Bookpleasures.com is thrilled to introduce the talented Nelly Alard, a Paris-based actress, screenwriter, and accomplished author.

Nelly’s creative journey has been extraordinary, with her literary endeavors leaving an indelible mark on the literary landscape.

Nelly burst onto the literary scene with her debut novel, Le crieur de nuit.

This work not only captivated readers, but also garnered widespread critical acclaim. The literary community duly recognized this remarkable achievement.

Nelly received the prestigious 2010 Roger Nimier Prize, the 2011 Prix National Lions de Littérature, and the Simone and Cino Del Duca Foundation Prize for the Support of Literature.

However, her subsequent novel, Couple Mechanics, solidified her position as a true literary force.

This poignant and introspective work resonated deeply with audiences.

In 2013, Nelly made history by becoming the first woman in over twenty years to be awarded the Prix Interallié.

This esteemed recognition further showcased Nelly's exceptional storytelling abilities and cemented her status as an influential voice in contemporary literature.

And now, we have the privilege of discussing Nelly’s latest literary offering, The Life You Had Imagined.

Join us as we delve into the creative mind of Nelly Alard and unravel the inspirations, motivations, and artistic vision of The Life You Had Imagined.

This interview promises to be an engaging and enlightening conversation with an author who continues to push the boundaries of storytelling and touch the hearts and minds of readers worldwide.

Norm: Bonjour Nelly et merci d’avoir participé à notre interview Good day, Nelly, and thanks for taking part in our interview.

Nelly: Hello Norm, thank you so much for asking me!

Norm: As an award-winning author, you have showcased your versatility as an actress, screenwriter, and novelist. How do these different creative pursuits inform and influence each other in your work?

How has your background in acting and screenwriting shaped your approach to storytelling in your novels?

Nelly: Well, acting is an excellent school in empathy. When you play a character, imagine their situation with such honesty that you physically experience what your character feels at that moment – to cry real tears when they are supposed to cry.

It helps a lot as a writer to have this ability when describing an emotional scene and avoiding clichés.

Not to speak of writing dialogues, where an acting experience dramatically helps.

As a writer, you only get to play all the characters in your novel, including those you would never be cast as an actress!

As for screenwriting, it certainly has influenced me in terms of rhythm.

For me, the last sentence of each chapter is like a punch line at the end of a scene and must make the reader eager to turn the page.

Norm: Your novel, The Life You Had Imagined, explores the fascinating connections between Hollywood celebrities and royalty, particularly in a young actress claiming to be connected to the ruler of the Austrian Empire.

What drew you to this intriguing historical backdrop, and what inspired you to delve into the relationship between Elissa Landi and Empress Elisabeth (Sisi)?

Nelly: Although Elissa Landi appears to be the central character of my book, the writing of that story didn’t start with her at all - for years, I knew nothing about her and wasn’t even aware of her existence.

As a child, it all started with my fascination for princesses and Empress Sisi in particular.

Although she’s not as famous in the States, I believe (or at least she wasn’t before the series The Empress on Netflix).

The books by Alison Patacki, in Europe, the Empress Elisabeth of Austria, better known as Sisi, has been a prevalent character since the 50s and the Austrian films by Ernst Marischka starring Romy Schneider, which are still shown on television every Christmas.

As a little girl, I spent hours and hours borrowing my mother’s wedding gown and playing the princess.

But Sisi was only known back then as a very romantic fairy tale character: the young rebel princess with whom the Emperor falls in love instead of the boring big sister he’s supposed to marry.

As I read everything I could find about her, I started to suspect she was a much more complex character than that.

When I discovered, aged 18, that some people believed she had secretly given birth to a child during her only stay in France in 1875, it naturally triggered my curiosity (being French).

I decided, almost as a joke, that I would solve that mystery. I was not the first to try, but only some people who had investigated the case before I came to a definitive conclusion.

But–we were in the 80s -there was no Internet then, and although I never ultimately gave up on it, my search didn’t prove very successful for many years. In the meantime, I became an actress.

When I discovered that the daughter of that secret child–therefore, the alleged granddaughter of Empress Sisi–had become a Hollywood star in the 30s under the name Elissa Landi, I was thrilled.

Then the Internet came, and I could find more and more information about Elissa Landi–until I finally could locate and meet her daughter Caroline Thomas.

She told me she believed to be a descendant of the Empress and gave me access to a behemoth of a family archive to prove it.

I had already published by then two novels, and I did not doubt that the story of the hidden child, and my lifelong search for it, were an excellent subject for a book.

It took me another few years to write it. And here it is!

Norm: Your novel’s protagonist, Elissa Landi, is depicted as a talented actress with a hidden past. What challenges does she confront while navigating the glitz and glamor of 1930s Hollywood?

How does her connection to Empress Elisabeth influence her journey?

Nelly: It appears clearly in the interviews she gave upon her arrival in Hollywood that Elissa Landi didn’t want to use her supposed royal ascendance as an argument for publicity.

