What originally drew you to Hemingway and, particularly, The Sun Also Rises?

I have always been a Lost Generation obsessive, and have adored SUN since I first read it as a teenager. I was especially drawn in by Hemingway's character Lady Brett Ashley, who embodied elusive It-girl allure. I used to be enthralled by all sorts of fictional It-girl characters, like Holly Golightly (Breakfast at Tiffany's), Lily Bart (House of Mirth), and Sally Bowles (Berlin Stories, which inspired Cabaret), but Brett was especially beguiling to me.  When I found out she was based quite literally on a real-life woman, Lady Duff Twysden, I wanted to find out as much as I could about her.  And so I researched and wrote Everybody Behaves Badly, which tells her story, as well as the tale of how Hemingway the nobody became Hemingway the legend. 

[Photo by Christie Grimm]

1 of 10

The Guest List

More