1--What is the title of your latest release?
THE MANHATTAN GIRLS
2--What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
Sex in the City set in the 1920s, as Dorothy Parker and three friends navigate life, love and careers in a city of jazz clubs, speakeasies and badly behaved men
3--How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I write about real women in history and had long wanted to make Dorothy Parker a subject, especially covering the early, very vulnerable period in her life. I had also always wanted to write about Prohibition-era Manhattan, so the two came together.
4--Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Definitely! Dorothy was the wittiest woman in the world ever. I’d love to go out on the town with her, drinking hooch, gossiping, and sharing secrets. She was notoriously indiscreet but so funny I’d forgive her anything.
5--What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Genius, chaotic, fragile.
6--What’s something you learned while writing this book?
Just how corrupt Prohibition was. Banning law-abiding citizens from buying alcohol turned them into white-collar criminals. Many crime bosses made their fortunes through bootlegging in the 1920s, and they offered protection to the speakeasies that sold their hooch. Even the Prohibition agents hired to enforce the law were famously bribable.
7--Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I edit as I go along and do several drafts of the whole book. It’s very hard to stop myself tinkering, smoothing, and rearranging. If I re-read any of my novels that have already been published (ten before this one), I know I would want to edit them all over again.
8--What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Dark chocolate, with 85 or 90% cocoa.
9--Describe your writing space/office!
I have an office that’s lined floor to ceiling on two walls with books. Outside my window there’s a silver birch tree that’s beautiful all year round. My desk is always messy with open books, notes to self, to-do lists, maps and downloaded articles. At the busiest moments, this clutter spills onto the surrounding floor and getting to the door becomes an obstacle course.
10--Who is an author you admire?
Maggie O’Farrell. I’m delighted that she is writing historical fiction now, with the extraordinary Hamnet a firm favorite of mine. I can’t wait for The Marriage Portrait, coming very soon.
11--Is there a book that changed your life?
The Women’s Room by Marilyn French was my first introduction to feminism. I haven’t re-read it since my teens and I’m sure it’s dated now, but it made a big impression at the time.
12--Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
After my agent called with the news my first novel was to be published by Hodder & Stoughton, I lay on the floor in my sitting room, curled in fetal position, having a minor panic attack. I needed a few moments to calm down before calling my mum, who was even more excited than me.
13--What’s your favorite genre to read?
Historical fiction, mostly but not exclusively 20th century. I tend to focus on women’s stories, or books that my reading pals are raving about.
14--What’s your favorite movie?
It’s hard to choose, but Winter’s Bone (2010) is an extraordinary, multi-layered film that’s psychologically complex, dark, and shocking, yet uplifting too. Jennifer Lawrence’s performance launched her career.
15--What is your favorite season?
Spring. I love all the new green buds poised to unfurl, and the bright primary colors of spring flowers. You can’t beat a good daffodil for sheer cheerfulness.
16--How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
I celebrate book birthdays rather than the type that make me another year older. I always hold a friends and family launch party – we even managed outdoor versions during lockdown.
17--What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
The Bombardment, a Danish film currently on Netflix, is about a World War Two bombing raid on Copenhagen that went wrong. I knew within 30 seconds I was going to love it. There are multiple points of view and not a cliché in any of them. The child actors are incredible and it’s emotionally gripping. Do watch!
18--What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Indian, preferably eaten in India.
19--What do you do when you have free time?
Wild swimming. I swim every day, year-round, in a pond near my home, and whenever I travel I’m always eyeing up the nearest open water and judging if it’s safe to jump in.
20--What can readers expect from you next?
In my next novel, due out in August 2023, I cover the lives of two very powerful women between 1915 and 1945. They were trailblazers, and weren’t always likeable, but to achieve all they did in an era when women couldn’t open a bank account without their husbands’ permission, was incredible. The subject will be announced later this year in my newsletter.
A Novel of Dorothy Parker and Her Friends
It’s a 1920s version of Sex and the City, as Dorothy Parker—one of the wittiest women who ever wielded a pen—and her three friends navigate life, love, and careers in New York City. Perfect for fans of Fiona Davis, Beatriz Williams, and Renée Rosen.
NEW YORK CITY 1921: The war is over, fashions are daring, and bootleg liquor is abundant. Here four extraordinary women form a bridge group that grows into a firm friendship.
Dorothy Parker: renowned wit, member of the Algonquin Round Table, and more fragile than she seems. Jane Grant: first female reporter for the New York Times, and determined to launch a new magazine she calls The New Yorker. Winifred Lenihan: beautiful and talented Broadway actress, a casting-couch target. And Peggy Leach: magazine assistant by day, brilliant novelist by night.
Their romances flourish and falter while their goals sometimes seem impossible to reach and their friendship deepens against the backdrop of turbulent New York City, where new speakeasies open and close, jazz music flows through the air, and bathtub gin fills their glasses.
They gossip, they comfort each other, and they offer support through the setbacks. But their biggest challenge is keeping their dear friend Dottie safe from herself.
In this brilliant new novel from the bestselling and acclaimed author of Jackie and Maria and The Secret Wife, readers will fall right into Jazz Age New York and into the inner lives of these groundbreaking, influential women.
Women's Fiction Historical [William Morrow Paperbacks, On Sale: August 16, 2022, Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9780063161757 / eISBN: 9780063161764]
Modern Day Sex and the City, Not Really!
Jazz Age Women Supporting Each Other
Gill Paul’s historical novels have reached the top of the USA Today, Toronto Globe & Mail and UK kindle charts, and been translated into twenty languages. She specializes in relatively recent history, mostly 20th century, and enjoys re-evaluating real historical characters and trying to get inside their heads.
Gill also writes historical non-fiction, including A History of Medicine in 50 Objects and series of Love Stories. Published around the world, this series includes Royal Love Stories, World War I Love Stories and Titanic Love Stories.
Gill was born in Scotland and grew up there, apart from an eventful year at school in the US when she was ten. She studied Medicine at Glasgow University, then English Literature and History (she was a student for a long time), before moving to London to work in publishing. Her first novel was written at weekends, but she has now given up the ‘day job’ to write fiction full-time. She also writes short stories for magazines and speaks at libraries and literary festivals about subjects ranging from the British royal family to the Romanovs, and about writing itself.
Gill swims year-round in an open-air pond – “It’s good for you so long as it doesn’t kill you”– and loves travelling whenever and wherever she can.
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