Q&A with Abigail Cutter

  

 

 

 

Abigail Cutter is the author of the new novel What the Trees Remember. Her other books include the novel The Last of What I Am. She lives in Virginia.

 

Q: What inspired you to write What the Trees Remember, and how did you create your character Dora?

 

A: A friend’s ghost story was my first inspiration. He owns an early 19th century mountain house at the head of a shallow stream that in August 1969 roared into a 40-foot avalanche of water during Hurricane Camille, killing over 150 people below.

 

Years later, a neighbor told of witnessing the ghost of an old woman who had survived the flood in her house on the ridge above the stream’s destruction. She balanced on the roof with her hair and skirts blowing as lightning sizzled around her.

 

That got my attention, and I looked up the woman on Ancestry.com. She was born into a wealthy white family, but her mother, who was born in 1862 to an enslaved couple, was described as white on her marriage certificate. She had passed for white in the early Jim Crow era. I saw a story waiting to be told.

 

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

 

A: This is my second historical novel set in the mountains of southwestern Virginia where the Valley runs 80 miles between the Appalachian and the Blue Ridge Mountains. The setting is everything.

 

The area has nearly vertical mountains, narrow valleys, and hasn’t changed much over time. Its dramatic landscape is nothing like the rest of the state, but it suffered from the same racism as plagued the more agricultural regions.

 

It’s a place of deep forests, waterfalls, clear streams, and house-sized boulders tumbled millennia ago down the mountainsides. The people are connected to the landscape in a unique way and the forests are cathedrals where nature is supreme.

 

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

 

A: I drew on Nelson County Library’s extensive local history collection on Hurricane Camille’s devastation, read books about the education of Blacks in Virginia after the Civil War, and explored the internet for information about the plants and trees of the area. I also visited the small town as well as the creek and forest the book describes.

 

The most shocking discovery was in a website developed by James Madison University’s Department of Justice Studies and is called Racial Terror: Lynching in Virgina. That’s where I found a description of the 1904 lynching of a 9-year-old Black boy, Andy Dudley, for hitting a white girl of the same age. For the sake of my novel, I pushed the event back in time to 1894.

 

In addition, I read 19th and early 20th century editorials in The Richmond Planet, a weekly newspaper started by anti-lynching activist John Mitchell Jr. and 13 other formerly enslaved people.

 

Q: As a visual artist and a novelist, how do the two disciplines coexist in your work?

 

A: I hope that being a visual artist gives the reader a stronger sense of place in my novels because I’m particularly aware of how things look.

 

I believe it’s important to bring the reader inside the story’s events as much as possible, and a book’s detail about how it is to be there is part of that experience, even if it is seeing it through my eyes first.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I’m researching ideas for a third book, again set in southwestern Virginia but in the late 1700s. This region was wilderness for much longer than the rest of the state and the people who lived here had a special toughness, a resiliency, from depending upon their own strengths for their survival.

 

It’s also an area that hasn’t had the historical attention that the eastern part of Virginia has had as birthplace of presidents and being the site of the capital of the Confederacy.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Maybe you’d like to know authors I read again and again and in whose books I underline passages.

 

Anything by Anthony Doerr, but his book of short stories The Shell Collector is my favorite. And I’ve recently read Booker Prize shortlisted The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller for the beauty of his language and compelling plot. Dr. Edward Ayers’ books on deeply researched Virginia history are also a source of inspiration for anyone curious about the history of the South.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Abigail Cutter. 

Q&A with Crystal AJ Smith

  

 

 

Crystal AJ Smith is the author of the new novel Gitwaałtk. She is Haisla, Ts’ymsen and was adopted into the Heiltsuk nation.

 

Q: What inspired you to write Gitwaałtk?

 

A: Gitwaałtk came from the ancestors I believe. I just began writing it 10 years ago and it evolved from a short story to a novel through time. 

 

Q: What do you see as the role of grief in the novel?

 

A: This is an interesting question. Grief is woven into Gitwaałtk as grief is woven in our reality. It is what grounds the story. 

 

Q: How did you create your protagonist?

 

A: My protagonist is a version of me that I wish existed. She had the extreme privilege to learn from her Dz'is (grandmother). To learn our traditional ways and stories, to learn our traditional language and be fluent. All things I wished for but was unable to attain. Though I am attempting to learn our traditional ways and language right now. 

