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.
“It was so much fun, I have to say, because the original stories are so full of fun things to play with. And so as I read them, ideas were coming to mind right and left,” Davis tells Variety. “And it made sense she would want to be a teacher because that is her interest as a young girl and also progressive education was going on then. 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. “And I think the important thing for me about Samantha was that she’s kind of a paradox where she’s surrounded by wealth. 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.
How much creative freedom did you have when crafting the “Samantha: The Next Chapter” storyline and how much was suggested by the American Girl brand?
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.
We see Grandmary, Uncle Gard, Aunt Cornelia and Agatha in this book, but other characters from the Samantha world are only mentioned, like Nellie and live elsewhere. What was the choice behind who to include in the story and who to make reference to?
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. So it was a matter of her base family, her extended family, who are very supportive … And [the American Girl brand] encouraged me to really open it up to new faces and new characters in order to launch her as an adult and show that this is a different time and a different age. But then, on top of that, for me, with every character, I want to start off from a place of great vulnerability and have them grow in some way. And so, Samantha’s surrounded by wealth and this extended family that adores her. And my thought, as an author, was, what if all that went away? What if she really has to figure it out on her own using the tenacity that she’s so well known for and her intelligence and her empathy and just set her free in New York to try and figure out what’s going on and solve a mystery and possibly fall in love and grow as a person and see that she is capable of pretty much anything, as we know Samantha would be. Anyone who knows Samantha knows.
Samantha has not one but two love interests in this book. How did you shape her romantic personality, given that until now the only stories we have about Samantha are of a little girl?
That was tough because they are known as little girls, and so you’re adding in an element and you don’t want it to be uncomfortable. It would never be spicy. But the folks at American Girl were excited to have her have a love interest or two, but we were very careful about the historical accuracy of what that would mean as a couple. You wouldn’t hold hands in public. You would not kiss in public, and I had to fight hard to get that kiss [at the end of the book]. But they understood. The historical accuracy was really high on their list and I just wanted her to be caught between two men who are very different and offer a different side of the world.
We lose Grandmary early on in the book and it becomes very emotional when Samantha tells her grandmother she loves her for the first time in her life on her deathbed. How did you decide to have Grandmary’s death be one of the catalysts for Samantha’s arc and how emotional to get?
Grandmary is such a beloved character, but I felt like, at that point, she’s been around a long time and this is what happens in a family: you have joy and then you have tragedy. And again, at the beginning of the book, Grandmary is such a strong connection for her and an anchor. To have that gone gives Samantha as a character freedom to explore different emotions and kind of figure out who she is and what she stands for because Grandmary’s voice is in her head throughout the entire book, which I love. I grew up in a very English family, my parents are both English and you would never say [‘I love you’] and so I brought that into that scene. What do you do so you don’t lose an opportunity that you’ll never have again?
This interview has been edited and condensed.