An interview with Eleni Kyriacou
This week you’re in for a treat! I interviewed historical fiction author Eleni Kyriacou whose new novel A Beautiful Way to Die publishes next week in the UK (and in the US on 22 July).
Tell us about A Beautiful Way to Die in your own words.
Ginny is a young, hopeful actress on her way up. Stella is an older, beautiful screen goddess, whose fortunes are sliding. The two women don’t know each other, but one momentous night, at an Oscars party, a crime is committed and their lives change forever.
This historical crime novel is about the dark underbelly of the film industry and is set against the backdrop of the casting couch – a time when powerful men could demand what they wanted from desperate women. It’s inspired by the true crimes of Hollywood, and the ‘fixers’ at the head of the studios – big players who would go any lengths to sweep crimes and misdemeanours under the carpet, to save their stars’ reputations. It’s packed with strong female characters, old movies, glamour and murder.
Your previous novels She Came to Stay and The Unspeakable Acts of Zina Pavlou were both set in post-war London, a setting I always think of as a bit gloomy and austere (though great for crime fiction!). What drew you in particular to the very different setting of Hollywood for this new book?
I did this quite deliberately because I wanted to research a setting that was much more glamorous! My previous book, The Unspeakable Acts of Zina Pavlou, was mostly set in Holloway Prison and the Old Bailey, and I was desperate to research something with a setting that was new to me that felt more upbeat. What could be more colourful and exciting than Hollywood? That said, A Beautiful Way to Die is a noir thriller and has a dark thread running throughout it – what really appealed to me was juxtaposing the hedonistic, glittering parties and clubs surrounding the Hollywood studios, against the dark, corrupt, criminal nature of what really went on behind the scenes. Also, I love film and have always been fascinated with Hollywood, especially during this era.
Despite the change of scenery, all of your novels are set in the 1950s. What is it about that decade that keeps you coming back?
Where to start? I’ve always had this vision of the 1950s as an exciting and dangerous time, which is the perfect mix when it comes to writing historical crime. My parents emigrated from Cyprus to London in the 1950s, so I think of it as a decade of great opportunity and post-war optimism, of new beginnings and hope, but also a time of real danger. Leaving everything behind and coming to a foreign country, when you can’t speak the language and don’t understand the customs, and you have no idea if everything will work out or not, is brave, perhaps reckless. Take a wrong turn, fall in with the wrong people and you’re done for. This is what my debut novel, She Came To Stay, is about – a Cypriot woman who turns up in London and befriends the wrong person.
And the sheer glamour of the fifties has always appealed, too. The mix of cultures, the fashion, music, film and the nightlife in London’s Soho, in particular, is something I’ve always been intrigued by. As a setting for a novel, it has so much to offer.
The novel features two ambitious women, Ginny who is at the very beginning of her career and trying to climb the ladder, and Stella who has been at the top and is now trying to halt her fall. Did you see Ginny as a younger version of Stella or are they very different characters?
Ooh, that’s interesting! I’ve never thought of it like that. When writing the book, to me they were quite different. I suppose they have similarities, in that they’re both ambitious, have a certain amount of self-belief and want lasting fame, but Ginny’s
is a softer character I think. Perhaps it’s her youth, but at the start she has a certain innocence about her, expecting the best from everyone. But Hollywood has a way of knocking that out of people, and she becomes more pragmatic and cynical as the story progresses, with a steely determination that becomes clear. Stella, on the other hand, is a slightly haughty screen legend, full of herself and seemingly unshakable. But behind the façade, she’s a mess of insecurities, scared that age will rob her of her status in a way that just doesn’t happen for her male co-stars. So I suppose Ginny appears pliable but is strong, and Stella seems strong but is vulnerable. They’re both flawed, too, because that’s we all are.
One of the characters is a ‘fixer’, a man whose job is to make Hollywood problems go away. In your Author’s Note you list a few of the true stories that inspired you. Was there one of these stories in particular that stuck in your mind, and do you think these cases are relegated to the past or should still be regarded as cautionary tales today?
