Three Books – Janie Millman

Hello and welcome to Three Books with me Angela Clarke on women's radio station the program where we discover the three books that have shaped and influenced today's female writers. On today's show we welcome Janie Millman, actress, writer and co owner of Retreat Shaker Stylion. Janie has appeared on screen with Hollywood stars, performed in Olivier award winning stage productions and has performed as a ninja turtle. Her feel great summer reads Sky's the Limit, sees her main character ditched by her husband for her best friend and and embark on a soul searching sun drenched trip to Marrakech and the south of France. Janie, so far, so normal for a romantic read, but in your novel the best friend your main character Sky's husband leaves her for is her gay best friend. A double whammy. A double whammy. So what unfolds is a kind of a delicate and insightful exploration of betrayal and love between two lifelong friends. Yeah. Are our friends our true soulmates? Well, I think this is one of the themes I really wanted to explore when writing because I wanted to see how far you could push the boundaries of friendship and how, yeah, how they would survive. And this was about the major thing that I could discover and thinking this absolute double betrayal. So she's lost the two men that she loves. I won't make any spoilers as to what happens in the book, but it's. And the funniest thing that sky discovers is that the person that she misses the most is actually her best friend. Her best friend Nick, who would be the one that she would be telling all this to if only it wasn't happening to Nick. So I think friendship is hugely, it's hugely important to me. My friends are massively important. And I think yes, it's the theme that I really wanted to explore. I really wanted to sort of push the boundaries and just see how far friendship would go and how, you know, what would happen before it would actually crumble. Speaking of lifelong friendships, what's the book that you always return to? The book I always return to is Frenchman's Creek by Daphne du Maurier. I absolutely love it. I first read it probably in my teens and thought it was the most fantastic swashbuckling romance ever. And I was in Devon at the time, not Cornwall, but I imagined I was in Cornwall. And heavens, if that pirate had come anywhere near me, I would have been on that boat as quick as lightning. And then re reading it, I realized it was actually much darker, much more disturbing, a kind of sexual and emotional awakening for Donna the main character. And it's one of those books that every time I read it, it gives me something different. It's fascinating, isn't it, how you can return to a book. Do you think that age and experience changed the way in which you viewed it? Because sometimes if you read something in your teens, then you read it in your 20s and your 30s, it changes how you. Oh, absolutely. And I think that actually the main character, Donna, in Frenchman's Creek, she changes so much from the beginning of the book where she is this spoilt, impetuous, arrogant, stubborn, proud lady, she undergoes a huge change, a huge journey. I hate using the word journey, actually, but she undergoes a huge change in the book. They crop up a lot. They crop up a lot. But what I love about it is at the very beginning, she's looking in the mirror and she sees this beautiful face, and she's created this Persona by herself. She's created this monster. But she knows that somewhere behind this face lurks another face, lurks the true Donna. And I think that's quite true of all of us. Sometimes we all create a Persona. We all create the image that we want the world to see, but actually behind us is something different. And when you read books, as you said, as you go on throughout life and as you age and as you experience, you gain more and more, or sometimes it's the opposite. Sometimes you can read a book and think, I have no idea why I love this at 16. You know, I've gone off now. It didn't work for me. Now, I totally agree about that idea that we have a Persona. So many people have Persona, and you see behind that. And that's definitely something that actually crops up in Sky's the Limit. You as well as Sky. The book kind of moves seamlessly between the story of Gail, who has been looking for the father, who is looking for the father of her son, and many other characters. And you write from their different points of view. Do you think that your acting experience helps you create such well developed characters? I hope it does. And I think it. I think it very much does, actually. Because when you're acting, you do have to dig very deep. You have to dig into yourself to try and find the different areas of your personality that sometimes you actually don't want to find that you've kept well hidden for very good reasons. But, you know, it depends on the character you're playing. So I think I do treat the characters a bit like I am becoming there and becoming them, whether it be