Questions for Sarah Blake?

[literature]

Welcome and thank you for letting us read and review your book.    It is always a treat when the author joins in.  You have very poignantly humanized the trauma the people were living through, albeit the bombings or the exodus from the cities.  The one question that comes to my mind is with Will.  He finally finds happiness in London and wants to stay there longer than the six months he said to Emma.  Was it your plan initially to have him killed by the taxi or was it because nothing else would have worked out?  If he stayed on in London, there was Emma and then the baby.  Would he have outgrown Emma and then what?  Was it death by taxi for lack of any other solution?

[Sunltcloud]

Hello Sarah Blake,

I won't thank you for the memories your novel has brought back - memories about difficult things I have generally put aside as having happened a long time ago - but I do want to thank you for exposing younger generations to the components of war. I see from some of the posts that it is easy to drift into complacency if war is only a concept rather than an experience, and I am grateful for the stimulating conversations your book has caused.

It always thrills me to follow a new group of characters through the pages of their lives; if they are well developed characters they fascinate me with their individual thoughts and actions. The people in The Postmistress have escaped your control and have invaded my mind, our minds as readers, and they are now wisting and turning their words according to our wishes.

And sometimes a reader reads something into a character that was not intended by the author. I have listened to writers discuss this phenomenon, occasionally laughingly admitting that they "hadn't thought of this or that" when they were writing, and at other times surprised that images that were absolutely clear in their minds had not penetrated into the mind of  the reader.

On this note I would like to ask if I speculated according to your intentions when I posted the following on another thread, though I wouldn't be at all upset to find out I am totally wrong. Maybe I just want to understand why you had Will die in a traffic accident after he seemed to have discovered a woman who reminds him of his wife. I am also speculating here that the fact that she was carrying a baby is symbolic for the future he could have had. Here is my take on Will's death.

'That Will died in a traffic accident seems like a metaphor for his somewhat misguided attempts to flee the past and an answer to his awkward decisions. Almost as if "death by war" would have let him off the hook. "Death by war" would have made Will a hero. Will was not a hero in my eyes. "Death by taxi" validates his pedestrian struggle.'

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[Cobalt-blue4]

Hi Sarah, Welcome to the book club! This is my first First Look Book Club and this is the moment I have been waiting for... getting to converse with the author. I read your book in less than a week. The more pages I read, the more pages I had to read to get to the ending. 

I am a band director and play alto sax/clarinet in a big band (dance band). My love and interest in big band music began in 8th grade jazz band with the songs Moonlight Serenade, Tuxedo Junction, and In the Mood. With that in mind, as I read the book, I was on the look out for musical references. There were a few. I especially enjoyed learning about morse code letter V da-da-da-dum!  I was glad that you mentioned Glenn Miller's In the Mood on page 60 being that it was #1 on the Billboard charts for 13 weeks in 1940 (beginning in July, in believe). Glenn Miller composed enjoyable and catchy melodies to entertain all those involved and affected by the war. He wanted his music to relieve their minds of the hardships of war. In the Mood was a smart segue into Frankie 'forgetting about the war' with the gentleman she danced with to the song and then became intimate with. While reading the book, I was wondering when you would mention a dance band in the summer tourist town of Franklin and wondered if the Franklin characters would attend the dance. 

What is your background in music? What research did you do pertaining to big band music and possibly symphonic music?  

The one line pertaining to music I still can not figure out is on p.1 "But these days so many wars are being carried on in full view of all of us, and there is so much talk of pattern and intent (as if a war can be conducted like music)..." What does it mean? Is this a reference to the calculated blitzs in London and the soldiers "going at their guns like drummers (p.37)" ?

I look forward to reading your answers. Thank you again for the book and corresponding with your readers!

[Choisya]

Thanks for your kind words Sarah.  I had linked to the BBC and Beethoven's Fifth elsewhere but confess I had forgotten the reference to it in the book.  For your amusement, a monologue Frankie would have certainly heard at the beginning of the war was Robb Wilton's 'The Day War Broke Out'  Rob Wilton was a very popular Yorkshire comedian then, 

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Sarah-Blake wrote:

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Choisya wrote:

Thankyou for writing such a captivating and historically accurate book Sarah!  As someone who grew up in England during the war it brought many memories back to me, some sad but some happy because, in the main, I had a 'good war' where none of my relatives were in the forces and none were killed (I came from a mining and heavy engineering community and they were essential workers who were not called up).  I did not see the bombing of London, thank goodness, but we lived close to Coventry and I saw that devastated city the day after it was heavily bombed, so I am pleased  that you gave it a mention.  

