Michelle Gable
Author Interview - Michelle Gable
Author of The Summer I Met Jack, The Bookseller's Secret, and The Beautiful People.
About The Beautiful People:
Set against the glamorous 1960s Jet Set, a novel about a failed west coast debutante whose new job as assistant to society photographer Slim Aarons takes her into the complicated inner circle of Palm Beach socialites, and into a beguiling friendship with the star at its center, heiress and rising fashion designer Lilly Pulitzer
Beautiful People. Beautiful Places. Escape into the glittering world of Lilly Pulitzer and the 1960s Jet Set in this stylish, charming novel...
It’s 1961, and for Margo Hightower, everything is about to change. True, her engagement is off, her family has fallen in scandal, and she's completely broke. But she’s just been hired as assistant to photographer Slim Aarons—famous for his vibrant pictures of high society, royalty, and Hollywood stars—and she knows this opportunity is her ticket to something better.
From the bright beaches of Acapulco to glitzy parties in New York, Margo is thrown headfirst into the glamorous Jet Set world she so covets, observing their ways from behind the camera as Slim’s sidekick. There’s Jackie Kennedy, Truman Capote's Swans, a host of Vanderbilts. Beautiful people in beautiful places.
But when they land in Palm Beach, a scene with few rules and many riches, the lines between work and play begin to blur. As Margo becomes swept up in the city’s social circle—and into a friendship with heiress and rising fashion designer Lilly Pulitzer—the golden life seems increasingly in reach. Until she finds herself entangled in a complicated web of loyalties and secrets that could bring it all crashing down...
Author Interview - Michelle Gable
Author I draw inspiration from:
T. Greenwood, John Irving, Kate Quinn (& so many others!)
Author Interview - Michelle Gable
Favorite place to read a book:
The beach
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with:
Owen Meany
Author Interview - Michelle Gable
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author:
I've been writing since I was 10--so probably the first time I fell in love with a book.
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook:
Hardback
The last book I read:
Normal People by Sally Rooney
Author Interview - Michelle Gable
Pen & paper or computer:
Both!
Book character I think I’d be best friends with:
She's a real person but Lee Miller from Whitney Scharer's The Age of Light
Author Interview - Michelle Gable
If I wasn’t an author, I’d be a:
Prior to writing full-time I was the Vice President of Investor Relations for a publicly-traded software company. I'd still be doing that (I loved it) or else there's a good chance I would've become CFO for that same company.
Favorite decade in fashion history:
60s--but the later part of the decade...think shift dresses and Mary Tyler Moore Show
Place I’d most like to travel:
St. Petersburg, Russia
My signature drink:
A "big" California cabernet
Favorite artist:
Tamara de Lempicka
Number one on my bucket list:
Don't really have a bucket list--I suppose the ultimate would be to see one of my books onscreen!
About Michelle Gable:
Author Interview - Michelle Gable
Michelle Gable is the New York Times bestselling author of seven novels, including her April 2024 release, The Beautiful People. Michelle grew up in San Diego and was the kind of kid who checked out a dozen library books at a time, only to return a week later to check out a dozen more. In fourth grade, her parents gave her a book called Someday You’ll Write and a new passion was born. According to lifelong friends, Michelle tried to turn every playdate and slumber party into a writing group.
After graduating high school, Michelle attended The College of William & Mary and majored in…accounting. As would-be writers do. Although she pursued a career in finance and investor relations, through it all, Michelle wrote. Every day. She wrote at five o’clock in the morning, or eleven o’clock at night, or while sitting behind softball dugouts or in the car. Today you can find Michelle writing or working in Cardiff-by-the-Sea, CA, where she lives with her husband, two daughters (when they’re not away at school), and two jindos rescued from the dog meat trade.
