Q&A with Philippa Dowding

  

 

 

 

Philippa Dowding is the author of the new middle grade novel The War Lantern. Her other books include the Children of Oculum series. She lives in Toronto. 

 

Q: How did your father's experiences in England during World War II inspire you to write The War Lantern?

 

A: On February 27, 1941, WWII was raging in Europe. My father was 15 years old that day, and after school in the morning he took his regular afternoon shift at the local Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft factory. At 2:30 p.m., the German Luftwaffe bombed the factory, killing 53 people and injuring many more.

 

My father survived by diving under his lathe. While I can’t tell you exactly when I learned that my father survived a bombing as a boy, I can tell you that I somehow always knew. Such is the nature of traumatic family experience.

 

One night, when he was in his 70s, my father told me his whole bombing story while my first child slept nearby. The intergenerational impact was not lost on me: three generations of one family were only together because of my father’s survival on a terrible day.

 

His retelling of that day inspired The War Lantern.

 

Q: How did you create your characters Marcus, Gisele, and Charlie?

 

A: Marcus is as close to the reality of my father as I could make him, at 15 years old. We’re a lot alike, so that helped; I inherited his love of books, music, and storytelling.

 

I knew that he played the drums in an RAF Barrage Balloon swing orchestra (he played drums all his life). He showed War Pictorial News newsreels at the local cinema, attended school in the mornings, and worked the afternoon shift at the RAF aircraft factory.

 

All these real-life elements and more are in the book, so part of the framework for his narrative was already there, I just had to plausibly fill it out.

 

Marcus’s character arc moves from schoolboy to soldier in the 24 hours of the novel; he becomes an adult in a matter of moments, which was very sobering but felt accurate.

 

I wanted to balance my father’s 24-hour narrative with a German girl’s story around the same age, so I invented the character of 14-year-old Gisele. I knew what my father’s life might be like in England in 1941, but what would a German girl be doing? What was family life like for her, what did her parents do, what was a typical evening, and a day at school?

 

My challenge was how to talk to younger readers about Nazi Germany and fascism. My solution was to give Gisele agency: her story takes her to a secret decoy factory, where she discovers that people, including some of her family, are vanishing. She realizes that her government is lying to her about the war, and she chooses truth.

 

Tail End Charlie is the underage rear gunner at the back of an RAF Whitley bomber. He came to life because of a very simple problem: in a story told over 24 hours, what happens when the two main characters are asleep between midnight and 7 a.m.?

 

For the first year of writing this book, I had a character in those hours who entered everyone’s dreams, which was fun but didn’t advance the story.

 

Since the aircraft factory where Marcus worked made rear gunner turrets for RAF bombers, I realized that the best solution was to create a character who was an RAF rear gunner in one of those turrets. So, Tail End Charlie (as rear gunners were called) shares his story as a rear gunner on a terrifying night bombing over Germany.

 

I’d love readers to ask themselves this question: of the three young people, one bombed, one living in a fascist society, and one asked to fight, which character’s life has changed the most by the end of the story?

 

Q: How did you research the novel, and did you learn anything that especially surprised you?

 

A: When I began researching this story in 2023, I traveled to England to tour the town, street, and house where my father and grandparents lived in 1941.

 

I visited the Imperial War Museum in London to read an eye-witness account of the bombing, and the Yate Heritage Centre, where I listened to hundreds of hours of oral history recordings from bombing survivors.

 

I visited nearby Bristol (which was bombed repeatedly during the war), the Gloucestershire Archives, and I toured the building in the place of the original WWII aircraft factory. My kind guides and I likely found the very spot where my father dove under his lathe. We also visited the original (and claustrophobic) WWII infirmary and air-raid shelter, untouched and still in place after 80-plus years.

 

I read hundreds of books and articles about WWII, on all sides of the conflict, and used trusted online sources like IWM.org and USHMM.org for video, article, sound, and image reference. I watched a LOT of WWII movies, too!

 

Most moving perhaps (although it was all moving), was visiting the Bomber Command Memorial site in London, UK, where visitors learn that 55,000+ RAF bomber crew died in the conflict, and their average age was 22.

 

There were many surprises during the research for The War Lantern, but one aspect of the story that I really hadn’t considered before I began was the experience of writing about my grandparents. Their generation, often called “The Lost Generation,” lived through WWI as young adults then endured WWII as parents with children old enough to go to war.

 

As I researched and wrote about them, I was surprised by how much their trauma had to be part of the story, too. It took me ages to capture their final act of love at the end of Marcus’s story, and I was rewriting that moment up to the final edits. I hope I got it right.

