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Eliza Borné

Fiction

Jenny Wingfield

Interview by Eliza Borné

Set in south Arkansas of 1956, Jenny Wingfield’s debut novel is about the family of Samuel Lake, a preacher who has lost his congregation. Sam moves his wife, Willadee, and their three kids to his in-laws’ farm, where the children can run free but the drama is high. Sam’s daughter, Swan, makes friends with (then hides) the son of an evil horse trainer—providing the suspense in the story. Willadee’s sister-in-law, Bernice, attempts to seduce Sam. All the while, Sam looks inward—and to God—to figure out what comes next. The Homecoming of Samuel Lake is a small-town story packed with action, charm and sweet—but not too sweet—characters. Readers who love Southern settings populated with complicated family dynamics will dig into this big-hearted novel.

You have several screenplay credits, although The Homecoming of Samuel Lake is your first novel. What do you like best about writing in this form? How is it different from writing screenplays?

I think what I love most about writing novels is that it allows me to feel more like a storyteller. I’m speaking directly to the reader, and I love that. With a screenplay, the writer is somewhat removed from the audience. There are all these layers in between, but with a novel, there’s a tremendous sense of intimacy and freedom. Writing this book was work, but honestly, it felt like dancing. I’ve never experienced anything like it.

I understand that you wrote a couple hundred pages of this novel, then set it aside for 12 years before you finished. What about the story inspired you to come back after such a long break?

I always loved the story, and wanted to get back to it, but I think I was afraid of the commitment that would be required to finish it. I was a single mom, so I kept taking jobs in order to get that paycheck.

The terrible thing about this world is that evil exists. The glorious thing is that hope and love and laughter and music exist at the same time.

Then I had cancer, and—for a variety of reasons—there were no jobs. There was no money. Some hard years followed. My friend Charlie Anderson kept telling me to sit down and finish the novel, and I kept repeating a string of excuses. It would take too long. There was no guarantee that anyone would buy it. On and on. I don’t remember what he said to spur me into finally writing the next ten or so pages, but once I got that far, the story started telling itself to me again. I hadn’t been thinking about it all that time, but it was the most natural thing in the world to take up where I had left off, and see it through to the end.

There are a lot of big personalities in this story—from the spunky Swan Lake to the conniving Bernice to the optimistic Samuel. Was any particular character the most fun for you to write?

Swan, of course. She’s who we’d all be, if only we were brave enough. 

There are some very painful passages in this book—especially those involving animal and child abuse—yet overall the novel feels uplifting and optimistic. Did you make a conscious effort to balance the darkness with humorous or happy scenes?

Basically, I just wrote a story, and the characters did what was in their nature to do. The terrible thing about this world is that evil exists. The glorious thing is that hope and love and laughter and music exist at the same time—and I believe that good is infinitely more powerful than its opposite.

Samuel and Willadee's relationship with God (and attitude toward religion) is an essential part of this story, even though they don't always see eye to eye. Has religion played an important role in your life? Why did you want to write about a preacher's family?

I didn’t exactly want to write about a preacher’s family. I wanted to write about my family, and my father just happened to be a preacher. It would have been impossible to get inside Sam Lake’s head without revealing his constant and sincere thoughts of God, the same as it would have been impossible to describe [horse trainer] Ras Ballenger without showing the pleasure he took in inflicting pain on others.

My own faith is vitally important to me, although my views are less traditional now than when I was younger. I tend to believe that God speaks to everyone, everywhere, and that we’d all do well to listen more and talk less.

BookPage readers love Southern fiction. What, besides setting, do you think makes a novel uniquely “Southern”?

Oh, Lord, I don’t know. Maybe it’s the inevitable mentions of honeysuckled air and steam rising off the pavement. There’s something languorous about the south that permeates everything we say and do.

 

Set in south Arkansas of 1956, Jenny Wingfield’s debut novel is about the family of Samuel Lake, a preacher who has lost his congregation. Sam moves his wife, Willadee, and their three kids to his in-laws’ farm, where the children can run free but the drama is high. Sam’s daughter, Swan, makes friends with (then […]
FictionDebut Fiction

Samuel Park explores the consequences of a single choice in his stirring debut

Interview by Eliza Borné

Describe your book in one sentence.
A young woman marries the wrong man and learns to live with the consequences of that choice.

What was your reaction when you found out your first novel would be published?
My heart started beating a little faster, and I made a series of phone calls, in rapid succession: first, to my mother; then, to my best writer friend; then, to my friend who inspired me to start writing fiction. I used many exclamation marks in my voice. The part of the day I remember the most, though, was actually the seconds right before I got the news, when I saw my agent’s number flashing on my cell phone. We never speak on the phone, so that was the moment I knew.

“Lizzie Bennet’s early refusal of Darcy greatly resonated with me, as I pondered the permanence of choice. What if she hadn’t been able to undo that so easily?”

Name one book you think everyone should read, and why.
Pride and Prejudice. While Austen is still—wrongly—considered by some parochial and limited in her scope, I do think her books contain a panoramic view of society, if not the entire world: social climbing, parental and romantic love, foolish and clever people and that incredible alchemy of emotions and tensions that happen when you put two lovers together in a room. Lizzie Bennet’s early refusal of Darcy greatly resonated with me, as I pondered the permanence of choice. What if she hadn’t been able to undo that so easily? I like to think of my own novel as Pride and Prejudice in South Korea.

“I think every great love, but especially unrequited love, is a secret to some extent. And secrets make you particularly vulnerable.”

Your main character, Soo-Ja, is married to one man and in love with another. What do you think is most interesting about unrequited love stories? Do you have a personal favorite literary love story?
Unrequited love has a purity and intensity that lends itself to a dramatic, conflict-ridden story. Because you don’t have the lover, you have to either try to get to the lover, or try to work through your feelings for the lover. This means lots of external and internal conflict. It also means you have a secret, and I think every great love, but especially unrequited love, is a secret to some extent. And secrets make you particularly vulnerable. One my favorite literary love stories, aside from Lizzie and Darcy, is Dr. Zhivago, which was one of my inspirations—I liked the idea of setting an intimate love story against a dramatic, historical background.

Can you tell us about your next project?
My next novel is about a mother and a daughter relationship. It’s very different from This Burns My Heart in the sense that it’s contemporary, and set in America. But it’s still going to deal with a lot of strong emotions.

