from a novel to a very personal experience. I have since lived in Russia, Estonia and Ukraine, but Latvia, and Rīga in particular, is still the place I think of as home outside of the United States.

I was surprised by the reception the novel received from the Latvian community. I spoke about the book and the history behind it at the Latvian Embassy to the United States in January of 2013. The Latvian Museum, where it all started for me, was kind enough to host a book event. Zvaigzne ABC, Latvia’s largest publisher, published a Latvian-language edition which did quite well, and the book was included in the permanent library of the Latvian War Museum in Rīga. As a foreigner, writing about the history of another nation, I continue to be amazed at the book’s acceptance. It’s still the thing I’m most proud of in my career.

The novel also was well-received in the English-speaking world. Former Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, sent me a note saying he enjoyed Lenin’s Harem so much he read it twice. Gregg Popovich, head coach of the San Antonio Spurs, liked it enough to send me a bottle of wine. Good word from all quarters.

Lenin’s Harem spans the years from 1905 through 1941. During this period, like many in its history, Latvia was a pawn in an endless struggle for control by Germany and Russia. The protagonist of the novel is Wiktor Rooks, a Baltic-German who grew up in a wealthy family that owned land in present-day Latvia, worked by Latvian servants. What led to your decision to tell this story from the point of view of a Baltic-German rather than a Latvian or a Russian?

When writing Lenin’s Harem, I was aware that my readership would likely be unfamiliar with Latvian history, culture and their way of life in the early twentieth century. By creating a protagonist who is an outsider to that society, it allowed me more naturally to explain things to the audience within the narrative. As I too was an outsider, Wiktor’s discoveries and observations could to some degree mirror my own. Or contrast my own in interesting ways. And, of course, as a wealthy Baltic-German, the character is right in the middle of all the conflicts of nation, ethnicity, and class, as society radically changes during the upheavals of the era.

The characters are tugged in many directions by conflicting forces: social, nationalist, political, ethnic, familial. There’s also just plain survival at work, the need to adapt to the current regime. Rooks is Baltic-German, yet he ends up fighting for the Russians and falling in love with a Latvian woman, Kaiva, who believes in communism. For a modern-day reader from a stable country like the United States, it may be difficult to imagine why a Baltic-German would end up fighting for the Russians. Can you comment on some of these conflicts?

Historically many Baltic-Germans living within the Russian Empire were officers in the Tsar’s army. The first sons of aristocratic families managed the estates, but the second and later sons needed something to do. It was common for this class to end up as professional soldiers. But, during the World Wars, of course, this meant fighting other Germans. So, here we have an interesting conflict for Wiktor, one that creates mistrust with both the Russians and the Latvians. And then when the Bolshevik Revolution occurs, with its intrinsic class warfare, Wiktor’s aristocratic past puts him in even greater peril. There was a lot I could do with such a character. Wiktor begins the novel with the racist and classist views common to wealthy landowners of the time. But as the novel progresses, those prejudices fall away as he meets new people and experiences tragedy and triumph in the company of other economic and ethnic groups, particularly the Latvian soldiers he learns to survive with. By the middle of the novel his love for the revolutionary Kaiva is plausible. His character arc happens in logical steps, taking Wiktor into worlds he could never have imagined at the beginning of Lenin’s Harem. I think this is what makes him a compelling character.

The novel takes us through the beginning of World War II, during the Soviet occupation and the so-called “Night of Terror,” June 14, 1941, when the Soviets deported thousands of Latvians. In the ending scenes, the Soviets are retreating again, on the eve of a new period of German occupation, 1941-1944, and the future of the protagonists is left to the imagination. I love the ending of the book, the combination of hope and self-determination threatened by a grim reality. Are you planning a sequel to let us know how Wiktor and Kaiva fared? What is your current project?

 I have very rough drafts of two more novels that extend the story through days of the Forest Brothers who resisted the Soviet occupation in the Kurzeme and Latgale regions of Latvia until the early 1950s. I hope to revise those at some point. There is more to tell of Kaiva and Wiktor, but for now, the ambiguous nature of their fate gives Lenin’s Harem an appropriately uncertain ending for what were definitely uncertain times.

I am currently finishing a modern thriller set predominantly in Latvia called KGB Banker, co-written with John Christmas. John is a very brave man, a whistleblower against the Russian mob in Latvia and elsewhere. Many of his experiences have inspired our story of a Latvian-American banker who takes a job in Rīga, only to find himself embroiled in murder and an international conspiracy to destroy the Western economy and re-establish the borders of the Soviet Union. High octane stuff.

One of the key characters in KGB Banker is a Latvian journalist named Santa Ezeriņa. Santa is a popular character of mine, having appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Over My Dead Body, and the story “Matricide & Ice Cream” which is about to be published in the United Kingdom in the CWA Anthology of Short Stories: Mystery Tour by Orenda Books. People are always trying to kill poor Santa but can never quite do it. She’s a damn tough heroine. I’m looking forward to having Santa in her first full-length novel.

After KGB Banker is finished, former U.S. Senator Harry Reid and I are planning to write a true crime western set in our mutual home state of Nevada. That ought to keep me busy through 2020 or so.

We look forward to your next novel, Bill! Thank you for this insight into your work and Latvian history.

 NOW, dear reader, where can you get Lenin’s Harem and short stories by William Burton McCormick? Click the links! Lenin’s Harem (ebook) (hardcover); Ļeņina harems (ebook in Latvian) (print book in Latvian); Blue Amber (ebook); August 2016 issue of EQMM; upcoming CWA Anthology of Short Stories: Mystery Tour; Santa Ezeriņa story “Hagiophobia” in AHMM.