Victoria Christopher Murray

"The most important thing an author can do is to be authentic, to be true to the times and the character - what the character would say and do. To be called “Black” during Mary’s time would have been an insult."

"We didn’t have missteps, but when the book opens with the incident at the luncheon, we both thought it was horrible, but Marie thought it was more horrible than I did. … If Mary had to count and remember all the slights in her life, she wouldn’t have been able to move on."