Author Samuel Park reflects on unrequited love and publishing his first novel—a story he describes as Pride and Prejudice in South Korea.
Fiction

Brandi Lynn Ryder

Interview by Eliza Borné

In the August issue of BookPage, reviewer Abby Plesser describes In Malice, Quite Close—Brandi Lynn Ryder’s debut novel—as being “at once a murder mystery, a vivid exploration of the art world and a meditation on the secrets we keep.” She continues: “Ryder’s novel is unlike anything else you will read this summer.”

Describe your book in one sentence.
“That which you long to possess comes to possess you . . . “

What was your reaction when you found out your first novel would be published?
Overwhelming, indescribable joy. It had been my dream since I learned to read . . . I was in a hotel in New York at the time and after “the call,” I threw my phone up in the air, let out a whoop of delight and danced around the room in a very unwriterly way. It took me quite a while to rediscover my angst.

Your novel is told from multiple points of view and is quite puzzle-like. How did you keep up with different threads?
I’m slightly obsessed with the limitations of perception and tend to look at things in a prismatic way. It didn’t pose any trouble for me, and is meant to enlighten rather than confuse readers . . .  

The foundation of the novel—the core relationship between Tristan and Gisèle—is built on a lie, which spins into a great web of them. Years later, each of the characters live in a house of cards in which nothing is as it seems. They each labor under their own delusions, their own ‘truths,’ which begin to crumble as events unfold. To convey this, I felt I had to step into each character and see things through their eyes, while allowing the reader to be privy to these varying perspectives and connect the dots. It is meant to be a bit of a puzzle . . . It’s not nearly as easy to deconstruct illusions when they’re your own! To that end, I hope readers will question the degree to which all reality is constructed and subject to the limits of our perception.

Besides reading and writing, what do you like to do for fun?
So many of my favorite pursuits—reading, writing, yoga, (long, long) walks, art and music—are meditative and solitary, that I find in my free time, I most enjoy socializing. Not the modern social media version, but the old-fashioned art of conversation. I love to meet new people and hear their stories. Napa Valley, where I live, is the perfect facilitator for this, with its constant flow of tourists from everywhere in the world. Not to mention the beautiful backdrop, fine food and wine, and inspired cocktails . . . You’ll often find me out and about in the town I love. I suppose I’m an extroverted introvert!

I also love to cook—especially rustic French and Italian dishes that take hours to make and are such fun to share . . . Travel, and art, art, art. Of all kinds, everywhere I can find it. And I find it everywhere, in everything . . .

Name one book you think everyone should read, and why.
John Fowles’ The Magus. A masterful psychological and philosophical work, it is that rare treasure: a book of ideas . . . Compulsively readable, yet it will stay with you long afterward. An exploration into so many things: identity and ego, cynicism and idealism, truth and illusion. Fowles forces his central character, Nicholas Urfe, to confront his most deeply held assumptions about the world and about himself—and encourages us to do the same. The world should look a little different to you after reading it! And that, for me, is the highest praise one can give a piece of art . . .

In the August issue of BookPage, reviewer Abby Plesser describes In Malice, Quite Close—Brandi Lynn Ryder’s debut novel—as being “at once a murder mystery, a vivid exploration of the art world and a meditation on the secrets we keep.” She continues: “Ryder’s novel is unlike anything else you will read this summer.” Describe your book […]
FictionWorld Fiction

Patricia McArdle

Interview by Eliza Borné

Overwhelmed by her diplomatic experience in Afghanistan and wanting to share her story, Patricia McArdle turned to fiction instead of memoir to protect her contacts. The result, Farishta, was the recipient of the 2010 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award—it took first prize out of 5,000 entries.

Describe your book in one sentence.
Farishta is the fictional war memoir of an emotionally damaged American diplomat, whose one-year tour of duty at a remote outpost in northern Afghanistan takes her life in an unexpected direction.

What was your reaction when you found out your first novel would be published?
I was one of 5,000 novelists who last year submitted manuscripts in the general fiction category of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award competition.  After a five-month process of elimination, I was awarded first prize and a publishing contract with Riverhead Books in June 2010.  I was stunned.  I still am.

As a diplomat, you traveled around the world. Of all the places you've been, why did you choose to set your novel in Afghanistan? 
I've been in some difficult situations during my diplomatic career, but until I went to Afghanistan I had never served in a war zone. I've always kept a journal and did so during the year I spent there. I was overwhelmed by what I saw and when I came home I wanted to share my experiences with others. A memoir would have been difficult since many of the Afghans and foreign soldiers I'd worked with could not be identified without compromising their safety. Placing my composite but fictional characters in real settings with real events was the device I chose to make my points about Afghanistan, while still protecting my contacts. With Farishta I hope to share my perceptions of that country, its environment, America's longest war and the effects of PTSD with an audience that might never pick up a non-fiction book about Afghanistan. 

Besides reading and writing, what do you like to do for fun? 
My hobbies are watercolor painting, pastel drawing, photography, swimming and walking on the beach. I used to ride horses until I took several bad falls going over jumps at a riding stable in Paris. Since I returned from Afghanistan at the end of 2005, I have been consumed with two things—writing Farishta and promoting solar cooking technology around the world.  The writing and editing of Farishta is now complete and I fervently hope that people who read my novel will be moved by this fictional account of the effects of war on the lives of civilians and soldiers in Afghanistan.

My work with solar cooking, which began in Afghanistan, will never end. My involvement with this technology is much more than a hobby. It has now become an obsession. I know that simple, inexpensive solar cookers work. I have seen them used around the world. I also know that this technology could allow millions of poor women to cook their food and boil their water using only the endless and free light of the sun. The fossil fuel industry is doing its best to keep us dependent on coal, oil and gas for several more generations. I know there is a better way. Promoting solar cooking is my small contribution to a clean, renewable energy future for our planet.

Name one book you think everyone should read, and why.
City by Clifford Simak. This slim, offbeat work of science fiction, written in the early ‘50s, offers a quirky, possibly prescient and (for me) thought-provoking take on the future of humanity. It's been out of print for a while, but copies are still available on Amazon. Every few years I take out my dog-eared copy, sit down with a tall drink and lose myself in the eight tales. Definitely worth a read. You will never again look at dogs, ants, the planet Jupiter or the city of Geneva in the same way.

