The Promise of Stardust

by Priscille Sibley

  And although I’m a registered nurse, I am not a neurosurgeon, so I went back to the books to learn more about neuro exams and brain death determinations. I work with sick newborns, who really don’t have myocardial infarctions from years of unhealthy living, so I needed a refresher and update on heart attacks. Back to the books I went again. Google became a close friend. I spent hours in the medical library. I posed questions to other health care professionals. One of my writer friends is an attorney. She repeatedly sent me back to rewrite scenes. It was fun. It was frustrating. It turned into a book.

  As a woman writing a male character like Matt Beaulieu, did you face any challenges in capturing his perspective or keeping his voice authentically male?

  The challenges were significant, at least in my mind. If I could have told the story from any point of view other than Matt’s, I would have. But I wanted a reader to feel what was at stake for him. I wanted to show Matt and Elle’s love story, and since she could no longer voice it, Matt had to speak for both of them. Fortunately, I am surrounded by men. I’m raising three teenage boys, I have one husband, and I have six brothers-in-law (if no actual brothers). Men speak and see the world a little differently than women do. They banter with one another. Their one-upmanship is usually affectionate, not mushy, and when things are difficult, they try to solve problems rather than commiserate. Men are interesting characters. But I did spend a lot of time second-guessing everything from his reactions to his word choices.

  There are four types of love—storge (familial love), philia (love between friends), agape (unconditional love), and eros (romantic love)—all of which appear and are important in The Promise of Stardust whether it is between Matt and Elle, Linney and Elle, Matt and Linney, Matt and Jake, etc. Do you think all love is equal?

  This is an interesting question, but it is one for which I don’t have a simple answer. I didn’t want to make anyone in the story wholly right or wholly wrong. They see Elle’s condition from their own perspectives, and I messed with the typical dynamics. Elle and Matt are almost a family from the very beginning of their lives because they live next door to each other and their parents are lifelong friends. Matt could have easily seen Elle as more of a sister than a lover. They are childhood friends, first loves, and eventually husband and wife. After her accident, I do think he demonstrates his love for her has become unconditional, and I believe true love, be it for one’s parents or friends or lovers or children, is unconditional. It must be unselfish to be real.

  Matt and Elle have been in love with each other for a long time, but they do break up and date other people. Do you think it was important for them to break up in order for them to ultimately be together?

  Here’s the romantic in me: Matt and Elle’s love was more powerful than either of them was prepared to handle when they were teenagers. It almost swallowed their dreams. It might have if Celina had lived. Then what would have happened? Would they have been able to stick it out? Having the chance to concentrate on their demanding careers instead of each other made it easier for them to attain their individual dreams. Of course, Jake and his wife married fairly young and stayed married. He gave up his political ambitions though, and Yvette didn’t have a demanding career. So there are examples of young love working in the story, too.

  After Elle’s accident the Beaulieu and McClure families are forced to make decisions for her, and Matt and Linney have very different ideas about what this means. Do you think it’s possible for one person to completely know another person?

  That’s a question for the ages. I’m not even certain we know ourselves as well as we think. Linney loves Elle like a parent, and she loves her son. One of the limitations of telling the story from Matt’s point of view was that I couldn’t get into Linney’s head. If I could have, she would have shared some interesting insights into Matt and his denial. He is a fairly reliable narrator, but he only sees the story from his singular point of view. There were things he did not know about Elle, either. On the day they went on the rollercoaster, he said he often told her things he said to no one else, but they didn’t talk about Adam. They didn’t talk about Carol. Some things were out-of-bounds. No, I don’t think we know everything.

  Many first novels are semiautobiographical. Is this the case for The Promise of Stardust? Do you see yourself in any or all of your characters? If so, which ones?

  It’s not a story about me or my family or anyone I know, and I’ve never witnessed this scenario in the workplace. That doesn’t mean the story didn’t emanate from me. As a nurse, I have had a front-row seat to terrible suffering; my first nursing job was in a burn unit. I have taken care of children with fatal diseases, and I’ve taken care of babies who were born with problems which made it impossible for them to survive. At times, I’ve wondered if we (health care professionals) were trying too hard to extend life. I still wonder that some days, and in an oblique way I’m asking that question in The Promise of Stardust.

  And I did borrow little details from my life here and there. One example is that Matt and Elle grow up in Freeport, Maine, a town I’ve loved since I was a kid. Their house is down on Wolf Neck Road, which is a real place, although their house is a figment of my imagination. There’s a lovely state park on Wolf Neck, a forest with hiking trails. Casco Bay is on one side of the peninsula and the Harraseeket River on the other, and I envision their property as part of the state park I’ve wandered around in so many times.

