The third volume of the Bennet Wardrobe Series, The Exile: Kitty Bennet and the Belle Epoque, has been re-edited and republished by Meryton Press for a bit more than a month now. By this point in the series, the foundations of how the Wardrobe works have been established, Mary’s story has been told, and the various through-lines of the overarching plot are beginning to take shape.
This volume now begins to establish the powers of the Bennet Family Trust—and its limitations. Also, new characters are introduced to facilitate Kitty’s growth. Finally, villains who will figure prominently in the center of the arc find their way into being.
I tend to write for the visual, to imagine my characters moving through very real worlds rather than engaging in lengthy, if not endless, conversations that serve as the “reveal.” I believe that our brains are visual devices. For instance, the word “tree” does not conjure up the four letters when you hear it or read it. Rather (at least for me), I envision the physical object as that is what differentiates “tree” from, say, “dog.”
Thus, if I am to be honest, I think I write films rather than books. The more I read my work, the more I sense verbal descriptions of visual contexts. I believe this allows readers to immerse themselves in a wholly new world.
Of course, writing for the visual implies that I also imagine that actual picture. In a way, I do. Yes, I do “cast” my books as if the end product was not 350-odd pages but rather 118 minutes of “film.” (I put that word in quotes because writing the state-of-the-art term “digital” leaves me feeling cold.)
In the case of TE: KB&TBE, I saw Kitty played by Saoirse Ronan and Henry Fitzwilliam by by Eric Bana. I “interviewed” Ms Ronan in this imaginary encounter between a breathless reporter and the actor back in 2017.
The Meryton Press edition of The Exile: Kitty Bennet and the Belle Epoque is available worldwide on Amazon (Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, Audible, and paper) at (universal link to your local Amazon store).
As a lead-in to this mock interview, I want to mention that I subscribe to the great science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein’s “world as myth” idea which argues that the act of writing fiction creates the reality in which that fiction exists. Thus, the interview approaches Pride and Prejudice as if it is a romanticized biography, a work of non-fiction.
Interview with Saoirse Ronan
Saoirse Ronan is one of the new class of Irish/American actors making their mark on stage and in cinema. Only in her early twenties, she has entranced audiences with groundbreaking roles in powerful films like “Atonement,” “The Lovely Bones,” “The Way Back,” “Hanna,” The Grand Budapest Hotel,” and “Brooklyn.” She has been nominated for two BAFTA and two Academy Awards.
The View From Here caught up with Ronan on a typical steamy June day at London’s Pinewood Studios where she is in pre-production for “Mary Queen of Scots” in which she plays the tragic lead. The vivacious young actor with astonishingly blue eyes raced up to her trailer breathlessly begging five minutes to take a “splash and dash” before our interview.
I can attest that she emerged in less than the five, damp hair pulled back, her clear complexion unmuddied by cosmetics, and wearing a simple white short-sleeve pullover and jeans. She did not try to add to her mid-five foot height with heels. And, she came out bearing two old-style bottles of Coca-Cola that instantly began sweating in the afternoon heat. A film goddess!
We settled underneath one of the few trees on the giant lot and discussed her latest work “The Renoir Likeness.” The film is based on the book “The Exile: Kitty Bennet and the Belle Époque.” Ronan plays the fourth Bennet daughter: Catherine Marie Bennet who used the remarkable Bennet Wardrobe to leave the Regency behind in exchange for a life of self-realization, art, love, and intrigue in the 1880s.
An open and friendly woman, Ronan spoke with that wondrous Irish lilt that instantly captivated the listener.
VFH:
Thank you for squeezing us in today. You seem to be in a bit of a hurry.
Ronan:
’Tis fittings all day. How those women ever moved back in the 1500s is a pure mystery to me. And how they did not expire from heat exhaustion is another puzzle. Of course, since I am the Queen, I have the largest wardrobe. More fittings, more pins, more sweat. I told Josie (Rourke, director) that I wanted to play a kitchen wench since she would have only one outfit!
VFH:
It seems you have entered your “costume drama period.”
R: (laughs) Indeed. First Kitty Bennet in her Victorian regalia that included steel-spring corsets, and now Mary Stuart with her acres of silks and velvets!
VFH:
Steel springs?
R: Oh yes. Once the Industrial Revolution took hold, steel replaced wood and whalebone. And, my director, Sally Jenkins (Wonder Woman), was of the Wes Anderson school—everything needed to be authentic down to the unseen items I would carry in my handbag. So I was strapped into my Iron Maiden every day.