Overwhelmed by her diplomatic experience in Afghanistan and wanting to share her story, Patricia McArdle turned to fiction instead of memoir to protect her contacts. The result, Farishta, was the recipient of the 2010 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award—it took first prize out of 5,000 entries. Describe your book in one sentence.Farishta is the fictional war […]
Mystery & SuspenseFictionMystery

S.J. Watson

Interview by Eliza Borné

One of the most buzzed-about books of the summer, Before I Go to Sleep is a psychological thriller about murder, memory, trust and love. What would you do if you lost your memory? Author S.J. Watson answers that question below.

Describe your book in one sentence.
A literary thriller about a woman with no memory who has to recreate her past every day, but in doing so discovers her present is not all that it seems.

What was your reaction when you found out your first novel would be published?
Overwhelming joy and relief. I was sitting in a friend's garden and I punched the air, whooped with delight and then ran up and down, screaming. The neighbours wondered what on earth was going on.
 
Your main character, Christine, wakes up every day with amnesia. What would you do if you were in the same position? How would you recreate your memories?
I have nightmares about being in the same position. I think I'd do what she does—write things down. And I'm a keen photographer, so I'd probably photograph things. But none of those things can really replace memory.  
 
Name one book you think everyone should read, and why.
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. It's a warning.
 
What is your next project?
I'm working on my next novel. It'll be another psychological thriller, though it doesn't retreat the same territory as Before I Go to Sleep. I want to push myself to do something slightly different, but it's still recognisably me. 

One of the most buzzed-about books of the summer, Before I Go to Sleep is a psychological thriller about murder, memory, trust and love. What would you do if you lost your memory? Author S.J. Watson answers that question below. Describe your book in one sentence.A literary thriller about a woman with no memory who […]
Fiction

Stephen Kelman

Interview by Eliza Borné

The narrator of Stephen Kelman’s Pigeon English has been compared to those of Emma Donoghue’s Room and Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Here, the author tells us why he wrote in the voice of a child.

Describe your book in one sentence.
Pigeon English is the story of one 11-year-old boy’s new life in a strange country, and of his attempts to solve the murder of his friend.

What was your reaction when you found out your first novel would be published?
I was surprised, elated, honoured and grateful. I’d wanted to be a published author for as long as I can remember, so it was very much the fulfilment of a dream.

Have you ever been tempted to quit writing?
I always said to myself that if Pigeon English didn’t sell, I would consider abandoning my dream of making it as a writer. But I don’t know if I could have followed through on that; writing is my passion and I can’t imagine doing anything else.

Was it challenging to write from the point of view of an 11-year-old boy? Why did you choose to employ a child narrator?
It was challenging to write from a child’s point of view but also very enjoyable. Harrison, my narrator’s, use of language and his sheer exuberance made every day I spent with him a joy. I wanted to capture what it feels like to be a child dropped into an alien and often dark situation, and to see how he would react, how he might retain his own morality—as well as his natural childish sense of fun—in the face of many challenges. The decision to write Harrison’s story in his own words was a no-brainer.

Besides reading and writing, what do you like to do for fun?
I love movies and music—all kinds, I have an eclectic taste— and I enjoy travelling. The world is a beautiful and inspiring place and I want to see as much of it as I can.

The narrator of Stephen Kelman’s Pigeon English has been compared to those of Emma Donoghue’s Room and Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Here, the author tells us why he wrote in the voice of a child. Describe your book in one sentence.Pigeon English is the story of one 11-year-old […]
Children's & YAMiddle Grade

Meg Wolitzer

Interview by Eliza Borné

Meg Wolitzer is best known for her clever novels for adults—most recently, The Uncoupling, a Lysistrata-inspired suburban drama. In her latest book, The Fingertips of Duncan Dorfman, she writes for a different audience: middle-schoolers. The novel is told from the perspective of three children attending the National Scrabble Tournament in Yakamee, Florida, where they’re competing for different reasons: to fit in (and attempt to win money for a single mom); to achieve a parent’s childhood dream; or to prove worth to a sports-obsessed family. In a Q&A with BookPage, Wolitzer answered questions about her own love of Scrabble and why she decided to write for kids. We’re glad she did, since her first effort is funny, charming and surprisingly suspenseful.

When did you first become interested in playing Scrabble? Do you remember your first bingo (play that uses all seven tiles)?

I played Scrabble with my mother from a very young age; she was very good at it, and she taught me the rules. I seem to recall a lot of outdoor Scrabble in my childhood, including at the town pool and the local beach. I don’t recall my first bingo, no, and I don’t even think we called them bingos back then. But I do remember learning the word CALYX in school and then miraculously having all the letters on my rack to make that word in Scrabble the following day. It was weird.

Louis Sachar wrote a book last year about a boy who becomes obsessed with bridge (The Cardturner). Now you’ve written a book about a kid who becomes obsessed with Scrabble. Are old-fashioned games seeing a resurgence of interest, or did they never go out of style?

I know that parents often try to re-create certain aspects of their own childhoods when they have kids, and I have very strong memories of Scrabble with mother, Monopoly with my sister and Mystery Date with my best friend. It seemed natural to me to insert lots of board games into the life of my new family when I grew up and had kids. I suspect a lot of people felt the same way, and as a result board games haven’t really gone away. My kids are now 16 and 20, and are deep in all things electronic, but I am still finding little cards and dice and tiles all around the house.

You’ve written many novels for adults (including BookPage’s Top Pick in Fiction for April, The Uncoupling). How did you have to modify your writing style when writing for children? Did you ever worry about “talking down” to your readers?

When I write a novel, I try to write the one I would like to find on the shelf. With a book for children, I kind of needed to do a mind-meld between my current writer/reader self, and the self who I used to be back in, say, fifth grade, in Mrs. Secunda’s class. I’m not all that different now, really, and because of this I didn’t worry too much about talking down to readers. I think the litmus test is essentially: Am I engaged with this as I’m writing it? Am I completely drawn in? Do I care about the characters and what happens to them? Would fifth-grade me have liked it?  

Your main characters who converge at the tournament each have a different set of concerns. There is Duncan—the outcast with a single mom; April—the girl who doesn’t fit in with her siblings and who is searching for a long-lost crush; and Nate—the skateboarding New Yorker whose dad forces him to play. Do you identify with any of these characters in particular?

