Martha Hunt Handler is the author of the new young adult novel Winter of the Wolf. She is an advocate for wolves at the Wolf Conservation Center, and she lives in New York.
Q: You note that the death of
your best friend's son inspired you to write this book. How did you end up
creating your character Bean?
A: Bean is a fictionalized
and idealized version of myself at 15. While Bean trusts her knowing, as
Glennon Doyle so eloquently puts it in her memoir Untamed, I wasn’t nearly so
trusting of my feelings and thoughts in my teens.
From a very young age, I distinctly
remember being able to hear various voices in nature, but when I shared this
ability, even with trusted friends, they didn’t believe me, or worse yet, I was
ridiculed and made to feel like I had a screw loose. Over time, I began to
doubt myself, and subsequently, these voices and their messages began to fade.
Much of my motivation in
creating the character of Bean was to encourage young adults to trust their
instincts and intuition. Unfortunately, the lessons we learn from an early age,
especially females, are to "fit in" and "not make waves."
But this isn't healthy, nor is it in our best interest.
All the things we feel inside
are a gift, and they should be paid attention to and acted upon, but our
society doesn’t make doing so especially easy, so to be authentic, you have to
be brave. I hope that Bean will challenge readers to accept and embrace the
totality of who they are and live from this place of knowing.
Q: The novel takes place in
Minnesota. How important is setting to you in your writing?
A: In general, I believe
setting is essential to storytelling. I know when I'm reading, I love nothing
more than to imagine the characters walking around in places and in periods
that are new and unfamiliar to me. It allows me to escape for a bit, and it
also gives me a grounding space for all that is unfolding before my eyes.
Initially, the setting for
Winter of the Wolf was northern Illinois, in an area much like the one where I
grew up because it was familiar and made sense in the context of the novel. But
when I added a wolf to my story, this location no longer worked because wolves
haven’t existed in Illinois since the late 1800s.
After doing a bit of
research, I decided on northern Minnesota because it checked off all the
necessary boxes. It was a place where one could, if they were very lucky, still
see a wolf, the winters are cold and long, and the towns are small and
close-knit.
Q: You've been interested in
wolves and wolf conservation for many years--why did you decide to incorporate
that theme into the novel?
A: The short answer is that
I'll take every platform I'm provided to educate people about this widely
misunderstood predator! But the longer answer is that I was looking for an
animal that [Bean's brother] Sam might shape-shift into given his Inuit beliefs and personality
traits.
When I re-read the book
Animal Speak, The Spiritual & Magical Powers of Creatures Great and Small,
the description of a wolf as a totem animal was a perfect match for Sam because
it symbolizes instinct, intelligence, an appetite for freedom, and an awareness
of the importance of social connections.
This, coupled with the fact
that my author proceeds are going to the Wolf Conservation Center, made it a
win-win scenario.
Q: Can you say more about what
you hope readers take away from the story?
A: So many, many things, but
I’ll name just a few!
A big lesson I hope readers
take away with them is the sense that death is not an end, but a part of a
larger circle (birth, death, rebirth). Death is nothing more than a soul’s way
of transitioning.
The first law of
thermodynamics tells us that energy cannot be made nor destroyed; it can only
change forms. What form the deceased’s energy takes is anyone’s guess, but I
think it’s important to note that the soul is still with us, somewhere, in some
form.
So, wouldn’t it make sense
that when someone dies, rather than grieving, we should be filled with
gratitude that we had this beautiful soul with us for as long as we did?
I know you can’t fairly
compare people to novels, but imagine you’ve just finished a remarkable book,
and then it’s inexplicably consumed by flames. Would you live in despair for
months or even years because you can no longer hold it in your hands, or would
you rejoice that you read it and learned from it and can forever hold it in
your heart?
Suicides are different than
other deaths. I did loads of research on this topic and have lost many friends
to suicide, and what’s most sad about them is the added level of blame and
guilt placed on the survivors. People seem to believe on some level that their
deaths may have been preventable.
I want readers to come away
with the understanding that all deaths are equal. For whatever reason, a soul
needed to depart this human form, at that particular moment, for it to keep
growing. And the only way to honor that soul is to keep them alive in your mind
by remembering all that they taught you and all the moments you shared.
I also want readers to be
reminded of our interconnectedness to every soul on the planet, as well as to
the planet itself. It’s easy to lose sight of the fact that we are all in this
together, and what we do affects everything around us. The Covid-19 virus has
hopefully been not only a wake-up call but a call to action. I hope we’re
listening.
Q: What are you working on
now?
A: I’ve been seriously
considering writing a sequel to Winter of the Wolf. It would be fun to see what
happens to Bean in the next 5-7 years. How does her relationship with her
brothers pan out? Does she have a romantic relationship with Skip? Does Skip
have a deep, dark secret he’s been hiding? Might it possibly involve his
family?
I don’t, by the way, have
answers to any of these questions, but they’re floating around my head.
On a much lighter note,
because Winter of the Wolf was a heavy place for me to reside for the last 18
years, I’m considering writing a humorous memoir. For years I’ve been
collecting Emily Post’s books on manners and etiquette, and I think it would be
fun to compare and contrast how much societal rules have changed over time
using my stories and those of some friends.
Q: Anything else we should
know?
A: My husband and I were
grand prize winners of The Newlywed Game, and I love spending time in
Antarctica and the Arctic, or anywhere that's snowy and cold. I don’t believe
this is menopause-related, but it could be!
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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