VHF:
Let’s talk about the film. There have been so many presentations of Pride and Prejudice. What attracted you to the character of Kitty Bennet?
R: All of those movies treated this story like it was romantic fiction. Look at the characters. Lizzy and Darcy are the only ones with depth. Every other person we meet can be described with one adjective: serene Jane, catty Caroline, slutty Lydia, priggish Mary, indecisive Bingley, nervous Mrs. Bennet, indolent Mr. Bennet.
And invisible Kitty Bennet, who trailed behind Lydia and coughed.
We nearly forget that these were real people rather than cardboard cutouts.
But once you read Lord Thomas Fitzwilliam’s remarkably sensitive biography of his parents, In The Lists for Civilization, you understand the role that Lady Kitty played from the turn of the century forward. This woman was not invisible. In fact, she was pure inspiration.
VFH:
Inspiration? How so?
R: We modern women, growing up with great draughts of equality, can find little to appreciate in the lot of late Victorian females. Kitty was so exceptional…and I think it was because she was from out-of-time. Strangely enough, because she could always return to her family and friends in 1811 if she was unhappy, her trip in the Wardrobe gave her unlimited freedom to experiment in the 1880s.
Kitty climbed mountains in Switzerland. She danced with Isadora Duncan. Ravel taught her to play the piano. She nursed the wounded in World War I. Jean Monnet, Claude Monet, and the Renoirs frequented her table at the Beach House at Deauville. She laughed loudly and loved life with her cherished husband.
VFH:
And,she never did leave.
R: No she did not. Once I started to peel back what happened to her in the early 1890s, I wished I could have planted my hands on the front of the Wardrobe and fly off to some other where/when. It was unspeakable what she endured at the behest of the Napoleon of Crime. It hurt so much to find her truth. But, she survived, and it made her unbreakable.
VFH:
How did you discover her inner workings?
R: The events of 1891-92 were the catalyst that helped her understand why she acted as she did between the ages of six and seventeen. The Bennet Family Trust released Freud’s notes for my preparation. For the first time, Kitty’s adolescent nature became clear to me—why she tried to hide in plain sight, why she never competed with her elder sister Elizabeth for her father’s approval, why she shrunk in the face of her mother’s criticism.
VFH:
Without revealing any spoilers, what was the key to her survival?
R: I think it had to be her friendships with both Maggie Small and Aline Renoir. These two women formed an impenetrable net of love and support without which Kitty would have certainly died. Not only did they save her, they provided her with the clearest examples of healthy human behavior.
VFH:
I am surprised you did not mention Henry Fitzwilliam.
R: Henry really did not come back into her life until she had already passed through 90 percent of her trials. That is not to say Henry did not contribute to her growth…but the foundation stones were laid before he finds her in May 1892. Henry’s story in the book is the tale of his search for the love of his life.
VFH:
Speaking of Henry, what was it like working with Eric Bana again?
R: When I played opposite Eric on Hanna, he was my father. Here in Likeness, Eric is playing the man who disturbs my heart. Totally different!
Henry was a man who had heard artillery…but only after he traveled in the Wardrobe. He was terribly injured, but survived. He found love in that future and then left her to return to his time. He carried a torch for this woman—the Voice as he never saw her face—that led him to take decisions that affected him and Kitty.
Eric’s method is so intense. He really took to heart the anguish that was so clearly expressed in Kierkegaard’s quote, “The most painful state of being is remembering the future, particularly the one you will never have.” Eric’s brooding nature, especially after he put in his steel grey contacts, made him a completely believable partner.
VFH:
Before we end, we need to talk about the Wardrobe.
R: This was my first experience with magical transport. You would have to ask Emma Watson what she thought of the flue network. But, I was amazed at how the archives showed that the Wardrobe really cared for the Bennets. Every remark I was privy to impressed upon me that, while Lydia asserted that “The Wardrobe has a unique sense of humor,” no malicious intent was ever behind its workings.
In fact, I am totally convinced that the Wardrobe has a greater intent beyond sending Bennets to places where they learn what they need to know. I believe that the ultimate goal of this device is to provide them with what they needed.
VFH:
And that note is a perfect ending. A cliffhanger. Thank you Saoirse Ronan for talking with The View From Here about The Renoir Likeness.