I identify with all of them, but I particularly liked April’s sense of longing, which I remember feeling pretty strongly at her age. (My longing largely concerned Donny Osmond, but that’s another—embarrassing—story.)

From your town of women who are overcome by a spell in The Uncoupling to Duncan’s magical fingertips, your work seems to have taken a turn for the (slightly) supernatural. Why do you think that is?

It must have been something in the water . . . Truthfully, with The Uncoupling, I didn’t want the book to be whiny or complainy, with women talking endlessly about how their sex lives had fallen off. I knew I was trying to reach something a little bigger than that, using the spell as a metaphor to have a look at what happens to female desire over time. I suppose the same must have been true with The Fingertips of Duncan Dorfman. I liked the idea of giving him a “power,” but not some huge thunderbolt of ability. Instead, I gave him something low-key and odd. Defined that way, most kids have a power, a special ability that contributes to who they are. I felt that a very light layer of fantasy would help underscore that idea.

Is there any message or lesson you’d like readers to take from Duncan’s experience?

I think listening to your own instincts is essential in life. Making hard decisions based on what your own inner voice—not anyone else’s—tells you. Oh, and also: I’d love it if the book made them see that Scrabble is a terrific game.

Do you have plans to continue writing books for children? What is your next project?

Yes, I am writing a second book for Dutton. It’s at a very early stage right now, that lovely moment when the book can go off in many different directions, and you can experiment a lot and not have to commit to anything. I’m still at that time in the writing when anything seems possible.

Meg Wolitzer is best known for her clever novels for adults—most recently, The Uncoupling, a Lysistrata-inspired suburban drama. In her latest book, The Fingertips of Duncan Dorfman, she writes for a different audience: middle-schoolers. The novel is told from the perspective of three children attending the National Scrabble Tournament in Yakamee, Florida, where they’re competing […]
LiteratureArts & Culture

Sarah Wendell

Interview by Eliza Borné

There’s nothing more to romance novels than a mullet-sporting hero, a giddy heroine and a happily-after-ever—right? Not if you ask Sarah Wendell, better known as “Smart Bitch Sarah” from the popular (and hilarious) blog, Smart Bitches, Trashy Books. On her website, Wendell critiques and gushes over plot lines, motifs and character development in romance novels. Her first book on the subject, Beyond Heaving Bosoms: The Smart Bitches’ Guide to Romance Novels, has been assigned in courses at Yale and Princeton. Released this month, her new book—Everything I Know About Love I Learned from Romance Novels—explores how romance novels can inform our thoughts on courtship, self-confidence and modern relationships.

Wendell answered questions for BookPage about falling in love with romance novels, her research for the book and why the genre gets a bad rap.

In your book, you explain that the first romance novel you read was Midsummer Magic by Catherine Coulter.  What about that book got you hooked on romance?
Ah, Midsummer Magic. It’s a bit difficult to explain all the reasons I love that book because some of them rest on the fact that, despite being published in the late '80s/early '90s period of historical romance, it has some points that make is distinct from the established tropes of romance at that time. This was the era from which the much-abhorred term "bodice ripper" came to be, and bodices were indeed ripped, and ripped often. I loved this book because it showed a hero and heroine who were sympathetic. I knew what was motivating each of them, even as they did some boneheaded and somewhat dastardly things in the name of preserving their independence.
I loved how strong the heroine was despite her limited options at times. I loved how determined the hero was to do the right thing, even when it was really awful. I had no idea there were strong and independent-minded characters in romance. Once I read one, I had to read more.

Even though the happy ending is a known conclusion, the journey to that happy ending is always different, and in the hands of a skilled storyteller, that journey is worth experiencing every time.

Why are romance novels so addictive? Even when we know the hero and heroine will get a happily ever after, we still keep turning the pages, again and again . . .
I think there are a couple of reasons for that. One: Real life does not come with the happily-ever-after guarantee. It’s wonderfully reassuring and frankly uplifting to read narratives where, no matter how bad it gets, you know that everything will be okay in the end. Two: Even though the happy ending is a known conclusion, the journey to that happy ending is always different, and in the hands of a skilled storyteller, that journey is worth experiencing every time.

What do you think is the most common misconception about romance novels?
That they’re not intelligent, or that the readers are not either. Romances are smart, insightful and valuable, and the women who read (and write!) them are just as intelligent and savvy.

In your interviews with some of the genre’s biggest authors, did you learn anything that truly surprised you?
Oh, yes. Robyn Carr’s comments pretty much summed up the book in four sentences. Eloisa James shared incredibly touching stories from her readers, as did Toni Blake. Jennifer Crusie, Nora Roberts, Christina Dodd and Theresa Medeiros explained the ingredients to a successful courtship in ways that revealed the strengths of their own stories but their very complex understanding of the genre and its role in women’s lives. The writers I interviewed absolutely understood how important romance fiction is to the women who read it, and the ways in which they expressed that understanding surprised me, but in an absolutely good way!

If you could wake up in a romance novel, what kind would it be? Regency? Western? Paranormal? . . . Harlequin Spice?
Can I be in a Regency house party with lots of long walks and really good meals and games and gossip? That would be fun for many weeks of entertainment. I don’t know that I’d love the foundation garments, but I’d survive!

You have read a lot of romance novels. (Care to guess how many??) After all those books, are you still learning lessons about love, intimacy and relationships from your reading?
I don’t think I can guess how many total! My gosh, I would forget a whole dozen or more. But yes, even after many, many, many romances, I am learning about courtship, intimacy and respect from the novels I read. Each novel presents a new account of how to fix what might go wrong, but more importantly, each one reminds me how fortunate I am that I am loved, and to make sure to demonstrate my own feelings to the people I care about. As Theresa Medeiros says in the book, “Never stop courting your spouse.” That’s some excellent advice right there.

 

There’s nothing more to romance novels than a mullet-sporting hero, a giddy heroine and a happily-after-ever—right? Not if you ask Sarah Wendell, better known as “Smart Bitch Sarah” from the popular (and hilarious) blog, Smart Bitches, Trashy Books. On her website, Wendell critiques and gushes over plot lines, motifs and character development in romance novels. […]
RomanceContemporary Romance

Rochelle Alers

Interview by Eliza Borné

Best-selling romance author Rochelle Alers launches her Cavanaugh Island series with Sanctuary Cove, the sweet story of two adults who have a second chance at love. The novel takes place off the coast of South Carolina and stars Deborah, a widowed bookstore owner, and Asa, a doctor who is attempting to move on after the death of his wife. The two strike up a friendship in Deborah’s bookstore—and cautious romance isn’t far behind. Alers chatted with BookPage about writing a believable love story, her book’s Lowcountry setting and resolutions for 2012.