She knew she was an excellent actress–and a beauty–and she wanted to be recognized for her talent and her talent only.

Her information sheet at Fox Studios states the movie star “refuses to discuss her parentage.”

But before I met Caroline Thomas (her daughter), I wasn’t sure whether Elissa herself believed in the story.

If not, she would have had to think her mother was insane or a crook. I couldn't imagine since the two women were very close.

In the hundreds of letters, both of them wrote to each other over the years, and I was later able to read, I had confirmation that Elissa was convinced of the reality of her mother’s claim.

But she also knew that most people doubted it. She was terrified that she would be labeled an imposter, as so many of them were in the United States pretending to belong to European nobility.

Besides glitz and glamour, Hollywood was a brutal place where stars were made and destroyed in the blink of an eye, and reputation was everything.

A career could come abruptly to an end because of a divorce or another scandal.

That’s why Elissa was so furious against the Fox Studios’ publicists when they let the story leak in the press.

Elissa’s success and fame in Hollywood didn’t last more than a few years, and she held the “Empress story” at least partly responsible for that.

Her rise and fall–and her bitter disillusion about Hollywood–is recounted in the third part of my book.

Norm: Combining your personal experiences as a modern French actress and the investigation into Elisabeth and Elissa’s mother’s connection adds a unique dimension to your novel.

Could you share how your background and career influenced the writing of this story?

Nelly: The question I heard most when I told people about my research was: “Why are you so interested in that story?”

I always needed to figure out what to answer. I honestly didn’t realize. As I went along, among many apparent differences, I was fascinated by some similarities between Elissa’s destiny and mine.

Besides being an actress, she also wrote six novels and considered herself more an author than a performer.

I had a brief (albeit modest) career in Hollywood before realizing that being an author was my real calling.

Also, and when I finally wrote this book, my research had become so huge.

There were so many personalities involved that I figured the only way not to lose the reader was to take her (him) by the hand and make him discover the story slowly and bit by bit, as I had found it.

That’s how I became a character in my book! I decided not to listen to the people telling me I was trying to embrace too much in this novel.

I should write three books instead of one about my acting career, one about Elissa Landi, and one about the Empress.

They didn’t understand that what interested me were the echoes among these three stories and that my account was there only to answer the question I had been asked so often and try to explain WHY I was so fascinated by the story of a possible granddaughter of Empress Elisabeth becoming a star in Hollywood.

Norm: Historical fiction about European immigrants in the golden days of Hollywood has become a popular trend in recent years. 

What do you think it is about this era and theme that continues to captivate readers and authors alike? How does The Life You Had Imagined contribute to this literary trend?

Nelly: Really? I did not know, but I am glad to know. I mostly read French novels of all genres, not mainly historical fiction.

However, I enjoy reading one every once in a while. I certainly didn’t follow any trend in writing this book, as it is shown in my answers above.

But I found the era fascinating, and I am not surprised not to be the only one. Why? In my case, it comes down to my childhood dreams of stardom and glory.

And there is also the ever-lasting fascination for America, for us Europeans.

Even though we know there was also a dark side to all the glamour of the so-called “golden age.”

Regarding your last question, I don’t know whether and in what ways I am contributing to that trend. I am only sure of one thing: trendy or not, nobody else but me could have written that book.

It’s a question I always ask myself before starting a book: could somebody else write that story–and possibly better? If the answer is yes, I’d rather forget it immediately. If somebody else can do it better than me, then what’s the point?

Norm: Your novel’s intertwining epochs and characters create a vivid and authentic tapestry. Can you tell us more about how you blended different periods and brought these women’s lives to life on the page?

What challenges did you face in maintaining a cohesive narrative?

Nelly: Well, my first idea was to alternate chapters between three different timelines, the way Michael Cunningham did in his novel The Hours, and solve the mystery only at the end of the book, when I reach the end of my research.

But managing so many characters in different timelines and places was very complicated, and I was obsessed with the fear of losing my reader. Despite the rich historical background, I wanted to keep it easy to read and entertaining.

That’s why I used my own life as the red thread that would keep all the puzzle pieces together, making fun of my dreams of glory and my obsession with that story to provide a light touch of humor throughout.

Then I divided the book into four parts: the first part tells the story of my research before I met Caroline Thomas, as I struggled to become an actress and discover Hollywood.

It draws a picture of the Empress Sisi, which is certainly different from the one people are used to, and introduces to the reader the characters of her lady of honor, Marie Festetics, and her niece Marie Wallersee, who was the Empress’s confidence and the first one to spread out the story of the hidden child.

Then, in the second part, I gave up my acting career and became a writer.

I meet Caroline Thomas, who opens all her family archives for me, allowing me to solve the mystery in a factual, almost scientific way at the end of the second part, approximately in the middle of the book.

I could have ended the book there, but it would have been very unsatisfactory for the reader, for he would have been left with no clue about the character’s motivations to act as they did.

The third part is written as a novel in which I tell the story of Elissa Landi and her mother, Karoline, from their point of view, giving the reader access to their thoughts and feelings as I imagine them.

