Mattel’s American Girl brand makes history this week with the release of “Samantha: The Next Chapter,” its first novel for adults. Since her introduction in 1986, Samantha has been widely regarded as one of the most beloved American Girl dolls among the target millennial demographic and picking the Edwardian-era character as the first one used for this adult-historical-fiction-book experiment is a perfect nostalgia play. Written by New York Times bestselling author Fiona Davis, the book catches up with iconic American Girl character Samantha Parkington now at the age of 25 in the year 1920.
And so as I read them, ideas were coming to mind right and left,” Davis tells Variety. So there was a really wonderful opportunity to bring the history into it a little bit more and show how in 1920, things were really at the cusp of huge change, which is why it was a perfect year to choose.” Per the synopsis for “Samantha: The Next Chapter,” “It’s 1920 and 25-year-old Samantha Parkington is working hard to educate women in New York about suffrage and encourage them to vote in their first presidential election that fall. But when Samantha’s large inheritance, including her childhood Mount Bedford home, is stolen in a shocking scheme, she goes from socialite to shop girl overnight and experiences a very different side of New York City.
Searching for clues regarding the theft of her inheritance, she infiltrates the business of a notorious criminal in New York City. Determined as ever, Samantha will do whatever it takes to find answers and save her family’s legacy.” “It was really taking little bits and pieces from those original stories, which were so beautifully detailed and then bringing them to life,” Davis says. So if you look at her and you think, that girl has everything and then you dig deeper and oh, she’s an orphan.
So there’s a hole somewhere in her, and that needs to be filled in a way. And I think that makes her complicated and a really interesting character to pursue as an adult.” Read on for more from Variety’s interview with Davis, including spoilers from Samantha’s new book. In terms of the plot, they gave me so much freedom.
I could really do whatever I wanted, and then it was approved by a committee and that kind of thing. But it was really pretty up to me to decide what to do. And at the end, I wanted it to be open-ended so that we could possibly venture into a new phase of her life and they agreed.
I think that just keeps the door open. Part of it was that there are certain characters that possibly, maybe there’ll be books about them down the road. So we didn’t want to use up too much, and I’m allowed to say that.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
