Q&A with Houston Author Judithe Little

Judithe Little’s third novel, Glorious Ruins, published last week. In Glorious Ruins, power, love, fame, and catastrophic greed collide in a sweeping historical novel about 1920s Paris based on the enduring friendship between Coco Chanel and world-famous muse Misia Sert.

I selected this one as a September Buzz Reads pick stating, “Little’s meticulous and exhaustive research is evident in the manner in which she tells their stories while also touching on themes of power, ambition, and love. The Author’s Note at the end is well worth the read.”

Judithe is the USA Today bestselling author of The Chanel Sisters, an Amazon Editors’ Pick, and Wickwythe Hall. She grew up surrounded by history in Virginia, where she attended the University of Virginia and the University of Virginia School of Law. She also spent a semester at the Institut Catholique in Paris, France, where she fell in love with everything French. A writer of historical fiction, Judithe has a passion to bring forgotten but significant events or people from the past to light in the hopes of helping understand where we are today. She lives with her husband and three children in Houston.

Houstonian Judithe Little’s recently published her third novel, Glorious Ruins. (Photo: Traci Ling)

Judithe answers some questions that I posed to her about Glorious Ruins:

What inspired you to start writing Glorious Ruins?

I was inspired to write my last book, The Chanel Sisters, when I learned that Coco Chanel had a younger sister, Antoinette. I wanted to explore what it would have been like to have been the sister of the famous Chanel. For Glorious Ruins, I was inspired when I learned about the close friendship between Chanel and Misia Sert, and I similarly wanted to explore that relationship. Misia was known as the Queen of Paris in her day and actually took Chanel under her wing. It was Misia who inspired Chanel to make a perfume – that was how Chanel No. 5 came to be.

What kind of research did you have to do?

I read Misia’s memoir, a biography of Misia, biographies of Chanel, and the biographies of the men in Misia’s life. She was a muse and great inspiration to Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec, Proust, Picasso, Stravinsky, Jean Cocteau and many other famous figures in the Parisian art world. Picasso said she was the only woman whose opinion he trusted. I also scoured the social pages in French newspapers from the time-period in an online database of the French National Library. And of course I threw in a trip to Paris!

What do you hope your readers take away from your book?

I hope they learn about Misia and her accomplishments that weren’t publicized as they were for the men she supported. I hope they remember Misia for her strength and genius. I hope they come to understand why, as a Frenchwoman from a different era, Misia made the choices she made and in the end was vindicated.

What is the most difficult part about writing for you?

For me, it’s the blank page. It’s like sailing without a rudder. You know where you want to go, but you don’t know how to get there. You know it’s going to be ugly. But eventually, the more you put words on the page, the rudder sort of builds itself and it gets easier. 

What are you reading now and what have you read recently that you loved?

I recently listened to The Wedding People by Alison Espach and loved it. It was a dark premise but was done so well. I’m reading Finding Grace by Loretta Rothschild now, another dark premise, and loving it too.

For more book recommendations and bookish thoughts, see Cindy’s monthly Buzz Reads column, her award-winning Thoughts from a Page Podcast or follow @ThoughtsFromaPage on Instagram.