Alex George, THE PARIS HOURS: A Novel

[1:17]Zibby Owens: This is Zippy Owens, and you're listening to the award winning podcast, Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books. I'm also the host of Moms Don't Have Time to Lose Weight, and I'm the editor of the anthology, which you should run out and buy, called Moms Don't Have Time to: A Quarantine Anthology. All proceeds of that book go to COVID nineteen Vaccine Research. And I'm the editor in chief of Moms Don't Have Time to Write, a new publication on Medium, and we're accepting submissions, so please send personal essays there. And if all that isn't enough, you can follow me on Instagram ZibbyOwens and my website is zibbyowens.com. Okay, now back to this amazing podcast. Alex George is the author of The Paris Hours, which is now out in paperback. A native of England, Alex read law at Oxford University and worked for eight years as a corporate lawyer in Paris and London. He has now lived in the Midwest of The United States for the last sixteen years. We talked about why. He is the founder and director of the Unbound Book Festival and is the owner of Skylark Bookshop, an independent bookstore in downtown Columbia, Missouri. And by the way, he is on the indie bookseller advisory board for Zippy Books. Alex is the author of The Paris Hours, A Good American, and Setting Free the Kites. Welcome, Alex. Thanks so much for coming on Mobs Don't Have Time to Read Books to discuss The Paris Hours Now in Paperback. Hi, Zippy. Thank you for having me. It's great to be here. You are a beautiful, beautiful writer. I mean, the way you describe things, the scenes, the, you know, the interspersing of French and English and different characters perspectives all sprinkled throughout and all the little details. It's really, really beautiful writing. So I'm sure you know this, but anyway, just wanted to throw it out there.

[2:58]Alex George: Oh, well, you. I tell you, mean, speaking, I mean, no one can ever hear that quite enough. So it's always lovely to hear. So thank you. Thank you very much. You're welcome. Would you mind telling listeners what The Paris Hours is about and also what inspired you to write it? Sure. So The Paris Hours is set over the course of a single day in Paris in 1927. And there are, it's really that there are four stories that are sort of told in alternating chapters, and they cross pollinate each other and they sort of mix. But each story has its own principal character. There is Guillaume, who is a lovesick painter. There is Sorin, who is an Armenian puppeteer who performs puppet shows for the children of Paris in his own language. There's Jean Paul, who is a writer who tells other people's stories because his own is too sad to tell, and he spends his time wandering through the streets of Paris looking for his lost daughter. And finally, there is Camille, the maid of Marcel Proust. And story really began with her. I was reading the memoir of Celeste Albire, who is Proust's real life maid. And there was a story in there when she told about Proust asking her to burn all of his notebooks. And I always say that authors like magpies, and we're always on the lookout for these little dimmering things that we can pick up and use in our fiction. And that was one of those times this light bulb went off in my head and I thought, oh, that's really interesting. And when people ask, well, where do your questions come from? Where do your stories come from? The question that often begins is something along the lines, well, what if? And so I began thinking, well, what if one of those notebooks wasn't burnt and was saved? And then the next question that immediately followed that was, and what if there was a secret in that notebook that everybody thought had been destroyed but wasn't? And so really from that tiny little acorn of an idea grew this this whole story. Wow.

[5:09]Zibby Owens: Well, you have so much, you know, real life people and places interspersed with these fictitious stories, which I guess is obviously just historical fiction, but it was so neat as different characters sort of, like, came on and off the stage. It seemed very theatrical almost in the way you presented it. So even with, like, Gertrude Stein sort of, like, opening up the door one day and, you know, not even realizing that she was a woman and that whole scene of negotiation and, you know, actually going to Jean Paul Satra's grave and like seeing what that was like. I mean, all of these little bits and pieces, you know, it was really it felt like you were back in time. And then of course, you have really traumatic, this whole Armenian escape and how I mean, that was so intense. Woman having to bury her baby. It's all over. We're everywhere from the quiet studios in Paris to the side of the road. You just took us on It's just amazing, this adventure that the book takes the reader on. It's really quite elaborate in terms of place and scale and everything. So

[6:18]Alex George: it's awesome. Well, yeah, thank you. Mean, one of the things that, you know, you set a book over the course of one day, and there are many times during the writing of this when I ask myself over and over why did I think that was ever a bit of an idea. But one of the things that happens is that in order to make it work, there are lots of flashbacks. And that's sort of what you're referring to with Soren's escape from Armenia and the genocide there and all of these harrowing things that happen. And I mentioned, so we talked about Marcel Proust a minute ago, and the

[6:50]Zibby Owens: usual translation of his novel is In Search of Lost Time. Did I say Jean Paul Sartre, but I meant Marcel Proust? Did I just say that? Oh, yeah. Well, am such a moron. I'm sorry. I can see it in my head. And you said 1922 and the whole thing, and I just said the wrong name. Anyway, sorry. So

[7:07]Alex George: Proust's novel is usually translated as In Search of Lost Time, which could be a good subtitle for this book in a way, because all four of the main characters are looking back to earlier times, and they're all looking to retrieve something that they had in the past. And so there is a degree of melancholy about the book, I think, when they are looking back because none of them can really get there. So there are lots of emotions flying around for sure. Yeah, there's this sort of lingering haunting sadness.

[7:41]Zibby Owens: You know, it's like a thin blanket over everybody. I just wanted to read maybe a passage or so that I thought was really particularly beautiful, which of course I won't be able to find now that I'm on the phone with you here, but let's see. Yeah, I have it here, Marcel Proust. I don't know why I said the wrong name. Okay, well, is just one random example from Rhapsody about a clarinet. And he said, The clarinet, the first low trill, fat with promise, then the solo ascent to the heavens, soaring smoothly through the registers. By the time that ecstatic high note, Limpet and Beautiful, pours into his ears, John Paul has made his escape. I mean, that's just so pretty. And then here again, he soars high over the city's skyscraper silhouette, his for the taking. He hears the rumble of the Harlem bound A Train and the orchestra's propulsive rhythms, low and sweet. He hears New Worlds and the piano's blistering, arpeggiated attacks. Images streak past like the onrushing traffic hurtling down the Arrow Street Avenues. Perfect lines of shimmying, high kicking chorus girls, their cherry red lips glistening in the spotlights. A livery doorman striding onto the busy street, his hand outstretched for a yellow cab, elegant matrons pushing through the door at Bergdorf's. This is all a couple blocks away from here, by the way. So I was gonna say, it's just on the way. Yeah. This is my doorman, and, you know, I can see Bergdorf's through at the door there. But, no, I'm kidding. I'm not that close. But this, of course, is his, you know, thinking back to when he was in New York. It's just such a like, how did you how did you find your style of writing? Gosh, what an interesting question. I mean, I don't know. I never attended a writing class. I don't have an MFA or anything like that. I mean, I'm an attorney by profession

[9:18]Alex George: and a bookstore owner now. Just trial and error, really. This is my seventh novel. Writing is a craft like any other. And one hopes that you always continue to evolve as a writer and learn new things or at least learn not to do old things. So I never set out to write in a particular way. I like that sort of lyrical tone that that passage sort of encapsulates quite nicely, I guess. But it's not all like that. I mean, some of it's a little bit more gritty. But that particular piece, I mean, title of the chapter is Rhapsody. And of course, it's about Jean Paul listening to Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. And I'm English, and I didn't go to New York until I was in my 20s. And really, what Jean Paul is feeling there is kind of what I used to feel when I listened to that music as a teenager and before I went to New York. It was it did encapsulate so much about what I imagined America and New York was like. And so I know you speak to hundreds and hundreds of writers all the time, but I'm sure that most of them will tell you, fiction, you may be making stuff up, but it's always at its best when there's a kernel of truth in there somewhere. And so I was just writing from my experience of that sort of yearning that I had about going to America. Just like over in London or in Wiltshire, actually, in the West Country where I grew up, nothing could seem further away than New York. And I remember the first time I went just being stunned by the and so excited by the steam coming out of the middle of the road because it's like, that was what it was like in the movie. And so when you have the confluence of reality and expectation,

[11:14]Zibby Owens: it's always fun. So anyway, I'm sorry. That's a complete digression. No. And that's so funny because the other day I was literally walking across the street and this huge burst of, hot, gross steam, like, went like right through me. And I was like, oh, this is so gross. And you're like, that's amazing.

