Brisa Carleton is the author of the new novel Last Call at the Savoy. She is also a Broadway producer.
Q: What inspired you to write Last Call at the Savoy, and how did you first learn about bartender Ada Coleman (1875-1966)?
A: The idea struck during a solo work trip to London. Much like Cinnamon, I was at the American Bar at The Savoy, martini in hand, naturally, and noticed a small footnote on the menu mentioning Ada Coleman, the hotel’s first female head bartender.
She’d once been world-famous, but when I looked her up, there was almost nothing. Even The Savoy Cocktail Book, which featured her recipes, had erased her name entirely. That felt like a mystery begging to be solved and a metaphor for how easily women’s accomplishments vanish from history.
As someone who’s spent years working in male-dominated industries, I couldn’t stop thinking about her. I knew I couldn’t write Ada’s biography, but I could give her story new life through fiction, connecting her to a modern woman also trying to be seen.
Q: How did you create your character Cinnamon, and how would you describe the dynamic between her and her sister, Rosie?
A: Cinnamon appeared to me first: bold, messy, a little too quick with a joke, hiding her grief behind parties and cocktails. Rosie, her older sister, is grounded and dependable, the one who’s always held the family together.
When the book begins, their roles are firmly set: Rosie as caretaker, Cinnamon as chaos. But as the story unfolds, that dynamic starts to flip. Rosie’s world unravels, forcing Cinnamon to finally grow up, show up, and be there for her older sister.
Q: How did you research the novel, and what did you learn that especially surprised you?
A: I did what Cinnamon does: I went back to The Savoy. I read what little there is on Ada, I dug into the hotel’s history, and I talked to people who know the lore of the American Bar.
Because there isn’t a long paper trail on Ada, I leaned on historical texture like old menus, bar stories, the cocktail book, and what was happening at the hotel during her tenure. From there, I filled in the Ada-shaped hole with fiction.
The thing that delighted me most was discovering that the whole Savoy empire was basically underwritten by theater. Gilbert & Sullivan were so successful at the Savoy Theatre that they needed somewhere for people to dine and stay, which led to the hotel. As a Broadway producer, I loved that detail.
Q: What did you see as the right balance between fiction and history as you wrote the book?
A: From the start I knew I wasn’t writing straight history (I’m not a historian) so I used the approach I admire in great historical fiction: honor the facts we have and then tell the emotional truth in the spaces between them.
In the book, Kit is the facts-and-footnotes person, and Cinnamon is the “sometimes the story lives between the lines” person. That tension let me show what happens to women’s stories when no one writes them down.
So the balance was: keep the Savoy, Ada, and the period details recognizable, but don’t be afraid to imagine her inner life, her relationships, and how her legend could’ve been passed down as barroom lore.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I’m still very much in the books-and-cocktails lane. I’m working on several new manuscripts (one of them set between New York and a sparkling setting in France), and I’m also busy in real life doing what the book celebrates: collecting stories, raising a glass with friends, and traveling the world with my husband and long-haired chihuahua.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: Yes: I love hearing from readers. If your book club reads Last Call at the Savoy, let me know. I will happily pop in on Zoom and raise a glass with you. This book is meant to be read with a beverage and a group of friends who love a good story. Cheers.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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