The one famous case that particularly struck me was the story of Frances Farmer. She was a movie actress who’d achieved a certain amount of fame and, in the forties, lost it all when the studio could no longer handle her. Her mother had her committed to a brutal asylum for eight years. Not because Frances was insane, but because she drank a lot, got into fights and generally misbehaved. Nobody knew what to do with her.
This made me really think about how Hollywood treats women who don’t conform. I think today, we still vilify women who don’t fit our view of what a woman should be - whether it’s via the press or social media. And studio ‘fixers’ still exist if to a lesser extent. Celebrities’ press agents and managers hire people to change the narrative about their stars online. For example, in a current ongoing case, actress Blake Lively has accused a co-star of orchestrating a smear campaign against her. In the fifties, studio ‘fixers’ would pay the press to print certain stories and drop unfavourable ones, to protect their stars’ reputations.
My novel is also set against the casting couch – a time when powerful men could demand sexual favours from vulnerable women, to further their acting careers. If they refused, their paths were blocked. Fast forward to 2017, and Harvey Weinstein’s crimes come to light – you have to ask yourself if anything has truly changed.
Hollywood is the place that most of us think of when we think about movies in the 1950s but I was fascinated by the scenes at Ealing Studios. What can you tell us about Ealing at that time?
It’s such an interesting place. It was built in 1902 and dubbed little Hollywood, and is the oldest continuously working studio in the world. Back in the fifties, it was a place of great creativity and industry, producing so many excellent films. Many stars worked there including Joan Collins, Alastair Sims and Audrey Hepburn. The studios are famous for their black comedies, also known as the Ealing Comedies, like Kind Hearts and Coronets and The Lady Killers, but they also produced serious dramas and social satire. It was a tight-knit group of people who worked there, with a certain view of life, producing films that had a quintessentially English feel. Ealing Village, the impressive art deco housing complex, complete with pool and club house, that is described in A Beautiful Way to Die was built for the stars of Ealing Studios. But they quickly abandoned it, preferring to live in the West End, nearer the nightlife, so it ended up housing the technical staff from the studios (like Maggie, the make-up artist in my book).
For readers who love your books, which other books would you recommend they try next?
A Beautiful Way to Die has been compared to The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, by Taylor Jenkins Reid, which I consider a huge compliment, so if you haven’t already read that you might like it. It focuses on an ageing actress with secrets to tell. For evocative settings, with page-turning plots, then I’d recommend any Sarah Waters book, one of our best historical fiction authors. Fingersmith and The Night Watch are my two favourites.
If it’s the darker side of Hollywood you’re after, try the hard-hitting LA Confidential by James Ellroy. Set in 1951 LA, it’s about police corruption at its most brutal. Hollywood Babylon, by Kenneth Anger, is a non-fiction cult underground classic about the true crimes and misdemeanours of the film industry and worth a look if you love star gossip.
And finally, a bit of fun! Choose which you’d prefer and why.
- Hollywood A List party or Soho nightclub?
Soho nightclub definitely – I’d fit in much better and you can be who you want to be there.
- Drinks and gossip with Stella or Maggie?
It has to be Stella. I think she’d have much better stories to tell, having attended so many Hollywood parties.
- Fame or anonymity?
Anonymity - despite the rewards, the price for fame is too high.
A Beautiful Way to Die is published by Head of Zeus on May 8 in hardback, ebook and audio
Website: www.elenikwriter.com
Follow on @elenkiwriter
Upcoming events:
Eleni is appearing at the Beyond the Book Festival in Brighton, on Saturday 10th May, 11.30. The panel is called Digging up the Past and other authors include Imogen Robertson, Nikki May and Laura Shepherd-Robinson. Tickets from
https://www.beyondthebookfestival.org
She’s also in conversation at Radlett Library on Tuesday 13th May, 7pm, as part of their centenary celebrations. Tickets from https://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/services/libraries-and-archives/events-and-things-to-do/radlett/in-conversation-with-eleni-kyriacou.aspx