Q&A with Juliette Fay

 

 

 

Juliette Fay is the author of the new novel The Harvey Girls. Her other books include The Tumbling Turner Sisters. She lives in Massachusetts. 

 

Q: What inspired you to write The Harvey Girls, and how did you create your characters Charlotte and Billie?

 

A: While researching my novel City of Flickering Light—about three friends heading to Hollywood by train in 1921 to try to become silent film actors—I wondered how travelers ate during such long journeys.

 

In the Southwest, they were in good hands: Fred Harvey ran excellent restaurants along the rail lines every hundred miles or so. His female staff, known as Harvey Girls, came from across the country and were highly trained.

 

As someone who spent years waitressing, I was immediately captivated and knew I wanted to tell their story.

 

As I read through interviews with real Harvey Girls, two kinds of stories stayed with me: the women running from something—like Charlotte—and those who had no choice, sent off because their families needed the money—like Billie.

 

I wanted these two to be complete opposites: Charlotte, privileged and college-educated; Billie, working class with only a sixth-grade education. But more than that, I wanted them to need each other, even if they didn’t like each other. So I gave them both a secret—one mistake that could cost them.

 

Q: How did you research the novel, and what did you learn that especially surprised you?

 

A: I dove into everything I could find, especially The Harvey Girls by Lesley Poling-Kempes and Appetite for America by Stephen Fried—both fantastic reads.

 

To capture the feel of the era, I visited surviving Harvey Houses, like El Tovar at the Grand Canyon, where much of the novel is set. I even splurged on a night in the suite overlooking the canyon—research, of course! I also explored La Posada in Winslow, Fray Marcos in Williams, and Casa del Desierto in Barstow.

 

Though many Harvey Houses are long gone, the few that remain helped me imagine the Harvey Girls in action, balancing plates and having adventures.

 

I was shocked to learn that the creation of the Grand Canyon National Park came at a heartbreaking cost—the forced eviction of native tribes who had called the land home for over a thousand years. The ancestral lands of the Havasupai, where much of my story unfolds, was taken from them to make way for white tourists.

 

Fred Harvey’s company tried a different path, showcasing Native American crafts in “Indian Shops” and celebrating tribal art. While the Harvey family admired and collected these works, their support wasn’t purely kindhearted—these treasures were also a way to attract customers. It’s a complicated legacy, blending respect with exploitation.

 

Q: The writer Fiona Davis said of the book, “The novel crackles with secrets while also highlighting the struggles of women trying to make their way in an unforgiving world.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: I love it! The two main characters are in a constant struggle to hide their secrets and protect each other from being discovered.

 

Harvey Girls were supposed to be single for at least the first year of service. However, Charlotte is fleeing from an abusive husband, so she lies and says she’s single.

 

Harvey Girls were also supposed to be between 18 and 30 years of age, but Billie is only 15. The oldest of nine children, she’s desperate to help her family financially. Neither one of them can afford to lose those jobs.

 

As Davis says, the world was unforgiving for women in those days. An abused wife had very little recourse. Generally, domestic violence was considered “a private matter” and was the source of great shame for a woman. It was difficult even to get divorced.

 

And there weren’t many female employment options; you were lucky to get a relatively low-paying job as a teacher or a nurse. Most women could barely support themselves, and thus turned to marriage, even if the fellow wasn’t a particularly good catch.

 

Harvey Girls were lucky: they were paid better than women in most other professions, and they were protected by the strict rules of dorm life. At the same time, they had unprecedented freedom, able to travel on the railroad and stay at other Harvey House dorms at no cost. It was a good life, and many stayed for years.

 

Q: How would you describe the dynamic between Charlotte and Billie?

 

A: Charlotte is a bit of a snob with no awareness of what life is like on other side of the tracks – or the apron, as it were. Billie is young, naïve, and terribly homesick, which Charlotte finds pitiful and annoying. Billie is a tireless worker, having been raised to help the family, so she finds Charlotte prissy and privileged. It is not a match made in heaven.

 

However, as they grudgingly get to know each other, they find things to admire in the other person, and once the secrets are out, they bond over mutual protection. Charlotte becomes a big sister of sorts, though she has many things to learn from Billie, too.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: My next story is back to contemporary fiction – I seem to pivot back and forth between that and historical fiction, both of which I enjoy writing. It’s about three people who’ve each lost their person and how they help and support one another in a small town.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Readers who know my earlier novels will recognize Gert and Winnie Turner briefly in The Harvey Girls. Their dazzling rise as vaudeville acrobats is the heart of The Tumbling Turner Sisters.

 

Gert’s journey continues in City of Flickering Light, where her marriage to co-star Henry Weston is far more complicated than it seems.

 

Each book stands on its own and can be read without the previous book. My publisher calls it a trilogy, but to me, they’re each stories of women finding strength in a changing world.

 

Also, I’m happy to meet with book clubs who choose one of my books for their group to read. It’s a lot of fun to be able to talk about the ending and discuss different facets of the story. Interested book clubs can reach out to me by email through my website at www.juliettefay.com.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Juliette Fay.