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In ‘Goldenseal,’ a Mysteriously Complicated Relationship Unfurls in an L.A Hotel Room
In a Q&A, author Maria Hummel talks about the epic female friendship at the heart of her novel and why it took 20 years to start writing it / BY Rosemary Counter / January 26th, 2024
Avid botanists know goldenseal is a useful medicinal herb, rich in antimicrobials that fight colds and infections, but in American author Maria Hummel’s new novel, it’s a poignant reminder that there’s no magic pill or quick fix for life’s mistakes. “For these, there was no remedy,” writes Hummel in Goldenseal. “No chemo, no radiation, no jewelweed or goldenseal. Only time and death.”
Before death destroys any chance to fix the 44-year estrangement between former childhood BFFs Lacey and Edith, Edith travels across the country to appear unannounced on Lacey’s doorstep. More specifically, Edith’s in the lobby of a majestic and historic hotel demanding to see Lacey, who’s become a recluse in the rent-free apartment inherited from her father.
The hotel is based loosely on Los Angeles’ Biltmore, where Hummel’s husband worked in the early aughts, and where Hummel spent her time waiting for him by a gorgeous fountain and letting her imagination run free. Some 20 long years later and, thanks partly to the pandemic, Goldenseal finally materialized. In Hummel’s fifth novel – the second since Still Lives, the Reese Witherspoon Hello Sunshine Book Club pick that made her famous – clues are revealed one at a time to finally expose the deep dark secret that still fires up the former friends who are now in their 70s. Fans of Elena Ferrante will no doubt love Goldenseal for exploring the nuance of complicated relationships.
Zoomer spoke to the author and writing teacher via Zoom at her home in Vermont about the rise of monumental female friendships, food as metaphor and how to write a novel in six weeks or less.
Rosemary Counter: As soon as I heard someone compare you to Elena Ferrante, I knew I had to read your book. Have you read her?
Maria Hummel: I have, yes. Her books have been really life-changing for me. I think she’s the first person who really made female friendship epic. Dating back to The Iliad, there’s been a lot of epic male friendships, but for women it’s kind of a new thing. There’s a lot of speculation about her because she’s anonymous, of course, and I remember this interesting quote from her pen name. She said we assume writers are singular individuals, because of our western individualism, but so many writers are made up entirely of the writers they’ve read. We channel everyone who’s come before us.
RC: You definitely have a similar vibe going on, in that you’re closely following a single female friendship, or in this case, the lack thereof.
MH: The initial idea for the novel was sparked over 20 years ago when I read another book, Sandor Marai’s Embers, which is a classic novel of male friends. I loved the structure of that book, where two friends reunite after decades apart, but I thought female friendship operates very differently and it would be so interesting to have two women instead of two men. Then the idea sat in the back of my mind for 20 years.
RC: Twenty years?
MH: Yes, 20 years. I wasn’t sure what it was, but something was missing, and then once the pandemic began, I started writing this novel almost immediately. The piece that was missing was what it was like to be a recluse, like Lacey is. After a year of lockdown, I knew that feeling pretty well. I was joking to my students that we could probably all write deep space novels where you’re stuck with the same people. But I finally understood [Lacey] and that’s what I needed. This has never happened to me before, but it came out of me in just six weeks.
RC: Well, six weeks and 20 years.
MH: Exactly. I suppose my characters were very ready to talk. Usually with novels, I do a lot of pre-writing and sketching out my plot, but not in this case. I knew I only had a few weeks before my kids were home all summer, so that put some pressure on me. I wrote first thing in the morning and after dinner and whenever I had a free chance. At some point, I kind of entered another space-time continuum and it just flowed out of me.
RC: I really loved how the story didn’t flow chronologically, but unfolded a bit at a time till it all came together.
MH: Almost like if you are writing a murder mystery, which I have. [In Goldenseal] I started with the injury that divided the two women, and then worked backward. You can’t plant all the little red herrings any other way.
RC: Did you always want to be a writer?
MH: No, I had the other clichéd dream of being a marine biologist.
RC: That’s too hard! Just be a bestselling writer. This whole book happens over one meal, and the descriptions of food feel important. What does the meal represent to you?
MH: Oh, that’s a great question that nobody’s asked. Lacey is obsessed with manners and etiquette, and she’s hosting Edith at her home, so she’s showing off her wealth and her generosity through what she serves. She wants to show Edith her bounty, she needs to show her grace and manners, so she does it through her food. She’s a person of her time, and she has very limited outlets, but hosting is one of them.
RC: Your hotel is based on the Biltmore in L.A., but Lacey’s actual apartment is largely open to imagination. How did you envision her space, and how much Biltmore research did you do to get there?
MH: Historical research, thanks to the internet, is so much easier these days. The Los Angeles Public Archive has a great archive of old photos and a lot of old Biltmore photos, too. There’s lots of details on the downstairs, where the ballroom and fountain and everything is, but when it comes to the rooms upstairs, there’s less to work with. I found some details about what the hotel would look like when Edith and Lacey were young, like the horsehair mattresses and lampshades, but Lacey’s room would have been all hers.
RC: Which of Edith or Lacey do you identify with? Did you find yourself rooting for one rather than the other?
MH: No, never. I love them both and I want them both to be happy. I could never choose.