liberlibelulaart:

Hello!
It is true, the heroine of The Lady and the Bandit is overweight. But, to be honest, it wasn’t my intention to convey a message about body-positivity –not explicitly, at least.

It came out naturally. I only wanted a protagonist that didn’t look exactly like the hundreds I’ve found in the romance novels I’ve read; one with a different kind of beauty, but who wasn’t conventionally attractive. (I’d disagree, for her facial features are, to me, timeless and pretty. But that’s the mystery of beauty; everyone has their own tastes).

So I turned to classical statues from Ancient Greece and Rome and got her facial features from there. Old paintings from 2-3 centuries ago –specifically Ruben’s– were a great source of inspiration, if not for the period the novel’s set in, at least for Pepita’s aesthetics. She has black, curly hair, though, inherited from her Spanish mother, unlike Ruben’s golden-haired ladies.

I mean, these women must have been deemed desirable enough to be immortalized in works of art! 😀

(I think Pepita is a bit chubbier than these ladies, though)

Does this have effect on her personality? Well, she doesn’t consider herself very pretty. She knows that she’s overweight, perhaps a bit more than she’d like, but that doesn’t make her lose sleep. She has a group of close friends who support each other and tell her that her extra pounds make her look “healthy and classical”, so that’s fine by her.

Now, Rafael, the dashing hero of the story, finds her attractive for many reasons, and one of them is her body type. He doesn’t care much for girls’ sizes, but something about Pepita’s chubbyness just “clicks” with her overall look, and he likes her whole: the combination of her eyes, her hair, her skin, body and personality; and the sudden changes she brings into his life.

Some nasty people, of course, make jokes about her fatness, and that hurts her. Not because of the content of their words, but because they’re aimed to hurt and undermine her self-esteem, and Pepita can’t stand such vileness.

So, Pepita is overweight, indeed, but it’s not really a problem for her. She gets tired faster when running up a hill (who doesn’t?), feels the weather’s heat a wee bit more, and doesn’t really believe people when they tell her she’s beautiful, though she appreciates their well-meaning intentions.

I don’t know if this is the answer you were looking for, but thank you
so much for asking! If you have any more questions, feel free to ask 😀

• Thank you for this great and detailed answer! That was exactly what I wanted to know. 😀 She sounds like a great character. Can’t wait to read the book!