Q: The Kirkus Review of the book says, “The story vividly captures the devastating impact of a single bombing, not only on those directly involved but also on the town and the next generation left shell-shocked in its wake.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: I’m incredibly honoured by that description, thank you to Kirkus for the stellar review, and thank you for this question, Deborah.

 

Before I began writing The War Lantern, I had no idea it would be so difficult to write my father’s story.

 

I soon realized that to write about family and a real historical event that killed 53 people and injured many more, I had to be as exacting in the facts as possible. It’s fiction, but I had a duty to be responsible with people's lives in that place and at that time, so I had to get it right, or as right as I possibly could.

 

There's no one left in my family to ask about life in 1941 anymore, so that solitary and careful act of being the one to tell the story was a great responsibility.

 

So, if the Kirkus reviewer and others feel the devastation of the bombing, its immediacy, and the universal impact of the trauma of war on an entire population, then I’m truly thankful and honoured.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: To be honest, I’m taking a bit of a break! But soon I’ll be polishing the next draft of the third and final book in my Children of Oculum series, Oculum Scribe.

 

One group of children try to escape a fascist dystopia in a sealed dome, while another group outside the dome set out to find children like them at the ends of the earth. It’s got a robot uprising, peregrine drones, and plenty of young people in a changing and sometimes terrifying world. Wish them luck!

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Writing The War Lantern has been one of the most challenging projects of my career. It required three years of being immersed in conflict, cruelty, and war, day after day. At times it was just too much war, and too hard to be so much in it.

 

But now it’s finished, I realize that writing The War Lantern has also been one of the most rewarding projects, too. I’m thankful for all the help I’ve had along the way, from museums, to archives, to friends, family, and my amazing publisher at DCB Young Readers.

 

My hope is that the book resonates with the next generation, so they’ll ask questions, do research, and learn to recognize and resist the forces of war.

 

Thank you for these interesting questions, Deborah! 

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Philippa Dowding. 

Oct. 17

 

 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
Oct. 17, 1903: Nathanael West born.

Q&A with Regina McBride

  

 

 

Regina McBride is the author of the new novel The White Deer, which is based on the life of the Russian writer Anton Chekhov. McBride's other books include the novel Stranger from Across the Sea. Also an educator, she lives in New York City.

 

Q: What inspired you to write The White Deer, and have you always been interested in Anton Chekhov?

 

A: When I was 18 I read Chekhov’s play The Seagull and found myself deeply moved by its world, so different from anything I’d encountered before. I was instantly drawn into its atmospheric setting and in wonder over the characters, who speak so earnestly about what is missing from their lives. The play is a beautiful and painful chain of unrequited love.

 

Two years after discovering The Seagull, I was cast in The Cherry Orchard and my love of Chekhov intensified. Almost 25 years ago, after rereading Chekhov’s story "The Kiss," I decided I wanted to write about Anton Chekhov as a fictional character, and I wanted to write it as an epic novel in the mold of the great Russian novels.

 

Before finding my way to the final book, The White Deer, I wrote five iterations of what I’d refer to as “my Chekhov novel,” each one close to 500 pages. But none of them really worked. I had to put it away many times, each time in despair, and work on another book. But I’d always go back to it.

 

It was while reading one of Chekhov’s letters to his brother, Alexander, that I made a discovery. He was giving his brother writing advice: “Brevity is the sister of talent.” He was urging his brother to be more concise.

 

I had always known Anton was a master of economy, but I had never applied that insight to my own novel. I began to see the folly of trying to write an epic novel involving a writer whose work was the soul of moderation. I reduced the timeline dramatically and focused the action all in one summer.

 

Q: What did you see as the right balance between history and fiction as you wrote this book?

 

A: I read that when Anton was 19 years old and on his way to Moscow to study medicine, he stopped in the Ukrainian countryside a few weeks to relax and visit friends. Not much was written specifically about this so I thought it would be a perfect time and place to create a fictional world.

 

All of Chekhov’s biographical details are respected in my novel. The things he shares with Vera (the narrator of this novel) about his family and his dream of traveling to Siberia to write about the prison conditions are all based on what I learned from reading biographies and Chekhov’s letters.

 

Vera and her family and even Volkhov, Vera’s childhood estate, are all fictional.

 

Q: The Publishers Weekly review of the book says, “McBride evokes a sense of place with lush depictions of birch stands and daisy fields along with a soundtrack of Tchaikovsky and folk tunes, creating a backdrop for Vera’s tender and chaste friendship with Anton.” What do you think of that description, and how would you describe the dynamic between Anton and Vera?

