Photo by Kat Veldt
Mary E. Roach is the author of the new novel We Are the Match, a retelling of the story of Helen of Troy. She also has written the YA novel Better Left Buried. She lives in St. Paul.
Q: What inspired you to write an update of the story of Helen of Troy?
A: I’ve always loved the myth of Helen of Troy, and I love that modern interpretations allow for more of the story to focus on Helen. She's so famous for the male gaze—for being the "face that launched a thousand ships."
But what does she want? I wanted to explore how women think about Helen. What they see. What she sees. And something sapphic, romantic, and furious felt like the perfect avenue to explore a version of Helen that highlights a different side to her story.
Q: What did you see as the right balance between your own characters and the original characters of Greek mythology?
A: This was a hard balance to strike! A lot of the plot mirrors events of the original, with the crime family twist (i.e. instead of a golden apple, there's an incendiary device shaped like an apple, instead of "to the fairest" as the inscription we have "from the queen").
Character-wise, I took a few more liberties, but I wanted the core of the premise to explore the moment Helen chooses. In some versions of the original myth, she's kidnapped by Paris. In some she chooses to flee her husband and go with Paris.
For me, it was important to explore a version of Helen that makes her own choice, but with that, I had to ask the questions: what makes a woman surrounded in privilege and comfort decide to run? What makes her desperate enough to upend her whole life—her whole world—and leave it all behind.
Ultimately, the answer is a pretty complex one, which felt right to me. The original Helen is a complex woman, so it felt right to explore a version where she gets to be more than a pretty face.
Q: How would you describe the relationship between Helen and Paris?
A: Their relationship is volatile, complicated, and fierce. They have an almost irresistible connection immediately, but they have such opposing goals. Paris is dead set on revenge, and that revenge includes harming Helen. Helen is sure she wants to leave everyone and everything behind, and of course that kind of plan has no space for new connections of any kind.
Love upends all of this for them; something they never could have planned on and changes their core goals as they grow closer. But it's definitely enemies to lovers. They don't start off the novel on good terms.
Q: How was the novel's title chosen, and what does it signify for you?
A: My pub team actually came up with the title! My working title had been "Burn the Ships," a nod to the way Helen is known as the face that launched a thousand ships. I wanted to evoke a feeling of rebellion, of the kind of love that pushes back on the boundaries that confine us, so when my pub team pitched "We Are the Match," it immediately felt right.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I'm working on a lot of projects, actually! I write across genres and age categories, but have a few romantic stories coming out in the next year.
I have a second contemporary romance out next year, this one about a hitman and a jaded librarian who both want to kill the same billionaire, but don't expect their connection to be so immediate and all-consuming.
I am also branching out into the romantasy space, with a cozy, comedic romantasy entitled Bromantasy that will be coming out next spring from Putnam.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: Thank you for giving this dark, steamy version of Helen and Paris a chance!
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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