Today I have the honor of having
Diana Reid Haig as host on Enchanted by Josephine -History Salon. Please read
this wonderful interview and leave your comments for Diana. Also, remember that
the Giveaway continues!
'With you know who. The bust is at Versailles near the Hall of Battles'.
Diana, you are such a wonderful history author and it’s
such a pleasure to have you here today! Please tell us how you became
interested in history and a bit about yourself and your background.
Thanks for your kind words, which
mean more than you can imagine. When I was a child, my grandparents had a wonderful
collection of books and encouraged me to read. My mother loved history and was
clever enough to excuse me from any chores as long as I read what she defined
as a “good” book. Thankfully, almost any history book would do! I’m still a rotten
housekeeper as a result…
My grandparents were avid bridge
players and had a deck of cards adorned with Delaroche’s famous painting of
Napoleon. I remember staring at the cards, and the Emperor seemed to almost
reach out and say, “I will be important to you one day, little girl.” I had no
idea who he was. On the cards, he does not appear in royal garb but is dressed
in his green military jacket with epaulettes. His intense expression alone grabbed
my imagination. Just goes to show you can’t ever tell what will make an
impression on a child. Incidentally, I still have the cards!
You chose dreamy Paris for the setting of both your
books: Walks through Napoleon and Josephine’s Paris, and, Walks through Marie
Antoinette’s Paris. Could you share with
us how you came up with the idea and setting for these fantastic books? And- if
you have any future plans for maybe another great city for your fans to ‘walk
through’?
My husband and I love to travel
and, fascinated by Napoleon and Josephine, I tried to visit many places that
were important in their history.
Sometimes the houses or churches would be hard to find, and I wasted a
lot of time using Metro or RER directions that were incorrect. I started taking
notes so that any friends who wanted to visit these spots would be able to get
there quickly and see historical that I found were sometimes omitted from
tours.
After accumulating notes for
several years, I suddenly became ill. It turned out that I had a perforated
ulcer (due to an allergic reaction to a prescribed medicine). It is odd to be the sickest person in the
Emergency Room but, as I lay on a gurney and they prepared the first available
operating room for me, one thought kept circling in my brain: Napoleon died of
a perforated ulcer, and this is what he must have felt! Of course in the early
1800s, there wasn’t an operation to fix this medical disaster. As they wheeled
me into surgery, I thought, “Well, many eminent historians have written about
Napoleon – and I do not consider myself an academic – but I bet not many of
them have had perforated ulcers! It seemed like a sign. I remember lying in the
ER thinking, “No one here could imagine that I’m thinking about Napoleon!”
You don’t ever want to meet your
surgeon the morning of your operation but, luckily, I had a terrific doctor.
She told me that I would have a long recovery and needed to take it easy for a
while. So I brought my laptop into bed and began to type up my notes about
Napoleon and Josephine hoping it would become a pamphlet. Some days I didn’t
even feel well enough to do that, and I simply read. One of the books that I liked to read was
about Paris. I noticed that the publishers had included an email address. I
contacted them and told them that I was working on a project about Napoleon and
Josephine’s Paris. To my shock, they called, set up a meeting and became my
first publisher.
I didn’t have an agent, and I
still don’t (although I’d love one). I firmly believe that, “if I can do it,
you can do it,” so I’d like to encourage any of you interested in writing a
book.
As for future plans, I’m working
on several projects:
I’ve just finished my first app for
the iphone and ipad. It’s a travel app about Paris’ Palais Royal and
surrounding area. It has been fun to work in this new genre!
I’m nearing completion of an eBook
version of my title Walks through Marie Antoinette’s Paris, and this
edition will include a new chapter and lots of wonderful historic images that
we didn’t have room for before.
I’m working on a travel book
entitled Jacqueline Kennedy’s New York, for which I received a research
grant from the Kennedy Foundation that allowed me access to many historical and
wonderful photos and papers belonging to Mrs. Kennedy that are kept in their
library outside Boston. Mrs. Kennedy worked tirelessly to save many historical
buildings in Manhattan, including Grand Central Station. She adored classic
buildings designed by Stanford White and Rosario Candela, and I find that style
of architecture irresistible. Many stores and designers who provided the former
First Lady with clothes and hats were based there, and some can still be seen
today. I unearthed Halston’s original
drawings of the pillbox hats that he made for Mrs. Kennedy early in his career
when he was still a milliner working at Bergdorf Goodman. They’re beautiful,
and I hope to be able to include some in the final manuscript.
I’m also writing my first novel,
which is set during the French Revolution. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever
tried, but I just can’t say goodbye to that era. I hope you’ll let me give you
and your readers an update as to my progress! I’m excited about my heroine, who
has become quite real to me. Several times a day, I imagine her voice saying,
“Stop what you’re doing and come write about me!”
Diana, when browsing through your website I noted that
your expertise and interests extend to other exciting venues! Please tell us
more about what you do.
Until I wrote the book about
Napoleon and Josephine, I had always worked in the music business. Over fifteen
years, I compiled almost a hundred collections of popular American music.
Sometimes I wrote liner notes to accompany the CDs or box sets, but primarily I
put together the compilations (selecting the songs, finding the tapes, going in
the recording studio to master the project). I did several albums that featured
Brenda Lee and Patsy Cline’s recordings; they are personal favourites of mine.
I also love classic R&B and worked on many projects for Motown.
In closing, if you could choose one period in history
you would love to have lived in, where would that be and tell us who you would love
to have met?
I am fascinated and haunted by
the years of the Ancien Régime, the Revolution, the
Directory and the Consulate. I often imagine myself in those eras although I
probably would’ve been a scullery maid or, worse yet, an impoverished “aristo”
carted off to “kiss the guillotine.”
I would love to have met:
Bonaparte (though I don’t think
he’d approve of me) and Josephine, Josephine’s children (Eugene and Hortense),
A brilliant man named Vivant
Denon (for whom the Denon wing in the Louvre was named) who was a great friend
of Josephine’s and became head of Napoleon’s museums. Besides being a great art
connoisseur, Denon was supposed to have been a great charmer and raconteur.
I wish I could meet these
painters: the great Pierre Paul Prud’hon and his partner Constance Meyer, Mme.
Vigee LeBrun, although I’m not sure that we would have like each other, the
handsome and talented Jean-Baptiste Isabey (who painted so many lovely
miniatures of Josephine and was her official art director).
I would like to have met
Napoleon’s younger sister, Pauline, and get a personal tour of her fabulous home
(which now is the British Ambassador’s residence in Paris) and see the sterling
silver cups she commissioned from one of Napoleon’s purveyors Odiot. They were
made for drinking punch, and naughty Pauline used her own breast as a model.
I would love to walk through the
Palais Royal one spring night in the late 1780s at the height of its popularity
and marvel at its decadence.
Diana, thank
you so much for letting us get to know you better. You are such an interesting person and a true
inspiration for all aspiring authors, historians and readers of this
genre. Thank you so much for your time
and this fantastic interview.
STAY TUNED FOR MORE HISTORY AND PHOTOS TO COME...
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