Mary Bly
Author Interview - Mary Bly
Author of Lizzie & Dante
Lizzie and Dante is a love story about a Shakespeare professor offered a fabulous vacation on the island of Elba, off Italy, accompanying a famous actor who's been offered the chance to direct a new Romeo & Juliet. She meets a chef, Dante, and his twelve-year-old daughter, Etta. I'll end with a sentence written by my publisher's PR department, because it does a great job of describing the book: "A luscious story of love, courage, and Italian wine, Lizzie & Dante demands to know how far we should travel to find a future worth fighting for."
Author Interview - Mary Bly
Author I draw inspiration from: Elizabeth Gilbert
Author Interview - Mary Bly
Favorite place to read a book: my bed.
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with: Lainie Graham from Lucy Parker's Act Like It. She's funny and wry, and I would need someone to crack jokes with to make time pass.
Author Interview - Mary Bly
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author: My parents were both writers, so I followed in the family business. One of my earliest memories is beginning a novel. The heroine was seven years old (like me), and hot-tempered (ditto). The first line included a word I had just learned: "She was incorrigible!"
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook: eBook, which means no more anxiety about whether my book will take me through a plane trip or doctor's waiting room. Thanks to Covid, neither of those apply at the moment, but I am so grateful that new books flow directly to my eReader.
The last book I read: Steve Kluger's Last Days of Summer. I discovered it in a list of books that will make you laugh aloud and indeed, it has! I adore epistolary novels, especially funny ones. This was inspired by Up the Down Staircase, if you know it.
Author Interview - Mary Bly
Pen & paper or computer: Laptop all the way!
Book character I think I’d be best friends with: Cassandra Mortmain from Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle. She's literary, romantic, philosophical, intrepid. And plus, I've loved her from the age of fifteen: we're already Best Friends Forever.
Author Interview - Mary Bly
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a: A professor! Ha! I already am a professor. I'm the chair of English at Fordham University where I teach Shakespeare. People often ask me: why write romances as Eloisa James and be a professor as well? Why don't you choose one career? Now that I have my first novel as Mary Bly, the question of why I have a double life is even more pointed. The truth is I like having two careers and two names. Having two worlds has given me perspective when there's a crisis in one of them. I'll just add that I used to want to be a obstetrician, back in high school, but watching all seasons of Call the Midwife during the pandemic showed me that I went in exactly the right direction!
Favorite decade in fashion history: The Georgian period. I would love to wear a wig that towered over any men in the room, as well as side panniers that made it entirely irrelevant what my weight may be! Though I have to add that having watched Bridgerton a second time entirely for the costumes, I would like to live in THAT fashion decade. The best of all worlds! Skimpy costumes for those who wish, and figure-concealing gorgeousness for those who choose, plus amazing fabrics, spangles, ruffles and flounces. (A second vote: the 60s!)
Place I’d most like to travel: Italy. We're so lucky to have a large-ish apartment in New York, but we've been here for a year, without a break, as one of my family members has an underlying condition. We have an apartment in Florence, with a lovely garden... I write in a pergola shaded by a huge flowering rose vine and surrounded by blue flowers. I miss it so much.
My signature drink: Tea!
Favorite artist: Leonardo da Vinci
Number one on my bucket list: Traveling again -- anywhere!
Anything else you'd like to add: Lizzie and Dante is a love story -- but not just about two characters. I've been traveling to Italy every summer since I fell in love with a man from Florence, Italy, over 20 years ago. I sank my love of Italy's food, culture, and people into the novel, and if you're as tired of staying home as I am, I hope it's an inspirational escape!
Find more from the author:
facebook.com/eloisajames
instagram.com/eloisajamesbooks/
Author Bio: Mary Bly is the chair of the English Department at Fordham University, and the New York Times bestselling author of historical romance novels under the pen name Eloisa James. She has published over 30 books, translated in 26 languages, with sales worldwide of 7 million. Her double life is fascinating: in 2020, she will publish Wilde Child as Eloisa, and Lizzie and Dante, as Mary. She currently lives in New York and Florence, Italy.