 

A: I’m glad that the reviewer understood how important a sense of place is to this novel. Vera and Anton revel in the beauty of Volkhov’s forests and spend much of their time wandering the acreage in search of a white deer that has been spotted on the property.

 

Seeing a white deer, according to Anton, is a promise of future happiness. We find out later that seeing a white deer has another more specific meaning for Anton.

 

Surreptitiously through Anton, Vera learns that her beloved childhood estate is likely to fall to the axe at the end of the summer. Vera and Anton feel a sense of urgency to relish what Anton has called in a letter to his brother “a beautiful Eden” and to be present in it.

 

Both Vera and Anton face great changes ahead of them in their lives and they fantasize about stopping time and remaining in their idyll together.

 

I appreciate the reviewer’s depiction of Anton and Vera’s connection as “tender.” The word “chaste” is technically true but might give the impression that there is no sexual energy between them, when there is a very strong attraction. I would characterize what is between them as a romantic friendship.

 

Q: What do you hope readers will take from this book?

 

A: I hope readers will fall into the dream of the book, that they will be able to enter the sensory world of Volkhov, of Ukraine in 1879.

 

As with Chekhov’s play The Cherry Orchard, the characters in The White Deer are all, consciously or unconsciously, being carried on a great historical wave as the Russian aristocracy gradually loses its foothold. No one in the novel knows exactly what is ahead as the empire moves slowly toward revolution and earth-shattering change.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I am currently working on a memoir. My first memoir, Ghost Songs, was published in 2016 by Tin House. That focuses on my childhood, young womanhood and my journey to Ireland, where I would live for a year, all while trying to cope with the suicides of my parents (who died when I was a teenager).

 

The memoir ended when, at the age of 22, I was on my way to New York City from Ireland with the dream of becoming an actress.

 

This new memoir begins in New York City when I am 22. Haunted by the violent loss of my parents, I suffer with hallucinations and struggle to support myself as a waitress, while trying to hold onto my dream of becoming an actress.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Regina McBride. 

Q&A with J. Lee

  

 

 

J. Lee is the author of the new novel The Social Silence. His other books include The Reluctant Reckoner.  

 

Q: How was your new novel’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?

 

A: My wife actually thought of it and I knew immediately it was a perfect fit. To me it offered a fun balance of foreshadowing and mystery. 

 

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

 

A: I did a lot of reading on social media, and the biggest surprise to me was the extent of some of the impacts it has had on the world, specifically children.

 

I incorporated some of those startling figures into the book to serve as justification for the antagonist, but candidly, I was personally dumbfounded by some of them and think people need to make sure they know the score before they set their kids up with mobile devices.

 

Q: What do you hope readers take away from the novel?

 

A: Above all, to enjoy reading it. It’s fiction, you know? I am not trying to say social media is terrible or inspire folks to think that, but all the best thriller novels out there use the reality of the world and facts to drive the story.

 

My hope would be that people consider their own feelings on the subject, specially as seen through the eyes of Ben Siebert, the protagonist, or Susan Reynolds, the authority most directly responsible for bringing him down.

 

Is what the antagonist is trying to do more wrong than the status quo? If I were in Ben’s shoes, what would I do? What are the consequences of inaction? Is it possible that I might be conflicted? 

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I’ve been dabbling with another thriller novel as well as potentially a YA short story. Nothing’s firm yet, but with two books published in the last two years, it’s been hectic time. I am excited to continue to work with other authors and keep everyone posted on www.jleethrillers.com along with my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@j.leeauthor

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Thanks for asking and for the opportunity to talk with you today! I am happy to share that The Social Silence has recently been considered for some awards (details coming) and that I am really interested in continuing to pursue my passion of helping others in the writing space.

 

Please check out www.jleethrillers.com or https://www.linkedin.com/in/jleethrillers/ if you want to learn more about it!

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with J. Lee. 

Q&A with Terence Sullivan

  

 

 

Terence Sullivan is the author of the new novel Alice of Oz. The book began as a TikTok storytelling series. He lives in the Richmond, Virginia, area.

 

Q: What inspired you to write Alice of Oz?

 

A: Funnily enough, it was the audience. The origin of Alice came from a storytelling series where I had constructed a cinematic multiverse of Oz and started drawing connections between characters across different fantasy films.

 

The audience exploded, and they kept saying the same thing. This has to be a book. This needs to be a book. So I went into the very laborious process of mapping out the crossover character arcs that have now become Alice of Oz.

