'Finding Lucky Santangelo' by Jackie Collins
As a kid growing up I was an avid reader, devouring all kinds of stories and also making up my own – books filled with outrageous characters, yes, even at thirteen I was into creating racy exciting stories!
In the beginning my author of choice
was the fabulous Enid Blyton. What a
marvellous storyteller! From The Magic Faraway Tree to The Famous Five, Enid Blyton allowed my
fervent imagination to run riot. And run
riot it did. I started writing books at
the age of ten – fun stories about teenage angst and all their problems. Writing was my passion, it was all I wanted
to do. In school I came bottom in
everything and top in composition. Yes! I had a vision of where my
future would take me. . . all the way to the top of the bestseller list! This was my dream, but I never thought it
would come true. And now – many years
later, I have published 30 books – all of them bestsellers!
After moving on from Enid Blyton, I
delved into the world of more sophisticated fiction – Harold Robbins and Mickey
Spillane, both brilliant storytellers. But wait a minute, what was with the females in their books? They were either sex-crazed bitches or total
wimps. They were either lurking in the
bedroom or busy in the kitchen – nothing in between. Hmm. . . sex or cooking – not good enough for
me.
I hated what I perceived as a blatant
double standard. I wanted to write women
who could stand up to any man and do ANYTHING! I wanted to write female characters who were smart, beautiful, sexually
equal, and most of all – strong.
And so eventually I created the
character of Lucky Santangelo. Ah. . . Lucky. My fierce, fabulous, wildly beautiful Lucky –
a woman who can achieve absolutely anything.
Born in my book Chances to the sweetly gentle Maria, and the notorious Gino
Santangelo – Lucky is adored by both her parents, until her world crumbles,
when, at five years of age, she discovers her mother’s murdered body floating
on a lilo in the family swimming pool.
From then on everything changes. Instead of being her loving father, Gino
becomes her strict protector – making sure nothing bad happens to her. Locked up in their Bel Air mansion,
Lucky rebels. She wants to be free to
choose her own path in life. She wants
to enter the family business and build hotels in Vegas, exactly like Gino. Her brother, Dario, could not care less about
carrying on the family tradition. So
Lucky informs Gino that she is the one who will work beside him. However, as a total chauvinist, Gino says no
way – girls must be married and have babies. And so the Santangelo family saga begins. . .
Now eight books and three
mini-series later, Lucky is still my most popular character. She’s also the woman I would like to be in
another life. Strong, invincible, exciting
and fun! I think my readers love Lucky
because she does and says all the things they would like to, but don’t quite
have the courage. That’s okay, for Lucky does it for
them!
I am currently writing The Santangelos – having recently
completed Confessions of a Wild Child
– all about Lucky’s crazy and uninhibited teenage years. And so, the saga continues. Keep on reading, and I’ll keep on writing.
Love and
friendship always,
Jackie Collins
Visit Jackie’s
website at www.jackiecollins.com,
and follow her on Pinterest and Twitter at JackieJCollins and Facebook at www.facebook.com/jackiecollins
.
