Charlotte Cross is joining us today to talk about her novel, The Brides. Here’s the publisher’s description:
1884. When Mafalda journeys to Budapest to care for her grieving aunt, her secret love, Lucy, hurries from London to comfort her, with chaperone and lady’s maid in tow.
But lady’s maid Alice, blessed and cursed with the Sight, is tormented by terrifying visions. When chaperone Eliza falls prey to a disturbing wasting illness, the women hope to seek the healing waters of Transylvania. At a nobleman’s invitation, they set out for Castle Dracula.
In the depths of the forest, miles from civilization, their host reveals his true intentions; a monstrous ambition which will tear the women apart.
And not all of them will survive.
What’s Charlotte’s favorite bit?
You know what’s fun about writing an epistolary novel? Everything. It’s essentially a giant jigsaw puzzle, slotting timelines and reveals into place in a way which builds up to a deliciously satisfying payoff for the reader. But the thing I enjoyed most while writing my Dracula prequel (and sequel?) The Brides was getting into the head of almost every character at least once.
Now I’m going to tell you a secret: The Brides may be an ensemble novel, but I have a favourite character, the writing of whom I’d call my favourite bit of the whole process. Is it Count Dracula, scheming and plotting the export of his blood-and-soil vampiric nationalism? I do love him despite all his villainy, and I will say I gave him some spectacularly evil lines which I’m very proud of having written, but no.
My favourite character is my anti-heroine, Mafalda. Decisive, determined, and fiercely intelligent, once she sets out to accomplish something, she will not stop until it’s done. But Mafalda lives at a time when women are not respected. Women’s intellect is largely dismissed, and their legal right to do just about anything is precarious. Mafalda may be educated and privileged yet she feels, and in many important ways she is, deeply powerless.
Mafalda spends the first half of the novel caring for her deathly ill widowed aunt, managing the family’s business affairs, and dealing with the tumultuous fallout from learning the truth about her uncle’s recent demise. Then in waltzes her aunt’s suitor to ruin everything. The suitor is a minor character, but his misogyny and entitlement cause Mafalda to finally explode. In his thoughtlessness, he delivers upsetting news which causes her aunt’s already fragile health to break down even further. Mafalda has him thrown out of the family home, and vents all her frustrations to her secret love, Lucy. This outburst was glorious to write. To set all that rage free, rage which everyone who has ever been repeatedly underestimated and undermined can relate to, was brilliantly cathartic. If there’s any moment in The Brides where my own voice seeps through, it’s this one.
Spending so much time in the head of a character with almost zero self-doubt was like having a little holiday. The same could, of course, be said of Count Dracula. But in terms of choosing a favourite, what clinches it for me is that this book isn’t Dracula. With this type of story – a retelling, a reimagining of a classic – we know where we’re going to end up. We’re on the road to Castle Dracula, to a bloody showdown of epic proportions, but it’s how we get there that matters. The vampire Count circles Mafalda and the other women like a shark, pushing them closer and closer to where he can carry out his diabolical plan, but he’s not the star of the show. This isn’t his book. It’s theirs. The Brides.
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BIO:
Charlotte Cross writes historical fiction, having been fascinated by stories of the past since she was a child. She grew up in southern England in a small town with a rich history, and spent many happy hours at the local museum where her grandmother was a volunteer. Charlotte now lives in central Scotland, with her partner and their opinionated cats. When not writing, Charlotte enjoys yoga, reading Victorian novels, and exploring her adopted country.
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