Q&A with Tara Lynn Masih

  

 

 

Tara Lynn Masih is the author of the new novel The Silent Women. Her other books include How We Disappear. She lives in Plymouth, Massachusetts. 

 

Q: What inspired you to write The Silent Women?

 

A: I was in Andover, Massachusetts, doing research in the historical society’s archives when I got into a discussion with Marilyn Hemmers, the director at the time. She told me about June Carmichael, a parachute rigger in WWII who’d lived in Andover. I dropped the research I was doing and turned to researching June’s volunteer work as a “silkworm.”

 

Eventually, I came across a book by Denise Kiernan, The Atomic City Girls, and in it found the story of Colleen Black, who worked in K-25. The vision of a young woman climbing over pipes—which held dangerous gases and were so gigantic she needed a ladder to get to the top—stuck in my mind.

 

She became the lead character in The Silent Women, and the rigger became one of her friends. All the stories I read were inspiring, but Colleen’s seemed unique to me.

 

Q: How did you research the book, and what did you learn that especially surprised you?

 

A: Mostly, I read. I read many nonfiction books on the subject, ranging from women’s roles in the armed forces and in the Manhattan Project, especially at Oak Ridge. I had to steep myself in the events of WWII, events that occurred in the States rather than abroad, as I had to do with my previous novel.

 

Besides memoirs and history books, the local newspapers were a huge resource. For instance, in St. Augustine, the paper came out daily during the war years. I actually scanned two years’ worth of dailies! It was exhaustive research, but doing so helped me find details I could bring to the story that I think make it unique.

 

Hmmm, what surprised me? I was unaware that the Italian population was also targeted and even interred as possible enemies of the state while we were at war with Italy; I was surprised at the enormity of the Manhattan Project and how many different locations it had and how monumental the task must have been to plan it, build it, and execute it so quickly in the race toward the atom bomb; I was also surprised at how many minority populations contributed to the Project.

 

Q: The writer Janet Rich Edwards said of the book, “It does for WWII what The Women did for Vietnam.” What do you think of this comparison to Kristin Hannah’s Vietnam novel?

 

A: Oh gosh, I was over the moon when Janet sent her comments. What more could I ask for? Does my book truly compare to Hannah’s? If not in accomplishment, then certainly, I hope, in the research and scope of the book in terms of contributions women made and the fall out of their stressful and sometimes even tragic roles. I hope my book mirrors some of the same themes.

 

Q: How was the book’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?

 

A: The original title was Only the Bittersweet. No, actually, it was Song Holloway. After writing the book, I settled on the bittersweet title as there is something about that in the book that readers will have to discover for themselves.

 

The publisher changed it to The Silent Women to better showcase the content. We all loved the original one, but it didn’t give any indication of what was happening in the book, during those times. I think they made the right call. I love being able to bring those women to life for new generations and to showcase their amazing contributions and sacrifices.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I haven’t started a new project yet. Historical fiction takes a lot of time to promote as there is way more preparation for talks and slideshows and such. Right now, I’m solely in promo mode. Something is percolating but on the farthest burner away from me.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: The book spans different locations and is also set during pre- and post-WWII. So you’ll get a sense of what it was like to live in the US during the early years and post years as well. The citizens of that time are called the “Great Generation,” and I hope this book shines a light on where that accolade came from.

 

Know that almost everything that happens in this book is based on historical facts. Truth can be more remarkable than fiction, for sure!

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Tara Lynn Masih.