I love that as the new novel is closer to done, I’m reestablishing connections with those in the historical fiction community. It’s a very different group from the Urban Fantasy nerds, but just as interesting.
Today we are talking to Mary Ann Noe, who is on her second novel about the famous 20th-Centry theater actors, Lunt and Fontanne. The first book was Deserving of Murder, and it’s now joined by Glass Flowers & Diamond Stickpins.
I love the idea of using a famous real life couple as your heroes, especially someone as legendary (to those of us over a certain age) as Lunt and Fontanne. Tell us about yourself and we’ll get right down to business.
William Shakespeare and I share a birthday. No, darling, he’s older than I am. So, it was inevitable I should become a writer. (Although my early stuff should probably line birdcages.) I got better. By the time I had thirty years teaching English, I was good enough to publish poetry and short stories. After I retired, I went for the big guns and, surprising even myself and my workshop buddies, had my first novel in my hands at age 73. Thank you, Black Rose Writing, my publisher in Texas. The best part? I can write in multiple genres, and my readers like all of them. Already out are family sagas, middle-grade fantasy, murder mystery, historical fiction…and there are more coming. My goal is to live long enough to get all of my manuscripts published!
Tell us about the new book.
My latest, Glass Flowers & Diamond Stickpins, is a second historical fiction starring Lynn Fontanne and Alfred Lunt, real-life globally famous stage actors of the 20th century. The first Lynn & Alfred Tale, Deserving of Murder, is a closed-room murder mystery. Glass Flowers & Diamond Stickpins puts the couple in 1939 Paris, attempting to help Jaroslav, a Czech glass artist, get his family’s fortune out of Europe. As these three lives come closer and closer together, they are all pulled into Hitler’s maelstrom, encountering a multitude of terrors and horrors. Moving from Czechoslovakia, Germany, France, England, New York City, and, ultimately, to Ten Chimneys, the Lunts’ Wisconsin home, Lynn and Alfred must face the final showdown with Hitler’s henchmen, struggling to survive while hoping against hope Jaroslav has been able to do the same.
Where did such a unique story come from?
I am lucky enough to be a docent at the real Ten Chimneys, Lynn and Alfred’s summer home, so I know a great deal about this fascinating couple. In the books, I try to adhere to facts as much as possible. The Lunts’ lives are a treasure-trove of challenges and excitement, so stretching the truth like taffy is easy. For Glass Flowers, I wanted to work in the real glass flowers that form a garland around Lynn’s dressing table mirror. I finally hit on creating a glass artist who could use his work to somehow smuggle out his fortune. Lynn’s sister was the real artist who created the flowers. That’s one of the joys of writing fiction: the freedom to create a new “reality.” However, I feel a responsibility to others interested in the World War II era to stick close to the history of the times. Sometimes, I spend more time researching than I do writing in order to get it right!
Where can we learn more about your work?
FOR MY BOOKS:
https://www.blackrosewriting.com/search?q=mary%20ann%20noe Click on cover/title to order.
For audible books: https://www.audible.com Search Mary Ann Noe to find all books. Audible also available through Amazon.
Amazon, Kindle, BookBub, Goodreads. I’m on Facebook as well.
Whether your tastes run to historical fiction or award-winning urban fantasy, check out all my work on my Amazon Author Page, and don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter.