The heroine of your story, Deborah, owns an independent bookstore. After the store’s grand opening, Asa mentions that “women love reading about love, and are also in love with love.” When did you realize that you love reading—and writing—about love?
I’ve always been a voracious reader, but with the proliferation of romances featuring American heroes and heroines in the 1980s, reading them had become my comfort food. I just couldn’t get enough. After devouring nearly a thousand contemporary and historical titles I decided to try my hand at writing one. To say it was a very long process is an understatement. It took a decade, a very fertile imagination, patience and perseverance before I was able to finally realize my dream to become a published romance writer and experience my own literary happily ever after.

Your story is wonderfully evocative of the Carolina Lowcountry—shrimp and grits, genteel society, Gullah superstitions and all. Have you ever lived in South Carolina? Why did you choose this setting?
Although I have Southern roots and have visited South Carolina many times, I’ve never lived there. I decided to choose this setting to celebrate my own Gullah heritage. It is a culture rich in language, cuisine, dance, superstition and customs that go back to Africa. As an adult, I wanted to know more about my maternal grandfather who spoke a Creole dialect composed of words mixed with English and various African phrases. What binds Gullah people together is the perpetuation of the customs and mores that have existed for centuries—some of these you will be introduced to in the Cavanaugh Island series.

Becoming Forever’s first African-American romance writer is an honor that I will hold close to my heart. And to achieve this distinction with the Cavanaugh Island series makes it even more spectacular, because these books are more than entertainment. They are personal.   

Although they are attracted to one another early in the story, Deborah and Asa’s romantic tension builds slowly. What do you think makes for good (and realistic) chemistry between a hero and a heroine?
It is totally realistic because both are mature adults who have lost their respective spouses. Slowly building romantic tension adds to the plot, while reader interest also builds as the couple resolves their dilemma. And because they are living in a small town, they are always conscious of the reaction of Deborah’s children and the townspeople as to their relationship.

Will you be picking up Deborah’s story in book two of the Cavanaugh Island series? How many books in the series do you plan to write?
Readers will reunite with Deborah and Asa in book two. To date I plan for three books in the Cavanaugh Island series: Sanctuary Cove, Angels Landing and Haven Creek. However, my imagination is in full throttle as I begin the third book because I’m thinking there are many more stories in this series. The island is populated by quirky characters who are just clamoring to take center stage. The residents of Cavanaugh Island are like a large extended family that I look forward to revisiting over and over again.

You have had many accomplishments in your career, such as being honored with the Romantic Times Career Achievement Award and the Zora Neale Hurston Literary Award. Now, with Sanctuary Cove, you are Forever's first African-American romance author. Which milestone in your career has held the most personal significance?
I have to say they share equal personal significance, but for different reasons. I read Romantic Times when it was in newspaper form and I was an aspiring author; to earn a career achievement award from RT is something I would not have been able to fathom so many years ago.

The Zora Neale Hurston Literary Award, bestowed upon me by Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated, Iota Theta Zeta chapter is a personal triumph because not only was Hurston, as a student at Howard University, an early initiate of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., but Their Eyes Were Watching God is one of my favorite classic novels.

Becoming Forever’s first African-American romance writer is an honor that I will hold close to my heart. And to achieve this distinction with the Cavanaugh Island series makes it even more spectacular, because these books are more than entertainment. They are personal.      

Your Cavanaugh Island series launches on January 1. Do you have any New Year’s resolutions or traditions?
I usually don’t make New Year’s resolutions because I’m unable to keep them. However, I do prepare a traditional Lowcountry New Year’s dinner with hoppin’ John (black-eyed peas and rice), roast pork, greens and cornbread.

Editors’ Note: Visit the Rochelle Alers’ website in January 2012 for some Lowcountry recipes.

Best-selling romance author Rochelle Alers launches her Cavanaugh Island series with Sanctuary Cove, the sweet story of two adults who have a second chance at love. The novel takes place off the coast of South Carolina and stars Deborah, a widowed bookstore owner, and Asa, a doctor who is attempting to move on after the […]
FictionHistorical FictionDebut Fiction

Alex George

Interview by Eliza Borné

It’s often said that our country is a melting pot, and we all came from somewhere else. In his U.S. debut, Alex George, an Englishman practicing law in Missouri, portrays this quintessentially American experience.

With a soundtrack of jazz, opera and close-harmony singing, he follows a family of German origin through the small joys—and devastating blows—that make up a life.

In 2003, George had already published several novels in the U.K. when he moved to Columbia, Missouri, with his wife, a native of the state. He was struggling to write another book when he realized that most people have never had the experience of moving to a new country. Around the same time, he heard a barbershop quartet perform at a funeral, and the pieces of his novel clicked into place. He began working on the story from 5 to 7 a.m. every morning before work and eventually sold the novel to a top U.S. publisher (Amy Einhorn Books, the Putnam imprint which published The Help).

As George told me from his law office in Columbia, “Immigration and close-harmony singing—those are the pillars on which the book was built.” Or, as he recalls with a laugh, “Back when people would say, what are you writing about, I would say, well, it’s kind of a combination of The Godfather Part II and The Sound of Music. Some of the looks I got when I said that were absolutely priceless.”

The result of this unusual mix is A Good American, a spirited story that begins with a song in Hanover, Germany, in 1904. After Frederick Meisenheimer serenades Jette Furst with an aria from La Bohème, the two fall in love. When Jette becomes pregnant, they decide to seek their fortune elsewhere, since Jette’s parents don’t approve of the relationship. Though they had originally planned to go to New York, they end up on a ship bound for New Orleans. As Jette says, “New York, New Orleans, what’s the difference? They’re both New. That’s good enough.” 

Once they arrive in America, Frederick and Jette settle in the small fictional town of Beatrice, Missouri, where Jette gives birth to a son, and Frederick takes a job at the town’s only tavern. Their decision to stay in Beatrice sets in motion the epic story of the Meisenheimer family, which spans the 20th century and includes big personalities, shocking plot twists and multiple love stories. Not to mention moonshine, illegal betting, competitive chess games and religious conversion.

