Martha Hall Kelly's Blog: Martha's Blog, page 6
February 13, 2020
The Arrival of Seventeen Pounds of LOST ROSES Paperbacks Brightened Up This Snowy Connecticut Day.
This was a fun box to open, LOST ROSES paperbacks hot off the presses. Love seeing the photos they chose for the paperback author’s note! Can’t wait to get out on the paperback tour in March to spread the word.
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February 2, 2020
How Visting Rue Chabonais in Paris Helped the Brothel in Lost Roses Come Alive
When I was researching Lost Roses, spending time in Paris was a wonderful necessity and I visited Rue Chabanais, former site of the infamous brothel, since it features prominently in the book. Once, the three story townhouse was sumptuously decorated as a grotto, with gilded mosaics, faux rocks and a noisy waterfall, the most sumptuous house of pleasure in Europe at the time. Opened and operated by Madame Kelly starting in 1846 close to the the Louvre, Le Chabanais entertained high-society visitors who spent time in the arms of thirty black-stockinged courtesans in residence.
The Le Chabanais courtesans were famous for their black stockings.
Every room at the brothel had a theme. The Louis XVI room provided decadent royal nostalgia, and the Moorish room was a favorite of poet Guy de Maupassant, who made his own replica of the room in his home. A frequent guest of Le Chabanais, King Edward VII had a sphinx copper bathtub made for his favorite suite to provide champagne skinny dips, while Toulouse-Lautrec, another famous visitor, donated sixteen oil paintings featuring centaurs in the throes of passion.
King Edward’s tub
Today there is little trace of the brothel, which shuttered in 1946. It exists as an exotic footnote in French history and in the pages of Lost Roses, where Sofya is forced to live for a while, along with former aristocratic Russians forced to work as courtesans, and where she ends up working as an accounts collector.
The former home of the brothel as it is today, no trace of the sumptuously decorated place.
The street today.The post How Visting Rue Chabonais in Paris Helped the Brothel in Lost Roses Come Alive appeared first on Martha Hall Kelly.
December 31, 2019
As We Ring Out the Holidays I Wanted to Share my Civil War Tree
Just before the holidays I finished my third book, a Civil War novel about Caroline Ferriday’s great grandmother Jane Eliza Woolsey and her eight children, three of which were nurses during the war. While I was finishing the book I collected ornaments to decorate my Civil War-era tree, one of the many things I did to get in the mood for the period and help it come alive. Christmas trees were a new thing during that time and blown glass ornaments had not yet caught on widely in this country, so people decorated their tabletop trees with handmade objects and garlands, small gifts and even political badges and flags.
Each year we do a holiday celebration at Caroline’s house, the Bellamy-Ferriday House and Garden, in Bethlehem, Connecticut and we’re talking about a Civil War Christmas next year, in advance of this book. Can’t wait. By then I’ll have collected a whole tree full of ornaments.
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December 30, 2019
A Thank You Video to My Incredible Bookclub Readers
Last year I asked my son to put together a video featuring some of the many Lilac Girls bookclubs that helped make the book a success. (The complete photo collection is on my website under bookclubs.) As I get ready to go on tour in March for the Lost Roses paperback (pub date March 3rd) I thought it would be a nice time to share that video. Lost Roses readers have continued the creative bookclub tradition, as you can see below, but I wanted to say thank you to all the bookclubs who so graciously spread the word and put both books on the map. I’m eternally grateful and will share the Lost Roses tour schedule as soon as I have it. Can’t wait to get out and see everyone in March!
The adorable Bookish Bunch Bookclub turned out for Lost Roses en masse in Texas.
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June 27, 2019
So Excited Lost Roses is an Earphones Award winner from Audiofile Magazine
This makes me so happy, given all the hard work on the part of Kelly Gildea of Random House Audio and the incredible voice actors. I love Kathleen Gati and her work on Lilac Girls as Kasia and she is absolutely amazing on this one, playing Russian aristocrat Sofya, along with three incredible voice talents, Tavia Gilbert as Caroline’s mother Eliza, Karissa Vacker as peasant girl Varinka and Catherine Taber as Sofya’s little sister Luba. Brava to all! Here is the link to the article: https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/reviews/read/156801/lost-roses-by-martha-hall-kelly-read-by-kathleen-gati-catherine-taber/
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March 31, 2019
Lovely Lost Photos of Caroline Ferriday Found
I never tire of finding new photos of Caroline Ferriday, especially those taken in her teens and early twenties as these are. Caroline’s mother Eliza photographed her so much, perhaps because she was an actress and needed professional photos taken for headshots. Perhaps because she was so lovely and photogenic. And let’s face it, an only child seems to just have more photos taken of them. These were taken early in her career as a Broadway actress, with so many adventures ahead of her. Can’t wait to share Lost Roses in just nine days–which shows Caroline’s younger life. She was such an extraordinary adult, but a wonderful young person as well.
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March 27, 2019
Love the New Lost Roses Audio Book That Just Came Knocking
At the risk of being even more tiresomely self-promotional, here is the Lost Roses audio book, just arrived from Random House. I must say I didn’t think anything could have seize my affections like the Lilac Girls audio, but this one did. I love Kathleen Gati and her work on Lilac Girls as Kasia and she is absolutely amazing on this one, playing Russian aristocrat Sofya, along with three incredible voice talents, Tavia Gilbert as Caroline’s mother Eliza, Karissa Vacker as peasant girl Varinka and Catherine Taber as Sofya’s little sister Luba (so far many readers’ favorite character in the book.) I just took a sneak listen, driving around aimlessly listening to these lovely, moving voices, getting pretty teary-eyed just hearing the prologue (my only CD player is in my car) and may need to go out tonight and drive around some more.
I loved adding these to the book shelf in my office, next to my “Somewhere in our hearts we are always twenty” (thank you, Katherine) quote board for good luck.
Cannot wait for everyone to hear how talented these actors are. If you see a woman in a silver car driving around Litchfield County sobbing, feel free to wave. Most likely that’s me.
Kathleen Gati as SofyaThe post Love the New Lost Roses Audio Book That Just Came Knocking appeared first on Martha Hall Kelly.
March 22, 2019
Some Gorgeous New Lost Roses Just Landed On My Doorstep
My editor at Ballantine Books, Kara Cesare, the best human in the world, just sent me two of the very first editions of Lost Roses, hot off the presses. It brings back memories of seeing the first copies of Lilac Girls and it is all becoming so real and so much fun and I feel like spring may just arrive after all.
Can’t wait to share it April 9th!
Love how they look together, below.
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February 12, 2019
ELLE Magazine is Always Amazing But this February Edition is Especially Wonderful.
I’m a huge ELLE Magazine fan and was excited to write my take on red lipstick for ELLE. Hope you enjoy all five authors’ takes on statement lips! To read the whole article pick up the February ELLE–it’s a great one this month, filled with spring fashion.
The post ELLE Magazine is Always Amazing But this February Edition is Especially Wonderful. appeared first on Martha Hall Kelly.
February 4, 2019
Such Fun Recording the Lost Roses Audio Book
I loved the Lilac Girls audio book and when it came to casting the prequel Lost Roses I asked if Kathleen Gati, (below) who played the Polish Kasia could join us again and play Sofya, a Russian former-aristocrat. Thanks to Penguin-Random House Audio’s Kelly Gildea my wish came true. Kathleen is an incredible actress, (you can see her currently on General Hospital playing the villainous Dr. Liesel Obrecht), an incredibly charming person and a master of accents, so it’s no wonder she made the part of lovely Sofya come alive so beautifully.
Kathleen teamed up once again with engineer and actor extraordinaire Dr. Bruce Mann.
My author’s note, which took me ages to get right. Don’t know how the voice actors make it look so easy.
Right out of the gate had to take a break when I got choked up reading the dedication, to my two daughters who inspired the sisters in Lost Roses. Glad I’m not quitting my day job.
Action shot of me taking yet another take.
Fangirling in the lobby.
Look for the Lost Roses audio book next month to pre-order, with Tavia Gilbert as Eliza Ferriday (Caroline’s mother), Karissa Vacker as peasant girl Varinka and Catherine Taber as Sofya’s little sister Luba and of course Kathleen Gati as former-aristocrat Sofya. Cannot WAIT to hear it all put together.
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