I have just two points to make.  One is that Westminster Abbey is described in the book as a 'medieval' bulding whereas very little of its medieval architecture remains and it is considered a fine example of the gothic.  Secondly, I was disappointed that you made no reference to the popular music of WWII or to the Beethoven's 5th 'V for victory' theme used in all BBC news broadcasts. Some of my most vivid memories are of the songs of Vera Lynn and American Big Band Music being played on the radio, in factories and in parks and much of this music was played on both sides of the Pond, as well as in occupied Europe. I feel sure that the lives of all of your characters would have been punctuated by this music just as mine was.   

Thanks again for a wonderful, evocative story.

---

First, I have to echo many many posts on here just to thank you Choisya for all your really informative and generous posts about the era, and the place, and about your own memories during the war. In response to your point about the music--I'm afraid it's another case of reality not cooperating with my plot--songs like "White Cliffs of Dover," were not released until past the point in my narrative that I could use them, and so I found songs like the one that begins Chapter Two whose words did work for me--even as they may only have been heard over here in the States. The story of how Beethoven's Fifth was used as a bit of resistance in Europe I had to use (and it's the broadcast Frankie makes with Jim Holland listening, the one that nearly gets her into trouble), it's simply too great to pass up. The first four notes of the symphony Da Da Da Dum--spell out the letter V in Morse Code. And V was chalked up all over occupied Europe, a silent fist raised.

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[MSaff]

Hi Sarah,

  Welcome to our little corner of the universe.  I'm sure that you have had many people here welcome you.  I wanted to tell you that you have written a wonder novel, and I am completely hooked by the story.  You have made a great choice to allow us to read your novel.  We are a friendly group and I hope that you can endure all the questions we are sure to have.  You appear to be on the fast track with this story.  Good Luck and Happy Writing.

Here is my question.

  Where did you get the inspiration to write the story, and how much of it is fiction versus non-fiction? 

  I love the characters and can't wait to read more. 

[Cobalt-blue4]

Hi Sarah,

This may be a strange question...Did you see the movie "Top Gun"?

Kelly McGillis' character (Tom Cruise's love interest) reminds me of Frankie. They are both calm, cool, and collected. They know what to say, when to say it, and are intellectual with strong perception. 

Where did you get the idea for Frankie? She is the character that intrigued me the most. Her story line kept me glued to the book.

Thanks!

[Sarah-Blake]

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literature wrote:

Welcome and thank you for letting us read and review your book.    It is always a treat when the author joins in.  You have very poignantly humanized the trauma the people were living through, albeit the bombings or the exodus from the cities.  The one question that comes to my mind is with Will.  He finally finds happiness in London and wants to stay there longer than the six months he said to Emma.  Was it your plan initially to have him killed by the taxi or was it because nothing else would have worked out?  If he stayed on in London, there was Emma and then the baby.  Would he have outgrown Emma and then what?  Was it death by taxi for lack of any other solution?

---

I want to talk about Will and his character (and death) in a more general post later on--he seems to have aroused a wide range of reactions! is he a nincompoop, a hero?--but to answer your question, he died by taxi because I really wanted him to die accidentally, not a war hero, though he obviously had done much to help the British that was wonderful. Always for me, the heartbreaking situation is the unintended, the accidental, the thing that started off fine that goes suddenly, irretrievably wrong. It was important to me that Frankie comes to understand that all stories are about looking left when we should have been looking right in regards to Will.

[Sarah-Blake]

---

Sunltcloud wrote:

Hello Sarah Blake,

I won't thank you for the memories your novel has brought back - memories about difficult things I have generally put aside as having happened a long time ago - but I do want to thank you for exposing younger generations to the components of war. I see from some of the posts that it is easy to drift into complacency if war is only a concept rather than an experience, and I am grateful for the stimulating conversations your book has caused.

It always thrills me to follow a new group of characters through the pages of their lives; if they are well developed characters they fascinate me with their individual thoughts and actions. The people in The Postmistress have escaped your control and have invaded my mind, our minds as readers, and they are now wisting and turning their words according to our wishes.

And sometimes a reader reads something into a character that was not intended by the author. I have listened to writers discuss this phenomenon, occasionally laughingly admitting that they "hadn't thought of this or that" when they were writing, and at other times surprised that images that were absolutely clear in their minds had not penetrated into the mind of  the reader.

On this note I would like to ask if I speculated according to your intentions when I posted the following on another thread, though I wouldn't be at all upset to find out I am totally wrong. Maybe I just want to understand why you had Will die in a traffic accident after he seemed to have discovered a woman who reminds him of his wife. I am also speculating here that the fact that she was carrying a baby is symbolic for the future he could have had. Here is my take on Will's death.

'That Will died in a traffic accident seems like a metaphor for his somewhat misguided attempts to flee the past and an answer to his awkward decisions. Almost as if "death by war" would have let him off the hook. "Death by war" would have made Will a hero. Will was not a hero in my eyes. "Death by taxi" validates his pedestrian struggle.'

