California Romance and Culinary Delights — The Making of ‘Casserole Courtship’
What do you get when you marry up one of California’s gorgeous Central Coast beaches with scrumptious food and romance? In the hands of Elizabeth Guider, those elements have become a page-turner novel called “The Casserole Courtship.” Her seasoned, realistic approach to fiction explores how some pretty fascinating people find love — or not.
Elizabeth and I met years ago, when she was a Rome-based reporter for Variety, and I was an assistant editor in the showbiz newspaper’s New York offices. At the time, I never would have guessed that we’d both become novelists. But I would not have been surprised to learn that Elizabeth would eventually become Executive Editor at Variety and then Editor-In-Chief at The Hollywood Reporter. When we attended press conferences, it was always amusing to see media executives who were charmed by her Southern graciousness, then surprised when she asked them a pointed, insightful question — the sort of query that they would normally brush off. With Elizabeth, they just had to respond.
Recently, I uncovered some information about “The Casserole Courtship” in an e-mail exchange with Elizabeth. She told me about a funny sauna experience that gave her some inspiration; how she wrote the whole first draft on an iPhone 8; and how certain Hollywood executives contributed to one character’s persona. Here’s what she had to say:
Out of all the story ideas that are out there in the world, why did you hit upon this one? Why did it stand out from the pack?
As you well know, the English novel has traditionally concentrated on young love and typically culminated in one or more marriages. I’m thinking of everything from Samuel Richardson’s 18th century “Clarissa,” through all five of Jane Austen’s works, and up to and including Erneest Hemingway. But subject matter for literary fiction expanded exponentially after WWII and the travails, and challenges of middle age have inspired many writers since.
More specifically for my book, I grew up in the South, where death automatically triggers the solace of food. In fact, from a very young age, I associated funereal gatherings with green bean casseroles. (And I noticed early on that such ministrations to the bereaved widow or widower did not always end there with a single dish!)
Of course, different parts of the country perform this ritual differently, including California. A few years ago, I was privy to a conversation — in a sauna of all places — between two local women who lived in Shell Beach: they were comparing notes as to their intentions vis-à-vis a widower they were both pursuing. It appeared they were each going to great lengths to attract this gentleman but not getting the hoped-for results. As I wrapped my towel around me to leave, I piped up, “Well, ladies, I just hope he’s worth it,” which seemed to surprise them. They had quizzical looks on their faces, as though they had not considered this possibility. The incident stuck with me.
To me, “The Casserole Courtship” is kind of a mystery, in the sense that there’s one main character, Eliot, who has caught the attention of a cluster of single, intriguing women. But it takes time for the ladies and Eliot (as well as for the readers) to figure out whether any of them might be the best mate for him. Is that how you saw the book as you were writing it, as a sort of mystery to be solved?
I did indeed want the reader to be uncertain as to which woman might end up with the main character, Eliot, as uncertainty is one of the things that keep readers turning the page. But, to be honest, I did not know either which, if any, of the ladies would end up with the protagonist. That’s because I quickly became interested in the women’s back stories and their current dreams, which did not necessarily require a man to be fulfilled. In fact, at one point I had decided that the character Issie, with whom Eliot had a decades-long relationship, would finally end up with him. But then poetic justice stepped in to mix that fate. I’ll leave it at that.
Romance and Realism
One of the aspects of this book that I so appreciate is that it looks at romance in a realistic way; it’s not melodramatic. And it is very romantic. Is that something that you thought a lot about, or did it just flow out of you naturally?
Yes, it was important to me to try to dramatize different kinds of love and how hard it is to know another person — no matter how much experience one might have in romantic relationships. Eliot is certainly clueless, especially about his own wife, but the women in the novel are too, each in her own particular way. Despite some unfortunate situations with men in their pasts, the women characters largely manage to find reserves of strength by the time the novel winds up. Even Chloe, the youngest character, comes through a very difficult entanglement thanks to the intervention of family and friends. Sometimes unexpected friends.
Having known you for many years, I had to wonder if your insights into various characters were inspired by people you know. I may be misremembering but I think that your father was a judge or a lawyer, wasn’t he? And of course, you know many executives in Hollywood. Can you tell me about that?
In writing this novel, I did channel or springboard off of various people I have known or just been acquainted with. The young Eliot, for example, was modeled on an Ivy League law student I went out with briefly many decades ago — a handsome, accomplished person who was accustomed to getting what he wanted.
For her part, the character of Serena was a composite of several older, female Hollywood studio executives whom I knew or interviewed 20 years or so ago. I was struck by their competence and their talent but also by their brittleness and/or fragility. It actually helps me to envision faces of people I’ve known while I’m writing, no matter how far afield the final characters are from the persons I might have known.
I even did this with the pets in the book! I love dogs and cats, and grew up at different times with a Golden Retriever, a Basset Hound, an Airedale, and several calico cats. That helped me partner each animal in the book with the appropriate character.
Some of my favorite stories revolve around food. For example, “Babette’s Feast” and “Big Night.” Do you have any favorites? And if so, did they play any part in your thinking as you created your novel?
“Babette’s Feast” is also one of my favorite movies, and I almost used it as one of the cassettes that Serena brings over to Eliot. But I thought it might be too esoteric for the scene at hand.
There are also a number of French and British movies I love where dinner-table conversations play a crucial role. Even Hollywood movies of the ’40s (Frank Capra and so on) often feature revelatory dinner table scenes. Not to mention the fact that I am blessed to come from a large family (I have five siblings) where Sunday dinner conversation was always lively, and my parents entertained regularly. (My father was a judge; one sister is a lawyer, as are three nephews.) Still, I find that writing a good dinner party scene is no easy task: much harder, in my view, than writing a sex scene.
Béchamel and Other Culinary Delights
Is cooking a passion of yours? And if so, what do you love to cook the most?
Like most people, I like to cook for other people, my ideal being a sit-down dinner party of eight or 10. Fewer than that it never feels quite lively enough. and more than that it gets out of hand. When I lived abroad all those years, I did learn how to make a number of pasta dishes — my pesto alla Genovese received kudos even from my Rome friends. French sauces were a bigger challenge, but I did master that béchamel (which figures in the book). Mostly, however, my sisters and sisters-in-law totally outshine me in the kitchen: they each sent me a special recipe to inspire my writing, if not my cooking!
You and I share and unfortunate similarity: at the time I was writing my novel, “The Juice,” and when you were writing “Courtship,” we were also caring for husbands who had terminal cancer. For me, the need to escape the pain made the writing experience intense. And I wonder if that was true for you as well, and if your main character’s circumstance, mourning for the passing of his wife, played into your own sense of what was to come.
Ironically as well as sadly, I started the writing of “The Casserole Courtship” shortly before my husband was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer. I thought I would have to put the just-begun writing aside while caring for him, but he was so marvelous in allowing me to have some mental space of my own. For 18 months or so, his treatments kept him active and independent. All that meant that I carved out a couple of hours a day to write — often while he took a nap, or read, or watched something on TV. Because his diagnosis coincided with the onset of the pandemic, we could not go out anyway, except to medical facilities.
In short, having that block of time almost each day to immerse myself in another world, as it were, was extremely helpful to me and made me better at doing what I could for him. Also, since you’re a journalist too, Janet, you may not be surprised to learn that I wrote the entire first draft directly on my iPhone 8. (My MacBook Air had gone kaput, and needed new innards, as it were, and all the local Apple stores were closed. Thus, no computer at hand.) So, every three chapters or so typed on the phone I simply emailed to a close friend to store for me in case I were to lose my iPhone or it too failed.)
Have you started writing a new book? And if so, can you give us any hints about what it will be about?
I have been toying with an idea for some time and hope to get into gear in the months to come. The setting will be New Orleans on the eve of WWII and the story centers on a love triangle. The challenge will be to mesh the love affair with the exploration of a more serious theme I hope to grapple with.
As novelists, we have to keep in mind what Samuel Goldwyn reputedly quipped when he saw the rushes of one of Capra’s movies: “If you want to send a MESSAGE, call Western Union!” So, much work to get my arms around. Should be fun!