 

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 had no idea where Gitwaałtk was going. I just put pen to paper and let it flow through me. It was a story that had asked me to write rather than a story I wrote. 

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I am currently working on a sequel to Gitwaałtk as well as a poetry collection. 

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Gitwaałtk took 10 years largely because I had to put it on the back burner often to deal with life events and provide for my children. I am so grateful that the story chose me and was so patient with me as I gathered the strength to listen to what needed to be written.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb 

Q&A with Rinat Primo

  

 

 

 

 

Rinat Primo is the author of the new children's picture book On One Foot. Her other books include Dandelion Snow. She lives in Israel.

 

Q: What inspired you to write On One Foot, and how did you create your characters Lily and Hillel?

 

A: On One Foot was inspired by a well-known Talmudic story about a non-Jewish man who came to Shammai and asked to be taught the entire Torah while standing on one foot - in other words, to learn all there is to know in a very short time. Shammai, a great sage known for his strictness, sent him away.

 

The man then approached Hillel the Elder with the same request. Hillel replied: “What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. All the rest is commentary - now go and study.”

 

In Hebrew, the expression “on one foot” is similar to saying “in a nutshell.”

 

I loved the idea of connecting this timeless wisdom with children’s natural love of physical challenges, like trying to balance on one foot. The names Hillel, Lili, and Tehila are also a tribute to Hillel the Elder.

 

Q: What do you think Yael Albert’s illustrations add to the story?

 

A: The visual team behind the book consists of Yael Albert, a wonderful illustrator, and Michal Magen, a remarkable graphic designer. Together, they brought  the world and the children described in the text to life. Yael Albert created expressive, lovable characters that feel warm and charming without being kitschy.

 

One especially interesting artistic choice was using yellow as the background color throughout the book. At first, we experimented with green backgrounds, which may have suited the natural setting more, but they gave the illustrations the feel of a fancy European kindergarten. That didn’t feel authentic to Israel, which is a warm country where yellow tones dominate much of the year.

 

Q: What do you hope kids take away from the book, and how did you first get interested in writing for children?

 

A: I think writing for children is, for me - and probably for many children’s authors - a way of exploring my own childhood. Sometimes it’s even a way of revisiting and repairing parts of it. Each of my books approaches that exploration from a different angle.

 

My memory of what it feels like to be a child is still vivid and deeply present. I understand the way children think. Adults, on the other hand, are much harder for me to understand. We just have so much baggage!

 

More than anything, my motivation is to give young readers the sense that they are not alone in their thoughts and feelings.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I recently wrote a story called Oh, Jonathan!, a picture book for kindergarten-aged children with very little text. It tells the story of a boy whose behavior is misunderstood by the people around him. Right now, together with Green Bean Publishing, I'm working on submitting it to PJ Library. Wish us luck!

 

I’m also working on another book for young teens about twins - a boy and a girl - and the complexities of sibling relationships, especially the unique bond between twins. The book is expected to be published in Hebrew in early 2027.

 

Thank you, Deborah, and good luck with your new book!

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb 

July 30

 

 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY

July 30, 1818: Emily Brontë born. 

Q&A with Rachel Beanland

  

 

 

Rachel Beanland is the author of the new novel The Half Life. Her other books include Florence Adler Swims Forever. She lives in Richmond, Virginia. 

 

Q: How much was your new novel inspired by your own experiences living in Italy as a child?

 

A: A good bit! My family lived in La Maddalena, Italy, from 1986 to 1988, when my father was stationed on the USS Orion. I was f5 years old when we moved to the island and 7 years old when we moved away, and I attended the Istituto San Vincenzo for kindergarten and the American elementary school, Vista Mare, for first grade.

 

Obviously, I wasn’t getting into half the trouble Eileen finds herself in, but many of the more sensory details in the book come from my own experiences.

 

The years my family spent in La Maddalena were happy ones, and when I returned to the island 31 years later, on a vacation, I was struck by how much had changed. The last American submarine tender left La Maddalena in 2008, and I realized I wanted to write about this community of Italians and Americans who had—for a time—lived side by side.

 

Q: How did you create your character Eileen?

 

A: I knew I wanted to set the story in the mid-'70s, which was a tumultuous time on the island, and I decided pretty early on that I would write the novel in one point-of-view (my previous two novels are multiple POV).