male or female. And it's a bit like a rehearsal. Also, I think what was really interesting writing sky is that when I first started writing it, I was actually not very well. I had breast cancer and I had to have radiotherapy and chemo and so I spent a lot of time quite drug induced. Maybe that reflects the book. Well, actually it's very, very vivid. The descriptions are very vivid and I think that's because I thought about it so much. I had so many times, so many hours in the waiting rooms and so many hours on the hospital beds. And I'm not, you know, saying that to make people feel sorry for me. I had an amazing healthcare. But I do actually think that was extraordinary because I thought about it so much before actually starting to write about it. So when I actually first started to write about it, it was all in my head. It was there. So mirroring, like you would prepare for a pass. Absolutely, yeah. Yeah. Fascinating. It was really fascinating. So you're the co owner of Chez Castellion in the south of France, but before that you lived in the uk? Yeah. Now Sky's the Limit is full of characters who travel to find the place that they feel at home in. Can you be home or can home be anywhere? I think it probably can. I think as long as you're. For me, as long as I'm with the person, my husband, then home can be anywhere. As long as I'm with him. I mean, obviously some places are nice there. I have to say that we spent seven years in the tiniest flat in the Old Kent Road in London and I'd much rather be in our lovely house in southwest France. But I think home can be anywhere. Yes, I think that there are places that are your special places and your happy places. And when we first ever walked into Chez Castillon, our house, we both felt that there was a certain magic and there was a certain something about it that just drew us. And that's something actually that comes out in the book, isn't it? Because Guy feels that real connection, in particular to the south of France, which is in the south of France, and staying in a chateau there, she feels like she's almost being healed, like she's being healed by the kind of surroundings that she's in. I think it really comes out strongly and I think that is true. I've got places where I go to now and I had them when I was living in the uk. At the moment it's Arkachon, which is about two hours from us. And as soon as I step onto the beach in Arkachon it feels like all the worries and the stresses just disappear for those one night, two nights that I'm there. And that's very much, I think, influenced how I wrote about Sky's reaction to the chateau in southwest France. Yeah. And Marrakech. I mean, have you been to Marrakech? I have. In fact, we stayed in the very Riyadh. Oh, really? That appears in the book, run by a woman called Beatrice. I'll probably get sued. Oh, but Beatrice is a marvel. But she's wonderful. Yes. You asked me beforehand who my favorite character was. Maybe Beatrice is my favorite character. She's like the chief kind of sorceress, isn't she? She's the. She pulls the strings for the puppets. She's got a touch of the White Witch about that. She certainly has. But, yes. No, we adored Marrakesh. Absolutely adored it. It was. Oh, it's just so vivid. It's so bright. It's exotic. It's very, very hot and dusty. I'd been to Marrakesh years ago when I was about 14, and I actually think that that first visit to Marrakesh was what awoke the sense of adventure and travel in me, because I love traveling and I always swore that I would go back to Marrakesh. How interesting, then that. That. That's the place that kind of opens Sky's eyes, or begins to open Sky's eyes to women. Yeah, I've talked about that before, actually. Yeah. That it's come out in your work. Well, that's brilliant. Thank you, Janie. Thanks, Jenny. We'll be right back after these adverts. Welcome to women's radio station, the voice of women worldwide. So I do glitter for a living. Coming up next on women's radio station wrs. Women's radio station. Hey, this is Jessie and I'm a life architect. So what has made you say effort in rage or effort? Enjoy. This week. I love listening to women's radio whilst driving in my car. My sport and me listen online on your smartphone and on your computer. If you wanted to find out a little bit more, do go to our website, womensradiostation.com Spice Mountain brings a touch of the exotic, offering a dazzling range of spices, herbs and chilies alongside our specialty handmade spice blends, which make it so easy to create wonderful and memorable meals. 