Ladies Who (Literary) Lunch with Lo

Get to know the authors (and their stories) behind their pages.

This month’s guest:

Nancy Bilyeau

Historical Novel: The Orchid Hour

https://nancybilyeau.com/novels/the-orchid-hour/

Available in ebook and paperback on August 10th in US, UK and Canada

We’re having lunch. What are you ordering?

My summer-centric favorite choices are Soft Shell Crab, Lobster Roll, or Gazpacho. And maybe I will be daring and order a Rosé Wine.

You worked as a magazine editor for years. What other hidden talent do you possess?

I can draw horses rather well. I went through an extreme horse phase when I was ten to fourteen years old and nagged my parents to give me riding lessons. Plus my grandparents took me to the races in San Diego when I visited so I could see the horses. They also taught me how to bet: Read the racing form to learn about the thoroughbreds and start with the favorite for “show.” LOL. My father was a watercolor landscape artist but I don’t possess artistic talent–except for the horse sketching.

What’s your writing style? Your daily habits?

For years I was an early-morning writer. I’ve never had a separate office or writing room, so I’d make some tea and as dawn broke, I’d be writing away at a laptop on my kitchen table. When I worked at InStyle magazine, I used to get up at 5 am and write until I had to get the kids up for school and get myself ready for the office. (No work from home then!) Now, living in upstate New York and with my kids in their early 20s, I find I write better in the afternoons and even at night. Early morning is for reading or gardening–I am having some success this summer with tomatoes, radishes, and strawberries!

What’s the oddest place you’ve written fiction?

I brought my laptop computer to The Cloisters Museum and found a place in the corner of a long dark room they call the Chapter House. It is based on a 12th century room for monks with rounded arches, thick walls, small windows and brick floors. This is where the monks would have had meetings and receive discipline. I needed to get into the mood for a chapter I was writing in The Crown–and it worked. I wrote for as long as the power lasted in my laptop. There are no electrical outlets in a re-created 12th century room for monks.

What are your fears/challenges in the publishing industry?

I fear the industry is changing and the Big Five want to publish the big stars and put all their resources into them and forget about the more “niche” writers–which is similar to the film business. I am with an independent publisher and that’s better for me. I am always looking for ways to find readers who like my kind of novels.

Bio:

A graduate of the University of Michigan, Nancy Bilyeau moved to New York City to work in the magazine business. She was an assistant editor at Rolling Stone, an articles editor at Good Housekeeping, and a deputy editor at InStyle, before moving into historical fiction. She followed her trilogy of historical thrillers set in Tudor England, ‘The Crown,’ ‘The Chalice,’ and ‘The Tapestry,’ with a book taking place in turn-of-the-century New York City, ‘Dreamland.’ She tapped into her French Huguenot background to create the character of artist Genevieve Planche in ‘The Blue,’ an 18th-century story of espionage in the porcelain workshops of England and France. In ‘The Fugitive Colours,’ published in 2022, Genevieve’s story continues. Her new novel, ‘The Orchid Hour,’ is set in the speakeasies of NYC in 1923. Nancy lives with her family in the Hudson Valley in New York. Visit her website at NancyBilyeau.com.