March 30

 

 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
March 30, 1820: Anna Sewell born.

Q&A with Margot Livesey

 

 

Margot Livesey is the author of the new novel The Road from Belhaven. Her other books include Eva Moves the Furniture. She grew up in Scotland, and lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

 

Q: What inspired you to write The Road from Belhaven, and how did you create your character Lizzie?

 

A: My parents were both only children and my mother, Eva, died when I was two and a half. After my father died, when I was 22 I believed myself to have no living relatives.  

 

But in 2017, via Ancestry.com, I received a letter asking, “Did Eva McEwen have a living child?” It turns out that I have many relatives. They just all happen to live near Brisbane in Australia.  

 

A few months after that letter, I went to visit them and they told me about my great grandmother, Lizzie Craig, and her gift of second sight.

 

I had already written a novel about Eva and her relationship with the supernatural (Eva Moves the Furniture) and I had no thoughts of writing about Lizzie until March 2020.  

 

Then it dawned on me that I wasn't going to be able to go back to Scotland for many months. I determined to write a novel that allowed me to go there every day.

 

I had only a few stories about the real Lizzie which was hard at first and then liberating. The Lizzie in my pages is largely imagined.  

 

Q: How did you research the novel, and did you learn anything that especially surprised you?

 

A: I reread the novels of my childhood which I also made Lizzie read.  I found an encyclopedic diary kept by a farmer who lived near Lizzie’s farm and I consulted newspapers of the time.  

 

I also delved into my own memories of a farm kept by a brother and sister where I spent many days of my childhood.  

 

I was surprised to discover that a hot air balloon had landed not far from Lizzie’s farm and that golf was already a popular game.

Q: The Boston Globe’s review of the novel, by Daneet Steffens, begins, “Margot Livesey is no slouch when it comes to casting a mesmerizing spell with her language; one of her other indelible and pleasure-inducing trademarks is lacing her fiction with shimmers of otherworldliness.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: I’m honoured by the reviewer’s perception of what I aspire to. I wanted The Road from Belhaven to be as accurate as I could make it but I also wanted it to hover slightly, to be a story in which inexplicable things might happen.

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

 

A: I had first thought of calling the novel Lizzie Craig in the tradition of e.g. Jane Eyre and David Copperfield. But I wanted a title that suggested Lizzie in motion. That it’s The Road from Belhaven, not “to,” is crucial; Lizzie’s journey is as much about leaving as arriving.

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I am trying to write a novel, set once again in Scotland, but much closer to the present.

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Both my mother, Eva, and my great grandmother, Lizzie, had a strong relationship with the supernatural. So far, I don’t, but I keep hoping that will change.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Margot Livesey.

Q&A with Leah Lax

 

 

 

Leah Lax is the author of the new book Not From Here: The Song of America. Her other books include Uncovered.

 

Q: Not From Here began with research for an opera about immigrants. Can you say more about that?

 

A: From the time I was first asked to write an opera based on immigrant stories for Houston Grand Opera, I knew I needed to listen to many voices before I could begin, and I soon knew I would be writing a book about the people I met and the stories they shared. That book is Not From Here.

 

I began networking almost at random, wandered areas of my city I had never explored before. For nearly a year, I asked anyone I met who wasn’t born here if they would tell me their story. That listening gave me a new understanding of who we are as Americans, and who I am in that context.

 

I crafted the opera from those voices. The Refuge, by Christopher Theofanidis and Leah Lax, was a hit, including a major review in The New York Times and a national broadcast on NPR.

 

Most important to me is how that year changed my understanding of the world. I held the many stories and the people who told them gathered inside of me for years. I felt a responsibility to them, but it took time to understand what I’d heard during that time, and how it was that they changed me so.

 

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

 

A: A startling number of the people I met at random had been displaced by wars the U.S. had driven, or financed, or both. And those who had walked here and managed to survive the border crossing had powerful stories to tell. Despite the border wall and vigilante patrols, every year over a million people still make that crossing.

