Juliette Fay
Author Interview - Juliette Fay
Author of Catch Us When We Fall and The Harvey Girls
About The Harvey Girls:
1926: Charlotte Crowninshield was born into one of Boston’s finest families. Now she’s on the run from a brutal husband, desperate to disappear into the wilds of the Southwest. Billie MacTavish, the oldest of nine children, quit school to help with her mother’s laundry business, but even that isn’t enough to keep the family afloat.
Desperate, both young women join the ranks of the Harvey Girls, waitresses who serve in America’s first hospitality chain on the Santa Fe railroad. Hired on the same day, they share three things: a room, a heartfelt dislike of each other . . . and each has a secret that will certainly get them fired.
Through long days of training in Topeka, Kansas, they learn the fine art of service. When they’re sent to work at the luxurious El Tovar hotel at the Grand Canyon, Billie struggles to hide her young age, and Charlotte discovers the dark side of the national park’s history, all while relying on their wits, grit, and each other to keep the jobs they need to survive.
About Catch Us When We Fall:
On her own since the age of eighteen, Cass Macklin dated brilliant, troubled Ben McGreavy, convinced he was the smartest person she'd ever known. They partied their way through their twenties, slowly descending into a bleak world of binge-drinking and broken promises, inebriated for most of a decade. Now Ben is dead, and Cass is broke, homeless, scared...and pregnant.
Author Interview - Juliette Fay
Author I draw inspiration from:
2025: Oh, it’s too hard to pick just one. A few that come to mind: The Exiles by Christina Bake Kline, Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld, The Given Day by Dennis Lehane, Charm City Rocks by Matthew Norman, Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell, The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. I could go on and on!
2021: Ann Tyler had me from The Accidental Tourist. Her characters are the quirkiest of quirky, and yet you believe them. In fact you feel like you know them. They could be living next door, or a relative, or a friend. Her plot lines don't follow the usual tropes, you don't know what's coming next. And you're in deep - deep into the joy and pain and frustration and hilarity of just living on this earth. Ann Tyler's books make you think about all the kookie-yet-believable lives that are proceeding along all around us.
Author Interview - Juliette Fay | Author I Draw Inspiration From
Favorite place to read a book:
2025: I have a big blue chair-and-a-half with an ottoman in my bedroom. It’s old enough that I used to read to my kids in it when they were little, and it’s so soft with wear that it’s like reading inside a hug. Also a great place for a nap!
2021: I have a blue micro-suede chair with an ottoman in my bedroom that is like a big, soft, chaise lounge. I write in it, I nap in it, I run my tiny but lively empire from it. It is the perfect place to snuggle up with a cup of something hot (or cold) and dive into a good book.
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with:
2025: I’d love to meet Francis Perkins from Becoming Madame Secretary by Stephanie Dray. Francis was FDR’s Secretary of Labor and the first woman cabinet member in US history. Ms. Perkins was the author and chief promoter of so many of the programs and policies we now take for granted, like Social Security and workplace safety rules. She was smart and stubborn and far ahead of her time.
2021: Count Alexander Rostov from A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. I'd want to know how it felt to go from being a rich, brash, supremely self-confident young man to a poor, kind, and very loving older man. How it felt to become a father in the most surprising of ways. How he overcame his ego to live for others. I loved that book.
Author Interview - Juliette Fay | Book Character I’d Like to be Stuck in an Elevator With
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author:
2025: I can’t say there was a moment, I just always loved to make up stories in my head. I only got around to writing one down in my forties, and even then, it was just to entertain myself. A writer friend of mine read it and said I should try to get it published. I never really expected that could happen, but it was fun to try. When an agent finally said she wanted to represent me, I was stunned.
2021: I had just finished writing my first novel, which I'd been very secretive about because I really wasn't sure if I could do it. I'd made up stories in my head for as long as I could remember, but actually write one down with a recognizable beginning, middle, and end? Maybe I could ... but maybe not. I'd only told three friends that I was even attempting it. They read as I wrote and were incredibly supportive - although they didn't hesitate to let me know when they were confused or bored, either! It was a really fun editorial process, and when I was done, they encouraged me to try and get it published. Until then it just felt like an enjoyable way to spend my spare time. But then suddenly I was holding a novel in my hands, and what was I supposed to do now? Publish it. And that would make me an author. "Yes," I thought. "I'd be okay with that."
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook:
2025: Hardcover – love the beauty of it, hate the weight of it.
Paperback – love the portability and the price, hate … nothing!
Ebook – love that you can be sitting on a beach and presto, there’s a new book in your hand. Hate looking at a screen even more than I already do.
Audiobook – love that I get to be entertained while doing mundane things like driving, weeding, doing laundry, etc. Hate that if the narrator isn’t good (or just isn’t my taste), it can ruin an otherwise good story.
2021: I'm a chronic multitasker, so I love to listen to audiobooks while I drive or garden or do housework. A good narrator can make almost any book a joy to listen to. Occasionally you get a narrator who's vocal style takes over the story instead of enhancing it, which can ruin a good book. But then I switch to print (paperback, please) and all is well.
