In “Tangerine,” author Christine Mangan Takes Us on a Tantalizing Trip to Tangier

Hello and welcome to the Inkandescent Radio show, “Authors Between the Covers.” I’m your host, the founder of the Inkandescent Radio Network, Hope Katz Gibbs.

I’m thrilled to be here today with Christine Mangan, author of Tangerine, the Hitchcockian tale of Alice Shipley and Lucy Mason — college roommates who reconnect in the Moroccan city of Tangier, 1956. Drama and intrigue ensue, and indeed this page-turner is incredibly hard to put down.

In the last six months, “Tangerine” has gotten tremendous attention — having been a featured in The New Yorker, and reviewed in The New York Times. Also incredibly exciting is that it has been optioned for film by George Clooney’s Smokehouse Pictures, and Scarlett Johansson is set to star.

This is the first novel for the woman who has a PhD in English from the University College of Dublin, where her thesis focused on 18th century Gothic literature. She also has an MFA in fiction writing from the University of Southern Maine, and has spent much of her career traveling the world.

Welcome to “Authors Between the Covers,” Christine!

Before we get into our interview, I want to tell our listeners a little about this engrossing novel:

The last person Alice Shipley expected to see since arriving in Tangier with her new husband was Lucy Mason. After the accident at Bennington, the two friends—once inseparable roommates—haven’t spoken in over a year. But there Lucy was, trying to make things right and return to their old rhythms. Perhaps Alice should be happy. She has not adjusted to life in Morocco, too afraid to venture out into the bustling medinas and oppressive heat. Lucy—always fearless and independent—helps Alice emerge from her flat and explore the country. But soon a familiar feeling starts to overtake Alice—she feels controlled and stifled by Lucy at every turn. Then Alice’s husband, John, goes missing, and Alice starts to question everything around her: her relationship with her enigmatic friend, her decision to ever come to Tangier, and her very own state of mind.

Be Inkandescent: That description just makes you want to pick up the book! So, Christine, tell us about the story, your inspiration for it, and the journey you embarked on to take it from an idea to this 388-page hardback.

Christine: Sure! The whole novel was inspired by a trip I took to the city of Tangier back in the spring of 2015. I had just finished my PhD at the University College of Dublin, and had a little bit of time left on my visa, so I wanted to travel and see as much as possible before I returned to the states. One of the places I really wanted to go to was Tangier. I had been there once before but for about only 10 minutes when I passed through the city on an overnight train from Marrakesh. I hopped on a ferry and went back to Spain. It was one of those things I regretted, not being able to spend time there.

When I finally did go, I discovered that Tangier was, and still is, unlike any place I’ve ever been to. There’s a certain amount of romance to it, which is why a lot of creative people are drawn to live here — artists, writers, and travelers. But Tangier can also be entirely overwhelming. It’s hot and chaotic, and the streets can be a nightmare, ranging from being frustrating to terrifying at moments. There’s no place to stop and take a breath.

I think that’s the reason people say, “You cry when you arrive in Tangier, and you cry when you leave.” You have to engage and overcome so many obstacles. But once you get accustomed to the rhythm of the place, you become enamored by it. I find myself still thinking about it, years after leaving. The people I met there, the stories they told me, in particular, the different ways people react to the city — it’s unforgettable.

Be Inkandescent: Did you always want to be a novelist?

C: I grew up in Metro Detroit, and lived on Long Island and in North Carolina for a bit. I went to Bennington College for a year, left, and went to Chicago where I lived for quite some time. Then I went to Dublin for four years and received my PhD before moving to Dubai to teach for a year.

I always wanted to be a writer — but it was something that I never thought could happen — even after going to school for creative writing and receiving an MFA in fiction writing, and getting a PhD. That’s mostly because writing a novel and finding someone like it enough to publish it didn’t seem like a possibility. That’s why I put all of my focus on academia.

Be Inkandescent: So how was “Tangerine” born?

Christine: It happened when I arrived back in the states, and found myself in the position of not studying or being in school or working. While I was applying for jobs, I took time to finally sit down and write this thing. Memories of Tangier were dancing in my mind, and the story began unfolding.

Be Inkandescent: You have accomplished so much, and it seems like you have always trusted your guts to take you where you needed to go.

Christine: It’s true. In fact, I loved working on my PhD because I got to spend my time researching 18th Century Gothic novels. I had hoped after graduating that I would be able to teach about these things that I have been studying — but the reality is that in academia it is really hard to find full-time positions, especially ones where you get to teach about your specialty. I was looking at were jobs that would mainly have me teaching composition, which I wasn’t excited about. So I accepted a job in Dubai just as I found an agent. As I was preparing to leave for the United Emirates, the sale of the book happened so I was juggling a new job and the book sale. It was a very chaotic, exiting time.

Be Inkandescent: It must have been fascinating! To go from zero to a thousand like that.

Christine: Yeah, it was! I worked all day, then stayed up all night talking to people on the east coast. I remember during the auction, I got a terrible cold because I was adapting to being in air conditioning 24/7. It was very surreal, and I’m still processing it.