[11:31]Alex George: Yes. Yes. I think that that's an interesting different perspective. So how did you go from being a lawyer to a novelist? Or when did you really Did you always love to write? Like, how did this all come about? I didn't always love to write. I mean, I wish I could tell you that I used to walk around as a six year old with notebook and sort of jotting down thoughts on the human condition, but that was not how it happened. Probably just as well because I would have got thumped a lot. When I was in my early 20s and I was working as a lawyer in London and in Paris, in fact, I worked there for a while, is sort of how I know the city so well. I mean, I just read a lot. I was always a keen reader. I went through a period of time when I just read a lot of really terrible books. And I started saying to people, well, I could do better than this. And finally, somebody gently suggested that I should put my money where my mouth was and try. And so not knowing any better, I thought, well, right, and I will. And so I started and I just began writing and not really expecting anything would come of it. And I had an idea for sort of the first three chapters of a book, and I wrote those and then I just kept going. And a year or so later, I had a I had a novel and I worked at the time for a firm who coincidentally represented a couple of literary agents. And I actually went to a party at the Frankfurt Book Fair and worked out which one of these one of the guests was one of the agents, wait until quite late in the evening when she was she had had a couple of drinks and then went up to her and said, Oh, Maggie, I know I'm a lawyer, but I've written this book. And of course, because it was at a party and because we were the hosts, she said, Well, do send it to me. And so I did. And she didn't read it, but she gave it to her assistant and her assistant read it and she liked it and she took me on. And then we had an auction between Hob Collins and I forget who, Hob Collins won. And I published four books in The UK and I was sort of off to the races. And I wrote my first two and a half books while I was still lawyering full time. Yeah, so it's been quite a journey. And then when I moved to The States in 2003 and I've published three books here,

[13:43]Zibby Owens: so it's almost like it's a second career, it feels like, which has been kind of fun. Yeah. So how did you end up then opening the bookstore? Like, how did you get where you are? Open the bookstore. Like, your life seems like that's not where I might have pegged you from, you know, a couple of twenty years ago or something. Yeah, no, no, me neither. I mean, if you told me as

[14:02]Alex George: a 25 year old that twenty five years later, I'd be living in Missouri running a bookstore and a book festival. I mean, the first thing I would have said was, Well, where's Missouri? And then I just would have assumed that you'd been hallucinating. So I got to Missouri because of a woman. Somebody actually I met in Paris when I was working there is, and I will try and keep the story very, very quick, but she lived in New York. She's American, but she was from a little town in Missouri called California, Missouri. And we got married and got married in New York, lived in London, and then we moved back to Missouri in 2003. So that's kind of how that happened. Wait, where did you get married in New York? On Downing Street in the village. There's a lovely converted coach house down there, which is very, very nice. So that was the story I got married. And so I've been here for eighteen years now, and we're actually not together anymore, but we have two kids. And so I was not obviously going to go back to England, so I sort of hung around. And then the bookstore came around because I, back about seven or eight years ago, I began a book festival called the Unbound Book Festival, which was wonderfully well received by the community here. And it was clear to me doing that that there was a real hunger for books and reading. I mean, this is the Columbia is a university town. There are three universities here, lots of incredibly smart people, lots of good readers and writers. But there wasn't an independent bookstore selling new books. And so I thought, well, there's clearly a gap in the market. So let's try to fill it, which we did. And we've been open for three years now. And, you know, it's been a funny three years, as you might imagine, with COVID. But we're still there and we're still going. We're very grateful for it. So it's yeah, it's been a lot of fun. Today's episode is sponsored by Quince.

[17:24]Alex George: Wow. But not you're you're absolutely right, Zibi. It's not exactly what I would have imagined for myself if you'd asked me twenty five years ago. Although, I mean, not a lot of people's lives are necessarily exactly what they would have picked twenty five years ago.

[17:37]Zibby Owens: True enough. So maybe this isn't the most crazy story, but it's a pretty cool literary journey. I'll say that. So are you still writing? Are you working on a new novel now? I am. Yes, it's been slow going. I mean, the pandemic has.

[17:52]Alex George: You know, I spoke to lots of my friends who write and a lot of people so it's interesting because a lot of people assume that with the pandemic, everyone's been writing up a storm because they can't go out or they haven't been able to go out. So they just sit at their desk and they write. And I know some people that is true, but the majority of people that I've spoken to, the opposite has actually happened. And I think that the anxiety and the fear and the worry that they feel has just crippled them creatively a little bit. And that's certainly been my problem. So, I mean, I am I am in the foothills of a new book, but I'm not going as quickly as I would like. It's partly because with with the festival, which we which was online last year and is now going to be in person in 2022 and with the book. So there's a lot to do. But it's just it's just hard to tell stories these days. You know, it feels that there are sort of almost like more pressing things. So, you know, and I was I was on a panel a couple of months ago with Anne Patchett, and she was saying that she had no she she's just about to come out with a new collection of essays, which I'm extremely excited about. But that was that was what she did. She she turned to nonfiction rather than fiction because, again, just telling stories just didn't seem possible at the time. So, yeah, so I mean, I am, but it's very slow.