 

Women’s stories particularly stood out; for me I was shocked at the ubiquity of rape, and moved by efforts to protect their children, and by the broken families.

 

I had recently returned to secular society after years in a closed ultra-religious group. This amazes me today, but I didn’t realize during that year of listening that I was practically an immigrant myself, into my own society, sort of a Jewish Rip Van Winkle.

 

The people I met that year taught me about tenacity, vigilance, and practical faith. They inspired me with their insights into this country, which they looked at unblinking, and still loved. I found the American Dream very much alive, and it spoke with an accent.

I uncovered my grandparents’ hidden stories and finally understood who I am in this new context. I wove part of my family story into Not From Here as one more average American in this book of many voices.

 

Researching the background for the immigrant stories, I confronted my country’s behavior in the world. This began a new sense of responsibility as an American.

 

Q: The writer Chitra Divakaruni called Not From Here an “amazing and powerful book of the struggles and triumphs of people from far away who we might have dismissed as ‘other,’ except that Leah edges them dexterously into our hearts.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: Ms. Divakaruni is a National Book Award Winner and a professor in a prestigious writing program who came to the U.S. from India as an adult. Besides being an immigrant, she must have faced the additional challenges of integrating as a professional woman and a female writer.

 

To me, there was something personal in Ms. Divakaruni’s comment that hints at what she might have encountered when she came, coupled with, perhaps, a note of gratitude.

 

This saddens me a little. It should not be considered extraordinary that a writer got quiet and listened to many different people in our American cacophony. It’s our job to listen, and then do that deep dive to parse what we hear for meaning. Writers have to listen, from the heart. How else do we hear truth?

 

Q: Given the current debates over immigration, what do you hope readers take away from the book?

 

A: Immigration debates seem to be divided between those who see it as an “issue” and those who keep the individual human side foremost in their minds. Either way requires an act of imagination. I hope Not From Here will convey a simple answer to that debate: we need to stop talking and listen to the people involved.

 

Our country is constantly growing and changing, and that has always been fed by immigration – it’s a secret key to our economic dominance. The process seems to self-select people with initiative and stamina, and constantly feeds our labor force.

 

This is such a given that the cover page of our last Census reports population growth as flat (not good for the GNP) and assumes we need increased immigration to fix it.

 

After reading Not From Here, I hope readers will be inspired to see themselves and their families as part of this never-ending stream. Perhaps they will want to uncover their own family histories.

 

I hope they’ll feel they’ve grown a step beyond politics and labeling to see immigrants collectively as our truest majority.

 

And I hope they will be left with a bit of optimism about the future of our flawed country, however open-eyed.

 

Here’s the biggest takeaway: the arts, particularly music, gets to the heart of our times. That’s why the arts are vital to a healthy society.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I’m working on a historical novel that uncovers a sordid history of south Texas never featured in history books. This book, too, will be full of real voices.

 

I’m also working on a collection of essays for my forthcoming Substack that will do the same deep dive into more of the hundreds of voices I didn’t get to include in Not From Here. It will be a Substack that never features a famous person, or someone selling something, just average Americans from everywhere and their extraordinary stories.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Leah Lax.

Q&A with Tracy Mayo

 

 

 

Tracy Mayo is the author of the new memoir Childless Mother: A Search for Son and Self. She lives in Boulder, Colorado.

 

Q: What inspired you to write this memoir, and how was the book's title chosen?

 

A: I was inspired to write this memoir soon after reuniting with my son (who at the time was 23), but I waited until I had retired from a demanding job and also after my parents had passed away — so essentially 20 years later. 

 

The title was chosen because, although I had been childless for 23 years, I had always viewed myself as a mother.

 

Q: Did you need to do any additional research to write the book, or was much of it drawn from your memories?

 

A: I did some research on the history of Florence Crittenton (the maternity home to which I was sent — they were all across the country) but 99 percent of the content was drawn from my memories.

 

Q: What impact did it have on you to write this memoir?

 

A: It was a tremendous exercise in resolving trauma. The deliberate retrieval of painful memories is a prerequisite to processing trauma. It was a search for myself.

