S.W. Biddulph

VOGUE July 2016 issue: ‘The Girls’ by Emma Cline

Note from the Editor:

This is one of those amazing stories of how a new author emerges seemingly from nowhere and becomes an instant hit. Once in a while, it’s refreshing to see that it is possible, especially with the technology available to writers, to find your niche and be in the right place at the right time. I hope you enjoy this story. Scott

VOGUE Arts and Lifestyle: Cult Following

41A9-ajUcYL._SX329_BO1,204,203,200_Photo credit :Amazon.com

By Marisa Meltzer

Her debut novel, about a girl in thrall to a Manson-style commune, sparked a bidding war and reputedly a $2 million advance. So who is the enigmatic 27-year-old Emma Cline? We revisit Marisa Meltzer’s interview with the author published in the July issue.

I was wearing a peasant blouse and thought, ‘This is too on the nose!’ and took it off,” says Emma Cline, of choosing an outfit for this interview. Instead, she’s wearing a jumper and skinny jeans – to distinguish herself from a character in her novel, The Girls, which comes out this month. It’s set in the late Sixties in a cult-like Californian commune with a leader who bears a striking resemblance to Charles Manson – murders and all. And Cline, with her long, reddish-blonde hair and delicate features, could all too easily look the part of a hippy acolyte.

She has been game enough to come to my Brooklyn apartment for the interview, after vetoing my suggestion of meeting up at her home – also nearby. Perhaps she thought it was just an attempt to nose at her décor and how she lives (she would have been partly right). She’s cagey, not exactly nervous but not comfortable being the object of my questioning. Everyone wants to know all they can about the intensely private Cline, a 27-year-old first-time author with a rumored $2 million advance.

Emma Cline’s story is so powerful, as are her startlingly acute psychological portraits of girls and their families. This is a novel I wanted to read fast because the story is so suspenseful, and slow so I could savour every word.  ~Kate Medina~

Continued…

Feature Image Credit: http://www.mprnews.org/

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2 comments

  1. Hi, Scott. Thank you, for once again, introducing us to a new talent and a book that sounds interesting. Growing up in the sixties, many of us could have succumbed to a “Manson-type” individual.

    Again, thank for this post.

  2. Can’t wait to get my paws on this novel. I’m motivated by her ability to come into the literary world and make a name for herself from the beginning. I wish her must success!!!

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