Authors: Eloisa James
Once Upon a Tower (34 page)
A Note About Literature—English, German, Persian—and Cellos
This novel owes deep thanks to two quite different fables: that of Shakespeare’s
Romeo and Juliet
, and the Brothers Grimm’s “Rapunzel.” Romeo’s passion is echoed by Gowan; the balcony scene borrows fragments of language here and there. But Gowan also owes a debt to William Butler Yeats’s early poetry: Yeats was the first to be “looped in the loops” of his beloved’s hair. Toward the end of the book, more mature and hopefully wiser, Gowan learns the poetry of John Donne. I had great fun weaving bits of Romeo’s language into the early scenes (the balcony and Rosaline among them), as well as into the tower-climbing scene.
If I had an obvious problem adopting the end of
Romeo and Juliet
(Edie and Gowan were young, but definitely not star-crossed nor suicidal), “Rapunzel” also offered a challenge. Her hair, for one! In a gesture toward the fable, Gowan climbs a horsehair ladder to the balcony, but in the end he ascends the tower without recourse to hair, equine or otherwise.
Yet another debt is owed to the great musician Yo-Yo Ma. I listened to his versions of Bach’s cello suites and his arrangement of the traditional canon
Dona Nobis Pacem
over and over while writing
Tower
. If you’d like a playlist of all the pieces Edie mentions, just look on my website,
www.eloisajames.com
. For history buffs among you, I’ll add that Vivaldi’s concerti were published in 1725, and existed beyond his original handwritten manuscript. Of course, the cello is a quite new instrument at the time, so most of the pieces Edie plays (including Vivaldi’s
Four Seasons
) would have been arranged for solo performance by a passionate musician such as Robert Lindley (1776–1855), who was considered one of the greatest cellists of his time.
I wanted Layla to have an exotic name for Regency England, one that connoted reckless passion, and I found just such a one in the love story
Leyli o Majnun
, written by the Persian poet, Abd-Allah Hatefi. It was published by Sir William James in 1788 and thereafter translated into English by Isaac D’Israeli, as
The Loves of Mejnoon and Leila
.
And a final literary note: Julia Quinn and I are great friends, which led to our writing, with Connie Brockway, two novels-in-three-parts,
The Lady Most Likely
and
The Lady Most Willing
. One day we were chatting on the phone and came up with the idea of embedding a couple of our characters in each other’s books, purely for the delight of our shared readership. Those of you who have not had the pleasure of reading Julia’s
Just Like Heaven
—and therefore have not yet met the enticing Earl of Chatteris outside the pages of this book—you have a treat in store for you!
A Sneak Peek at Eloisa’s Next Novel
Tobias Dautry grew up on the streets of London, the leader of a gang of mudlarks, homeless boys who fished the Thames for valuables. Rescued by the father he never knew he had, the Duke of Villiers, a hardscrabble rebel still lurks beneath the gleaming, civilized façade of an English gentleman. Of all the duke’s children, Tobias is the most like his father: brilliant, cold, and beautiful.
In one respect, however, he has vowed
never
to resemble his father: Tobias has seven siblings, five of whom are illegitimate. He has always been careful never to father a child and he intends to keep it that way. No children. Ever.
But since that’s the case . . .
Who is four-year-old Chloe?
And what is she doing on his doorstep?
We don’t have a title yet . . .
so what would
you
call this novel?
Eloisa would love some help!
Please visit her Facebook page and tell her your suggestion.
A
New York Times
bestselling author, E
LOISA
J
AMES
is a professor of English literature who
lives with her family in New York but can sometimes be found in Paris or Italy.
(Her husband is an honest-to-goodness Italian knight!) Eloisa’s website offers
short stories, extra chapters, and even a guide to shopping in Florence.
Please visit her at
www.eloisajames.com
.
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www.AuthorTracker.com
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
ONCE UPON A TOWER
. Copyright © 2013 by Eloisa James. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition JUNE 2013 ISBN: 9780062223883
Print Edition ISBN: 9780062223876
FIRST EDITION
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