November 2015
Photo © Marilyn Roos.
Beatriz Williams is the New York Times-bestselling author of Along the Infinite Sea, Tiny Little Thing, The Secret Life of Violet Grant, A Hundred Summers, and Overseas. An honors graduate of Stanford University with an MBA in Finance from Columbia University, she spent several years in New York and London advising senior corporate executives on business and communications strategy. This proved uninspiring, so she joined the RWA in 2007 to explore the more challenging world of fiction writing. She lives with her husband and children in Greenwich, Connecticut.
What are you reading? What's on your nightstand?
I was visiting my publisher’s office recently and spotted a galley of Lindsay Faye’s latest, Jane Steele, about a woman obsessed with Jane Eyre. The first line is: “Reader, I murdered him.” Naturally I slipped it into my handbag! I can’t wait to get started — Faye is just a fantastic storyteller.
Where do you go to get inspired?
This may sound a little morbid, but the Daily Telegraph obituary column gives me so many ideas! The passing away of that generation that came of age between the wars—a period I love to explore in my books—brings so many forgotten stories back to light, from young women working in the French Resistance to socialites sucked into the spiral of hedonistic nihilism that in which Western society drowned itself after the First World War. And when I get stuck, I can always go running. Or fold the laundry. Those always jog my subconscious into releasing a few ideas!
What's something that surprised you recently (in a good way)?
Apple crisp doughnuts. I’m now addicted.
Where do you write?
Anywhere but home, if I can help it! I tend to get lured into domestic chores if I write inside my own house, so I go to diners and coffee shops, the kinds of places where they don’t mind if you linger all morning. I spent most of the summer writing in our treehouse—it was perfect! I just brought a pot of coffee and something to nibble on, and the distance from the house meant that even the kids didn’t bother me unless it was really, really important.
What/who makes you laugh? Why?
My husband. We share the exact same sense of humor, so whenever either of us finds something funny, we share it. And laughing together makes it even more funny.
Favorite fictional character ever?
Gilbert Blythe. Still crushing after all these years.
What are you working on?
I’m finishing up a book set in Florida in the early 1920s, involving bootleggers and a missing husband who might or might not be a murderer. The narrative goes back and forth to France during the First World War as well, so I’m right where I love to be.
"VERDICT With spunky characters full of grace and grit, best-selling Williams's latest is the third stand-alone novel featuring a Schuyler sister (Tiny Little Thing).The swift pacing and emotional twists and turns of the plot will leave readers guessing up to the final pages."
—Library Journal
"Imagine The Sound of Music for big girls, flavored with a dash of Mad Men bitters."
—Kirkus Reviews
"Weaving back and forth from the 1930s to the 1960s, Williams provides an appealing blend of luxury, history, romance, and suspense."
—Booklist
"Elegantly written, mainly from Caspian's third-person 1964 perspective and Tiny's first-person 1966 perspective, the book is strewn with unexpected heroes and villains and makes an exclusive, Kennedy-esque world accessible. The underlying message is that money can't buy happiness, especially when you're living in a skin that no longer fits. A fascinating look at wealth, love, ambition, secrets, and what family members will and won't do to protect each other."
—Kirkus Reviews
"Readers will love wallowing in the twists and turns of this irresistibly luxurious tale."
—Booklist
"Williams' sweeping saga of betrayal, sacrifice, and redemption trenchantly examines the often duplicitous nature of female friendships and family expectations."
—Booklist
Along the Infinite Sea by
Each of the three Schuyler sisters has her own world-class problems, but in the autumn of 1966, Pepper Schuyler's problems are in a class of their own. When Pepper fixes up a beautiful and rare vintage Mercedes and sells it at auction, she thinks she's finally found a way to take care of herself and the baby she carries, the result of an affair with a married, legendary politician. But the car's new owner turns out to have secrets of her own, and as the glamorous and mysterious Annabelle Dommerich takes pregnant Pepper under her wing, the startling provenance of this car comes to light: a Nazi husband, a Jewish lover, a flight from Europe, and a love so profound it transcends decades. As the many threads of Annabelle's life from World War II stretch out to entangle Pepper in 1960s America, and the father of her unborn baby tracks her down to a remote town in coastal Georgia, the two women must come together to face down the shadows of their complicated pasts. Indomitable heroines, a dazzling world of secrets, champagne at the Paris Ritz, and a sweeping love story for the ages, in New York Times bestselling author Beatriz William's final book about the Schuyler sisters.