Be Inkandescent: And then George Clooney optioned it as a film starring Scarlett Johansson, right? Congratulations!

Christine: Yeah! Thank you! It just kind of added to everything. It seemed like it was happening to somebody else.

Be Inkandescent: It is awesome but it happened to you, for it’s every writer’s dream to have that level of success. And, as always, with the highs there come lows, for when I was reading through some of the reviews of “Tangerine,” you got a couple of knocks. How do you handle the rollercoaster ride?

Christine: I handle it by trying not to read the reviews. My editor knows not to send me anything, good or bad. It just makes me incredibly anxious. Still, I was aware of the bad ones when they came out in March 2018. It’s really difficult and in the moment I thought to myself, “I don’t want to do this again. I don’t want to write a second novel.” But then I calmed down and realized I have to open myself up to the good and bad because that’s how this business works. I’m a very private person, though, and am still figuring out how to take it in, but not be taken down by the bad reviews.

Be Inkandescent: It’s tough for anyone to handle that level of criticism, but the truth is that “Tangerine” is so engrossing, and the characters so layered, that you can’t put it down. So tell us how you thought up the story and those complex characters.

Christine: I’m drawn to places that are unique, and to the idea of what it means to be an outsider. This relates to the main characters, Lucy and Alice. Through them, I investigate how being a tourist or visitor or expat, can something exciting, unnerving, and quite lonely. You are in this new country and are very isolated — whether by language or otherwise. Investigating the journey of the outsider appeals to me as a writer, and a reader.

Be Inkandescent: Tell us more about Lucy and Alice.

Christine: I’ve always been drawn to stories about female friendship, especially those we make during our formative years. There’s something so unique about that time where senses and experiences are heightened and intense. Because of youth, and often, circumstance, this time in a woman’s life seems like the most important in the world. As a result, boundaries are often crossed and identity is blurred. I’m interested in looking at the moments when friendships begin to shift and crumble, and how that changes the people involved.

Be Inkandescent: Losing a friend, or feeling betrayed by them, can feel like the end of the world.

Christine: Exactly. Plus, when I wrote “Tangerine,” I had just submitted my PhD thesis, so I had the gothic stories of the Blondie sisters and James Hogg and Ann Radcliffe and Eliza Parsons circling in my brain. I love the psychological suspense — in particular, ones that focus on the idea of one character being the other’s dark double. So I wrote about the relationship between Alice and Lucy in a similar vein.

Where we see Alice unable to voice concerns and fears she has, Lucy is able to pick that up and deal with it in a way that Alice cannot. Gothic tales also have a strong sense of place, whether it’s Manderley in “Rebecca” or Thornfield in “Jane Eyre.” That was on my mind as well. Tangier was a stand in for a haunted castle motif. In fact, the streets of that city can be just as frightening and threatening and overwhelming in the structure of the walls in those gothic novels.

Be Inkandescent: The relationships are so intertwined and twisted, the reader doesn’t don’t know who is sane. What was it like to write a story like that? Did you feel the characters? Did you become them?

Christine: I found Lucy to be the more interesting character; she’s the one I had the most fun writing about because she gets things going. She’s the pusher, the doer. In many ways, Alice is simply a response to all of that chaos. It was a lot of fun plotting out what would happen next. And, there was a bit of tracking required to make sure that the story everything added up in the end. It was definitely interesting to jump into their world and flesh out the characters so they were as believable and real as possible.

Be Inkandescent: There’s an air of mystery, too because you don’t know who to fully trust and believe.

Christine: Yes! Indeed that was something I really wanted to come across as I fleshed out these two characters. Neither was necessarily good or bad — they linger in between. There are things they can both be blamed for, and I wanted to make sure that there was something about each of them that was also relatable and likable.

Be Inkandescent: I love the concept of having a dark double. It’s fascinating how fiction takes you to all kinds of places — in the world, and in your mind. What are you working on now?

Christine: I’m going back and forth between two different things. I’m a good ways into one project, but I’m not too sure about it yet. I have a habit of writing things and getting near the end, or even to the end, then deciding that it’s not what I want to be working on. That said, I’m excited about what I’m writing and am hoping that by the end of it, I’ll still feel that way.

Be Inkandescent: What’s does your writing process look like?

Christine: When I’m first putting something together, I tend to hand write everything. I buy a whole stack of journals that I’ll blow through as I write little pieces or scenes. When I have enough fleshed out, and feel there is a strong story there, that’s when I type it up and put it into a document that eventually becomes the book.

Be Inkandescent: I had an editor once, I’m a journalist as well, and he said, “Writing is not typing.”

Christine: Yes! Yes, I agree, exactly.

*Be Inkandescent: Christine, I wish you only the best of success with “Tangerine,” your first novel and the “Costco Connection” January 2019 book pic. I really appreciate you being on “Authors Between the Covers” on the Inkandescent Radio Network. Thanks to all of our listeners listening to us and tune back in to the Inkandescent Radio Network for some more fascinating and fun interviews.