We chat with author Julia Bryan Thomas about The Kennedy Girl, which showcases a journey to France through the eyes of a wide-eyed American orphan who becomes embroiled in an international espionage scheme.
Hi, Julia! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hello, and thank you for inviting me to do this interview! I came to writing a little late. After studying Education in college, I worked as a primary school teacher for twenty-five years. Along the way, I was editing my husband’s Victorian mystery novels, the Barker and Llewelyn novels by Will Thomas. Although I tried writing several books of my own through the years, I wasn’t successful until 2016 when I published an English mystery with a small press, followed by a second in 2017. However, I wasn’t entirely comfortable writing crime fiction, so I applied to the Yale Writer’s Workshop in 2019 and was accepted. I came away from that experience with a new perspective on writing and realized that with my love of history and research, I was better suited to write historical fiction. My next book, The English Boys, was published by Sourcebooks Landmark in 2022, followed by The Radcliffe Ladies’ Reading Club in 2023. I’m fortunate to have an amazing publisher and my third historical fiction book, The Kennedy Girl, comes out in January. It’s definitely a dream come true.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
I have wanted to write ever since I could hold a pencil. I was raised partly by my grandparents, and my grandmother was a voracious reader who wanted to write herself. She encouraged me to write stories and poems for her from the age of seven. She also gave me very eclectic books throughout my childhood, primarily classics and English novels ranging from Gavin Maxwell to Charles Dickens, so I was definitely guided by her to look at life in a very specific, English way.
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: The first book I ever remember reading was “The Little House” by Virginia Lee Burton. I love that story and always give a copy to the young people in my life.
- The one that made you want to become an author: The one that made me want to become an author was a book called “Patricia’s Secret” by Ruth Daggett Leinhauser. It’s the story of a girl who was raised by a pair of maiden aunts who has to go and live with the father she doesn’t know. I bought it myself for thirty-five cents from the Scholastic Book Order when I was eleven, and I read it over and over again for years. Like the protagonist, I didn’t know my father, and I had never heard anyone articulate what that felt like. I realized even at a young age that authors have a special ability to help us understand things that we can’t figure out on our own.
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: The book that I can’t stop thinking about was also given to me by my grandmother. It’s the 1957 novel On the Beach by Nevil Shute. It’s the story of a diverse group of people in Australia who are waiting for the deadly radioactive fallout to reach them after there has been a nuclear war in the Northern hemisphere. They have approximately nine months to live, and of course, different characters handle the situation in different ways. It’s a book of fear, love, longing, and despair, and yet somehow I always finish it feeling hopeful about humanity and the world around us. It’s the one book I wish everyone would read.
Your latest novel, The Kennedy Girl, is out January 14th! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Intrigue, glamour, France, fashion, espionage.
What can readers expect?
The Kennedy Girl is a story about a character named Mia, who at nineteen, has the opportunity to become a model in Paris. She’s thrust into the world of fashion and learning what it’s like living in Paris in 1960, when she discovers she’s being used to pass information to Cold War operatives. She’s caught by the CIA and given no choice but to become further drawn into the dangerous world of espionage.
Where did the inspiration for The Kennedy Girl come from?
I love the 1950’s and 60’s. There is so much glamour in that era. As far as espionage goes, I’m a fan of Len Deighton, who wrote The Ipcress Files, but I love other spy novels and movies, as well, both classics and modern. I decided to challenge myself to write something using the fashion industry and the complicated world of international politics. It was a tremendously fun book to write.
Can you tell us a bit about your research process for The Kennedy Girl?
I had so much to learn and I like to use as many facts as I can. First, although I had a fairly good knowledge base about former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, with whom my protagonist is obsessed, I read five biographies just to make sure I got the right feel for this story, even though her appearance is brief. In college, I had also studied Political Science as well as Education, so I enjoyed delving back into the arena of world politics, with a particular focus on the tensions from the post-World War II era through the early 1960’s.
France itself is almost a character in the book, and I was able to draw inspiration from my trips there, as well as immersing myself once again in the culture through books. And of course, there was a great deal of research to be done to build a credible story that involved the world of espionage. I conducted a number of interviews and studied spy manuals to create a realistic, era-appropriate novel.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
I think my favorite character to write was Chantal Fournier, a seventy-four-year-old Frenchwoman who is a lynchpin in the story. I loved her unique backstory: she was a widow who was escaping a difficult family and creating a life for herself at the age of sixty. However, she’s no average woman. She defines elegance, intelligence, and style. When I was writing her scenes, I felt that I had internalized everything I love about France and she was the result.
Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?
Like many writers, it can be a challenge to stay focused, so I have developed my own system. I keep a notebook and record how many words I have written so far, along with how many pages I have in the manuscript all together. It’s exciting to the see numbers shift every day and a visual reminder that what I’m working on is building and growing into a real book.
What’s next for you?
I’m in the early stages of another historical novel and am currently immersed in learning everything I can about the politics of the time. It takes place in New York and western Europe and will involve both mystery and adventure.
Lastly, what books are you looking forward to picking up in 2025?
I’m looking forward to picking up a copy of All Fours by Miranda July, as well as Follow Me to Africa by South African writer Penny Haw. I’m hearing wonderful things about both of them.
