The Excellent Lombards(72)

Jim encounters many obstacles in running and maintaining the integrity of his orchard, a number of which are raised in the town meeting Frankie attends. Are these issues indicative of difficulties faced by your own orchard?

Yes. Land-use issues are issues for farmers the world over. How can we preserve what we’ve built? How can we live in the world with people who have different values when it comes to land? Should landowners be granted privileges for their holdings, or should they be supported? Are large tracts of woods, owned by a single person, good for the community and the ecosystem as a whole? How much regulation should the government impose when it comes to property and farmland? Time-honored problems.

The section where Frankie interviews May Hill, rather than being a dry, lackluster conversation with an old woman, is interesting in its emotional intensity and horrific elements. Can you discuss what sparked the decision to include this?

May Hill is crucial to the solution of the farm crisis, to the matter of succession. I knew that Frankie had to have a major event with her. Frankie considers marriage to various bachelors who could affect the solution (after she understands that she can’t marry her brother—or her father, for that matter). She comes to believe that May Hill regards her as a frivolous person, as a girl who couldn’t possibly be a serious contender. That first scene allows Frankie to have her initial display as an unfit future farmer.

What was your thought process behind The Excellent Lombards title?

Finding the right title is often a trial-and-error process. The title has to somehow hold the book. At first the novel was called The Boy Who Could Do Anything. Then it was called During the Reign of the Lombards. I very much liked the idea of monarchy in the title. But it didn’t have the right music, that title. And it was a mouthful. When Mrs. Kraselnik says, “Let’s give another hand for the excellent Lombards”—I thought, The excellent Lombards—that’s what this book is about.


Reading group guide copyright ? 2016 by Jane Hamilton and Hachette Book Group, Inc.





About the Author

Jane Hamilton’s novels have won literary prizes, have been made into films, and have been international best sellers, and two of them, The Book of Ruth and A Map of the World, were selections of Oprah’s Book Club. Her nonfiction has appeared in the New York Times; the Washington Post; Allure; O, the Oprah Magazine; Elle; and various anthologies. She’s married to an apple farmer and lives in Wisconsin.