I think that's well put, Sunitcloud--"death by taxi validates his pedestrian struggle." That's the heartbreak for me, as well as the fact that he was distracted, not looking the right way, because he missed Emma so--and was searching for her in the faces of the women he saw on the street. His last act was to "see" Emma. 

Sarah

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[Sarah-Blake]

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Cobalt-blue4 wrote:

Hi Sarah, Welcome to the book club! This is my first First Look Book Club and this is the moment I have been waiting for... getting to converse with the author. I read your book in less than a week. The more pages I read, the more pages I had to read to get to the ending. 

I am a band director and play alto sax/clarinet in a big band (dance band). My love and interest in big band music began in 8th grade jazz band with the songs Moonlight Serenade, Tuxedo Junction, and In the Mood. With that in mind, as I read the book, I was on the look out for musical references. There were a few. I especially enjoyed learning about morse code letter V da-da-da-dum!  I was glad that you mentioned Glenn Miller's In the Mood on page 60 being that it was #1 on the Billboard charts for 13 weeks in 1940 (beginning in July, in believe). Glenn Miller composed enjoyable and catchy melodies to entertain all those involved and affected by the war. He wanted his music to relieve their minds of the hardships of war. In the Mood was a smart segue into Frankie 'forgetting about the war' with the gentleman she danced with to the song and then became intimate with. While reading the book, I was wondering when you would mention a dance band in the summer tourist town of Franklin and wondered if the Franklin characters would attend the dance. 

What is your background in music? What research did you do pertaining to big band music and possibly symphonic music?  

The one line pertaining to music I still can not figure out is on p.1 "But these days so many wars are being carried on in full view of all of us, and there is so much talk of pattern and intent (as if a war can be conducted like music)..." What does it mean? Is this a reference to the calculated blitzs in London and the soldiers "going at their guns like drummers (p.37)" ?

I look forward to reading your answers. Thank you again for the book and corresponding with your readers!

---

Hi--

The summer town of Franklin would have had tea dances in the evening, after everyone swarmed off the beach, I imagine--and though I can't say a particular big band, I would have thought the bands would play Glen Miller tunes, all the biggies. My background in music extends only to singing groups in college, I'm afraid I have no expertise in big band or symphonic music.

That line in the prologue that Frankie speaks--these days wars are being carried on ...as if war can be conducted like music--is her frustration at what she sees is the idiocy of people these days to talk about war as if it could be controlled, as if it could be conducted, when her experience was really to see the chaos of war. The line partners with her annoyance with idiotic remarks about the clarity and purpose of the Second World War.

Sarah

[Sarah-Blake]

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MSaff wrote:

Hi Sarah,

  Welcome to our little corner of the universe.  I'm sure that you have had many people here welcome you.  I wanted to tell you that you have written a wonder novel, and I am completely hooked by the story.  You have made a great choice to allow us to read your novel.  We are a friendly group and I hope that you can endure all the questions we are sure to have.  You appear to be on the fast track with this story.  Good Luck and Happy Writing.

Here is my question.

  Where did you get the inspiration to write the story, and how much of it is fiction versus non-fiction? 

  I love the characters and can't wait to read more. 

---

Hi Mike,

Thanks for you warm welcome!

This novel began many years ago when I had this image of a woman working in a post office holding a letter in her hand and choosing not to deliver it. I was interested in her character, and I started writing really to see who she was and why she would do such a thing. Emma and Will sprang out of the necessity of finding the characters whose letter the woman held, and Frankie arrived 100 pages into the story--though I had no idea where she had come from, or what she had done. They are all utter fiction--though all the background--the town of Franklin, the clothes, London during the Blitz, Radio broadcasting, the plight of the "refugees" on the trains is heavily researched. The more I read however, I discovered real life inspirations for Frankie--there was a woman who broadcast for Edward R. Murrow in the very beginning of 1940/41, Mary Marvin Breckinridge, and of course Martha Gellhorn was a tremendously passionate and savvy war reporter. I turned to her collection, The Face of War, over and over again.

[Sarah-Blake]

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Cobalt-blue4 wrote:

Hi Sarah,

This may be a strange question...Did you see the movie "Top Gun"?

Kelly McGillis' character (Tom Cruise's love interest) reminds me of Frankie. They are both calm, cool, and collected. They know what to say, when to say it, and are intellectual with strong perception. 

Where did you get the idea for Frankie? She is the character that intrigued me the most. Her story line kept me glued to the book.

Thanks!