[19:14]Zibby Owens: One rationale I've heard is that, you know, when truth is stranger than fiction, it's hard to turn to fiction. Exactly right. Yeah, yeah. I think that's true. The problem is, is that readers are even more reliant on escaping through stories at the moment when authors are feeling like, why does this story I'm making up possibly matter when the world is like in this crazy place? But I mean, luckily, there are a million books you can pick up at any time. Still, I mean, I think the hunger for stories has only been amplified lately. So that's a good point. I think that's right. And certainly, there are times when, you know, as a writer, I've

[19:50]Alex George: sought refuge in my own stories, which has always been a joy. There are times when because I write very early in the morning, I used to get up at five and write, and I would occasionally break my own rule and go onto the internet before I would begin. And I would occasionally go on social media and just say, Right, I'm off to Paris. And then just that would all be all I would say. And then I'd start writing. And then two hours later, I'd sort of turn the internet back on and people would be going, Oh, you lucky thing. When are you going? And I was like, No, no, not actually, Pam, just in my head. It does. I mean, it provides an escape for the writers

[20:30]Zibby Owens: as well as the readers. So you always write in the morning?

[20:34]Alex George: Yes. Yes. And I try and carve out one day a week where I can write for longer periods of time, but that's not going so well right now.

[20:44]Zibby Owens: And tell me about the upcoming Unbound Festival.

[20:47]Alex George: So having done so 2020 was a bust because we because it takes place in April every year and we had everything all lined up and it was really just at the last minute that we had to cancel it. In 2021, we just decided we weren't even going to try, which turned out to be a very good plan. And so it was all online. And that was actually I mean, wasn't the same, obviously, as meeting in person, but it went very well. We had, I think, 33 events and about 65 authors. And Tracy K. Smith and Jericho Brown were our two keynotes, two wonderful poets who just had this incredible conversation, which was wonderful. And we're going to be back in person in 2022. And the keynote speaker is Viet Thanh Nguyen. We're very, very excited about that. So that's going to be great. But it's the festival that takes place in Columbia, Missouri. It's completely free to attend. We normally have 60 or 70 authors who come, and we bring them in from around the country. And yeah, it's a good time. It's an insane amount of work, which I didn't realize when I began this. Thought we could, oh yeah, this would be fun. Just got a few people come in. It'd be easy. But not the case, actually. But it's wonderfully rewarding and it's been a wonderful way of meeting. So what's been fun is that I've been able to meet in person a ton of people who I knew online, a ton of authors who I finally got to meet because they came to the festival. So that's been terrific. Oh, excellent. Yeah, but it's just a wonderful way of giving something back to this community. It's a lot of fun. And if people want to find out more about it or attend or anything, where should they go? So it's unboundbookfestival.com. And we're just beginning to get the programming sorted for next year. We always get the keynote in place first and then sort of program around it a little bit. So we'll be announcing more authors all the time. Exciting. That's awesome.

[22:43]Zibby Owens: So do you have any advice for aspiring authors? Well,

[22:47]Alex George: I do. I mean, it has to, of course, come with a caveat that this is what has worked for me and everybody is different. So what you know, and I in And the shop, we actually have I'm very proud of we have a big section in the shop for I think we call it books on writing, and it's everything from sort of very abstruse terms about writing dialogue to Anna Most and Elizabeth Gilbert, all of whom sort of it's all good advice, but not all of it works for everybody. So you have to find your own way. So with that caveat out of the way, what I always tell people is find a routine, I guess most importantly, and try and write every day, even if it's just for thirty minutes. And find a place, find a time. And then when you've done that, defend it with your life and don't let anything get in the way. It's all about priorities, and you have to make writing a priority. And there's a great book actually called The War of Art by Stephen Pressley. I think that's his name. And he basically says he does his best to sort of unglamorize it. And he says, just treat it like a job, treat it like anything else. And you have to you wouldn't not turn up for your job one day just because you couldn't be bothered. And so it really it's a very sort of down to earth, no nonsense kind of advice, which a lot of people maybe don't want.

[24:14]Zibby Owens: Think they might need it.

