Exclusive interview with author Alison Atlee and a review of her novel about a Victorian typist
Rating: Three Stars
By Gabrielle Pantera
“I came across a photo of a seaside switchback railway, an early version of the roller coaster, and knew I had a setting,” says The Typewriter Girl author Alison Atlee.
“Betsey, the heroine, has Thief the canary. In the stage directions for Pygmalion, the play that is the basis of the musical My Fair Lady, Bernard Shaw provides such poignant details about the flower girl’s dreary flat, including a mention of a birdcage, ‘its occupant long dead.’ I wanted to give her a live bird. Betsey’s name is a nod to Liza the flower girl.”
Atlee’s plot idea to follow the life of a typist during Victorian time is intriguing. That invention was a new opportunity for women of little means to find a place in business in the early 1900s, to escape being a servant or the sex trade. The main character, Betsy, has no illusions and understands she comes from a poor family. The story is told from more than one point of view, which adds drama, but too much head-hopping may cause some readers to lose connection with the characters.
Betsey leaves London for the seaside resort of Idensea carrying all she owns in a small valise plus her canary in a cage. She’s left London in disgrace after attempting to forge a letter of reference from her previous employer who had fired her. A young Welshman named Mr. Jones takes a chance on her. He’s not very good with people but a bit of a mechanical genius. He’s constructed a glittering pier in the resort and the wealthy visiting the seaside town are fascinated by it. He hires Betsy as tour manager of the pier. However, being in the eye of so many people means more probability that her past transgressions will be revealed.
Atlee has struggled to find the confidence to be a writer. “I didn’t know I could do any of this. I experienced one of those classic moments where you give up, only to have everything fall in your lap a little later. I was at such a point of resignation that I didn’t even let my agent know we would be at the same conference until my plane had landed. Before I got to baggage claim, my agent was putting together a meeting with Abby Zidle, the editor who would eventually buy The Typewriter Girl.”
The book is Atlee’s publishing debut. She says she also wrote some typical “practice novels” that she keeps socked away. The Typewriter Girl has not been optioned for film or television yet.
Abby Zidle at Gallery Books is Atlee’s editor. “Alison’s agent sent me her manuscript shortly before the Romance Writers of America conference,” says Zidle. “I had the opportunity to meet her in person at the conference, where we talked about her book a little. At that point, I hadn’t made an offer on it. I loved the character of Betsy right away, but to me, it felt like John was upstaging her in the first draft, so I wanted to broach the subject of rewrites with Alison early on. Happily, Alison got what I was going for, and the end result is a terrific read.”
Emmanuelle Morgen is Atlee’s agent. “I made an initial query list by looking at agent rosters for smaller regional writing conferences, thinking those agents were seeking new clients more actively,” says Atlee. “Emmanuelle was in that first group.”
“Her word choice is precise,” says agent Emmanuelle Morgan. “The word divine also comes to mind. As someone once said to me about Alison’s writing, ‘It’s like butter in your mouth.’ I think I used that phrase to pitch the book later.”
Alison Atlee is currently writing two other historicals, set in different periods than The Typewriter Girl. Atlee was born in and lives in Kentucky. Her website is: www.alisonatlee.com
The Typewriter Girl by Alison Atlee. Paperback, 384 pages, Publisher: Gallery Books; Original edition (January 29, 2013) Language: English ISBN-13: 978-1451673258 $15.00
