A Unique Crossover
Caroline Malcom-Boulton is the author of The Three Witches of Milton, a unique crossover novella which unites and
explores elements from three of my absolute best favourite classic novels: Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South,
Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre.
Playing
with quotes from these three inspirational novels and their iconic screenplays,
Caroline Malcom-Boulton blends the English classics together, infusing them
with an original plot, all so that we might explore the intriguing relationship
of similarities between their characters and themes.
I invited
lovely Caroline to join me at My Jane Austen Book Club to talk Jane Austen
and also to tell us more about her new release.
HERE’S MY INTERVIEW
Hello
Caroline and thank you for being my guest at My Jane Austen Book Club today! My
first question for you is, when was your first encounter with Austen and her
work and what was it like?
Hello, Maria Grazia, and thank you for having me. Oh, yikes, that takes me
back, let me see if I can remember… Well, to begin with, I was very lucky to be
brought up in a family that admired the classics and both read and watched them
faithfully, so Austen’s world was very much part of my world from day one.
How
much Austen is there in your novella, The Three Witches of Milton?
There is a fair bit. While the story is mainly about North and South and
the love between Thornton and Margaret, it is also about Pride and Prejudice
and Jane Eyre. The book incorporates quotes from all three novels as well as
other works by Austen. I have shown these quotes in italics to help distinguish
them from my own words, and, hopefully, for anyone reading it who has not read
the original novels, becoming acquainted with these exceptional passages of
prose will encourage them to finally pick up a copy. Anyway, I like to think
that there is a touch of Austen throughout, as there are a few comical lines
and observations, many of which made me smile and think of her wit and wisdom.
Your
novella unites and explores elements from three of my absolute best favourite
classic novels: Elizabeth Gaskell’s
North and South, Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and Charlotte Brontë’s Jane
Eyre. Could you tell us something about it. I’m so curious!
I have long since been dabbling (one of John’s least favourite words),
with the idea of writing a classical novel crossover. There are a few reasons
for wanting to do a crossover like this. The first is that I simply thought it
would be fun. I felt it would be amusing to mix up the characters, storylines
and dialogue to see what came out of it, something I hope readers find too.
However, there was perhaps a more profound reason. While the original novels
and their writers are distinct, I do feel they have strong similarities. For
instance, all the women are praiseworthy for being clever, courageous and
caring. At the same time, while the men may differ in terms of socio-economic
backgrounds and life experiences, they too are similar underneath it all. I
think Darcy, Rochester and Thornton are all sensitive men who often give the
wrong impression. They can come off as prideful, temperamental and harsh, but
they are good people at heart, men who hold themselves to a high standard, are
made vulnerable by life, and above all else, long to be loved and understood by
a good woman.
 |
| Alan Rickman as Colonel Brandon (1995) |
The hero of your book is John
Thornton, the brooding passionate protagonist of Gaskell’s North and South. Who is your favourite Austen hero,
instead?
That is easy. While I admire most of Austen’s leading men, some more
than others, my number one hero must be Colonel Brandon. I think Colonel
Brandon is an exceptional man. Like Marianne, we perhaps do not appreciate him
to begin with, as he is not dashing and daring in the way that we are led to
believe giddy, girlish love should be. He is a little dull. He is a little old.
He is a little weather-beaten in every sense of the word. And yet, despite
that, he is a man of considerable empathy, intelligence, selflessness and
integrity. Again, like Marianne, we grow to respect him, and in time, fall in
love with him. He may not sweep us off our feet, but we see him for what he is,
and that is dependable and devoted, two qualities which make for steadfast
love.
 |
| Richard Armitage as John Thornton (2004) |
Does he share any personality traits
with Mr Thornton?
I think Brandon and Thornton share many personality traits, and I
believe they could have been firm friends if they had ever met. They are both
private. They are both men of staunch honour. They both do what they can to
support the friends and family of their beloved in times of need. And perhaps,
most of all, they are not showy men. They do not make a display of their
affections, they do not draw attention to their goodness, but instead, offer up
their unconditional friendship and faithfulness, then simply step back and take
no credit, they ask no thanks. In short, they are men who love quietly, yet
sincerely.
