Susan McBride: Little Black Dress
Book Club Discussion
Susan McBride discusses her latest novel,
Little Black Dress, with Queenie D.
Little Black Dress interview with Susan McBride
Where
did the idea for a magical black dress originate? How did you decide that it would be able to look into the future? Also, each woman who wears it notices
that the dress seems to have "a life of its own." Tell us more about this!
The story of
the magical black dress was inspired by a couple of things. I was thinking about heirlooms passed down from generation to generation. My mom had recently
given me this lovely painted brooch that had belonged to my great grandmother. I wondered about the power of family heirlooms. Many are considered lucky charms...but
what about those that brought bad luck? And I thought of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and the one pair of jeans that fits four friends who are
different shapes and sizes. Somehow, I needed to merge those two ideas!
My mother had always instilled in me that every woman needs a little black dress to get her though all of life's events, and I went, "Hmm, so what if there's
a black dress that fits three different women in one family, and what if it's magical so that its wearer sees a glimpse of her future when she puts it on?
What if sometimes that's a good thing and other times it's not so good?" Then my imagination went wild, and Little Black Dress was off and running.
Little Black Dress interview with Susan McBride
When
you began the story, did you know how it would end? Without giving it away, did you know that Anna and Evie would keep their secret from Toni?
I didn't know
everything that would unfold in the book because I don't write by an outline; but there were threads I needed to connect. In order to make sure the storylines
came full circle, I had to be privy to what secrets everyone was keeping. I decided along the way that I didn't want Evie and Anna to completely come clean
to Toni. Let's just say, there was something that happened within my own family a while back that helped me make that choice. Relationships are so complicated
and so tenuous. Truth can often cause more pain than saying nothing. I'm not a fan of lying, but there are rare occasions when I believe a little white lie-or
keeping mum-is warranted.
Little Black Dress interview with Susan McBride
Anna
sees her future clearly the night before her wedding and she is determined to allow it to play out as the dress planned which completely influences her decisions
all throughout her life. Is this a mistake?
Wow, what a
great question. Anna needed guidance but refused to listen to her parents. The dress gave her a path to follow. Was it rational? Definitely not. But part
of Anna's character--part of her charm--is that she doesn't do what's expected of her. She's a restless soul, a gypsy at heart, and the dress gave her the
perfect excuse to roam. Perhaps most importantly, she truly believed in the dress from the get-go. So I don't think it even crossed her mind not to take what
the dress showed her to heart.
Little Black Dress interview with Susan McBride
This
novel is all about destiny and following the path you were meant to follow. Do you believe we can change our destiny if we know what's supposed to be in store
for us? Or is the phrase "what will be, will be" true with no exceptions?
 I do believe
we're all in charge of our own destiny to a degree. We're given brains and certain skills, and, if we choose to pursue our strengths, they will take us in
certain directions. We all make choices along the way and even the smallest decision can have a big impact. The older I get, the more I believe that everything
happens for a reason. Sometimes I think we're put in situations for a purpose, even if we don't understand what that is at the time. When I look back on my
life so far, it boggles my mind how so many seemingly small happenstances led to truly big events, sort of like dominoes falling. We are not helpless pawns,
but I do feel there's something bigger in the universe that occasionally nudges us into a certain spot so we can be at the right place at the right time.
Little Black Dress interview with Susan McBride
Was
there a relationship between Ingrid and Evie's daddy? Is it possible that Bridget is his illegitimate child?
Hmm, I
wondered that myself. ;-)
Little Black Dress interview with Susan McBride
One of
my favorite parts of this whole story is the relationship between Jon and Evie. They truly were two halves of a whole. Would they have found each other whether
the dress was involved or not? Do you believe in soul mates?
Oh, gosh, I
love Jon and Evie together, too! I'd like to believe they would have found each other eventually, even without the magic of the dress. I wholeheartedly believe
in soul mates, and I think we find them precisely when we're not looking. When you do run into yours and you spend enough time with him (or her) to realize
there's something magical about the relationship, you go, "Ah-ha, so this is what it means to know." You just do. There's no doubt. Everything feels right,
precisely like you are two halves of a whole.
Little Black Dress interview with Susan McBride
So, at
the end, was the dress "good" or was it "bad/evil?"
My first
instinct is to say it's a little of both. Which makes me think of another question: would it be good or bad to know your future? There are some folks who'd
be dying to see. I'm not sure that I'd want to take the chance. There's a lot to be said just for taking life day by day.
Little Black Dress interview with Susan McBride
Do these
characters have a future story with you? I definitely felt we could continue onto the next generation!
Aw, thanks!
That's great to hear. I would love to see what happens with these people, too. There has been some talk about another book, carrying on their stories. Right
now, that's all it is: talk. My next women's fiction project after Little Black Dress has a whole different set of characters in very different circumstances.
Little Black Dress interview with Susan McBride
Can you
tell us anything about your current writing projects?
I just finished a draft
of a young adult mystery for Random House called Dead Address, and I'm just starting work on Little White Lies for HarperCollins/Morrow.
Little White Lies is about a woman in her fifties whose daughter comes home, pregnant (after having just broken up with her boyfriend). At the same
time, a tornado hits the town, and a man is dumped out of the sky into the family's walnut groove. When he awakens, he doesn't remember who he is, and he may
or may not be an old friend of the mother's, who'd promised to take care of her if she needed him. Only he went off to Africa in the Peace Corps and never
returned. So is this him thirty-some-odd years later? The daughter thinks it is, and she thinks he's her father, since that's the lie the mother told. Suffice
it to say, that it's about complicated family relationships and little white lies that are told for good reasons that sometimes complicate things even more.
So a bit of the truth vs. lies conundrum from Little Black Dress is carried over into Little White Lies.
Return from Little Black Dress to Home
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TYPE OF BOOK: Fiction
NUMBER OF PAGES: 320
YEAR PUBLISHED: 2011
AUTHOR'S SITE: SusanMcBride.com
BOOK RATING:
DISCUSSION RATING:
Queenie D Says:
Little Black Dress is definitely not the innocent story that the title may assume. This is a tale of heartache and family, and truth and forgiveness...and, yes,
it is based on a little black dress!
Sisters Evie and Anna are inseparable; although very different, the bond they share is strong and seemingly unbreakable. When the little black dress crosses
their paths the night before Anna's wedding, nothing is ever the same again.
I absolutely LOVED this book! I am always a fan of Susan McBride -- her novels are the type you can get a good cup of coffee and curl up with for hours, never
wanting the story to end. Little Black Dress went beyond even my expectations for this author because not only was it a well-written, intriguing story,
it took the theme of family and forgiveness to a whole new level. The added bit of "magic" in the dress was just icing on the cake.
The alternating narration made it impossible to fully root for one character -- I wanted ALL of them to get what they wanted and needed, even Anna. There were
times when I was angry with Evie, times when I was angry with Toni, and times when I was angry with Anna. The majority of the time I felt a desperate need for
them to set things right again. My favorite narrator was definitely Evie. I was enthralled by her relationships with others -- her parents, Anna, Toni, and especially
Jon. I can see now, after having completed the story, that her closed-lip nature was usually born from the need to protect someone she loved or from her own
fear of losing one of those people.
The added element of mystery surrounding the dress was just the thing to set this story apart from other family dramas. Could such a piece of clothing exist?
What's more, is there really this type of magic in the world? And if there is, should we use it or shelve it? I ponder that the lives of each character would
have been so drastically different if not for the dress and whether or not that would have been a good or bad thing.
Book clubs will talk for hours about this masterpiece!
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