Sydney author Michael Fitzgerald takes inspiration from Marilyn Monroe and her alter ego in his new novel Late

LATE Michael Fitzgerald (Transit Lounge, $32.99) There’s no shortage of books — not to mention films and other media — that try to capture something of the life and perennial allure of Marilyn Monroe. However, in his witty, lyrical and deeply researched third novel, acclaimed Sydney-based author Michael Fitzgerald imagines a rather different version of the enigmatic Hollywood icon. As his publisher’s press release puts it, Late “asks the question: what if Marilyn Monroe had faked her own death and was living as Zelda Zonk … in Sydney?” For Fitzgerald, the novel provided an opportunity to address some of the shortcomings of previous accounts of Monroe which, he says, have often been missing the essential elements of “respect, agency and her own voice”. “For me, she moved effortlessly through multiple personalities,” he adds. “She contained multitudes, and her life was a triumph. She was, of course, a sexual icon, but I try and reveal some of her more surprising aspects. For instance, she was also a writer and intellectual.” Tell me a little bit about Late, and the genesis of this novel? Late came to me quickly. Having spent what seemed an eternity on my second novel, Pietà, I embarked on a collection of short stories, to be called Sense Memory. Each story was to revolve around an object that releases a specific memory for the protagonist: the first story, The Cracks, was about a flight attendant and his set of extracted wisdom teeth, and was published in Westerly magazine in 2021. The next story was about an ageing American film star famous for being late, whose story is triggered by the arrival of an old Royal typewriter. The story kept getting longer — I found the actress had so much to say — and quite soon turned into Late. It’s a weirdly personal book for me, and forms the final part in what I see as a loose trilogy. All three novels look at where we sit in this country on the edges of culture — looking out to the Pacific, to Europe and to Hollywood. Your protagonist, Zelda Zonk, is an American actress who has managed to escape her celebrity. What drew you to wanting to write about a figure like this — was your own previous career in journalism part of the inspiration here? Yes, I worked on the start-up of Who magazine in Sydney during the 1990s, and later at Time. I enjoyed interviewing film actresses most of all — I can remember Nicole Kidman ringing me at four o’clock in the morning; she sounded so chirpy and I was half asleep. And Toni Collette on the set of The Sixth Sense. Cate Blanchett fresh out of NIDA. I loved the emotional access they gave, while keeping another part of themselves safe from view. So as a journalist I had to write about that space in between their public and private selves. For a writer, that’s a very interesting place to navigate. It’s also the space that Zelda Zonk occupies in this novel. She is both an open book and, at times, quite evasive. But I think there’s a truth in her contradictory nature. You mostly don’t mention Marilyn Monroe’s name as such in the body of the novel, but she’s the inspiration for Zelda. How did you view the relationship between the two — your character and this real figure — while you were writing? Zelda Zonk was a pseudonym Monroe adopted in the mid-1950s when she was escaping Hollywood and her marriage to Joe DiMaggio — she also donned a dark wig, sunglasses and was particularly inventive with scarves. Monroe also went on to marry the playwright Arthur Miller and convert to Judaism. I bring these two elements together in Late, and imagine this hybrid persona living in Sydney’s eastern suburbs and watching the world from a clifftop apartment built by (famed modernist architect) Harry Seidler in 1962, the year of Monroe’s death. So, Zelda is more than just the actress’s alter ego — I see her as Monroe’s literary spirit transported across the Pacific and cavorting through time and space. I’ve asked mostly about Zelda, but her neighbour Daniel is also very significant: could you tell me a little about him, and his role in the novel? Yes, it’s quite natural for Zelda to hold the limelight, but Late is also a novel very much about Sydney, about the dark edges of a city every bit as iconic as Monroe. The backdrop to this story is the series of gay-hate murders that occurred with increased intensity in the 1980s in and around the sandstone cliffs of Bondi. Daniel, who Zelda spends the day with, becomes entangled in this narrative. He is based on someone I knew at the time and who has since died. Daniel is a beautiful soul who offers no judgment; someone for Zelda to mother and reveal who she is. What’s next for you, writing wise? Good question! Well, I still have the rest of Sense Memory to write. PENGUIN TALE FINALLY UNLEASHED Palyku mother-daughter duo and children’s authors Gladys Milroy and Helen Milroy share a much-loved family story in their charming new kids’ picture book, Penguin Oh Penguin. “I wrote Penguin Oh Penguin for my children over 60 years ago,” Gladys says. “I was always making up stories and songs for them but this one was the favourite. It came about when I bought a little black velvet penguin toy that we played with at bedtime.” Aimed at ages one-and-up, the book includes a QR code that allows readers to watch a video of Gladys singing Penguin Oh Penguin, so they can learn to sing along. Penguin Oh Penguin by Gladys and Helen Milroy (Magabala, $16.99)