Little Black Dress: A Novel

Two sisters whose lives seemed forever intertwined are torn apart when a magical little black dress gives each one a glimpse of an unavoidable future

Antonia Ashton has worked hard to build a thriving career and a committed relationship, but she realizes her life has gone off track. Forced to return home to Blue Hills when her mother, Evie, suffers a massive stroke, Toni finds the old Victorian where she grew up as crammed full of secrets as it is with clutter. Now she must put her mother’s house in order—and uncover long-buried truths about Evie and her aunt, Anna, who vanished fifty years earlier on the eve of her wedding. By shedding light on the past, Toni illuminates her own mistakes and learns the most unexpected things about love, magic, and a little black dress with the power to break hearts . . . and mend them.

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Product Description
Two sisters whose lives seemed forever intertwined are torn apart when a magical little black dress gives each one a glimpse of an unavoidable future.

Amazon Exclusive: Charlaine Harris Interviews Susan McBride

Susan McBride and Charlaine Harris met in 1999 when Susan’s very first novel was published by a small press and Charlaine was an established mystery author, writing two separate series (the Aurora Teagarden and Lily Bard Mysteries). Susan went on to do five Debutante Dropout Mysteries for HarperCollins/Avon while Charlaine tried her hand at a Southern Vampire Mystery featuring telepathic barmaid Sookie Stackhouse. When Dead Until Dark was released in 2001, Susan passed out wax vampire teeth at the Mayhem in the Midlands Convention to celebrate her friend’s new book, hoping it might just catch on. My, what a different a dozen years makes! Charlaine’s 11th Southern Vampire Novel, Dead Reckoning, was recently released and hit #1 on virtual every bestsellers list while HBO’s TrueBlood heats up the small screen. In the meanwhile, Susan has taken a leap of her own and in a mystical direction as well, penning her first novel of magic realism, Little Black Dress, prompting Charlaine to ask a few questions of her old pal.

Charlaine Harris: Writers approach a genre switch with trepidation. Were you excited? Anxious?

Susan McBride: I was very comfortable writing series mysteries but always had the itch to try something else. I was fortunate to be asked to write several young adult books and then The Cougar Club, my first mainstream novel, which gave me the confidence to attempt Little Black Dress. And I needed that confidence! Writing Little Black Dress was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I don’t think I’ve ever gone so deep into a story or into the characters, and it took over my life for months and months. I’m both excited and anxious for the book to come out, wondering what my mystery readers will think of it and hoping it attracts readers who’ve never read my books as well.

CH: What was your fundamental beginning idea for Little Black Dress? Was it a key scene, an interesting situation, the character of the protagonist?

SM: I’d love to say the idea came to me in a dream but it was really very simple. I was thinking of things that are common to all women—daughters, sisters, mothers, wives—and I envisioned a little black dress. Maybe because my mother always insisted that every girl should have at least one in her closet since they worked well at most any function: cocktail party, graduation, fancy dinners, and, of course, funerals. I wondered, though, what if there was a dress that fit several women in one family, all of whom were different sizes. And what if this dress was made of a very special silk that seemed “alive” and that, when donned, made its wearer glimpse her future. Then I saw two very different sisters from the 1960s, one destined toward spinsterhood and one on the eve of her wedding to a rich man she didn’t love. I wondered how putting on a magic black dress that revealed their fates could change both their lives. Would it push them apart or bind them together? Would the dress affect a second generation? So that’s where I started, and the idea blossomed from there.

CH: Why did you decide it was the right time to try something different?

SM: I’d been contemplating what I wanted to do after The Cougar Club as I so enjoyed telling that tale of three women and their great friendship. I think The Cougar Club is filled with hope and love, and I wanted to spin another story about hope and love and forgiveness but in a completely different way. Dealing with the magical element was definitely something I hadn’t tried before, but my agents and my editor were thrilled. In fact, I felt such enthusiasm from them over my Little Black Dressidea that it was kind of daunting. I knew I had to stretch my literary muscles further with Little Black Dress and dig a little deeper than I had before. Maybe because I have a sister—and we’re as much polar opposites as Anna and Evie Evans in Little Black Dress, I got very emotional while writing the book. But it all seemed to come together perfectly. I hate to say I think it’s fate, but I do!

CH: Was the editing process different for this very different book?

SM: Hmm, that’s an interesting question! It was a challenge to make sure I unveiled the mystery of the black dress and the sisters’ fates in a linear fashion while using two points of view: that of Evie, the older sister, and Antonia, her daughter. Evie’s perspective is very personal and historical, and Toni’s viewpoint is much more modern. So it was a matter of keeping the tension there while moving the story along, and reaching a place where past meets present (for want of a better description). My agents and my editor were incredibly insightful, and the novel is much stronger for their input.

CH: Do you think you’ll want to write more books like Little Black Dress, or do you think you’ll return to conventional mysteries?

SM: Yes, I’d love to write more books like Little Black Dresswith magical elements. It’s very freeing to know you can go beyond the boundaries of reality and what’s considered “normal” in these books, and I adore that feeling. In fact, I’ll be dipping into the world of magic realism with my next novel, Little White Lies.

CH: Last but not least, do you have a great little black dress that you can’t live without?

SM: I’m embarrassed to say that I don’t. I just have a really old one hanging in the back of my closet. And it would probably take some magic to make it fit. So I think I’d better go shopping!

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