Diane, a Baltimore ex-pat who frequents these parts, nailed the two-parter. Yes, as several people noted here, a character changed names between Peyton Place and Return to Peyton Place. (The second book, for my money, is far more sordid than the first, between the plot by Ted’s mother to murder her daughter-in-law, and the strange young actor who attempts to play psychiatrist.)
But Grace Metallious at least had a legal reason to change a character’s name. I have only my poor memory to blame for the transformation of Rosario Bustamante (Every Secret Thing) to Gloria Bustamante (To the Power of Three and What the Dead Know). The discrepancy has been caught by two translators so far. The silver medal goes to John, another frequent correspondent who caught the change in Bustamante’s name, but didn’t know the history of Peyton Place.
I’ll be posting a third contest for an ARE. This one should fall between the first two, in terms of ease. I think. It’s hard for me to judge because I know the answers!
Wow-I never win anything and this is a great contest prize!
This was a good morning! First I learn that I won Laura’s ARE and then I read that a librarian won the Newberry and not just a librarian but one from Baltimore who is the librarian at my husband’s alma mater! (This second item is off topic but I’m a librarian and the Newberry is a very big deal to librarians!)
Fern,
That’s a fair question and one that will be raised by more people after the next book, the one I just started, in which Gloria emerges as a major character for the first time. I hadn’t realized she was going to be there, but her private/interior life has been a mystery for three books, although there was a short bit about the rumors centering on her early life.
I didn’t know Christine at all, although I remember the long profile that Mike Ollove wrote about her. The only thing she and Gloria share are their professions and Latino surnames. As far as I know. Sometimes, I make stuff up, only to find out after the fact that it’s cannily close to real-life events, people. But that’s almost never my intent.
And librarians are never off-topic here! I thought that was pretty cool, too, Diane.
I remember thinking of Cristina Gutierrez the first time I read about Bustamente but in my recent reskim of Every Secret Thing the mention of her background made me think of her as an illegitimate sister of Nancy Pelosi (but my mind makes weird, inaccurate connections).
Mornin’ Laura…not a contest question but, now that you mention Gloria Bustamante, I’ve wondered whether that character was inspired somewhat by Baltimore defense attorney Cristina Guttierrez?
Are translators like copy editors?
A translator has a very specific task, but good translators sometimes find inconsistencies that have eluded previous readers. Bear in mind, the same translator might not have worked on the entire back list. My amazing Italian translator, Luisa, Piussi, worked on What the Dead Know and caught several interesting things, but she had not yet read Every Secret Thing, so she couldn’t know of the name discrepancy.
Translators also have to work with American idioms that might not have obvious counterparts in their language; years ago, a Norwegian translator queried me over the phrase “going postal.” It’s a pretty daunting job on its own, so it’s doubly impressive when they make these kinds of catches.
(I had the great good fortune of meeting Luisa this past fall in Italy.)
Over the holiday weeks I had the pleasure of reading By a Spider’s Thread. And I gobbled up Every Secret Thing which I could not put down, not even to eat nor sleep.
The character of Rosario Bustamente fascinated me; glad to see she’s appearing again.
Will put in a request for the NY public library to purchase the new one right away so I can have first dibs and read it soon.