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Kirsten Mickelwait, a Palo Alto native, tells the story of a little-known real life couple, who mingled with the likes of Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Pablo Picasso and other prominent Jazz Age figures, in her debut novel “The Ashtrays Are Full and the Glasses Are Empty.” She published the book in May.
A seed for the novel was planted when she was a student at University of California, Santa Cruz and took a class about 1920s expatriate writers in Paris. It also turned her onto writing. Although she doesn’t hold a degree specifically in writing, Mickelwait has gotten a literary education through dozens of writers workshops and writers groups, along with earning an English degree from University of California, Berkeley (where she transferred after her first two years of college).
Mickelwait spent three years writing the book, a piece of biographical fiction, about the life of Sara Murphy, who rejects traditional Gilded Age New York society to live an unconventional life alongside her husband, Gerald, during the glitzy Roaring ‘20s in Paris. It also follows their struggles during world wars, the Great Depression and more.
Mickelwait, a graduate of the now-shuttered Ellwood P. Cubberley High School in Palo Alto who lives in the Richmond area, aspired to be a professional dancer for the first 20 years of her life until a knee injury sidelined that dream.
She was solely a copywriter and editor by trade until she read “The Artist’s Way” 20 years ago and wrote a novel. That story, a speculative novel — a genre that explores fictional worlds or realities, was never published. She recently took it out of storage because she thinks the genre is prime for acceptance by publishers now.
She also published her memoir, “The Ghost Marriage,” in 2021.
The following interview has been condensed for clarity and space.
Q: What drew you to write a novel about this couple?
A: In 1973, I read the first biography of the Murphys, “Living Well is the Best Revenge,” and I just fell in love with them and the period they lived in. Although Gerald became a painter himself, their true art was for friendship, and for creating beauty in everything they did.
In 2011, when I read “The Paris Wife” (a fictionalized account of Ernest Hemingway’s marriage to his first wife, Hadley Richardson), I thought, I could do something like that with Sara Murphy — to fictionalize her story while sticking to the historical record. The one other novel that’s been written about them followed an alternate plot that departed from their actual story.
Q: There are several famous early 20th-century figures in the book, how was writing their characters?
A: I read biographies of all these people, of course, and I read their letters, which gave me a feel for how they spoke. I was very intimidated about creating dialogue … especially for Dorothy Parker, who’s known to be such a wit. … But the deeper I got into writing the book, the more I was able to channel their voices. … In some cases, I wove some of their actual quotes into the dialogue, and in other cases, I just came up with words for them to say.
Q: The theme of appreciation for beautiful objects and experiences (vanity and ambition) is often compared to the need to focus on serious things in life in the book. What drew you to this theme?
A: There are two different reader reactions I’m getting to the book. One is from people who never knew about the Murphys. … The other group is people who knew about the Murphys, but really only in the context of that golden period, when they were in Paris and hanging out with the Lost Generation. The most remarkable thing about their story was, yes, they created this perfect world. … (But) nobody escapes without having some bad things happen in their lives. I wanted to share the full arc of their story — not just the golden era, but also how gracefully they handled tragedy and loss.
Q: Part of the book takes place during the Spanish flu and also other disease outbreaks — how much was COVID on your mind while you were writing those parts?
A: There were many historical parallels between Sara’s time period and our current events. We both had global pandemics, which we responded to in similar ways. They had the 1929 stock market crash and, not too long ago, we had a stock market crisis.
And the rise of fascism: What they experienced, both with Hitler and then later with (Joseph) McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities (Committee), is sounding really familiar these days. In some ways, it was comforting to discover that our country has been through these things once before and survived.
Q: How did you come up with the title of the story?
A: It’s a quote by Zelda Fitzgerald. … I really struggled with the title for this book. It was originally called, and “And She Made All of Light,” which is Sarah Murphy’s epitaph (on her grave). I didn’t love it.
I went through the whole book looking for alternate titles and I came up with 14 other titles. I put a poll up on my Facebook page and asked my friends, “Not having read the book, which title would you know grab your attention the most on a bookshelf?” This was the one that won.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: A collection of linked short stories told from the perspective of an older woman. A couple of the stories will be autofiction (fictionalized autobiography). I just heard this new term, “faction.” It’s fiction, but based on facts. Some of the stories will be faction, but some will be pure fiction.
I want to tell the story of what it’s like to be a postmenopausal woman in the 21st century, because I feel like our role is really changing, and we’re kind of reinventing what it is to be an older woman now. I had lunch with a friend the other day. She introduced me to a new term for menopause: “cougar puberty.” I thought that was hilarious.
Q: Who are some of your literary idols?
A: Paula McLain, Anthony Doerr (author of “All the Light We Cannot See”), Maggie O’Farrell (“Hamnet”) for historical fiction. … I was reading a lot of historical fiction as I worked on this book. Therese Anne Fowler — who wrote “Z” about Zelda Fitzgerald. Amor Towles (“Rules of Civility and A Gentleman in Moscow”).
Q: What advice do you have for aspiring writers?
A: What makes a successful writer isn’t necessarily their natural talent. It’s the discipline and perseverance.
I’ve been in writers groups with writers who I think are better writers than me but they don’t have the fortitude for rejection or couldn’t finish writing something.
And absolutely join a writers’ group. Every writer needs feedback from other people along the way. They’ll tell you things you don’t want to hear, and they’ll also encourage you to keep going.
“The Ashtrays Are Full, and the Glasses Are Empty,” Kirsten Mickelwait. Koehler Books. kirstenmickelwait.com.