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Supporting women is our passion. We're currently welcoming donations to help towards our running costs to keep this important initiative alive. To donate simply head to our website. Every little will help. Welcome back to three Books on Women's Radio Station. The programme where we discover the three books that have shaped and influenced today's female writers. Today we are talking to actress and writer Janie Millman, author of the Uplifting Summer read Sky's the Limit. Janie Food is an intrinsic part of Sky's the Limit with one of the main characters, Nick, being a Michelin starred chef. Can you ever really know a place unless you try the local food? Food? Oh, I don't think so, no. You have to try the local food and the local wine or the local beverage with the exception of Albania. Oh really? I've never been to Albania. No, we went for a day years ago when it was first opened and my husband decided that instead of this wood burning sort of wonderful pizza, we would try the local dish which was mussels, snails, rice in a kind of gruely porridge. So I suppose actually it did reflect Albania because I found Albania rather sort of rough and gruely as well. Oh dear. Well maybe, maybe the pizza would have given a different. A different shine. But no, I think you absolutely have to experience the. And food plays a huge part in my life. I mean I love cooking, I love eating, I love drinking, I love the whole, you know, everything that goes with sort of joy De vu senses. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. So the book contains a number of examples of kind of blended or patchwork families where people find new families for themselves to be part of. This kind of interplays with the geographic freedom that many of the characters have, some of which have even led kind of almost nomadic lifestyles, really. Can you build your own joy? Oh, yes, I'd like to think you can. It takes some building sometimes, but. And I think you have to be prepared to take risks. You have to be prepared to let go of your comfort and delve into something new, something unknown. I think if you stay in the same. For me, I could never stay in the same place. I'm quite nomadic. I think I've only ever lived apart from when I was a child. The longest I've ever lived is seven, eight years. I think I'll probably stay longer than that in Chez Castillon. But I do think you can build your own joy. Yes. So are all romance books actually, really about the search for joy and belonging rather than the search for love? I think it's all intertwined, isn't it? I think when you love someone, you find that joy, you find that sense of belonging to. It's all linked. Because when you love someone, you find your soulmate, you find the person you want to share the rest of your life with, to share everything with. And therefore you feel secure and you feel that you belong without feeling trapped. I think that sounds like, you know, everything you do is together. I mean, I think in the words of Khalil Gibran, let there be spaces in the togetherness and let the wind and blow, you know, between you. So, yeah, I think that love, belonging, security, trust, it's all the same. I think this kind of book definitely makes you feel secure when you're reading it. It's like having a hug, isn't it? It's lovely. So what's the book that you wish that you'd written? Well, I did ponder long about this question, but I think it has to be finally Gone with the Wind. Oh. Because it's just the most magical book ever. So poignant, so brilliantly written, such amazing characters. And it teaches you. I mean, it taught me more about the American Civil War than any book I would ever read. Not that I actually read many books about the American Civil War. I didn't need to. I'd read Gone with the Wind. And Scarlet's such a brilliant character, in some ways, not dissimilar to Donna in Frenchman's Creek in that they're both flawed, but that's the reason that you absolutely love her, because she is flawed. She's very self centered. She's very selfish. But she kind of, it's almost a rite of passage from her. You see her, I think when she's first 16 and then I think she's 28 when the book ends. So you see how she's grown and matured. Oh, it's fascinating. It's a brilliant book. What did you think of the film? I loved the film. The only person I was really disappointed in actually was Ashley. And I can't think of the actor that played him. Oh, I don't know. Oh, gosh, heavens, I can't remember. But I remember sort of at the time thinking, oh, that's not quite how I pictured him. But then I never really liked Ashley in the books. That's always the risk though, isn't it? When you, when you, when you love a book so much and then you see the film adaptation of it, it's always the risk that it's not going to quite be as you pictured it will not quite live up to your expectations. No, I thought the film was absolutely fantastic. What's the book that made you think differently about women? Well, to be honest, I don't know if there's one particular book that made me feel differently about women. I think it's a. I think it's a culmination of so many. When I was, when I was a child, I used to love reading. I mean, most of the books I loved reading were about very strong women. Laura Ingalls in Little House on the Prairie, Anne of Green Gables, Pollyanna. But I think all of those kind of shaped my thoughts about women and about how to grow