Tiny Little Thing by
In the summer of 1966, Christina Hardcastle-"Tiny" to her illustrious family-stands on the brink of a breathtaking future. Of the three Schuyler sisters, she's the one raised to marry a man destined for leadership, and with her elegance and impeccable style, she presents a perfect camera-ready image in the dawning age of television politics. Together she and her husband, Frank, make the ultimate power couple: intelligent, rich, and impossibly attractive. It seems nothing can stop Frank from rising to national office, and he's got his sights set on a senate seat in November. But as the season gets underway at the family estate on Cape Cod, three unwelcome visitors appear in Tiny's perfect life: her volatile sister Pepper, an envelope containing incriminating photograph, and the intimidating figure of Frank's cousin Vietnam-war hero Caspian, who knows more about Tiny's rich inner life than anyone else. As she struggles to maintain the glossy façade on which the Hardcastle family's ambitions are built, Tiny begins to suspect that Frank is hiding a reckless entanglement of his own...one that may unravel both her own ordered life and her husband's promising career.
The Secret Life of Violet Grant by
Passion, redemption, and a battered suitcase full of secrets: the New York Times-bestselling author of A Hundred Summersreturns with another engrossing tale. Manhattan, 1964. Vivian Schuyler, newly graduated from Bryn Mawr College, has recently defied the privilege of her storied old Fifth Avenue family to do the unthinkable for a budding Kennedy-era socialite: break into the Mad Menworld of razor-stylish Metropolitanmagazine. But when she receives a bulky overseas parcel in the mail, the unexpected contents draw her inexorably back into her family's past, and the hushed-over crime passionnelof an aunt she never knew, whose existence has been wiped from the record of history. Berlin, 1914. Violet Schuyler Grant endures her marriage to the philandering and decades-older scientist Dr. Walter Grant for one reason: for all his faults, he provides the necessary support to her liminal position as a young American female physicist in prewar Germany. The arrival of Dr. Grant's magnetic former student at the beginning of Europe's fateful summer interrupts this delicate détente. Lionel Richardson, a captain in the British Army, challenges Violet to escape her husband's perverse hold, and as the world edges into war and Lionel's shocking true motives become evident, Violet is tempted to take the ultimate step to set herself free and seek a life of her own conviction with a man whose cause is as audacious as her own. As the iridescent and fractured Vivian digs deeper into her aunt's past and the mystery of her ultimate fate, Violet's story of determination and desire unfolds, shedding light on the darkness of her years abroad . . . and teaching Vivian to reach forward with grace for the ambitious future - - and the love - - she wants most. Praise for A Hundred Summers 'This year's big beach read . . . Elegant, old-fashioned delayed-gratification seaside romance with a flavour of Daphne du Maurier.' Kirkus Reviews 'Summer of 1930: A scandalous love triangle and a famous hurricane converge in a New England beach community. Add in a betrayal between friends, a marriage for money, and a Yankee pitcher, and it's a perfect storm.' Good Housekeeping 'A Hundred Summersdelivers swoons and intrigue against the backdrop of the 1938 New England hurricane. . . . Williams evokes the era effortlessly and delights in ripping the rug out from under the reader just when the riddles seem easiest to solve. Filled with delicious scandals, catty socialites, and true love, this beach read deserves pride of place in every vacationer's tote bag.' Shelf Awareness 'Williams' sweeping saga of betrayal, sacrifice, and redemption trenchantly examines the often duplicitous nature of female friendships and family friendships.' Booklist 'Smart, delicious writing . . . Williams adds a signature touch of historic drama.' Library Journal 'Novels as masterfully done as A Hundred Summerscome along only about that often. Beatriz Williams delivers an intricately woven tale of friendship, betrayal, old families, and closely guarded secrets. It is what every beach book should aspire to be - smart and engrossing.' Elin Hilderbrand, author of Beautiful Day