---

Hi again,

I love Kelly McGillis--I agree she has that great mix of intellect and graceful charm. Frankie walked of the bus and into Franklin on page 100 of my very first draft, and I had no idea what she was doing in town or why she had come. All I knew was that she was a war correspondent, and that she had fled the war in Europe. I was already interested in trying to capture the time when Europe had already been at war for nearly three years, and we had not been involved at all. And I had been reading a lot of of reporting about the war and I grew more and more intrigued by the difficulty reporters in war must have with detaching themselves from what they saw in order to report. The figure of a war correspondent became increasingly interesting to me and clearly pointed me toward having Frankie grapple with issues of objectivity.

Sarah

[Choisya]

Hi Sarah - another question:  Several readers, including myself, have been bemused by Iris' letter from the doctor proving her virginity.  In my 76 years I have never come across this idea either in real life or in fiction - could you tell us how you thought up this intriguing plot line?  It reminded me more of a modern certificate proving someone does not have AIDS rather than something a woman in the 1940s would have.

[Suetj]

I was also wondering about the "Postmaster" vs "Postmistress" referances.  Was it uncommon during that era to have a woman handling the post office duties?   Women in this historical novel are portrayed with so much depth.  As a reader, I love the contrast of  personalities presented.  Thank you Sarah Blake for this 'ode to women' as I see it during such an important time in our history. Ahhhhhhhh did I just answer the question POSTMISTRESS not MASTER-an inspiring nod to women!  I would like to see this played out on the big screen in a theater- although readding it touches the heart in so many ways!

[Choisya]

Me again Sarah:  Pursuant to my question about Iris' 'virginity certificate' I would like to ask what your thoughts were when you wrote the various sex scenes, especially Frankie's 'one night stand', which has been described here as gratuitous and unnecessary.  I felt it was realistic but hoped the man used a condom, for reasons I have described elsewhere.  

[JaneM]

I could not reply on the thread with Sara Blake's thoughts, so I decided to post it in the Questions thread, although I have no question!  I wanted to tell you, Sara, how much I am enjoying the book.  I was immediately drawn into the characters, locations and narrative and had little trouble following the change of character/locale so I was with you from the start.  However, I really appreciated your comments on why you used the style that you did, to create the simultaneity sense of things happening concurrently.  I get it, and I love it!  Thanks for a great book and I can't wait to finish the last section and see how it all ends.

[thewanderingjew]

You wrote on your thought's thread:
One morning in the spring of 2001, I opened the newspaper to the now iconic photograph of a Palestinian father and his son crouched behind a bunker, caught in the crossfire between Israeli and Palestinian fighters, the son burrowed into his father’s lap as the father tries to protect him from bullets. The photograph captures the moment just before the boy is, in fact, shot and killed. And the fact that I—sitting at breakfast in Chicago, my own son reading the comics beside me—could see the last second of this boy’s life was unbearable. I wanted to write about this somehow—this aspect of war and its terrifying accidents and how we come to terms with the fact that wars are being waged right now, even as I write (and you read) these words. How do we imagine that simultaneity?

How do you think that Frankie would have presented this story? In wartime, or any other time, do you think it is as important to present the news accurately or is it more important to get the story out quickly even with possible tragic repercussions? Often  in the moment, what appears to be true is later proven not to be. However, the news of war is presented in the moment.

BTW, It was af first thought to have been an IDF bullet that killed the child but it was later shown to be pretty impossible and more likely that it could even have been a bullet from a Palestinian weapon that took his life. Although there are some who will reject the source of this explanation, it is shorter and worthwhile reading.

[debbook]

Hi Sarah,

Thanks so much for sharing this book with us. I thought it was wonderfully well-written and captivating. I am sure it will be a best-seller. Do you have any control over the release date? I anticipate this book getting excellent reviews and word of mouth and I'm sure many will want it before February, personally I would love to give this as a Christmas gift!

I don't have  a question, I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed it.

I hope you come back to visit once it is released

[Bonnie_C]

Sarah,

This is a wonderful book for a discussion group.  Are you surprised at some of the reader's interpretations of the story?

Bonnie

[JaneM]

Sorry for the mis-spelling on your name, Sarah!  I noticed it too late to correct on my original post.

[Peppermill]

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Choisya wrote:

Hi Sarah - another question:  Several readers, including myself, have been bemused by Iris' letter from the doctor proving her virginity.  In my 76 years I have never come across this idea either in real life or in fiction - could you tell us how you thought up this intriguing plot line?  It reminded me more of a modern certificate proving someone does not have AIDS rather than something a woman in the 1940s would have.

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Choisya -- thx for this question -- it is one I would have placed, for much the same reason of not having heard of such an instance before, "in real life or in fiction."

I also wondered why Iris takes this action, but seems so unconcerned about the conventionality of marriage-- or have I missed something still coming in the reading?  Likewise, I don't understand why Emma wasn't embarrassed by her undergarments spilling across the street, yet she bursts into tears.  Is a distinction truly being made here between "embarrassed" and "ashamed" or are there other emotional motivations for Emma that I have missed?