 

I wanted to follow a “Navy wife,” who would understand some (but not all) of what was happening on the submarine tender and would also be witness to the island’s growing unrest, particularly as she gets to know a group of scientists and activists who are fighting to get the Navy’s nuclear-powered submarines out of the archipelago.

 

Eileen is young and newly married and has no idea who she is, let alone what it means to commit herself to another person. She’s never been anywhere, and so when she arrives in La Maddalena, she’s unprepared for the ways the island will change her.

 

Q: The writer Brian Castleberry said of the novel, “This is a book about losing and finding yourself and having the courage to choose who you will be in this world...” What do you think of that description?

 

A: Brian’s good with words, so I’ll take just about anything he wants to say about my work, but yes…I think this description is particularly accurate.

 

I was really interested in writing about early marriages and this idea that, when you marry young, you’re still growing into the person you’ll eventually become.

 

Eileen has made a lot of grown-up decisions…to drop out of college, to marry Paul, to move with him to a remote Italian island, but that doesn’t mean she’s figured out who she is or what she wants. And for her to do that, well, it’s not going to come without a pretty big reckoning.

 

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

 

A: Coming up with the title, The Half Life, was a group effort! I sold the book with a different title, and then we spent the better part of a year batting around title ideas.

 

When we settled on The Half Life, I was thrilled because I felt like it was a nod to multiple aspects of the book. There was real concern about the presence of nuclear byproducts in the Mediterranean Sea, and of course, if the nuclear byproducts have long half-lives, it’s worse for everyone. But also, until Eileen figures out who she is and what she wants, she’ll only ever be living half a life.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: It’s too soon to say anything about the novel I’m working on now, but I think it’s safe to say I’m moving into the present day, while still managing to give a nice tip of the hat to the past.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Just that I feel lucky to be watching my third novel come into the world. Florence Adler Swims Forever, The House Is on Fire, and now The Half Life are all very different books, but what connects them is my curiosity and my desire to tell stories you haven’t read before.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Rachel Beanland. 

Q&A with Brianna Labuskes

  

 

Brianna Labuskes is the author of the new novel Clean Slate. Her many other novels include The Lies You Wrote. She lives in Pennsylvania. 

 

Q: What inspired you to write Clean Slate, and how did you create your character Olive?

 

A: I wanted to find a slightly different way into writing a crime book than using an FBI agent or detective. I had always loved the movie Sunshine Cleaning, which features a crime scene cleaner, and giving Olive that job opened up a lot of neat avenues for the book.

 

For example, Olive could break the rules that (good) detectives can’t. She didn’t need to follow any chains of custody with evidence, couldn’t talk to people without warrants, and could even find her way into places she shouldn’t be.

 

At the same time, this character does understand the legal system and isn’t getting in the way of the official investigation.

 

I really wanted her to be tough on the outside, funny and sarcastic, but then soft as a marshmallow on the inside, both of which she needs to do her job. She has to be okay with the gore and also help her clients get through some of their most emotional days they’ve ever gone through. It was fun to use the job itself as a way to forge her personality.

 

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

 

A: There’s a great book out there called Mop Men, which follows crime scene cleaners into their hour-to-hour lives, and gave me a great sense about what a normal workday would look like for them.

 

There’s also a docuseries following a crime scene cleaning company, which walked the audience through real-time jobs. It highlighted the variety of messes the cleaners had to deal with, from drive-by shootings to vomit in police cars.

 

They both gave such great insight into both the personality traits of the cleaners, the workflow and then the cleaning itself.

 

One of the more surprising things I learned while reading and watching them was that brain matter hardens into cement when it hits the air. I actually use it as my opening line, because it was so interesting to me.

 

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 knew the broad strokes but filling it in is always fun and surprising. Sometimes my whole plan will pivot when the characters get a mind of their own and the ending of a chapter takes me in a whole new direction.

 

Q: As someone who writes both psychological thrillers and historical fiction, do you have a preference?

 

A: I don’t actually have a preference, I just love the way writing in both genres lets me build narratives that have naturally high stakes, either through murder or war. It doesn’t really matter if their opposition is a serial killer or Hitler, pushing the characters to their upmost limits is when it gets really exciting as a writer. 

 

Q: This is the start of a new series--can you tell us what's next?

