My second semester at NYU, I began dating a guy who was in one of my writing workshops. He happened to be a native New Yorker, and our relationship made it easier for me to get used to the city. About a year later, I moved in with him. Eventually we got married. By then I’d fallen in love—with the city, that is. Sometimes I wonder … if I’d gone to school in Washington, would I have married a lumberjack, stayed in Seattle, and written novels set in the Pacific Northwest?
You are married with children, yet the two main characters in the book are single and childless, possibly not by choice for Amanda but in Olive’s case, most decidedly. Each character expresses curiosity about motherhood. Did anything in your experience inform this aspect of the book?
I’ve always focused on aspects of sexuality that challenge my female main characters, so it was only natural for me to delve into how Olive and Amanda grapple, each in her own way, with the prospect of being childless.
This novel is about two businesswomen. They’re passionate about their work, and they’re conflicted about motherhood and marriage. But the potential to have a child is integral to every woman’s existence. After all, a woman lives in a body that is equipped to give birth. She grows breasts that are designed to feed an infant, and bleeds out of her vagina for a few days every month from her teen years until menopause. This goes on whether she ever gets pregnant or not.
I think it’s amazing how invisible the act of menstruation is in our society. By all appearances, it isn’t happening. We’ve managed to keep blood and its stains underneath our clothing and out of sight. But blood is extremely, even unrelentingly, present in the daily life of a woman—much more than in a man’s. This is why I wanted to include a realistic sense of the anticipation, arrival, and presence of blood for my characters.
You include elements of magical realism to enhance your story. Why did you decide to do this?
I don’t lean toward mystical or supernatural ways of thinking, and I didn’t originally intend to have those elements in the novel. As a matter of fact, in my original concept, the novel was primarily about Olive, and Amanda’s story was much less important. I thought she’d mainly serve to bookend the story from the past. But Amanda’s role gradually expanded until finally I reached the point of alternating every chapter between the two characters.
In the process of intertwining their stories, I needed to make sure their narratives had a consistent connection, so I began to play with heightening Amanda’s sense of being haunted by Olive. Apart from adding some mystery, I think it works to bring the reader in more viscerally to Amanda’s fascination with the past and her sense that Olive “speaks to her,” or resonates, on an emotional level.
The blurring of reality and fantasy is something I do experience as a writer. Since I’m constantly visiting the make-believe world of the novel, the characters can take on a life of their own. So, for example, I occasionally walk up Sixth Avenue and stare at the building where Siegel-Cooper used to be—now primarily occupied by a Bed, Bath & Beyond. I’ve had to remind myself that Olive and Angelina never actually worked in that building, and, oh yes, they didn’t exist.
The ending of Astor Place Vintage is left relatively open, with a few questions unanswered. Do you feel it is more authentic to not have the ending neatly tied together?
Yes, it’s more authentic and more in keeping with the themes of the novel.
Amanda remembers staring at the pages of her Time-Life books, wishing she could see beyond the edges. She wants to know more about the people in the photographs and what they were thinking. Olive’s journal gives her a chance to do this. But as Amanda reaches the last entries, she dreads finishing. This is partially because she’s afraid of what she’ll find out, but it’s also because she doesn’t want to say good-bye to Olive.
When she does finish, parts of Olive’s story are unresolved, and Amanda goes to Jane Kelly, hoping for resolution. While she does tie up some loose ends, she also accepts that what’s past is past and the entire story can never be known. I think it’s important for the reader to experience that same sense of loss along with Amanda.
In earlier drafts, I experimented with giving Amanda more of a chance to question Jane Kelly about what happens to Olive and Angelina after the journal ends. I was never satisfied with these exchanges. Jane Kelly’s answers didn’t fool me: the author was obviously making arbitrary executive decisions about the fates of these two women.
I do think the important questions are answered enough to satisfy the reader.
Once the story lines of Amanda and Olive come together, and the dramatic action comes to a climax, the story needs to wind down and there’s only so much more that can be told. Beyond that, one can guess, based on character, what will happen to a character, but supplying too much information feels false.
Are you currently working on a new project? Will you continue the story lines of Olive or Amanda in any future novels?
I’m working on another historical idea. It doesn’t involve Olive or Amanda. But I do like to think about what other interesting items of clothing Amanda might come across, so you never know!
ENHANCE YOUR BOOK CLUB
1. On Stephanie Lehmann’s website dedicated to the book, www.AstorPlaceVintage.com, you can find out more about the story, read Stephanie’s blog about her passion for vintage clothing and collectables, and discover more about what it was like to live at the turn of the twentieth century. She has a growing collection of New York City historical photographs on www.VintageManhattan.com. Stephanie also has her own website, www.StephanieLehmann.com, where you can learn how she came to be an author and read about some of her thoughts on the process of writing. As a group you can contact her to ask questions or tell her about your discussion.
2. Vintage clothing and fashion are a central element in the book. Have members of your group bring (or better yet, wear) a vintage item of clothing that has special meaning to them. If they don’t have clothing, substitute an object that kindles nostalgia. Have each member take turns explaining the importance of her or his contribution.
3. Have members of your group think of a department store, or any store they remember shopping in as a child. Is that store still there? What do you remember about shopping there? Share your stories with one another.
4. If you have access to an Italian bakery, order some pastries to enjoy at your meeting: cannoli, biscotti, rum baba, and especially sfogliatelle.
© CHARITY DE MEER
STEPHANIE LEHMANN received her B.A. at U.C. Berkeley and M.A. in English from New York University. She has taught novel writing at Mediabistro and at Salon.com, where her essays have been published. She lives in New York City.
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Touchstone
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2013 by Stephanie Lehmann
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Touchstone Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.
First Touchstone trade paperback edit
ion June 2013
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Designed by Ruth Lee-Mui
Cover design by Eileen Carey
Cover photographs: Woman © Getty; city © Corbis
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lehmann, Stephanie.
Astor Place Vintage / Stephanie Lehmann.
p. cm.
“A Touchstone Book.”
1. Women—Fiction. 2. Vintage clothing—Fiction. 3. Diaries—Fiction. 4. Manhattan (New York, N.Y.)—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3612.E355 A88 2013
813’.6 2012031168
ISBN 978-1-4516-8205-2
ISBN 978-1-4516-8206-9 (ebook)
Contents
Tuesday
Chapter 1: Amanda
Chapter 2: Olive
Chapter 3: Amanda
Chapter 4: Olive
Chapter 5: Amanda
Chapter 6: Olive
Chapter 7: Amanda
Chapter 8: Olive
Chapter 9: Amanda
Chapter 10: Olive
Chapter 11: Amanda
Chapter 12: Olive
Chapter 13: Amanda
Chapter 14: Olive
Chapter 15: Amanda
Chapter 16: Olive
Wednesday
Chapter 17: Amanda
Chapter 18: Olive
Chapter 19: Amanda
Chapter 20: Olive
Chapter 21: Amanda
Chapter 22: Olive
Thursday
Chapter 23: Amanda
Chapter 24: Olive
Chapter 25: Amanda
Chapter 26: Olive
Chapter 27: Amanda
Chapter 28: Olive
Chapter 29: Amanda
Chapter 30: Olive
Friday
Chapter 31: Amanda
Chapter 32: Olive
Saturday
Chapter 33: Amanda
Chapter 34: Olive
Chapter 35: Amanda
Chapter 36: Olive
Chapter 37: Amanda
Chapter 38: Olive
Chapter 39: Amanda
Chapter 40: Olive
Chapter 41: Amanda
Chapter 42: Olive
Chapter 43: Amanda
Acknowledgments
Photo Credits
Reading Group Guide
About Stephanie Lehmann
Astor Place Vintage: A Novel Page 35