George’s own first trip to America was a journey he’ll never forget. He had come to New York for a friend’s wedding and thought the city was “one of those rare places that is just like it is in the movies.” On that trip he reconnected with the woman who would become his wife, and he commuted across the Atlantic for the next six months, until they married and moved to London. They relocated to Missouri a few years later. 

Much of the early plot of A Good American revolves around Jette and Frederick’s varied reactions to life in a new country: Jette desperately misses her family and Hanover, but Frederick unequivocally loves his new home, embracing the music of famed cornetist Buddy Bolden and learning English as quickly as possible. George, who is in the process of becoming an American citizen, says that “as immigrant experiences go, mine was about as easy as it could be.” He knew the language and had studied law at Oxford, but he admits it was still a hard process. 

At the time of our conversation, George had passed his naturalization interview and was waiting for details on his oath-taking ceremony. He reminded me of a scene in the novel when Jette cries as she reads her oath to become a U.S. citizen. Reflecting on what it will be like to give up citizenship in his home country, George says, “It’s kind of amazing that I’m finding myself in exactly that position, just as the book is being published. I know how Jette feels; I am giving up a little bit of who I am.” Still, he says of America, “I adore this place.”

The novel’s title comes from a conversation Frederick has with Joseph Wall, a doctor who is kind to the Meisenheimers as they navigate their way through Missouri. Wall’s advice to Frederick is to “go and be a good American.” Frederick lives out this promise by enlisting to serve in World War I, while Jette protests the war in the town square, an action George thinks is “just as important as what Frederick did.” 

What constitutes being a good American? “It’s all about freedom. Not just yours but your fellow citizens’,” George says. “The Constitution is an extraordinary document, and if we could all live according to the principles that are embedded in it, then that would be a hell of a life.”

A Good American focuses on the seemingly inconsequential choices that direct the course of a life—or, as George eloquently puts it in the novel, how “every life was a galaxy of permutations and possibilities from which a single thread would be picked out and followed, for better or for worse.”

One great joy of the book is the ever-present hum of music in the background. George has been hooked on jazz since he read Philip Larkin’s poem “For Sidney Bechet”— about a jazz saxophonist—in an English class when he was 15. He also loves Puccini and had Frederick woo Jette with an aria because he’s such a “larger-than-life character”—he needed to be doing “the full sort of heart-pounding-on-your-chest-type-thing.” It is a pleasure to read about such a range of music, and George writes with clear enthusiasm.

Now, as he balances work on a new novel with fatherhood, his law practice and book promotion, George’s life has changed in other ways: He and the wife who brought him to Missouri are getting divorced.

Like his characters who keep returning to Beatrice, though, George says that moving away from Columbia is “unthinkable” thanks to his children (Hallam, 10, and Catherine, 6). He then evokes one of the Meisenheimers who leaves Missouri, thinking he’s gone forever, but comes back. Whether you’re in a home country or an adopted one, George says, “you get pulled back by family.” Likewise, readers will be pulled into A Good American—and perhaps be inspired to learn how and why their own family first came to U.S. soil.

___________

Who are Alex George's Top 5 Americans? Watch our interview to find out:

It’s often said that our country is a melting pot, and we all came from somewhere else. In his U.S. debut, Alex George, an Englishman practicing law in Missouri, portrays this quintessentially American experience. With a soundtrack of jazz, opera and close-harmony singing, he follows a family of German origin through the small joys—and devastating […]
YA Fiction

John Corey Whaley

Interview by Eliza Borné

One of the winners of this year’s American Library Association top awards for children’s books was John Corey Whaley, a 28-year-old former schoolteacher from Louisiana who received the Michael L. Printz Award for young adult literature. Like many other readers and critics, the Printz committee was wowed by Whaley’s debut novel, Where Things Come Back, a remarkable coming-of-age story set in a small Arkansas town obsessed by the sighting of an extinct woodpecker.

We caught up with the (understandably) very excited young author to ask about his “quirky little book,” his reaction to Monday’s announcement and what he’s working on now.

What was the first thing that went through your head when you found out you had won the Printz Award?
NO WAY!!! I was just so shocked and surprised that I nearly ran off the road (yes, I was driving. I’m not sure who parked my car as I reacted!). I was overwhelmed.

Who was the one person you couldn’t wait to tell about the award?
Two people—my mom and dad, the best parents on earth who have supported me always and are so proud of everything. They always get the good news first.

In addition to the Printz, Where Things Come Back has been honored with the William C. Morris YA Debut Award, and you were named a “5 Under 35” writer by the National Book Foundation—the first young adult novelist ever given this recognition. Why do you think your book has resonated with so many critics and readers? Have you been surprised by the widespread attention?
Well, I hope what resonates with readers and critics alike is the theme that, to me, was my guiding force as I wrote the novel—the idea that second chances and hope exist and that there is beauty to be found in the simplest things around us.

I have been surprised that this quirky little book has gotten so much attention! It’s something an author dreams of, but tries to stay healthily cautious of as well. It’s just incredible to see it unfold the way it has.

My guiding force as I wrote the novel was the idea that second chances and hope exist and that there is beauty to be found in the simplest things around us.

How did you become interested in the Lord God Bird?
I heard a story, when I was in college, on National Public Radio about the Lord God Bird in Brinkley, Arkansas [the site of the real-life reappearance of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker], and I became completely obsessed with it—I knew I had to write about people in a place where something so strange was happening.

What sort of research did you do for this novel? Have you been to Brinkley?
I actually have never been to Brinkley! It’s crazy . . . maybe I need to visit now. I owe it so much! For research, I read up on extinct species and the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker, and of course, I read the Book of Enoch from the Ethiopian Orthodox Bible, which plays a major role in the story as well. It was so much fun delving into these interesting things and seeing these crazy similarities that worked to better my story.

How close is the novel’s fictional town of Lily, Arkansas, to your own hometown of Springhill, Louisiana?
It’s pretty close, for sure. A lot of people from my hometown tell me they notice so many things [in the book] that remind them of home—the city park, this street or that street, etc. I definitely saw my hometown as Lily while I was writing.

When you were a teacher, how did you balance teaching full-time with writing? Did your students inspire your creative work?
I wrote Where Things Come Back the summer after my first year of teaching and I edited it while I was teaching. It’s hard to do both, and I do find that it’s a lot easier to write now that I don’t teach during the day. But, with lots of late nights and weekends, plus great teacher vacations, it somehow worked.

Do you have a favorite past Printz winner?
Oh boy. They are all so brilliant! I must say, I’ve recently been reading John Green’s newest novel [The Fault in Our Stars] and I’m hooked! He writes like no other!

Have you read or listened to past Printz acceptance speeches? Are you excited (or worried!) about your own speech?
I have. I was actually there for Paolo [Bacigalupi]’s speech last year and now the pressure is on! I’m not worried, I’m excited . . . I love getting to talk about what I do and getting to celebrate with others—it’s all part of why I love being an author.

What can you tell us about your next project?
I can tell you that it’s a dark murder-mystery/coming-of-age set in South Louisiana with a few spooky turns and maybe, just maybe, a little voodoo.

One of the winners of this year’s American Library Association top awards for children’s books was John Corey Whaley, a 28-year-old former schoolteacher from Louisiana who received the Michael L. Printz Award for young adult literature. Like many other readers and critics, the Printz committee was wowed by Whaley’s debut novel, Where Things Come Back, […]
Children's & YAMiddle Grade

Kristin Levine

Interview by Eliza Borné

Many people are familiar with the 1957 Central High Crisis—when nine African-American students integrated the Little Rock public high school in the face of segregationist threats and protests—but less famous is the “lost year,” which happened the year after the Crisis. In 1958, the Arkansas governor closed the Little Rock public high schools in order to prevent integration, leaving students and teachers in limbo and the city divided. Kristin Levine’s novel The Lions of Little Rock is about an unlikely friendship that develops during this tumultuous period of history.

In the story, the painfully shy 12-year-old Marlee becomes friends with Liz, an outgoing new girl at her middle school. Liz helps Marlee gain the confidence to give a speech in class, but on the day of the presentation, Marlee learns that Liz has withdrawn from school. Turns out Liz is actually African American, and she was passing as white. After this discovery, Marlee must first decide whether she wishes to remain in contact with Liz—then the two courageous girls face violence and the disapproval of their families as they fight for their friendship.

BookPage spoke with author Levine about her sensitive and compelling historical novel.

During your research about the “lost year,” what surprised you the most?
I actually didn’t start out to write about the “lost year.” I was planning to write a book set during 1957-58 when the Little Rock Nine were integrating Central High School. But when I went to Little Rock to do some interviews, everyone I talked to had much more to say about 1958-59, the year when the schools were closed.

I had never heard about schools being closed to prevent integration. It seemed like such a drastic thing to do—cutting off your nose to spite your face. But as I did more research, I realized this had happened in other places as well, including in my home state of Virginia.

And in some ways, more people were affected by the events of 1958-59. Nearly everyone had a sibling, friend or neighbor who was affected by the four public high schools being closed. Also, the events of the Little Rock Nine have already been written about by those who were there. I eventually decided I could add more to the discussion by writing about the “lost year.”

Did you come across evidence of black children passing as white in Little Rock public schools of this era?
My uncle attended Little Rock public schools, including Central High School, a few years before the Little Rock Nine. While I was interviewing him for The Lions of Little Rock, he mentioned that when he was a student at West Side Junior High, there was a boy who was “there one day and gone the next.” The rumor was that the boy had been black.

While I have no way of knowing if that boy had indeed been “passing,” my uncle and his friends at school believed that he was. I needed a way for my main characters to get to know each other. With a bit of poetic license, passing became a way for my main characters to meet and become friends.

Is the friendship between Marlee and Liz based on a real relationship? Do you believe close interracial friendships like theirs existed in Little Rock of the 1950s?
Yes and no.

On the one hand, I was inspired by the friendship Melba Pattillo Beals (one of the Little Rock Nine) describes in her book, Warriors Don’t Cry. She talks about becoming close to a white boy who pretended to torment her with the others at school, but actually tried to protect her. She often talked to him on the phone at night, and he would warn her about harassment that was being planned for the next day at school. I was especially struck by the episode she describes of driving with him to visit his beloved black nanny. The woman had been dismissed from her position with his family once she became too old and sick to work for them, and the boy and Ms. Beals tried to get her medical care.

On the other hand, I think a friendship of the kind I describe in my book would have been quite unlikely at this time. As I did research, I realized there was very little contact between blacks and whites in Little Rock in the 1950s. My first book, The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had, was set in a small town in Alabama in 1917, and it was surprising to me that there was actually much more contact between blacks and whites in that place and time.

In the end, I guess I’m an optimist. Based on Melba Pattillo Beals’ recollections, I like to imagine that a friendship like Marlee and Liz’s could have happened, even if it wasn’t very likely.

How do you think you would have reacted to the integration had you been a student at Central in 1957?
I believe I would have been supportive of it. Even as a child, I was very interested in issues of moral fairness and doing what was right. My parents have always been interested in social justice as well, and I guess that rubbed off on me.

But it is so hard to say what you would have done until you’ve lived through something like that. I know I would have started out being friendly, but once the threats or name-calling started, would I have continued to be friendly? Or would I have become silent like so many others? I’m not sure, but I hope I would have continued to speak up.

For this book, you had to research historical events as well as identify day-to-day details from ‘50s-era Little Rock. How did you know when you had done sufficient research and could go on to writing your narrative?
I don’t think I was ever quite sure I’d “done enough” research. After a while, I decided I had to just start writing to see if the story would work. If I came to a section where I needed more details, Google made it simple to look up popular “candy flavors” or “fast-food restaurants.” But I continued to do research as I was writing, up until the very end, using books and films, and emailing contacts in Little Rock when necessary. (My favorite comment was from a friend in Little Rock telling me that the elephant’s name was really Ruth, not Bessie as I had imagined. I made that change with the final edits.)

In the end, I guess I’m an optimist. I like to imagine that a friendship like Marlee and Liz’s could have happened, even if it wasn’t very likely.

Between your book and David Margolick’s Elizabeth and Hazel, it seems the Central High Crisis and its aftermath are receiving quite a lot of attention in the public eye. Why do you think Little Rock’s chapter in Civil Rights history remains interesting to writers?
Because school integration is an ongoing issue. In some way, I feel like we’ve recently taken some steps backwards. The schools I attended as I child that were paired to increase their diversity have been “un-paired.” More attention is being given to test scores than promoting equality.