Which
is your favourite Austen novel? Do you
like re-reading it?
I am afraid I have a rather
unconventional and unpopular answer here, and instead of saying Pride and
Prejudice, I will say Emma.
Emma is an undervalued novel, in my
opinion, and I can see why. She is not the most endearing of Austen’s heroines.
Emma is spoilt. She is a young woman who thinks very highly of herself, and as
Knightley points out, she treats those around her like dolls that she can pick
up and put down to play with at her whim. Oh, my! I am not doing dear Emma any
favours here, am I?
But the thing is, I actually find
Emma thoroughly refreshing. For one, books such as those by Austen provide us
with valuable insight into the life and love of women of certain classes at the
time, and while these accounts are scarce in the literature, there is an even
greater shortage of stories about women like Emma. We need to read about women
who were financially secure, who did not need to be governed by the thought of
finding a husband, and who were at the pinnacle of their little social sphere.
And, most crucially, I think Emma is a very real person. Emma’s faults are
many, and most of them can be jotted down to a life of pander and privilege, a
combination that readers quite rightly struggle to sympathise with, but she is
just a young woman discovering who she is, and, in the end, she grows into be a
caring and accepting person.
Which
Austen heroine can you relate to the most? Why?
Ooh, that is a hard one. I think
I am a mix of Marianne and Elinor Dashwood, strange, I know, given how unlike
each other they are. Sense and Sensibility has always been my second favourite
novel, and that is partly because I have been able to identify with both
sisters. When I was younger, I was a lot like the early Marianne. I saw the
world in black and white, I was passionate, and I felt injustice deeply. I
could also be quick to form opinions, judgmental of others, and not afraid to
speak my mind, always assuming I knew best. A typical teenager. But like
Marianne, as I grew up, I began to see that the world was much greyer, and far
from being an ugly shade, it was comforting, a reassuring reminder that clarity
often comes from a place of obscurity. Now I find that I am much more
level-headed, like Elinor, and I often think before I speak, being more careful
to listen and take stock of my emotions before I act. However, as I think
Austen shows us, a person like that does not feel any less, but they are simply
more sensible about their sensibilities.
Caroline
Bingley is one of your witches. Why
did you choose her from the whole Austen
universe?
There are a few reasons why I wanted to include Caroline. For a start,
there has always been a bit of a joke in the family about her, as she and I
share the same name, so I really wanted to give her a cameo in my work. Another
reason is that Caroline is synonymous as a female antagonist in the Austen
universe. She is seen as the ultimate (insert bad word of your choice here)
when it comes to women. Lastly, she has some cracking lines! Austen must have
had a lot of fun writing Caroline Bingley, as countless one-sentence remarks
are so cutting, that I am surprised the author did not do herself injury with
her pen. And it is because of this that she was chosen. The whole plot of this
novella is to have these three women ridicule Margaret Hale, the woman they
know John Thornton loves, so who better to call upon than the very woman who
knows best how to disparage her love rival with a little pointed dialogue?
I
love watching every Austen adaptation I can find. I have fun comparing and
contrasting the different versions we have. What’s your relationship with
screen adaptations of books? Are you very demanding and often disappointed?
Austen is very personal and very precious to all who love her. I have
never come across another author whom people get so possessive over, talking about
her and her work as if they know her intimately and can read her mind. They
tell us what she would like and not like with such certainty, that one would
think them the undisputed authority on all things Austen. However, the truth is
that books are fluid texts, and so, they are open to interpretation, and as
such, each adaptation will not only bring something new to the table and shed
new light on her works but they will, inevitably, never succeed in pleasing
everybody.
As a creative person, I applaud anyone with the intelligence, initiative
and imagination to pull them off. In the end, if I do not like an adaptation, I
do not mark it down as bad or not Austen-like, but rather, I simply accept that
it was not for me, leave it be, but close by asking in what ways it did do well
because there is always something to commend if one looks past our own pride
and prejudice.