 

Q: Given the end of Roe v. Wade, what do you hope readers take away from your story?

 

A: That sadly, after believing for almost 50 years that we had evolved as a culture, had confirmed the value of a woman’s life and agency, we have regressed to that former time where women’s rights were conditional, like a child’s.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: Contemplating learning the craft of poetry!

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: One of the overarching themes of my book is the healing that can come from immersion in the natural world.  That practice cannot help but bring about a broadened perspective, e.g., “I am greater than my pain.”

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb

Q&A with Toni Buzzeo

 

 

 

Toni Buzzeo is the author of the new middle grade novel Light Comes to Shadow Mountain. Her many other books include One Cool Friend. She lives in Arlington, Massachusetts.

 

Q: What inspired you to write Light Comes to Shadow Mountain, and how did you create your character Cora?

 

A: Cora was a gift from the universe. She came to me as a well-developed character around whom I fashioned a story. Her voice, her passion, her determination were all there from the start, but the story itself developed in stages.

 

Many years ago, I became interested in Mary Breckinridge, founder of the Frontier Nursing Service in Eastern Kentucky, who delivered medical care to a region that was entirely without medical professionals.

 

I encountered her first in a children’s book by Rosemary Wells, entitled Mary on Horseback. As I learned more about her, I became convinced I wanted to write about her and/or the FNS.

 

As writers sometimes do, I waited for the story to magically arise in my mind from that germ of an idea. But then, a few years later, I also learned about the Pack Horse Library Project in the middle grade nonfiction book, Down Cut Shin Creek: The Pack Horse Librarians of Kentucky by Kathi Appelt and Cannella Schmitzer.

 

These lay librarians were dedicated to delivering books in that same region of Kentucky and in the same time-period as the FNS. Finally, I felt the story begin to take shape.

 

It appeared on the page first as a picture book. Luckily, my wise editor Kelly Loughman at Holiday House saw that the potential scope of the story was much broader than a picture book could hold and encouraged me to write it as a middle grade novel. It took me some years to come to agree with her, though!

 

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

 

A: As a librarian, research is always a delight for me. I did a great deal of simultaneous research using a variety of sources. Both of the children’s books I mentioned above launched my research but I went far beyond.

 

First, I read Mary Breckinridge’s memoir, Wide Neighborhoods, and an important adult book about the electrification of rural Kentucky, Let There Be Light: The Story of Rural Electrification in Kentucky by David Dick.

 

Then, I read published historical studies dating back to the period, academic articles, and many, many books, including both fiction and nonfiction books about the region.

What was most surprising and delightful to me was the ready access to many, many videos online that transported me to the period and the region itself as Covid-19 was raging and keeping me home-bound.

 

Original videos from the period, professional documentaries, and so many videotaped interviews of Eastern Kentuckians filled my days in lockdown.

 

Q: The writer Lauren Wolk said of the book, “I love books that blend darkness and light—both literally and figuratively—to tell the truth, ignite my empathy, and show me the world from a fresh perspective. This is such a book.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: I am an enormous admirer of Lauren Wolk’s work, and I was so pleased with this quote from her. She points to three elements that I strove to encapsulate in my book.

 

It was essential to me that I capture the truth of the hardscrabble but worthy life of the isolated mountain people of Eastern Kentucky, both their challenges and their blessings in living where they did in the first half of the 20th century.

 

I wanted to share with readers the startling fact that in 1937 those mountains were still dark at a time when America, as a whole, existed in a very modern brightly lit age, thus offering a fresh perspective on the history of the period.

 

And always, as an author who writes from the deep recesses of my heart, I wanted to bring my readers into the lives of these amazing people in all of their complexity of feeling and experience.

 

Q: What do you hope readers take away from the story?

 

A: Of course, I hope that readers, young and old alike, fall in love with Cora, her family, and her best friend Ceilly. And as they do, I hope they come to see the beauty of the Eastern Kentucky mountains and its time-honored way of life. Beyond that, I hope to convey the wisdom of seeing both sides of divisive topics and the role of balanced journalism and media in that pursuit.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: In keeping with the last sentence above, I’m working on a picture book for very young children about the way stories change depending on who is telling them, that is perspective and point of view. I’m also simultaneously working on a young adult memoir in verse.