In fact, a few weeks ago I was talking to a group of fifth and sixth graders about The Lions of Little Rock, and explaining how I believe we are still dealing with many of these issues. They immediately understood what I was talking about. “Oh yeah,” one boy said, “Everyone calls [school name] the white school!” An interesting discussion followed about the fact that, although we live in a diverse area, our local schools do not always reflect that diversity.

Why that happens— and what we can do about it—is something I hope my book, and others like it, will inspire people to think about.

Both of your novels frankly address racism and unlikely friendships. Even in 2012, these are not easy topics to write about or discuss. What motivates you to tell your stories?
As a child, I had a wonderful friendship with a boy who was unlike me in many ways. After third grade, he was held back for a year, while I went on to another school, and though we continued to live in the same town, we grew apart. I’ve always remembered that friendship fondly, even though I was teased a lot because of it.

As a white woman, for a long time I felt like I wasn’t qualified to write about race. But then I realized that wasn’t true. Racism isn’t a black issue, or a Hispanic or Asian issue, it’s an issue for anyone who cares about fairness and equality. These are values I hold very dear, which is why I write about them.

That doesn’t mean it’s easy, however. At times, I worry I will say something stupid or unintentionally offensive. In the end, however, I decided that that was a risk I needed to take because being silent just wasn’t enough.

What is your next project?
​I’m still trying to figure out exactly what I’m going to do next. I’ve always wanted to write sci-fi or fantasy, which at first seems like a big leap, but I guess it’s really not. In historical fiction, you’re trying to create a time and place, just like you’re creating a different world in sci-fi or fantasy.

But of course I also really enjoy historical fiction. And now that I’ve based one book on my grandfather (The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had) and one book very loosely on my mother [a Little Rock native], my father is clamoring that it’s HIS turn for a book. So there may be a book about a paperboy in Chicago in my future.

Many people are familiar with the 1957 Central High Crisis—when nine African-American students integrated the Little Rock public high school in the face of segregationist threats and protests—but less famous is the “lost year,” which happened the year after the Crisis. In 1958, the Arkansas governor closed the Little Rock public high schools in order to prevent integration, leaving students and teachers in limbo and the city divided.

Mystery & SuspenseSuspense

Alison Gaylin

Interview by Eliza Borné

A series protagonist can almost feel like family to a diehard suspense fan, so it’s exciting when an author introduces a new character. In And She Was, readers meet Brenna Spector, a missing persons investigator with an unusual ability: Brenna has Hyperthymestic Syndrome, a rare, real-life condition that causes a person to have a perfect autobiographical memory. Brenna can precisely remember every detail from her life with all of her senses—a disorder that kicked in when she was a child and her little sister disappeared.

In And She Was, the first book in a new series, Brenna is called to investigate the disappearance of Carol Wentz, an adult. Carol’s case is connected with the disappearance of a young girl, Iris, that happened years before—and with Brenna’s own painful history. This fast-paced story includes flashbacks that highlight Brenna’s incredible memory, a fascinating characteristic that inspired BookPage to get in touch with author Alison Gaylin. Here, Gaylin talks about her discovery of this unusual medical condition—and whether it’s a blessing or a curse to unavoidably remember everything.

How did you learn about Hyperthymestic Syndrome, and why do you find it fascinating?

I read a magazine article on someone who had Hyperthymestic Syndrome, and I was amazed. I went online and found some medical journal articles about it, and learned that the first case had been diagnosed in 2006 (at most a year before I’d seen the article)—and that there were only a handful of known cases in the world. Having a pretty good memory myself, my first response was, “That must be awful!” I honestly think that the ability to forget—to let the past fade into soft focus and recede in your mind—is one of the great tools of survival. How can you forgive and forget if you can’t forget? How can you move on at all, if the past is just as clear and visceral as the present? How can you truly be with the people around you, if your mind is full of everyone who is no longer in your life? 

What was the most surprising thing you learned about this condition?

How can you forgive and forget if you can’t forget?

The woman in the case study I read compared the syndrome to a movie playing constantly in her head. That’s what I found the most surprising about the condition—and also one of the biggest challenges as a writer: the lack of control over memories and the past constantly intruding on the present.

Do you think the ability to remember every moment from your life is something to covet—or fear?

I think it’s both. Remembering painful experiences in perfect detail would be very hard on the emotions. But by the same token, if I were to be able to relive certain days from my daughter’s early childhood, for example—or some of the wonderful times I spent with my dad, who passed away 10 years ago—I’d consider that a real gift. With that type of memory, you could keep special experiences—or people—alive in your mind forever.

Brenna can remember any moment from her past with all of her senses. Which of your senses is the strongest? Is one most valuable to you as a writer?

I’d say my sense of hearing. I can’t sing to save my soul, but I’m a huge fan of all types of music. And like many writers, I’m a really good listener and a huge eavesdropper. I often take things I’ve overheard and build stories around them.

What was your process for plotting And She Was? You must have been very organized to include all the flashbacks!

The thing is, I’m not a naturally organized person—which I should have thought of before deciding to write a series about a character with perfect memory! I do love to plot, though, and plotting this book was a huge challenge. I tried outlining, but that didn’t really work. What worked best for this book was multiple timelines, with dates: I had one for Clea’s disappearance, one for Iris’s disappearance 11 years ago and another for Carol Wentz’s disappearance, which Brenna is investigating now. (And by “now,” I mean 2009. Sigh.) I wrote the book with all the timelines in front of me and tried to find ways to make all of them mesh. And still, I had tons of rearranging to do in my second draft.

There are many iconic series protagonists in crime fiction. Do you have a personal favorite?

Does it sound too cliché to say Sherlock Holmes? I loved those books as a kid and still stand in awe of his powers of deduction.

What’s next for Brenna Spector?

What starts as an investigation of a missing webcam girl becomes Brenna’s most personal—and dangerous—case, as she comes closer to solving the mystery of her sister’s disappearance.

What would you be your dream job if you weren’t writing suspense fiction?

Either travel writer or restaurant critic, for purely selfish reasons.

A series protagonist can almost feel like family to a diehard suspense fan, so it’s exciting when an author introduces a new character. In And She Was, readers meet Brenna Spector, a missing persons investigator with an unusual ability: Brenna has Hyperthymestic Syndrome, a rare, real-life condition that causes a person to have a perfect […]

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