 

Q: How did you combine the various worlds of Oz, Neverland, and Wonderland in your novel?

 

A: In essence, Oz is all fantasy realms. What we know as Oz is the core mainland. Neverland is a more ancient part of Oz, an island that has been hidden for various reasons. And Wonderland is not actually a place at all.

 

Wonderland was the experience Alice had when she first went to Oz.

What came to her as a dream is really a foreshadowing, a vision of what she will live through when she returns.

 

Q: The author Ellen Baker called the book an “incredibly fresh and imaginative page-turner, with amazing action and magic… despicable villains, and a heroine you can’t help but cheer for.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: It is incredibly humbling to have Ellen say that, and I am also incredibly proud. Ellen is my editor, and so much more than an editor. She is my mentor, and she has been working with me on this story for the better part of the last five years. It really feels like an arrival to hear her say it.

 

Q: What do you hope readers take away from the book?

 

A: I want readers to feel like they know these beloved characters. To know them in their evolution, and to feel that they understood them. The through line of the story is that the most important relationship you have is the relationship you have with yourself.... the belief in yourself, and the power of self-truth and autonomy.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: Right now I am working on marketing this book, which is no small feat, but I am enjoying it very much. The second book, Wendy of Oz, is in development. I am thrilled to be back in Oz.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Only that the book exists because readers believed in it and wanted it. That storytelling series was something I was making for an audience, and they are the reason it became a novel at all. I still hear from them, and I would not have written it without them.

 

Oh, and anyone who wants to find me is welcome at aliceofoz.com or follow along on TikTok @papaterence.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb 

Q&A with Andrew Levinsky

  

 

 

Andrew Levinsky helped bring the book I'm Going to Miss Me, by the late Lee Knoll, to publication. Lee Knoll is a pseudonym. 

 

Q: What is the backstory for I’m Going to Miss Me, and what was your involvement in the story?

 

A: The origin story of this book is as unusual as the novel itself. I describe my role as a sort of de facto, pro bono "sherpa" carrying out the last wishes of the author.

 

I was involved in the editing process but the only words I wrote were the dedication (the author did not include one so I appropriated this as my compensation for the project) and the afterword excerpted here:

 

“To this day, I remain mystified about why I was chosen to bring a story into the world written by a person I hardly knew. Lee, (a pseudonym) was a colleague with whom I had formed an initial bond over our mutual antipathy for a work supervisor. But our conversations rarely strayed beyond the office. Neither of us mentioned family, marital status, politics, or any truly revealing details about our lives. So, our mostly superficial acquaintance left me unprepared for the package I received days after Lee’s suicide—a manuscript for a novel with instructions for me to try to find a publisher. Nowhere in the cover letter was a request for my help. I had been drafted, and this was my assignment. 

 

My first question was “Why me?” Didn’t Lee have anyone closer than a work acquaintance to entrust with their life’s work? I read the manuscript looking for clues. The narrator was alone in the world. The themes were isolation, detachment, and suicide ideation—leavened with an undercurrent of mordant humor that I could relate to. Knowing the end of their real-life story, I assumed the manuscript had autobiographical elements but in their letter to me, Lee described the book as fiction. Their one clear directive was to maintain their anonymity. In an age where fame and even infamy are such a powerful incentive, I was fascinated by their dedication to remaining unknown. My second question was, who was Lee hiding from, even in death?" (Find the full backstory at imgoingtomissme.com).

 

As it turned out, the backstory wasn’t nearly as unconventional as the book.

 

Q: What do you hope readers take away from the book?

 

A: I suspect that readers seeking a "Just say no" take on suicide will be disappointed. Some may even assume that any discussion of this taboo topic without this explicit message is a tacit endorsement.

 

I believe the author's instructions to donate their full share of any profits to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (afsp.org) offers a hint about their motivation. I read their reluctance to provide platitudes and easy answers as a way to encourage readers to ask tough questions. This is obviously not a children’s or YA book. Like the story’s protagonist, it is for mature readers.

 

In literature, the word suicide is nearly always followed by prevention. (When it is preceded by assisted, it is controversial even for the terminally ill). I imagine that Lee had something else in mind: to get into the head of someone free from responsibilities to loved ones who is contemplating ending his life for elective reasons.

 

The fact that this book balances such a serious topic with a powerful undercurrent of humor may make it even more polarizing. Admittedly, it’s a strange mix.

