Melissa Scholes Young is the author of the new novel Flood. It takes place in Hannibal, Missouri, the childhood home of both Young and Mark Twain. Young's work has appeared in a variety of publications, including The Atlantic and The Washington Post, and she teaches college writing and creative writing at American University in Washington, D.C. She lives in Maryland.
Q:
How did you come up with the idea for Flood, and for interspersing historical
information about Mark Twain into the story?
A:
Flood began as the story of Rose and Laura’s friendship. I wanted to write a
female version of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. These are friendships with
so much history you can’t quit them, even as you covet what the other has.
Laura and Rose have known each other their whole lives and they’ve stayed
deeply connected even with distance and differences.
At
the same time, I was researching the history of the Mississippi River and its running
backwards in 1812 because of a series of earthquakes along the New Madrid
Fault.
Growing
up in Hannibal you hear stories about it, but the facts of how the river
determines our daily life, as it did for Mark Twain growing up there, are
fascinating. Once I realized the parallels between Twain’s story and Laura
Brooks, I intentionally wove them together.
I
needed another character, Laura’s high school English teacher, Ms. B, to teach
the history as a book within a book for the local Tom and Becky pageant
contestants. I wanted Ms. B to be an outsider shining a light on the literature
for the insiders. When you grow up in a place like Hannibal, you may not
realize that the history all around us is magical and mythological.
Q:
Laura returns to her home town, Hannibal, after a decade away. What do you think the book
says about coming home again?
A:
It’s just as tough to leave as it is to return. For Laura, Hannibal holds
secrets that she doesn’t want to face. Coming home again forces her to
reconcile the stories she’s been telling herself about why she left with truth.
I
think, like Laura, we all want a soft place to land, but sometimes home isn’t
so safe. It’s not that home has changed; it’s that you have. You’re forced to
consider home through your new perspective and see it more clearly for all that
it offers and limits.
Q:
Why did you decide to set the action of the story in 2003?
A:
The flood in 1993 was a 500-year crest. It was devastating for Hannibal and all
Mississippi River communities. I wanted a decade to have passed for Laura
Brooks to grow and to reflect on why the river both gives life and threatens to
take it away.
Q:
Besides geography, what connects Laura with Mark Twain’s characters?
A:
I think they’re both a bit unsatisfied. They ask questions and push back
against the way things have always been done. I doubt either of them will ever
feel completely comfortable wherever they roam.
Q:
What are you working on now?
A:
My new novel is called Bug Girl. It’s the story of succession in a family pest
control business. There are four daughters and a matriarch, so really it’s Little
Women with bugs.
I
also continue to write essays about first-generation college experiences. And
I’m editing a volume of fiction by D.C. women, Grace in Darkness. It’s the
eighth volume in the Grace & Gravity series founded by Richard Peabody.
Q:
Anything else we should know?
A:
Mark Twain said, “Travel is fatal to prejudice.” I’ve learned a lot from
leaving, coming home, and finding new places. D.C. is an amazing place to be a
writer. The literary community is rich and generous. Our independent bookstores
are lovely. I’m grateful to have roots in Hannibal and a foundation in D.C.
from which to grow.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
No comments:
Post a Comment