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Hannah Rothschild contains multitudes. In addition to formerly serving as chairwoman of London’s National Gallery, she’s also an active philanthropist, documentary filmmaker, writer, and Commander of the British Empire. Her first book, 2012’s The Baroness—later adapted by Rothschild into a television film called The Jazz Baroness—explored the life of her fascinating great-aunt Pannonica, who left behind a title and family to move to New York and become a lover, patroness, and muse to the jazz musician Thelonious Monk. Since then, Rothschild has focused her gimlet-eyed observations on sending up the British aristocracy: Whether in her lacerating and award-winning satire of the art world, 2015’s The Improbability of Love, or her more recent comedy of manners House of Trelawney (2020), Rothschild’s gift for portraiture and willingness to turn anything (and anyone) into a joke make her a joy to read. But it isn’t all laughs: The books take place nearly a decade apart, capturing both the 2008 economic crash and the Brexit referendum through the eyes of a single family. In both, Rothschild deftly navigates the private moments, intimate discussions, and tragedy that befall the Trelawneys.
Recently, Vogue spoke to Hannah Rothschild, author of the forthcoming High Time (out July 11 from Knopf), which again reunites the reader with the Trelawneys, about who would play her deplorable, Trump-like villain Thomlinson Sleet; her favorite way to read; and so much more.
Vogue: Tolstoy began Anna Karenina with a now famous dictum about unhappy families. Can you tell us about the Trelawneys and why you’re revisiting them?
Hannah Rothschild: The Trelawneys are a wildly dysfunctional, loveable, eccentric, and impoverished British aristocratic family who are better at spending money than making it. When we first meet them, in House of Trelawney, there are three generations living together in a dilapidated Cornish Castle. I was loath to say goodbye to the wonderful characters and thought that Ayesha, the devastatingly smart, beautiful, and unworldly illegitimate daughter was worthy of a novel in her own right.
I’m sure more than a few readers have wondered if the Trelawneys are based on your own family. Can you confirm or deny?
All writers beg, steal and borrow from their own backstories. Let’s put it this way: My family still has a roof over its head and we are—generally!—on speaking terms.
Both House of Trelawney and High Time are set primarily in Cornwall. What significance does the locale hold for you?
Cornwall’s beauty hits the visitor with a walloping punch. Perhaps it’s because it’s a bit of land falling off the end of England, perhaps it’s the air or the people, but there’s a romantic, unworldly otherness to the county that’s hard to let go.
The family home at the center of both The House of Trelawney and High Time is this wild amalgam of architectural and design periods hanging on for dear life. How did you develop such a rich knowledge of the ways these styles changed throughout history?
Living in England we are lucky enough to have the National Trust, which owns hundreds of stately homes. Although many of these are in wonderful condition, they all contain ghosts of their departed owners and hidden stories within their walls. I always loved visiting these places and imagining what happened in years gone past.
In High Time, you cover reality television, cryptocurrency, and cybersecurity. What drew you to these topics and what do you make of them today?
Like them or loathe them, these issues have transformed, and will continue to change, our lives. The stars of reality TV wield huge influence; crypto, in some form or other, is here to stay; and we should all be hyper aware of cybercrime.
The perfectly named, utterly repulsive character Thomlinson Sleet dominates these books, affecting if not outright destroying the lives of the Trelawneys in various ways. He is spiteful, boorish, thin-skinned, and worth billions. What was the inspiration behind such a villain, and who would you want to play him in a movie?
Thomlinson Sleet is a fantasy baddy based on an amalgam of characters, real and fictional. I loved Michael Douglas in Wall Street and Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street, both of whom managed to be plausibly wicked. Do you think we could cross Ryan Gosling with Benicio del Toro and add a splash of Billy Crudup? I’d like to think so!
You write extensively about Artemisia Gentileschi in High Time. Is she a favorite artist? Who are some others?
When I took over as chair of the National Gallery in London, I found out that less than one percent of 2,600 paintings in the collection were by women. One of my proudest moments was leading a successful campaign to buy a masterpiece by Artemisia Gentileschi, which now hangs on the gallery walls. My personal taste in art is broad—recently I’ve been admiring works by contemporary artists including Christina Kimeze, Louise Giovanelli, and Kaye Donachie.
Who was your favorite character to write dialogue for?
I love writing for the 87-year-old Dowager Duchess Clarissa and her brother-in-law Tony, a flamboyant interior designer. They’re wildly un-woke and blurt out the first thing, normally something quite rude, that comes to mind.
When you’re writing a novel, do you write daily?
I treat writing like a love affair. I sneak away from my day job to coffee shops, libraries and occasionally to hotels. Many writers have strict timetables, but I like to maintain an illicit, romantic relationship with my work.
What is your ideal reading scenario?
On holiday, knowing that I don’t have to put the book down, except to pour a glass of wine.
What three writers are indispensable to you?
Truman Capote for divine, perfect sentences; Guiseppe de Lampedusa for pathos; and Nancy Mitford for thigh-slapping humor.
In five words, tell our readers why they must read High Time.
Hilarious, unexpected, eccentric, intelligent escapism.
What are you working on now?
A true story—a book about how one of the world’s greatest masterpieces was rescued by a young soldier during the Second World War.