 

When people ask for comparisons, the only one that comes to mind is another novel published posthumously, A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. But that cult classic is steeped in satire where this one is character-driven. For me, the distinctive voice of the protagonist felt completely authentic: desperate and mordantly funny.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: It’s hard to know the real intentions of an author who is no longer with us. So, I may be reading into this but I think of this book as a sort of psychological mystery.

 

The clue is based on one of the very few details I received from the writer. Lee noted that while there is one primary narrator, there are two protagonists: Charlie, who is approaching some existential decision making prior to his 60th birthday and Maeve, a woman who enters his life in a quasi-therapeutic role. Her motivation is the subject of much speculation which, again, provides no simple answers but inspires many interesting questions.

 

I need to mention one other aspect of this novel which I found intriguing—a “soundtrack” comprised of lyrics from the times (1980s through early 2000s) and places (New England and Limerick, Ireland) where the story is set. There are a few excerpts from poems, too, all used as epigraphs to set the tone for each chapter.

 

Lee apparently had eclectic tastes, from Joan Baez, Gillian Welch and Lucinda Williams to Pink Floyd, Belle and Sebastian and Metallica. Their “wish list” was obviously painstakingly selected and integral to the work.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb 

Q&A with Sam Campbell

  

 

 

Sam Campbell is the author of the new middle grade novel Quagmire.  

 

Q: What inspired you to write Quagmire, and how did you create your character Cooper?

 

A: The idea for Quagmire came from two distinct moments a couple of summers ago. While my family was vacationing at the beach, a white sea boat washed up on shore. It stuck right in the sand and immediately drew loads of attention.

 

My family watched as tourists and emergency personnel surrounded the big boat, and it got my wheels turning. I couldn’t help but think: What if this boat washed ashore unoccupied? What would be the story behind the missing seaman?

 

That same summer, driving home from the beach, we passed a pretty rundown motel on the side of the road. The sign was worn, and weeds had overtaken the courtyard. Something about it felt very campy. Again, questions started swirling in my mind, and I knew I wanted to write a story set around a similar derelict motel.

 

Cooper came after those initial inspirations. I started asking myself: Who runs this motel? Why is it in disrepair? Who’s the kid that’s going to have a summer adventure here? Cooper just organically evolved from there.

 

Q: The novel is set in Georgia--how important is setting to you in your writing?

 

A: So far in all of my books, setting has played a huge role. I’m a very visual writer. I see each scene as if it were a movie playing out in my head, which means the setting can’t be generic. It may be a fictional place, but it has to have a certain vibe and texture.

 

I chose to set Quagmire in Georgia because I feel like that marshy coastline doesn’t get enough love in fiction. We read plenty about North Carolina and Florida coasts (No hate—they’re both great!), but the Golden Isles of Georgia have their own unique beauty.

 

My dad and I took a trip to St. Simons Island the summer I was outlining Quagmire. Between the history and the marshes and the nature trails and the Spanish moss and the live oak trees, I knew the Georgia coast was the perfect place to set Gator Island.

 

Q: Did you know how the novel would end before you started writing it, or did you make many changes along the way?

 

A: I’ve become a plotter—not a super detailed one—so I did have all of the major beats down that I wanted to hit, including the ending. I was surprised at how closely the final book follows that original outline.

 

I used to pants everything, and looking back, that’s why it used to take me forever to finish a first draft. I was just weaving my way along, not sure what would happen next.

 

I enjoy loosely plotting these days because I have a game plan each time I sit down to write (there’s nothing worse than a blank page and no idea what to write), but since my outline isn’t that rigid, there’s always room to play around too!

 

Q: The Kirkus Review of the book called it an “enjoyable tale of intergenerational ingenuity that emphasizes the meaning of family.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: A mouthful? No, I do think it captures two of the most important aspects of Quagmire: Cooper’s friendship with elderly Mr. O’Malley as well as the love Cooper’s family shares.

 

I often feel like I relate to and communicate with older people better than my peers, even growing up, so Cooper’s relationship with Mr. O is one of my favorites. I’m glad Kirkus recognized that.

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I don’t think we’ve left Gator Island for good just yet. And that’s all I’ll say.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I’m always eager to connect with libraries and classrooms, so if you’re a librarian or teacher, please reach out! You can contact me via my website, samcamwrites.com. I may or may not have some books and merch for you.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. This Q&A was conducted in partnership with Sam Campbell.  Five lucky winners will each receive a signed paperback copy of Quagmire by Sam Campbell, and one grand prize winner will take home an extra-special Quagmire prize pack featuring a signed paperback, a bookmark, stickers, and a Pink Fountain Motel keychain!