 

A: The second book dives deeper into Olive’s history, and what really happened with her parents on the day her mother killed her father. It let me bring out even more layers in Olive’s personality—her flaws and her strength, her fears and her gumption. I can say not everything is as it seems in the first book.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I really wanted to create a character in Olive that readers could root for, and maybe think of as their funny, if a little messy, friend who can also hunt down serial killers.

 

And for them to walk away thinking about the importance of the communities and support systems that we build for ourselves. That’s what I would love to see.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb 

Q&A with Lucy E.M. Black

  

 

 

Lucy E.M. Black is the author of the novel A Quilting of Scars. Her other books include Class Lessons. She is based in Canada.

 

Q: What inspired you to write A Quilting of Scars, and how did you create your character Larkin Beattie?

 

A: This novel began in an antique store when I fell in love with a reproduction poster from May 1874.  I was charmed by the poster but also intrigued. Gradually Larkin’s story revealed itself and the novel unspooled.

I was an educator for nearly 30 years and during that time, I interacted with many young people who were frightened of revealing their sexual identities to parents and family members. 

 

Sadly, many students I knew were asked to leave their family home as a result of such disclosures and spent weeks, if not months, couch-surfing while attempting to find a more sustainable living arrangement. It broke my heart to see young people turned away by the very individuals who should have embraced them and celebrated their life choices. 

 

Larkin came to me after I had completed a great deal of research on farming in Ontario during the time period. Once I had his name, his limp, his character, his manner of speech, all of him came together.

 

He’s a gentle man from a gentle family and it was important to me, and the storyline, that that aspect of his character was developed. He is a character that I have quite fallen in love with. He embodies a number of characteristics belonging to family members and farm folk that I have known. 

 

He also represents those vulnerable young people I have encountered over the course of my career as an educator. The secrets that are kept throughout the story changed Larkin’s life and left him feeling isolated and lonely. 

 

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

 

A: The title comes from a line in the book when Larkin sees a quilting of scars on his friend’s back. His friend has been abused, and the scene is taken from one of my childhood memories when I recognized that a very young school friend was being viciously beaten by his father.

 

The quilting reference also represents the memories that Larkin recalls during the one very long night of his storytelling narrative. Larkin is piecing together or quilting his memories as he flips through a scrap book and remembers the events of his past. 

 

Quilts also appear in the text in that they a hide secret letter. 

 

And finally, we learn that Larkin doesn’t want to part with his mother’s dresses to have them cut up and turned into community quilts.

 

For me, personally, quilts hold history – scraps of fabric from favorite shirts, for instance, may bring back memories of the person who once wore the shirt. 

 

I love quilts, we have a number in our home – very old family ones and newer ones that we have purchased. There is an infinite number of patterns and colour combinations and each of these also represent various traditions and hold meaning. 

 

Q: What do you think the novel says about secrecy?

 

A: The secrets that are kept throughout the story changed Larkin’s life and left him isolated and lonely.

 

As the novel took shape and I came to know Larkin and his best friend Paul, it became important to me to tell their story – which is a love story of sorts and a celebration of male friendship. 

 

But many secrets are revealed as the story unfolds. Larkin calls himself the keeper of secrets and the weight of that is quite profound. 

 

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

 

A: No, I definitely did not know how it was going to end. I thought I was writing a story about breeding horses. But then as the novel took shape and I came to know Larkin and his best friend Paul better, it became important to me to tell their story.

 

The ending wrote itself, as it was the only possible ending for Paul in that place and time, and he needed to leave and create a new identity. Larkin denies his friendship with Paul when on cattle drive and it was this denial that ate away at him and made me realize that there was only one possible way to invoke closure for Larkin.   

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I’ve just completed compiling a short story collection and will be pitching the collection to publishers soon. I am co-editing a book on mothering called Tender Voices and we are currently beginning to pitch the collection. I have a new novel coming out April 15 called The Mural and will soon be preparing to launch that book.

 

And I’ve begun a new writing project based upon a spinster’s diary who lived in my community from 1843-1944. It will be a work of historical fiction that highlights the incredible changes that took place during her lifetime. It’s an honour to have been entrusted with her diary and I’m looking forward to the work. 

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Merely my thanks for your interest in Larkin and for taking the time to discuss his story. 

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb