Photo by Mariana Morales
Nell Joslin is the author of the new novel Measure of Devotion. Also an educator, attorney, and journalist, she lives in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Q: What inspired you to write Measure of Devotion, and how did you create your character Susannah?
A: Susannah’s story is loosely based on a Civil War story in my family. My second great-grandmother left home in October 1863 to retrieve her wounded son from the vicinity of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Most of the similarities between her story and my novel end there.
This great-grandmother gave me a (metaphorical) hair from her head, which I then used to create a different woman and a different tale, that of a Union supporter rescuing a Confederate son and only child. Yet her courage and determination are there on every page of Susannah’s story.
The actual wounded son survived the war, returned home to South Carolina and lived well into the 20th century. My mother was one of his many grandchildren.
Growing up, I heard often about the Confederate soldier ancestor’s wartime adventures, for the South in the ’50s and ’60s unabashedly embraced the cult of the Confederacy. Yet even then I knew enough to question the oppressive choices of this slave-owning great-grandfather who fought to preserve the life he had enjoyed at the expense of other lives.
I was an adult before I learned that his mother had saved him, that he surely would have died had she not undertaken enormous risk to bring him home.
In some of his later writings, her son acknowledges that he owes his life to her. Though I do not wish to diminish his appreciation, the question remained: Why was she all but erased from the family folklore? A woman silenced while her son is glorified?
This mother’s experience is that of wartime women throughout history, whose assigned secondary roles intensify their losses. Their grief is at best sentimentalized; at worst, unexpressed and ignored.
I wanted to write from the perspective of a woman who defies the cultural limitations of her day, who risks not only disapproval and censure, but also her life. I wanted to get inside the gritty experience of a woman like that, and to share it. A woman whose choices were not heralded or idealized.
My purpose in writing this novel is to honor all women who, despite the strictures of culture and society, stake everything on a mission that is central to their being.
Q: The writer Jill McCorkle said of the book, “Nell Joslin’s accomplished debut novel explores the loss and destruction of war; through her protagonist, Susannah, the reader witnesses the moral depths of what unites and holds people together, as well as what tears them apart.” What do you think of that description?
A: I love how she cuts to the chase of what the novel is really about. The book is historical fiction, a war story and a romance, but most importantly it’s about resilience in the face of devastating loss and the bedrock of love in all its many forms.
There’s nothing more satisfying than for someone like Jill, whom I revere, to completely “get” what I was trying to do.
Q: How did you research the novel, and what did you learn that especially surprised you?
A: So much has been written about the Civil War that it can be quite overwhelming. I tried not to be too intimidated as I took various forays – some deep, some superficial – into the aspects that seemed most interesting to me and most important to my story.
My favorite nonfiction books were about the soldier’s everyday experience, both Union and Confederate, and anything that gave me a flavor for what it was like to live during that time.
On top of that, I studied the military maneuvers around Chattanooga in the fall of 1863 and the beginning of 1864. To be honest though, I was not captivated by the minute details of battles, and I took the chance that my audience would not be, either.
I read biographies of generals U.S. Grant and George Thomas, and parts of Shelby Foote’s multivolume Civil War history, all very worthwhile.
Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage was my bible from the beginning. This masterwork, plus the novels of Paulette Jiles, especially Enemy Women and News of the World, showed me how spare, beautiful language could make violence all the starker and more affecting.
Another important work was the young-adult novel Rifles for Watie by Harold Keith, a 1958 Newbery Medal winner, beautifully researched.
I also took trips to the Chattanooga area, one to attend a Civil War reenactment, and the second to visit the Lookout Mountain Battlefield Visitor Center.
Q: What do you hope readers take away from the story?
A: Most of all, I want them to enjoy themselves, to fall into a tightly plotted story, to experience a rewarding ending. I would also hope that they come away with a sense of the overwhelming and enduring power of love, its ability to sustain and transform.
And I want the book to remind us all that in this country, our current time is not the only one where we have endured existential political upheaval, painful family divisions, and great uncertainty. To me, there is great hope and comfort in that.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I have a number of unpublished short fiction pieces that I am returning to, to rework and perhaps lengthen into a novel or novels. I am loving this process, and curious to see what might happen.
I’ve also wondered about what might have happened to Susannah Shelburne after Measure of Devotion ended. She’s only 37, still young enough to perhaps have another child, another life. I don’t know if I’m finished with her yet … or maybe I’m just having trouble saying goodbye to her. I’d love to hear what my readers might have to say about that.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: I’m not a young woman – I’m in my early 70s now. Yet this is my first full work of fiction. Although I have always written, always loved to write, I could not have produced this book in my 20s, nor really at any other time until the decade of my 60s, when it finally came together.
Every mistake, every disappointment, every loss, every triumph I ever experienced helped me to tell this story. I say this because I want to encourage other writers like me. I want to say to them, “It’s never too late. Have patience and love yourself. You can do it. I know you can.”
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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