Beatriz Williams' "Summer Catch"...plus a book giveaway

Photo by Marilyn Roos

Introduction by Gail Allison

**Giveaway is now closed**

We're so excited that Beatriz Williams is taking time out of her schedule to chat with us today. A graduate of Stanford University, with an MBA from Columbia, Ms. Williams spent the first few years of her professional life as a corporate and communications strategy consultant. These days she's taking her stay-at-home mom career to new heights, managing to not only write fantastic books like Overseas and her latest novel, A Hundred Summers, but also get the laundry done, and raise four children and a husband at the same time.

She's here to end ICLM on a high note, as she's sharing her casting choices for A Hundred Summers. And FIVE lucky US readers have a chance to win this novel, thanks to Putnam.

You can find Beatriz at her website, Facebook and Twitter.


A HUNDRED SUMMERS goes to the movies

It’s the question they love to ask you at cocktail parties: Who would you cast in the movie version of your book? And it’s the question that sends me straight to the bar to ask for a champagne cocktail, straight up, because why? Because for one thing, I’d hate to disturb the random workings of that cosmic pixie dust that changes books into movies.

For another thing, I have no idea. I know a lot of writers out there start with a picture in mind, a picture of a certain actor, and the character develops from there. Me, I still don’t really know where my characters come from (Mars? Venus? A galaxy far, far away?) but it’s certainly not the screen, whether small, silver, or eye-watering HD surround-sound. Trying to turn an actor into the character you see so clearly in your mind? Really, really hard.

Nonetheless, I’m told it’s International Chick Lit Month this May, and we’re celebrating with a “goes to the movies” theme, so I’ll take a deep breath, invoke the holy spirit of hot buttered popcorn to ward off any jinxes, and plunder the IMDb for the perfect matches.

Emily Blunt as Lily Dane. She’d have to work on her American accent, of course, but Blunt has Lily’s sweet and winning shyness––and her hidden inner strength––down cold. I also love the way her looks can migrate from mousy to radiant, as she proved in her vibrant turn as the young (and romantic) Queen Victoria.

Alexander Skarsgård as Nick Greenwald. At first, this choice seems counter-intuitive: Skarsgard is blond and Swedish, Nick is dark-haired and Jewish. I’d also argue that Skarsgard is a little more sculpted than my mental picture of football-hero Nick. But he’s really tall and radiates intelligence, and of all the actors out there, he’s one of the few who can pull off the retro-cool reserve of the older Nick. Look, as long as I’m allowed to visit the set...

Olivia Wilde as Budgie Byrne. It’s the eyes that got me first, those magnetic icy blues against the dark hair, exactly as I pictured them. Budgie’s sensual and stylish and scheming, and not only is Wilde beautiful enough to own the role, she’s also quite capable of being a naughty, naughty girl.

Leonardo DiCaprio as Graham Pendleton. To be honest, I’ve never been much of a Leo fan, though I did like him in Catch Me If You Can. He always seems like the eternal teenager, without enough heft in his solar plexus to make my heart go gathump. On the other hand, that’s Graham all over: Beautiful, glamorous, modelizer (or the Thirties equivalent of, at any rate). And after seeing him poised on the diving board in The Great Gatsby, hey, I wouldn’t kick him out of the cast for spilling crumbs.

Gwyneth Paltrow as Aunt Julie. Now that Paltrow’s hit the big 4-0, she’s earned dibs on the really interesting parts, and Lily’s beautiful and clever Aunt Julie has all the snappiest lines in the book. I can see Paltrow, who grew up on Manhattan’s Upper East Side and attended an exclusive girls’ school, capturing Aunt Julie’s vintage patrician bossiness to a well-honed T. Bonus: She already knows how to smoke cigarettes.

Well! That wasn’t so hard, after all. And after spending my afternoon Googling images of hunky celebrities and calling it work, I think I’m ready to apply for my CAA card and move to Hollywood.

Happy International Chick Lit Month, everyone!

Thanks to Beatriz for sharing her dream cast with us and to Putnam for sharing her book with our readers.

How to win A Hundred Summers:

Please comment below with your e-mail address. (Please note: Entries without an e-mail address will NOT be counted. You can use AT and DOT to avoid spam. Or provide a link to your Facebook page or blog if you can receive messages there.)

1.Please tell us: What is your favorite summer themed movie (or one that takes place during the summer)?
2. Follow this blog and post a comment saying you are a follower (if you already follow, that's fine too).
3. Post this contest on Facebook or Twitter or in your blog, and leave a comment saying where you've posted it.
4. Join Chick Lit Central on Facebook. Edit settings if you don't want to receive a lot of messages at your e-mail account. Please read our posting guidelines as well. (If you're already a member, let us know that too.)
5. Follow us on Twitter and/or Pinterest.
6. Add a friend to our Facebook group. (Tell us who you added.) Be sure to remind them to edit their settings.

US only. Giveaway ends June 4th at midnight EST.