Author Archives: Theodora Goss

So, we started with me taking the train to the town where Mrs. Moth’s house is located.  (I can’t tell you its name, because she doesn’t like visitors stopping by without an invitation. If you want to make an appointment, … Continue reading →

Being here in Virginia makes me wonder to what extent I am a Southern writer. I grew up in Maryland and Virginia, so technically I spent most of my life in the South. And coming back here always feels like … Continue reading →

Mrs. Moth’s house is based in part on houses I’ve seen in books, altered by my imagination. But it’s also based in part on the house I’m in now, which is out of sight of the road, set behind a … Continue reading →

It seems a silly question. We go to the museum to look at art, to learn about it, to gain pleasure from it. But I think going to the museum is particularly important for writers. It’s part of a writer’s … Continue reading →

And here, finally, are five paintings I’ve included specifically because I want to display them in Mother Night’s house. Of course, her house contains all the paintings that have ever been painted, but there is a sort of rotating display, … Continue reading →

It was difficult selecting the images to include in these posts. There were so many magnificent items in the collection, room after room of English Aestheticism, French Art Nouveau, German Jungenstil. There were Stickley chairs and bureaus, and Tiffany lamps, … Continue reading →

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts is located in Richmond, Virginia. Regional museums like the VMFA are even better places to learn about art, I think, than the large national museums like the Met, the Boston MFA, or the National … Continue reading →