GILT BCK

What does the cleverly multipurpose title, Gilt, mean to you?

Gilt is the appearance of gold, a thin coating that gives something a superficial brilliance.

The sisters in my book grew up with parents who were more interested in appearances than family. There’s inherent drama in any situation where the surface is different from what’s underneath. The homonym of Gilt is, of course, “guilt.” In this story, guilt is holding my characters back from living fully happy lives, and the question is whether they can overcome it, and how.

What drew you into the world of luxury jewelry?

My mother and grandmother would no sooner leave the house without wearing jewelry than they would without wearing shoes. I can still picture my grandmother’s oversized gold coin necklace, the ivory charms before such things were illegal, the gold bangles and cuffs.

When I have a hard time envisioning her all these decades later, if I start with the jewelry I can revive the memories from there. In my family, jewelry always marked big birthdays and special occasions of every stripe, from graduations to weddings. It’s been a lifelong fascination for me.

There are many feminist themes and undertones within Gilt. Which do you feel are most important for women to take away when reading?

I find myself coming back to similar themes in all of my novels, and I continue that in Gilt.

It’s the notion of not hesitating to go after what you want, of not asking permission. As a girl, I was raised to believe the most important piece of jewelry I’d ever own would be a diamond engagement ring. It was something I would have to wait for. Today, women earn their own money and can buy their own diamonds—and the industry knows it. If you look at jewelry ads from the 1980s to today, you can see how the language has changed. Another theme is self-worth, and what’s valuable in life. It’s not the most expensive thing. It’s not the most physically beautiful thing. It’s our memories and our relationships with our loved ones.

Is there a real-life jewelry brand that inspired you?

The jewelry brand Lulu Frost inspired my heroine, Gemma. In 2005, when the famous Plaza Hotel was undergoing renovation, the designer of Lulu Frost­—Lisa Salzer—purchased the bronze numerals that once decorated its door and repurposed them as necklaces.

The originals have since been recast and you can create your own personal necklace that’s also a little piece of New York City history. Lisa captured my imagination with those pieces, and I knew I wanted to write about a modern jewelry designer who worked from a place of meaning, not expensive material. But it was just the spark of an idea.

In January of 2020, I went to visit the Lulu Frost studio in Manhattan. I bought a gold and enamel charm inscribed with the words “Lift the veil.” I wasn’t totally sure what that phrase meant, but I felt it had something to do with having clarity and living your own truth. It was a beautiful Manhattan night, and I walked up Sixth Avenue feeling buoyant.

Less than two months later, the city I’d lived in for twenty-five years shut down because of Covid, and everything I’d taken for granted changed. Like so many people, I was forced to think about what really mattered in life, and to let go of what no longer served me. It was not easy. All the while, I wore that charm. And to this day, I don’t take it off. A few months after that night I began writing Gilt.

How does the dynamic between the two surviving sisters—Elodie and Celeste—play a role in Gilt?

Elodie and Celeste have both suffered pain and loss, and both think that they’ve moved on. But at the same time, they’re so tainted by the past that they’re troubled in their romantic relationships. They think the answer to their pain is to avoid each other, when really, the opposite is true. But they don’t realize it. Their dance of avoidance helps set the story in motion.

Is there meaning behind the setting—Provincetown, a small shore-town in Cape Cod? Provincetown is the opposite of gilt—it’s a place of no pretense. It’s a place that values art and human connection, where a beautiful sunset is more dazzling than any expensive jewel. For me, it was the perfect place for the ladies of Gilt to wrestle with their past.

The world of high-end jewelry is an oft unexplored but long-admired industry. How did you manage to create the behind-the-curtain look that permeates the pages of Gilt?

When I first imagined writing Gilt, I planned to visit jewelry studios and interview designers and really dig into the industry the way I did with wineries for Blush. But I ended up writing the entire book during a time of lockdowns and restrictions, and that process just wasn’t available to me. Fortunately, there are some truly remarkable nonfiction books about jewelry that pulled me right into the world. The two that I read and reread while writing are the books Stoned: Jewelry, Obsession, and How Desire Shapes the World by Aja Raden, and Diving for Starfish: The Jeweler, the Actress, the Heiress, and One of the World’s Most Alluring Pieces of Jewelry by Cherie Burns. Both books showed how people really do lose their mind over gems, and Diving for Starfish is a detective story that shows how secretive the trade of fine jewelry can be.

Your most recent novel, Blush, also tracked the intertwined lives of three generations of women within a family. What draws you to these relationships?

Shakespeare wrote in The Tempest that the past is prologue, but the future is still to be written. I think about that a lot. No matter how independent we think we are, our lives are shaped in part by the people who came before us. Sometimes we inherit a legacy of pain, sometimes we inherit a fortune, sometimes both. But the space between who came before us and who we become is where the stories of our lives unfold. That’s the story I always want to tell.

What’s next for you?

My next book is about a famous perfumer named Tabitha who’s among the few gifted people in the world who are called “noses” because of their extraordinary sense of smell.

Out of all of our senses, smell is the one tied most closely to memory, the strongest trigger of emotions. So when Tabitha wakes up one morning and realizes she’s lost it, she’ll do anything to get it back—even when that puts her at odds with her husband, her three grown children, and the iconic identity she worked so hard to create.

Discussion Questions 1.

Gilt focuses on three very different women: Elodie, Celeste, and Gemma.

Is there one character you related to the most? Who did you feel most different from? In what ways?

2.

What was your first major piece of jewelry? Do you remember where it came from, or who gave it to you? Do you agree or disagree with Gemma’s philosophy that women shouldn’t have to wait for an engagement or major life moment to buy jewelry for themselves?

3.

While Gemma is slowly rebuilding a connection with her aunts, she is also dealing with her lingering feelings for her best friend, Sanjay. Discuss Gemma and Sanjay’s relationship. How is he a support system for her? How do some of Gemma’s romantic decisions impact their reconciliation?

4.

This novel is told in two timelines: the present day and the 1990s. How did the dual narrative inform your understanding of the sisters? Did your opinion of Elodie, Celeste, and Paulina shift as you learned more about their histories?

5.

Provincetown is as much of a character in Gilt as the women themselves. Discuss how this setting plays a role in the novel.

6.

After being unlucky in love, Elodie threw herself into running Pavlin & Co. What is it about this summer that shakes her out of this single-mindedness?

Do you think its simply Tito’s presence, or is it something bigger?

7.

Much of the tension in the novel revolves around a famous family heirloom: the Electric Rose. Which Pavlin woman do you think should have gotten the ring, if any? Why?

8.

Celeste always tried to distance herself from her family’s drama. Compare her hesitancy to form familial bonds with the tight-knit energy of Jack’s family. How does this impact her relationships?

9.

The Pavlin & Co motto was “A Diamond Says Love.” How is love expressed in different ways in Gilt? Is it through material gifts, actions, sacrifices? Talk about the various ways these characters show and receive love.

10.

The epilogue gives us a peek into the Pavlin women’s futures. What do you think is next for Gemma, Elodie, and Celeste? How do you think their bonds have grown or developed?