The last book I read:
2025: I just started Martyr! By Kaveh Akbar. The writing is gorgeous – his descriptions and dialogue are so meaty and fresh. But so far there’s not much of a plot, just mostly backstory. I feel like I’m waiting for it to begin.
2021: The People We Keep by Allison Larkin. It kept me up way past my bedtime because I had to know what would happen next. The teenage protagonist, April Sawicki, is utterly compelling - both wise and naïve, broken and also remarkably strong, with a voice I wanted to hear and a story I wanted to know. A hundred pages in, I was ready to adopt her. Highly recommend!
Author Interview - Juliette Fay | The Last Book I Read
Pen & paper or computer:
2025: Computer. I type much faster than I write, so it’s easier to keep up with my thoughts. Also, it’s much easier to edit and revise later. That being said, there is definitely something to writing longhand. It’s a more intimate process. If I’m somewhere without a computer and an idea pops into my head, I write on whatever is in my purse – grocery receipts, business cards, etc.
2021: I've used pen and paper when I didn't have access to a computer, and it works just as well. But revising is a hundred times easier on a computer, so eventually I'll take those scraps or notebook pages and add them to the digital document. That said, I don't use any of the fancy writing software - too many bells and whistles! I stick with good ol' Word, so maybe I could be called old school after all.
Book character I think I’d be best friends with:
2025: Margery from The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes. She’s smart, takes absolutely no guff, has a good sense of humor, and rides around the countryside bringing people books. I’m not sure how impressed she’d be with me, but I’d be honored and awed to be her friend.
2021: I could absolutely be great pals with Cornelia from the Love Walked In series by Marisa de los Santos. I love how she's smart and kind, but makes mistakes and heads down the wrong path here and there like the rest of us. She's honest and has a good sense of humor. I would definitely enjoy hanging out with her.
Author Interview - Juliette Fay | Book Character I’d be Best Friends With
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a:
2025: Foundation director. I was in human services for many years, so I know how a little money can really make a difference in a program’s ability to improve people’s lives. I’d love to be the person who works with the programs and hands out the cash!
2021: A post-partum doula for new mothers. I'd come to your house and while you nap and I'd do the dishes and make you lunch. I'd help you sort things out when you're too tired to think straight. I'd get you over the hump of those first bleary, hormone-stormy weeks.
Favorite decade in fashion history:
2025: The 1920s, no doubt about it. I learned all about flapper fashion while writing three historical novels set in the 20s, and it’s pretty fascinating stuff. Post-WWI was a time of increasing freedom for women, who’d become heads of households and done “men’s” work in huge numbers during the war. The new fashions mirrored this newfound sense of expanding options. They went from wearing ankle-length skirts, high-neck blouses, and corsets to knee-length, sleeveless, flowy dresses with a brassiere and “drawers” almost overnight.
2021: The 1920s. Women were throwing off their corsets and wearing bras and drawers for the first time. I love the idea that a whole generation of women could finally take a deep breath! The dresses were light and flowy, the heels weren't too high, and the jewelry was so fun - hip length pearls and chandelier earrings. When I did events for my last book, The City of Flickering Light, which is about Hollywood in the 1920s, I dressed like a flapper and it felt great!
Place I’d most like to travel:
2025: Greece – the history, the food, the iconic white houses, and crystal clear water. I’d love every bit of it.
2021: Greece. Just the light there, and the color of the water. And all that history. Also, I love stuffed grape leaves and feta cheese. I think I could spend a year there.
My signature drink:
2025: Cosmopolitan. I make them by the pitcher for my friends.
2021: Cosmopolitan. I'm known for making them, and you will absolutely be spilling all your secrets to me once you have one.
Favorite artist:
2025: I’m fascinated by sculptors. Their art is so completely different from mine: three-dimensional, visible from all sides, and they can tell an amazing story with just one figure.
2021: Since the medium wasn't specified, I'm going to chose musical artist and say Joni Mitchell. She has the very rare mix of being a remarkably talented poet, story teller, musician, and singer. Her songs feel so real, told so uniquely, with chords no one had ever heard before, and a voice that soars like a column of clouds in a blue sky.
Number one on my bucket list:
2025: Have a grandchild! But hey, that’s not up to me … 😊
2021: I can't wait to be a grandmother. Actually I can wait - I don't want any of my four 19- to 27-year-old kids to have a baby before they're ready. But once they are ready ... boy, am I ready!
More from Juliette Fay:
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About Juliette Fay:
Author Interview - Juliette Fay
Juliette Fay is the bestselling author of eight novels, including, The Harvey Girls, The Half of It, Catch Us When We Fall, City of Flickering Light and The Tumbling Turner Sisters, a USA Today bestseller and Costco Pennie’s Book Club Pick. Previous novels include The Shortest Way Home, one of Library Journal’s Top 5 Best Books: Women’s Fiction; Deep Down True, short-listed for the Women’s Fiction award by the American Library Association; and Shelter Me, a Massachusetts Book Award “Must-Read Book” and an Indie Next pick. Juliette is a graduate of Boston College and Harvard University. Visit her at www.juliettefay.com
