Magdalen Nabb responds to the Proust Questionaire from Florence

Magdalen and I share a love of champagne and raise a glass or three or fourwhen we're together, but since I missed her at New Year's I thought why notask her some questions and let everyone I know (if they don't already) seehow brilliant and witty and good hearted she is, apart from being a damngood writer. Enjoy.

Who is the historical persona you don't like?
Churchill
Who is your favorite hero of fiction?
Mr. Knightly
Your most marked characteristic?
Being quixotic
Who are your favorite prose writers?
Tolstoy and Jane Austen
How would you like to die?
In a riding accident with a beautiful and beloved horse
In what country would you like to live?
In the one I live in...(ITALY)
The quality you most like in a man?
Energy
The quality you most like in a woman?
Intelligence
To what faults do you feel most indulgent?
Faults of passion
What are your favourite foods and drinks?
Red wine, bread, potatoes
What do you most value in your friends?
Their frequent presence
What is it you most dislike?
Wilful ignoance
What is the historical reform that you esteem the most?
Liberation of the serfs, it needs doing again.
What is the military fact that you esteem the most?
Wellington's generalship at Waterloo
What is your dream of happiness?
Being alive, at home or on horseback, with The Man I Love i.e. more of the
same
What is your favorite bird?
Penguin
What is your favorite color?
Indigo
What is your favorite flower?
Apple blossom
What is your favorite occupation?
Writing
What is your motto?
Carpe diem
What is your present state of mind?
Delighted
What is your principle defect?
Being quixotic
What natural gift would you most like to possess?
A singing voice
What to your mind would be the greatest of misfortunes?
Anything bad happening to my son
What would you like to be?
As good a writer as I can be
Who are your favorite composers?
Mozart, Verdi, Schubert
Who are your favorite heroines of fiction?
Elizabeth Bennet, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Natasha Rostov
Who are your favorite painters?
Leonardo, Benozzo Gozzoli, Filippo Lippi, Masaccio
Who are your favorite poets?
Shakespeare, Donne, Marvell, Yeats, Anon. - not a joke, my favourite poem
is by a 15thC anon:
Westron wind when wilt thou blow,
The small rain down can rain?
Christ, that my love were in my arms
And I in my bed again.
Who are your heroes in history?
Wellington, Garibaldi, Giovanni Delle Bande Nere
Who are your heroes in real life?
The Man I Love and all the Médicins Sans Frontières
http://www.magdalennabb.com

Here's something I've been meaning to post

News & Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina)
November 27, 2005
Mysteries
Here's a twist on the old "Give a man a fish ... Teach a man to fish"
proverb. If you get the whodunit mavens on your holiday list a shiny
new book by some brand-name writer, they'll read it once and shelve it. But
introduce them to a first-rate series by a little-known writer, they'll be
good to go for years. Some suggestions:
Cara Black's sprightly series set in Paris featuring private eye
Aimee
Leduc, a heady mix of Miss Marple and Carrie Bradshaw, introduces with each
book a new crime (usually tres passionelle) and a different,atmospherically
depicted Paris neighborhood. Best so far are the debut "Murder in the
Marais" ($13, paper) and "Murder in Clichy" ($24, both from Soho Press).
Prefer foccacia to baguettes? Try Magdalen Nabb's lengthy series of
Florentine mysteries starring the brilliant but self-effacing police
Marshal Guarnaccia. In just published "The Innocent" (Soho Press, $22),
Guarnaccia
reluctantlyleaves Florence for Rome seeking links to a wealthy woman's murder in a parkbehind his office. Also notable: "Death of an
Englishman" and "The Marshal's Own Case."