“I love the wit, bawdiness, and crazy energy of 18th century England,” says author Nancy Bilyeau when asked about her new book, The Fugitive Colors (Genevieve Planché book 2). Set in 1764 London, the book takes readers on a wild ride through glitz, glamor, and danger of the art world of the time.
As Genevieve Sturbridge struggles to keep her silk design business afloat, she must face the fact that London in 1764 is very much a man’s world. Men control everything, especially the women.
A Huguenot living in Spitalfields, Genevieve one day receives a surprise invitation from an important artist. Grasping at the promise of a better life, she dares to hope her luck is about to change and readies herself for an entry into the world of serious art.
She soon learns that for the portrait painters ruling over the wealthy in London society, fame and fortune are there for the taking. But such high stakes spur rivalries that darken to sabotage and blackmail-and even murder. And watching from the shadows are ruthless spies who wish harm to all of England.
Genevieve begins to suspect that her own secret past, when she was caught up in conspiracy and betrayal, has more to do with her entrée into London society than her talent. One wrong move could cost her not just her artistic dreams but the love of those she holds dear … and even her life.
In a recent interview, Nancy gave us a behind the scenes look into the writing of the book and her passion for the time period.
Q: Genevieve Planché is a Huguenot living in Georgian London. What makes her history and this period so special for you?
A: I love the wit, bawdiness, and crazy energy of 18th century England. It’s Tom Jones and Pamela, with great theatre and art and music. In the late 1750s and the 1760s, there was a revolutionary spirit growing but at the same time there was enormous materialism and extravagance. You wanted to have the tallest wig or the most elaborate porcelain set. I made Genevieve a Huguenot because that’s my background and I wanted to explore it more deeply through writing fiction. I’m descended from a French Protestant who crossed the Atlantic a century earlier, in 1661, to what was then New Amsterdam (now it’s New York). When I was deciding how to “build” my main character, I got excited at the thought of diving into Huguenot history. The lives of the French emigrees in Spitalfields—the word “refugee” was coined to describe them—are endlessly interesting. In fact, there is a strong revival of interest today in the silkweaving Huguenots of Spitalfields.
Q: Georgian England was a dangerous place for women. What threats might Genevieve incur for seeking creative and professional independence? How does she overcome the gender bias toward female artists?
A: Because of deep prejudice against women, they were not considered intelligent, talented, or ethical enough to be fine artists with their own established careers. Women were seen as weaker in mind and body, no matter that this was during the “Enlightenment.” They could not serve as apprentices to established artists and get the necessary technical and artistic training. Their life purpose was as a wife or mother, or if they were workers, it was as a servant or a prostitute. In the royal palaces, they could be ladies-in-waiting. In one way or another, they had to serve others.
But a true artist has to have something to say, a creative inspiration coming from within. That’s the opposite of serving others. I think it’s one of the reasons women artists were so threatening. It was very hard to overcome in both England and France. The first known professional women painters were trained by their fathers or husbands and gradually gained acceptance because their work was good.
But another obstacle to being taken seriously was the Covent Garden mentality toward women, which was highly exploitive and uncaring. There were a lot of sex workers in 18th century England, and they weren’t seen as real human beings by most of their customers. In my research I read about men who have a fine literary reputation, like James Boswell, behaving horribly toward women. Slightly less horrifying than Boswell was Samuel Johnson, writer of a major dictionary—I learned that he solicited a young prostitute but started to feel badly about hiring her because she was so obviously very hungry, close to starving. I don’t think most of the men cared. The reason this is all relevant to my novel is that Covent Garden is where the artists convened—many lived nearby—and my female characters would have not felt safe in this environment. But to be an artist you needed to be part of the scene. It’s a tough challenge!
Q: Why was the role of the artist so crucial in the 18 century, and how did portrait painters influence the art world?
A: It’s surprising how few English-born artists had won renown up until the 18th century. You have Hans Holbein the Younger and Samuel van Dyke painting in England, but they were imports. The first native English portrait painter to win serious fame for himself, Joshua Reynolds, came from a somewhat humble background and, through talent and extremely hard work, changed the game. He painted all the most interesting people—not just royalty but actors, generals, beautiful debutantes, and courtesans. His portraits were vivid and interesting, which brought fame to the subjects of the paintings, and more business for Reynolds. He was a starmaker and he became fairly wealthy. He was out every night of the week with writers, actors, politicians.
There was sometimes a playfulness in his portraits. When Reynolds painted the leading courtesan of the day, the gorgeous Kitty Fisher, the title was “Kitty Fisher as Cleopatra Dissolving the Pearl.” She was posed as Cleopatra at a banquet for Mark Antony, at which the queen dissolved a giant pearl in vinegar and drank it. Everyone wondered what Joshua Reynolds was trying to say about Kitty Fisher in his painting. The fact that he was rumored to be having an affair with her made it all the more exciting to London society. The Guardian in a recent article called Kitty Fisher “an 18th century Kardashian.” Some people think that Joshua Reynolds created the concept of celebrity.
Q: The book is filled with real historical figures. How did you decide which figures to include and what do you think they bring to the story?
A: I’ve always enjoyed mingling “real” people with characters from my imagination in my books. It’s a lot of fun for me to set them loose—and for my readers. I get positive feedback about their inclusion, whether it’s Henry VIII or Joshua Reynolds. I always try to research these historical figures extensively, so I have something fresh to say. They bring a level of reality to the actions of all the characters. I also create plots set in the center of the “action” in their respective time periods. It would be inevitable that my characters would collide with famous people who lived during that time.
Q: What was the most interesting thing you learned in writing the book?
A: I didn’t realize how little policing there was in London. Crime was everywhere. The Bow Street Runners, forerunners of the professional police, were in their earliest stage, and there was only a handful of them. Their leader was a blind magistrate, Henry Fielding, brother of the author of Tom Jones. The context of this is that in pre-revolutionary Paris you had a vigilant secret police who were on the trail of the criminals, but nothing of the kind existed in London. You had the night watch, some constables. That’s it. Both Mozart’s father and Giacomo Casanova, who visited London in 1764, were shocked by how dangerous the city was. Casanova said if you went out at night unarmed in “court dress,” you risked being robbed and stripped of your clothes, if not killed.
Q: What comes next for Genevieve? Is this the end of her story?
A: Definitely not! I have signed a contract for a third novel, continuing her story. In this one Genevieve goes in a direction posing more serious risk to herself than anything she’s ever done, and in so doing she learns some truths about herself.
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About Nancy Bilyeau:
Nancy Bilyeau was born in Chicago, Illinois, and grew up in Michigan. She studied English literature and American history at the University of Michigan, earning a bachelor’s degree, before moving to New York City to work in the magazine business. She was a staff editor at Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, Good Housekeeping and InStyle.