 

So, as you see, I’m an author who just can’t manage to stay in a single lane. For me, the whole world of genres and audience ages is fair game!

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I started my career as a teacher in both college and high school classrooms, earned a second master’s degree in Library and Information Science, then continued as an educator in school libraries.

 

For the past 20 years I’ve been writing and publishing full time for kids of all ages. My career has always been about writing, about readers, about stories, and the intersection of all three!

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb

March 28

 

 

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
March 28, 1868: Maxim Gorky born.

Q&A with Laura James

 

 

 

Laura James is the author of The Daily Bark early middle grade series for kids, which features a group of canine journalists. She lives in Dorset, UK.

 

Q: What inspired you to write The Daily Bark series, and how did you create your canine cast of characters?

 

A: I am very much a dog person as are most of my family, so I grew up surrounded by dogs.  

 

Many of the News Hounds in The Daily Bark series are either based on dogs I’ve known or have a mixture of characteristics from dogs I’ve met.  

 

I might use a friend’s dog’s name, for example, but somehow, with a bit of daydreaming, that name gets assigned to a dog totally unlike the original inspiration. Ultimately my imagination takes its own course.

 

As for the dogs being journalists, well, my own dogs are often a source of inspiration so I wondered if the tables were turned, what it would be like if they started writing? And so the series began to take shape in my mind.

 

Q: What do you think Charlie Alder’s illustrations add to the books?

 

A: Charlie’s illustrations are just so charming. The books are for children who are generally early on in their reading journey so fun illustrations aid understanding and make the printed page less intimidating.  

 

But I think the best way they add to the experience of the story is the humour Charlie brings. Visual gags are often the best way to get a laugh, especially when the image contradicts what the words are saying.  

 

I write, for example, what a great plan the characters have and Charlie’s illustrations may show that clearly at least one character thinks they’re doomed just by a raised eyebrow.  

 

A look or a gesture between the characters in the illustrations can so effortlessly add depth to the narrative. Besides, they’re so cute, you can’t help but love them!

 

Q: How would you describe the relationships among the various dogs?

 

A: Gizmo, a dachsie, is the editor-in-chief. He’s new to the village of Puddle, and as a city boy still has a lot to learn about country ways.

 

Fortunately, he has Jilly, an Irish Wolfhound (who knows everyone) to help him. She’s big and might look scary to some but she’s a gentle soul who keeps the News Hounds together.  

 

Then there’s Bunty, a Bassett Hound, who lives on a farm and understands the weather. She usually manages to keep her cool despite having a fly called Fliss who buzzes around her, constantly.  

 

Bob, the station master’s dog, likes things to be orderly. He keeps everyone in check. A greyhound named Lola takes life at 100 mph and keeps the gang energised. Finally, Bruno, a German Shepherd who lives at the beauty salon, makes sure everyone looks good! So they all bring something different to the group.

 

Q:  What do you hope kids take away from the stories?

 

A: The most important thing to me is that they have fun reading the books. I was a real bookworm as a kid but I know many children aren’t. They’ll never get into reading if it isn’t an enjoyable and entertaining thing to do.  

 

I hope they fall in love with the characters and the adventures they go on. That’s the goal.

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I’m currently writing the fourth book in my series, Fabio: The World’s Greatest Flamingo Detective. I also have a new idea about a snail and a centipede but that one’s still brewing so I can’t say more about that at the moment.   

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Apart from The Daily Bark series and Fabio I have a series about Pug, who is, as you might imagine, a pug! The first book in the series is Captain Pug. It was the first series I wrote and is illustrated by the amazing Eglantine Ceulemans. The Fabio series is illustrated by Emily Fox.  

 

I’ve been so lucky with all my illustrators and Bloomsbury, my publisher, makes the books of such high quality that hopefully they’ll become lovely collectables for readers.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb