Kathy Stone asked Susan Vreeland:

How do you find the female characters that interest you so that you can begin your research? I am particularly curious about Clara from Clara and Mr. Tiffany.

Susan Vreeland First I became enamored of Louis Comfort Tiffany in a marvelous exhibit at the Met recreating a grand room in his home. I was astonished at the beauty of his glass. Then a newspaper announcement of a companion exhibit at the New York Historical Society on Clara Driscoll and her lamps and windows and her life attracted my attention. I bought the large catalog which enticed me more, but I didn't yet know if the woman herself would interest me. The catalog mentioned two collections of her letters, one at the Special Collections Room of the Kent State University Library and the other at Queens Historical Society. I followed my hope and went to those places, spending four days in each. Her letters revealed a person of sufficient interest as well as a fascinating time an place, turn of the 19th century New York. Then I knew that I had the makings of a novel.

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