Q&A with Ginny Kubitz Moyer

 

Photo by High Tea Photography

 

 

Ginny Kubitz Moyer is the author of the new novel The World at Home. Her other books include the novel A Golden Life. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. 

 

Q: You write that a production of The Nutcracker was an inspiration for The World at Home--can you say more about that?

 

A: In 2019, my family and I went to see The Nutcracker at the San Francisco Ballet. It was the 75th anniversary of the company’s first performance, and as I read the program, I was struck by the fact that their 1944 production was the first time the whole ballet had ever been performed in the United States.

 

This was surprising on a few levels. I’d known the ballet had premiered in Russia in the 1890s, but I hadn’t known it had taken quite so long to come to the United States. I was intrigued (and, as a native of the San Francisco Bay Area, rather proud) to discover that San Francisco had been the first city to perform the full ballet to American audiences.

 

Later that evening, and in the days after, I kept thinking about that first 1944 production. I was fascinated by the contrast between a whimsical story about sugarplums and sweets and the reality of a world war.

 

How had that first performance felt for the audiences who were watching it as their husbands and sons and brothers were overseas fighting? I began to research the first production, which led me to research life in San Francisco during World War II. The story grew from there.

 

Q: How did you create your character Irene?

 

A: I knew instinctively that I wanted my main character to be a seamstress working on costumes rather than a dancer.

 

Looking back, I think it’s because doing so would give Irene the freedom to have a rich professional life outside of that first production. Because Irene is a seamstress and budding fashion designer, she can be working on other projects as well as The Nutcracker, meaning the novel is able to have a broader canvas.

 

And in fact, the novel begins with Irene going to design a dress for Cynthia Burke, a beautiful Nob Hill socialite. This is a huge opportunity for Irene, a 20-year-old who has just inherited a seamstress shop after the death of her mentor. She gets to enter a world that has always been glamorous and far away, one she only knows from the society pages.

 

It’s just one of many new worlds that Irene will discover over the course of the story: she will meet a charming young sailor, develop a very unique friendship with a handsome businessman, explore new neighborhoods and cultures she never knew before, discover the pain of loss, and grow as a designer and artist and woman.

 

Q: As you noted, the novel is set in World War II-era San Francisco--how important is setting to you in your writing?

 

A: I love it when readers tell me they got totally immersed in my books, and setting is a huge part of that. One of the joys of writing this novel was researching daily life in San Francisco during World War II.

 

All of America felt the war, of course, but San Francisco—poised on the edge of the continent as it is— experienced it in a very visceral way. Over 1.6 million troops shipped out to war from San Francisco, making it the last bit of home soil that many of these young men ever touched.

 

The city was flooded with servicemen, and there was an energy that comes from having so many young people in one place, especially when those young men were keenly aware they might not return.

 

Plus San Francisco is a totally unique city. The fog, the bay and ocean, the iconic bridge, the hills that seem to be practically vertical, the cable cars, the Victorian houses with their bay windows: it’s a city with such personality and so much to discover, even if you’re a local like Irene.

 

Q: The author Meghan K. Winchell said of the book, “Irene shines as a young woman finding her voice and spirit during one of the most complex, adrenaline-fueled moments in American history.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: I think she captured the essence of the story so well. It’s a coming-of-age story about a young woman growing into herself personally and professionally, making the discoveries and mistakes and choices that are universal across the generations. And the fact that Irene lives in San Francisco in wartime means she has a particularly vibrant and colorful canvas for doing so.

 

I also love the adjective “adrenaline-fueled.” One thing Irene does in the story is volunteer as a junior hostess at the USO, one of many clubs for young servicemen that were opened across the country during the war.

 

The USO was a place where servicemen could dance with girls, play ping-pong, get doughnuts and coffee, and generally have fun. I loved imagining the energy that came from so many young men and women thrown together in such an emotionally charged time.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I’m working on a novel set in the 1950s. It’s a change from my other three novels: the other books feature a protagonist who is an only child, but this one is a story about five sisters. It’s been great fun to get to know those young women and to see how their energy and unique personalities ping off of one another.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I have a monthly newsletter, which is less about news and more a playful celebration of fun and inspiring things: photos, book recommendations, memorable quotations, and peeks behind the curtain at my inspiration for characters and stories. If this sounds intriguing, you can see a sample and subscribe at my website, www.ginnymoyer.org.

 

Thank you so much for the interview!

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Ginny Kubitz Moyer.