And finally, the fourth part is symmetrical to the first.

I alternate chapters again between resolving my search, as I finally understand how and why things happened the way they did, and Elissa’s disillusion with Hollywood, which resonates with my giving up on acting altogether.

 It is a somewhat elaborate construction. I wish I had found another, more straightforward way to achieve what I wanted, but I still need to.

And to my relief, although some readers were a bit bewildered at first, it worked for most of them, so it was the right thing to do.

Norm: The Life You Had Imagined has received enthusiastic praise from audiences and critics in France. 

Could you share some of the key themes or messages you hoped to convey through this novel?

Were there any specific reactions or interpretations from readers that surprised you?

Nelly: Mainly that everyone’s life can be turned into a novel. My childhood dream was to live a life full of adventures that would resemble those of the heroines of the stories I was reading.

That made me want to become an actress in the first place, hoping that by playing those characters, I would become one of them.

But that was a big mistake, for it is only by writing your own story that you become the heroine of a novel — your own life.

And not only that, it gives you a chance to make sense of it. For that’s the magic power of good storytelling: to make sense of the things that happen, as chaotic as they may seem.

Aside from that, it’s been exciting to see how some people are more interested in one part of the book or the other.

In contrast, others get my point and appreciate the work. People are also usually very impressed by all the coincidences I point out between Elissa and me.

Some of them go as far as thinking I am a sort of reincarnation of her, an opinion that I am much too Cartesian myself to share, even though I like the idea that there is some mysterious connection between the two of us, on a level that we still don’t understand.

But the most moving reaction for me was that of Caroline Thomas, who had lost her mother, Elissa Landi, at 4 and had no memory of her.

After reading my book, she told me she had the impression of knowing her for the first time and that I had made her mother alive for her. What greater compliment for a writer than that?

Norm: In your novel, you explore the complexities of fame, ambition, and pursuing personal dreams. How do these themes resonate with your experiences as an actress and screenwriter?

 Did exploring these themes through your characters give you new insights or perspectives?

Nelly: First, it is to write that story that I became a writer. I started as plays about the Empress, then screenplays (which were never produced), then a documentary.

Until I concluded a novel was the only form that would contain it, I wrote a first short novel hoping to find a publisher. And I did. So I owe Sisi and Elissa to have discovered my true calling.

With them, I would become an author. I would have remained a frustrated actress or something else, for I know now that acting was never suitable.

Whether on stage or film, working is an art of the instant; you must be good here and now, not before or after the shooting or the performance.

I am much too slow, too reflexive for that. I need to go back every day to what I have written the day before and correct it several times before I am satisfied.

However, while writing this book, I somehow experienced through Elissa what it felt like to be a Hollywood star in the 30s, and I loved it!

Norm: Historical fiction often requires extensive research to create an authentic setting and atmosphere. 

Could you give us an insight into your research process for The Life You Had Imagined?

How did you balance historical accuracy with the creative liberties necessary for storytelling?

Nelly: Gee, that research was extensive, for sure! I have read ALL the books published in French and English about Empress Elisabeth in the 19th and 20th centuries.

I only gave up at the turn of the 21st century, considering I learned nothing new. I have also read many biographies of Hollywood stars of the 30s, and the few autobiographies of that period, primarily by directors–most movie stars don’t write.

But regarding Elissa Landi, I threw away my first draft, inspired mainly by Marlene Dietrich’s memoirs, when I could read Elissa’s letters to her mother and her husband.

They had stayed in London, and Elissa wrote to both of them once or twice a week. She was an excellent writer, and her letters vividly document her first years in Hollywood, sometimes with humor, sometimes with sadness.

It was an absolute goldmine for a writer, and I needed nothing more. Let me think about creative liberties; I took almost none.

I have an informal pact with my reader that all the facts I recount in the book are actual. I call my book a novel because half is written in that form.

Each time I have a character talk or think, I cannot guarantee that they said this or that. That is my creative liberty.

Norm: As we end this interview, what can readers expect from your latest novel regarding style, narrative structure, and the emotional journey they take on? 

Are there any specific surprises or twists that readers should look forward to?

Nelly: People who like my work tell me they like my style and my “tone,” what a critic described as “mild self-mockery” or “dry humor.”

I have a weird sense of humor, and not everyone gets it, but those who do enjoy it. It’s a way of looking at the most dramatic situations with some distance, trying to avoid pathos at any cost.

I usually give my main character my self-deprecating sense of humor; it relieves me and the reader.

As for this specific book, there is nothing tragic to deal with, but there is a lot in my obsession with that story and my childish dreams of stardom to make fun of. And I do!

As for surprises and twists, there is major one (I won’t tell you which) in the second part, and soon after that, halfway into the book, the mystery appears to be solved.

But there are still surprises to come, and it is only in the last pages that all the narrative threads I have been pulling truly click together, and it all makes sense.

Norm: Thank you once more, and may success accompany you in all your future endeavors.  Merci encore et que le succès vous accompagne dans toutes vos entreprises futures.