What’s your best favourite screen adaptation
of a classic? Why?
 |
| Romola Garai as Emma Woodhouse (2009) |
I have so many that I like, but I must say that I am a big fan of the
2009 Emma, with the 2008 Sense and Sensibility being a close second. I am a
firm believer that classic novels are best told in a series, and not as a film.
Do not get me wrong, I understand the merit of making them into films. They can
be shown in the cinema, giving them bigger hype and allowing them to reach a
wider audience, filmmakers can make more money, and, of course, down the line,
they are much more convenient for fans to watch. However, to give the full
magnitude of the stories justice, then they need the time a series can offer to
unfold fully, so that is maybe why I like these two adaptations so much.
What would you miss the most if you
ended up travelling back to Jane Austen’s era? What would you be excited
to try, instead?
Well, I think as a woman, I am obligated to say that I would miss the
level of equality we know today. For all our romancing about Jane Austen’s
period, I imagine our dear heroes, as wonderful as they may be on paper, would
have had the odd sexist thought in real life. Other than that, I would miss
sanitation and hygiene, such as not having a shower every day. Also, can you
imagine having something as simple as a headache, and yet, not having any
medication? That would be horrible. No wonder people took to bed at the
slightest ache and pain. And lastly, while this is perhaps not the most suitable
thing to write for a post about reading and writing, I would miss films and
television a great deal. Sometimes a good old chill session with some popcorn
and Netflix is just what one needs.
How
would you recommend The Three Witches of Milton to our book-loving Janeite
friends?
I have always had a
keen interest in scribbling classical crossovers, and God willing, this will
merely be the first of many. In this instance, it occurred to me that several
of our beloved (and not so loved), characters from these novels bear
considerable similarities. For instance, Darcy and Thornton, Elizabeth and
Margaret, while they may have many superficial differences when we break it
down, our heroes and heroines are profoundly similar people with similar
values. As such, I felt it would be intriguing to play with their separate
stories and dialogues and see how I could compare and contrast them in such a
way that identified with those parallels, and in this story, I hope I have
achieved that. Furthermore, the texts of all three novels are so well known,
that while they remain timeless and classic, they can also become blunted in
their power, simply because they become white noise, something we hear so often
that their meaning is perhaps not muted, but muffled. Therefore, I wanted to
give them fresh meaning by chopping and changing them to fit the environment of
new situations and scenes, showing us that these enduring lines can exist within
the confines of their novels and remain meaningful in new contexts.
As Austen herself
says: “It is only a novel... or, in
short, only some work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed,
in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation
of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and humour, are conveyed to
the world in the best-chosen language.”
ABOUT THE
BOOK: SYNOPSIS
John Thornton just wants to settle down by the
fire after a long week at Marlborough Mills. However, when he enters his
drawing room, the master is horrified to find that far from being alone, he is
beset by the company of three guileful antagonists, each one intent on trapping
him with her feminine charms, claiming this eligible bachelor for her husband.
Forced to ward off North and South’s Ann Latimer, Pride and Prejudice’s
Caroline Bingley and Jane Eyre’s Blanche Ingram, John must use his wit and
wiles to evade the flirtatious enchantments of these three figurative witches
of Milton. But just as he thinks he has eluded their womanly spells, they begin
to sharpen their claws and vilify a certain young lady whom John cherishes in
his broken heart, and that, our literary hero will not stand for.
PURCHASE LINK
GREETINGS FROM THE AUTHOR
Hello, I'm Caroline Malcolm-Boulton,
also known as The Scribbler CMB. Born in 1993, I proudly hail from Scotland,
where I reside with my husband and our cherished daughter.
Contact details
Email: caroline.malcolmboultonmedia@gmail.com
X (Formerly Twitter): @TheScribblerCMB
Facebook Arts Page: @TheScribblerCMBArts
Facebook Writing Page:
@TheScribblerCMBWriter
Instagram: @TheScribblerCMB
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