Charlie Lovett Spins A Literary Tale Tied to Early New York Children Mystery Writers in “Escaping Dreamland”
Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:06:18 — 60.9MB)
In this episode 154, we visit with New York Times bestselling novelist and playwright Charlie Lovett, whose latest novel is “Escaping Dreamland,” published by Blackstone Publishers.
Much of the book is set in the early 20th century in New York City, and explores historic New York and the lives of three young people writing series books for children (think The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew). The book is an homage to the books of our childhood, to New York City, and above all to love and friendship.
Liza Nash Taylor, author of “Etiquette for Runaways” says that “Lovett navigates skillfully between centuries while exploring interwoven themes of regret, unrequited love, loyalty, and ambition. Not since E. L. Doctorow’s Ragtime has this era in New York been so beautifully captured.”
Charlie starts the show with a reading from early in the book, where we learn that Robert, the modern-day protagonist, is a writer with a secret, one with a direct line to his love for the Hardy Boys, Tom Swift and the Tremendous Trio.
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About the Author:
Charlie Lovett was born in Winston-Salem, NC in 1962 and grew up as the child of a book-collecting English professor. He spent his summers in the rural North Carolina mountains and felt an early affinity for the countryside. He was educated at Summit School, Woodberry Forest School (Virginia), and Davidson College (NC) and in 1984 went into the antiquarian book business with his first wife, Stephanie. About the same time he began to seriously collect books and other materials relating to Lewis Carroll, author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
In 1997 Lovett received an MFA in Writing from Vermont College (now Vermont College of Fine Arts). During his work on this degree he researched and wrote Love, Ruth, a book about his mother, Ruth Candler Lovett, who died when he was two years old. Maya Angelou called the book “tender, sensitive, and true.”
After completing his MFA, Lovett lived with his wife Janice and daughter Jordan in England for six months, becoming closely connected to the village of Kingham, Oxfordshire. Ten years later, he and his wife purchased the cottage they had rented in 1997 and renovated it. They now spend about 6–8 week a year in Kingham, and have traveled extensively throughout the UK. His experiences in England are the basis for several of his novels.
Charlie’s break-through as a fiction writer came when he combined two of his passions—rare books and the English countryside—to write the Shakespearean mystery The Bookman’s Tale (Viking/Penguin, 2013), a New York Times bestseller and Barnes and Noble Recommends selection which has been translated into several foreign languages. Parade Magazine called the book “[A] delightful tale of love and bibliophilia.” His next novel, First Impressions(Viking/Penguin, 2014) was another literary adventure, this one starring Jane Austen. People Magazine called it “a delightful novel that weaves together a modern love story and a literary mystery involving Jane Austen.”
He is also a playwright whose plays for children have been seen in over 4500 productions worldwide. When he’s not writing, he hosts the podcast Inside the Writer’s Studio, a podcast about writers, their lives, their craft, and their latest work. That sounds familiar!
When not visiting his cottage in Kingham, Charlie Lovett lives in Winston-Salem with his wife Janice. They have two grown children, Jordan and Jimmy.
About the book “Escaping Dreamland”
Robert Parrish’s childhood obsession with series books like the Hardy Boys and Tom Swift inspired him to become an author. Just as his debut novel becomes a best-seller, his relationship with his girlfriend, Rebecca, begins to fall apart. Robert realizes he must confront his secret demons by fulfilling a youthful promise to solve a mystery surrounding his favorite series—the Tremendous Trio.
Guided by twelve tattered books and an unidentified but tantalizing fragment of a story, Robert journeys into the history of the books that changed his life, hoping they can help him once again. His odyssey takes him to 1906 Manhattan, a time of steamboats, boot blacks, and Fifth Avenue mansions, but every discovery he makes only leads to more questions.
Robert’s quest intertwines with the stories of three young people trying to define their places in the world at the dawn of a new and exciting century. Magda, Gene, and Tom not only write the children’s books that Robert will one day love, together they explore the vibrant city on their doorstep, from the Polo Grounds to Coney Island’s Dreamland, drawing the reader into the Gilded Age as their own friendships deepen.
Charlie Lovett’s Podcast – Inside the Writer’s Studio
In addition to writing, Charlie Lovett hosts Inside the Writer’s Studio, a podcast about writers, their lives, their craft, and their latest work. Guests have included John Grisham, Louise Penny, and Ian McEwan alongside other internationally bestselling fiction and non-fiction writers and debut authors. Charlie’s experience as a writer allows him to ask the questions others often don’t, leading to thoughtful discussions with some of today’s most talented and successful writers. Each episode ends with Charlie’s list of ten short-answer questions, and some of the answers might just surprise you. New episodes post on the 1st and 15th of each month. Inside the Writer’s Studio is available wherever you get your podcasts and Here.
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