[24:16]Alex George: They were exactly they might need it. So that's always been my approach. And because I've always had so many jobs going on, doing so many things simultaneously, for me, was very important to compartmentalize like that. And so, like I say, I get up at 05:00 every day and I write for two hours, and then I turn off the computer and then take my daughter to school and then get on with everything else that I do. And that's pretty much how these books get written. I mean, it takes a long time to do it that way. But most people, when they start off writing, are doing other things. And so that's why I think that advice might be helpful because it's just you need to find a time and stick to it. And it's

[24:59]Zibby Owens: a marathon. It's not a sprint. And it's true what you said. A lot of people who pick up books and they think, we could do this, or I could write like this or whatever. Maybe you could write that page, right? Like, maybe you could write that paragraph. Maybe you could write that chapter, but like, there's a lot more to it than just that paragraph. So you have to actually put in the time to do the rest of it. No, absolutely. And there's the old saying about, what is it, 98%

[25:28]Alex George: or 2% inspiration, 98% perspiration. It's a slog. Mean, writing is lonely and sometimes it's boring and sometimes it's the spirit. Sorry, I make it sound so enticing.

[25:43]Zibby Owens: It's not the wall.

[25:47]Alex George: I mean, nobody would do this unless they really felt the need to do it and the need to tell stories because it's hard work. I think when I when I first left my law firm, still living in London and began writing full time, I think my ex colleagues imagined I would sort of get out of bed at 11:00 and then sit down with a cup of coffee in my dressing gown and tap out a paragraph and then go back to bed. I mean, nothing could be further from the truth. I was just living in terror of abject penury and was sort of writing quicker than ever because I was just terrified. But you do. Yeah, you just you've got to stick at it. And bloody mindedness and determination is a more important quality to have at certain times anyway than

[26:33]Zibby Owens: a felicitous turn of phrase. So are there any books? Last question, then I'll let you go here. But are there books you're loving right now or just books that you always go to as your favorites

[26:44]Alex George: in general? So one book that I adore and never have far away from me is Upstream by Mary Oliver, which is not poems, but they're a collection of essays. And there's a bit in the middle of the book, which is sort of a lit crit, which I am less interested in. But first bit of the book and the last bit of the book are these beautiful, beautiful essays about creativity and about nature and about being in the moment. And every time, they're all heavily, heavily underlined, and there's so much wisdom and beauty in those pages. So that's one that I adore. And in kind of a similar vein, there's a wonderful book called The Book of Delights by Ross Gay, which we have sold a ton of in the shop, which is that sort of micro essays that he wrote. And he set himself a challenge from one birthday to the next to just to write every day about something he found that delighted him. And it's such a simple idea, but he's Ross Gay, so he obviously does it in a beautiful way. And he's a wonderful poet as well. And just all sorts of interesting thoughts coming at you from all sorts of weird angles. And it's a real joy, and you can dip in anywhere. Just the way that we sell the book is we just open it up to the back cover, and there's a picture of him, and he's got this enormous smile on his face. We just say, look, you can read this book and this is how you're going to feel. And people go, okay, and they buy it. So it's a very warm hearted, big hearted book, very inspiring too. And so that's another one. And I mean, as you know, this fall is just a completely bonkers, bonkers season for amazing, amazing books. I mean, Colton Whitehead's book is out today. I think Harlem Shuffle, which is fantastic. Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Adaira is coming out shortly, and that's also amazing. And Lauren Groff's Matrix just came out. These are all unbelievable books. So we're having a lot of fun in the store, although it is Tuesday morning. So as I'm- Yeah, sorry about that. Bad timing. No, no, no, no. I mean, it's fine. But it's going to be chaos in there right now because this September in particular, there are so many titles coming out every week on a Tuesday, and we put them all in the window, but we're going to need a big door window. Oh my gosh. So many titles.

[29:11]Zibby Owens: Amazing. All right. Well, thank you so much, Alex. Congrats again on your own paperback for the Paris Hours. And I'm excited to keep talking to you about ways to make ZippyBooks awesome and our collaboration there. So yeah, and really excited to be connected. Yeah. Thank you, Zippy. Great to see you. Alright. Thanks. Take care. Bye. Bye bye. Thanks for listening to this episode of Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram at Zibby Owens and at moms don't have time to read books. Also, sign up for my newsletter at zibbyowens.com and sign up for my virtual book club and meet lots of authors on Zoom every other week. Thanks so much to Steve and Ryan at Texture Sound for the sound editing, and thank you to Morning Moon Productions for providing this fantastic intro and outro music.