up Little Women, you know, Louise Alcott. So I don't think there was one that particularly actually change my perception. I've always perceived women even as a kid as being very strong and having a very definite role to play in the world. So I don't actually, I was trying, really trying to think about this. But I think it's just a culmination of lots of different books that I, that I loved as a child. And do you think they've added into your own writing? Do you think they've influenced them then? Because you do write strong, complex, you know, kind of female characters that are fully formed in their own right. And because you move in, the sky's the limit between different people's points of view. You sometimes go into the less likable characters but you put across their side very strongly as well. It doesn't feel, you know, they feel 3D. They feel, they feel real well, again, I think that's to do as we were talking earlier about the acting background as well, because everyone's got a reason for doing something. No matter how hideous the action of someone, there's a reason behind that and you've got to dig really deep and find that reason and the same on stage. You can't just portray someone doing something terrible without actually knowing what led to that point because otherwise it would be a very one dimensional character that you're watching on stage or on television or on film. So whether the audience are aware of what, you know, what, what, what made her become like this, it doesn't really matter, but as long as you're aware of it. And I think the same with the book. I find it fascinating to, to discover the journey of a character and think, ooh, well, if that had happened to her at an early age, or if she was, in the case of sky, thwarted, then what would that do to her? How would that make her? How would that change her? Some people can, you know, develop or become nicer because of something, and some people become absolutely worse. So yes, I think it's the whole journey. There I am using that word again. Journey. It does tend to crop up a lot in books. This tends to be a reoccurring thing. Do you ever pretend to be your characters or inhabit your characters? I came across a writer once, for example, who decides what kind of clothes her character would wear and wears them and goes out in them so that she, I guess, embodies the character and can feel, you know, like them. And the way that people react to her in that situation, I suppose, sort of, perhaps not consciously though. Although tonight I will be sporting rather wonderful caftan because that's my launch tonight and sky wears lots of caftans, so I've deliberately gone for that. It feels very fitting, I think, having read the book. But I don't know, I suppose, I suppose I don't dress. I don't know really. I don't. Depends on the sort of characters and what their clothes are. You don't, I don't know, strut around your room impersonating their voices or anything like that? No, I don't, but I do. I'm showing my complete lack of understanding of what it takes to be, be an actor. When I was at drama school, one of the acting tutors always used to say, it starts with the shoes. As soon as you put your character's shoes on, then you get a different walk. And a different walk gives you a different voice and a different energy. And actually that's quite true. But no, I don't strut around pretending to be someone else, but I do read the dialogue out loud and I think that's certainly to do with the acting background. And if it doesn't, if I can't read it properly, if it doesn't, if I'm stumbling over it, then I know that I've got it wrong. Wonderful. Thank you, Janie. And if anybody wants to find you online. Where can they find you online? Yeah, I don't know. Where can they find me online? What about your website? Oh, www.shaycastillon.com. wonderful. Or Janie Millman, author page on Facebook. Lovely. Is that what you mean? Sorry. How technologically useless I am. I think that fits with the idea of escaping and going somewhere hot and being in a wonderful kind of holiday mood. I think that fits perfectly to be like no technology. We're not talking about the realities now. We're going to live in a world of food and vivid colors and travel. It's wonderful. Thank you very much, Tony. Sky's the Limit is published by Dome Press and is out in ebook now and in paperback in August. If you have any questions for three books, email us on presentersomensradiostation.com or tweet us at womensradiostation, that's Women's Radio STN. You've been listening to three books on women's Radio Station with me, Angela Clark. If you'd like to listen again or catch up on our previous programs, you can head to the presenters page on womensradiostation.com thank you for listening. Welcome to Women's Radio Station, the voice of women worldwide. Hungry an average woman eats about 2 to 3 kilos of lipstick in her lifetime. Women's Radio Station, we want to hear from you. 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