Q&A with Elizabeth Urso

  

 

 

Elizabeth Urso is the author of the new novel Hail Mary. She lives in Petawawa, Ontario.

 

Q: What inspired you to write Hail Mary, and how did you create your character Mary Foreman?

 

A: The “coming home” trope is one of my favourites in fiction. If someone’s returning to the insular hometown they fled under mysterious/inopportune circumstances, I’m there.

 

In late 2020, I was struck by an idea: a woman teaching at her alma mater (a Catholic school for girls) digs up a time capsule and finds a rosary with teeth strung up like prayer beads inside. I didn’t know who the woman was, why she’d taken that teaching job, or how (if at all) she was connected to the time capsule.

 

But, when I was developing the concept, I was navigating my father’s cancer diagnosis and “coming home” in the wake of that. I was overwhelmed by grief and anger, and spent a lot of time reflecting on family, legacy, and inheritance.

 

Mary came from that (when life gives you lemons, I suppose). I named her after my own alma mater, Marymount Academy, in Sudbury, Ontario (Canada). It was a privilege to attend that school, and I write today because the teachers there convinced me that I could. I will carry that with me forever.

 

Q: How would you describe the dynamic between Mary and her family?

 

A: I love this question! Short answer: vexed. Long answer: it depends on what side of the family line we’re talking.

 

The Foremans’ matrilineal line is cursed. All Foreman women can see the dead, and Mary’s relationship with the women in her family (particularly her mother, who she’s estranged from) is complicated because of it. Her relationship with Foreman men? Well, they’re the ones infusing the family line with criminality and corruption (allegedly).

 

North Shore Township doesn’t know whether to revere the Foremans or to fear them. The dynamic makes for an interesting municipal election.

 

That’s where we find Mary at the beginning of the novel: she’s returned home to assist her uncle, Peter, with his mayoral campaign. Her mother’s appearance on a popular true crime podcast has reignited the local rumor mill, and Peter has summoned Mary to assist with damage control.

 

She has ulterior motives for returning, of course, and it doesn’t take long for things to go off the rails.

 

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

 

A: Yes, I knew how the novel would end before I started writing it. How we got there changed along the way. That happens with all my books. I go in knowing the beginning and the end with a vague sense of the middle. It keeps drafting the perfect combination of frustrating and fun.

 

I outline as much as possible before diving into a first draft, though. I admire pantsers (writers who fly by the seat of their pants). I could never. I need the scaffolding.

 

Q: The novel is set along the shore of Lake Huron--how important is setting to you in your writing?

 

A: So important! I like to think of setting as a character into itself in all my projects. Hail Mary takes place in a fictionalized version of the North Shore of Lake Huron.

 

I needed to take some liberties with the locales (particularly the populations and the architecture), but readers can think of my “fictional” North Shore Township (comprised of Providence, Houghton, and Clarksville) as occupying the same physical space as Blind River and the Township of the North Shore in Northern Ontario.

 

I chose to keep the names of surrounding cities the same as “real life” though (Toronto, Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, etc.). I hope it feels grounded in the Ontario that Canadians know and love. And for readers outside Canada? I hope it makes them curious.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I am working on a new novel, but it’s been slow going with edits to sophomore novel (see below!) and promotion for Hail Mary. It’s set in Petawawa, Ontario, which is where I live now. It’s inspired by Stephen King’s Battleground, and I’m excited to see where it goes.

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: My sophomore novel, Confession, is also set in North Shore Township. Readers can catch an excerpt in the back of Hail Mary (which releases on September 22). You’ll see some familiar faces! I’d love to keep writing in this setting/with these characters. I feel at home with them.

 

Make sure to follow me on Instagram (@eeurso) or keep an eye out on my website (elizabethurso.com) for more information.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb