Authors Interviewing Characters: Mary Fleming
CIVILISATION FRANÇAISE
When recent college graduate Lily Owens enrolls in the Civilisation Française course at the Sorbonne in 1982, she hopes to put a difficult childhood behind her and to find direction for adulthood.
She moves into an historic mansion on the place des Vosges where her job is helping elderly, half-blind Amenia Quinon, another ex-pat American. Unbeknownst to Lily, Amenia is haunted by memories of World War II, as is her Jewish housekeeper, Germaine. The three women live alone in this house of silence and secrets, mostly revolving in their own worlds, until Lily secretly lets her friend, Thibaud, move into the empty wing. When Thibaud lets in others, the abandoned part of the house quickly turns into a squat, causing turmoil and distress among the three women, but ultimately bringing them closer together.
CIVILISATION FRANÇAISE is an engrossing, powerful story about facing our past, discovering a future and the meaning of home.
The Job Interview
Our heroine Lily Owens has arrived in Paris. For three weeks she has been sleeping in the examining room at a doctor’s office and looking for more permanent lodging. “Though I stopped by the notice board at the American Church regularly, it always seemed that other people had been there first, had already found the rooms or the babysitting jobs. That I was too late. It made me feel hopelessly lacking in some key survival skill.”
One day at the church noticeboard she meets Octave de Malbert. He is looking for a young person to move in and help with his aged American aunt who is going blind. Upon arrival at the place des Vosges for what she thinks is a job interview, Lily discovers that Madame Amenia Quinon lives in an all but empty old mansion with her housekeeper Germaine. Despite Octave’s cajoling, the elderly woman makes it clear she does not want outside help. But it is also clear that, no questions asked, Lily already has the job – just the first of many mysteries she will confront during her time in the mansion on the place des Vosges.
What follows is the interview that might have occurred, had Madame Quinon been more communicative during her first encounter with Lily.
AQ: It appears you already speak French. So why on earth do you need a course in la civilisation française at the Sorbonne?
LO: I had a French governess as a child. I hope the course will allow my cultural and historical knowledge of France to catch up with my language skills.
AQ: That sounds very academic. Are you planning to be a professor?
LO: I don’t think so. [pregnant pause] Actually, my childhood was not easy, and I hope a year abroad will help put it behind me. But I can’t get into the details of that until much later in the novel.
AQ: We carry our past with us to the grave, I’m afraid. But why Paris? Why not New York? This is 1982, after all, not 1920, the year I sailed over here with my new French husband. Paris was the center of the world then, but now everyone wants to go to New York, no?
LO: New York scares me, even if my sister lives there. Paris feels gentler. Because I am not French, I won’t feel the need to live up to anyone else’s expectations. My success or failure will not be judged in the same way, I hope.
AQ: It is true that some people are happier living outside their native land. I certainly was, until a world war got in the way and caused me much pain. But I can’t get into the details of that until later in our novel. I detect something of an English accent when you speak. My nephew claims you are American.
LO: My parents are American. They met in England as Fulbright scholars and never went back to the US. So everyone says I am American too.
AQ: Really? After all these years, the American in me has certainly taken a back seat. I’m not sure how I’d classify myself now. And if you were born and raised in England, don’t you feel a tinge English too?
LO: [shrug] I guess. I don’t know. I’m not sure what I am. Maybe this year will help me figure that out too.
AQ: You’re putting a lot of pressure on this course, on this year abroad. It can take the better part of a century to figure out who you are.
LO: I’m here because it seems less pressured than New York or London. And, to be honest, I’m here because I didn’t know where else to go. It was my other sister who suggested Paris. I am hoping to find a bit of direction, but also some adventure, maybe some friends.
AQ: You will be living in the room above mine, so please do not pursue too much adventure. I may be losing my sight, but my hearing remains acute, and I cannot have parties going on over my head day and night.
LO: I’m not the wild-party type. In fact, maybe that’s part of my problem.
AQ: Well, please don’t change too much for as long as you’re living in this house. Because places do change people. You’ll likely feel different, even after a year in this city.
LO: I guess we’ll see at the end of the novel.
AQ: Indeed we will.
BUY HERE
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Mary Fleming was born in Chicago and has lived in France for many years. After working as a journalist and consultant, she turned to fiction and has written two other novels, Someone Else and The Art of Regret. Her bi-weekly photo-essay, A Paris-Perche Diary, tracks city and country (Normandy) life. Find her online at website: Mary Fleming Author, blog: A Paris Perche Diary, and Instagram: @flemingm6
Category: Interviews, On Writing
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