  Another (bigger) thing I borrowed from my life was that my own mother died when I was fifteen. The circumstances were very different than Alice’s death. My mother’s illness was short (no hospice care was involved), and I did not go through a teenage pregnancy. (If anything, her illness made me more of a goody-goody than I was before.) But when I needed a reason for a young, healthy woman to be adamantly opposed to being kept on life support, I pulled that one out of my bag of tricks. Even seeing my mother on life support for a short time was enough to put a dreaded fear into my young soul. I thought the motivation would be sufficient to send Elle charging off to write an advanced directive.

  What books and authors have inspired you? Are there any books that you continue to go back to?

  I don’t tend to reread books. I might pull one off the shelf again to savor a passage or two, but I don’t reread books in their entirety very often. I do love stories of redemption. I loved Les Miserables. I also think Jodi Picoult does a great job of building tension. In The Pact, Picoult tells a devastating detail on the first page, but several hundred pages later I was yelling at the book, “Don’t do it!” as the characters were replaying what happened on page one. I mean, that’s just fabulous when a writer can evoke that kind of emotion from a reader. Alice Sebold had me yelling at The Lovely Bones, telling one of the characters to get out of there. In The Murderer’s Daughters, Randy Susan Meyers had me saying “Just let someone love you.” Whenever a writer can get you to shake your fist at a character’s stupidity, cry, or laugh, they’ve pulled off something great.

  If you could choose a dream cast to play your characters in a film, who would you include and why?

  Oh, my. I barely described what Matt looked like other than to say he was tall, and in the epilogue he says his eyes are dark. For me, he’s telling the story. He has a confident sense of himself, but I don’t think what he looks like is important to him. How he sees Elle is important though, and I tried to make his perception of her intimate. She’s the center of his world. I pictured Claire Danes when I thought of Elle, mostly because I’d seen her grow up on screen. Initially I saw Linney as Tyne Daly, an actress who can portray an opinionated and simultaneously tender character. I can’t say I mentally cast anyone else with actors.

  About the author

  Meet Priscille Sibley

  © DiGiovanni Photography

  PRISCILLE SIBLEY is a neonatal intensive care nurse who lives in New Jersey with her husband and three teenage sons. Her short fiction has appeared in MiPOesias and her poetry in The Shine Journal. She i
s a member of Backspace Writer’s Forum and Liberty State Fiction Writers. The Promise of Stardust is her first novel.

  Read on

  Sources

  OVER THE COURSE OF WRITING The Promise of Stardust I needed to do research to learn about Matt and Elle’s world. Here are a few things that I found particularly helpful and revelatory:

  Books

  Bizony, Piers. The Space Shuttle: Celebrating Thirty Years of NASA’s First Space Plane. Zenith Press, 2011.

  Devorkin, David, and Robert Smith. Hubble: Imaging Space and Time. National Geographic, 2011.

  Giffords, Gabrielle, and Mark Kelly with Jeffrey Zaslow. Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope. New York: Scribner, 2011.

  Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth. On Death and Dying, New York: MacMillan Publishing Co. Inc., 1969.

  Rees, Martin, ed. Universe: The Definitive Visual Guide. Covent Garden Books, 2009.

  Sawyer-Fay, Rebecca, and Lynn Karlin. Gardens Maine Style, Act II, Down East Books, 2008.

  DVDs

  Cruise, Tom, James Arnold, Michael J. Bloomfield. Space Station 3D. DVD. Directed by Toni Myers. IMAX and Lockheed Martin Corporation in cooperation with NASA, 2002.

  Neeson, Liam, Meredith Eder, Pierre de Lespinois, Fran Lo Cascio, Stephen Jay Schwartz. Inside the Space Station. DVD. Directed by Pierre de Lespinois. Family Home Entertainment, 2000.

  Highlights from the Space Shuttle Timeline

  MATT LOVED TO WATCH ELLE stargaze and, in the story, she took a fictional ride on Atlantis. In reality, the Space Shuttle program flew 135 missions between April 1981 and July 2011. The shuttle fleet consisted of six orbiters: Enterprise, Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour. Two flights ended in disasters and the loss of their crews: Challenger STS-51L and Columbia STS-107, but after each tragedy brave men and women returned to space.

  Here are a few highlights from the Space Shuttle timeline:

  August 12, 1977

  First Space Shuttle test flight: Enterprise rode aboard an airplane to test its flight and landing capabilities.

  April 12, 1981

  Columbia made its first launch carrying astronauts Bob Crippen and John Young.

  April 4, 1983

  Challenger conducted its first spacewalk.

  June 18, 1983

  Sally Ride was the first American woman in space.

  February 7, 1984

  Astronaut Bruce McCandless tested a device that allowed untethered spacewalks.

  January 28, 1986

  Challenger disaster: a short seventy-two seconds after takeoff, O rings on the rocket boosters failed and exploded. It was the twenty-fifth Space Shuttle mission. Seven astronauts including teacher Christa McAuliffe, a civilian, were killed.

  September 29, 1988

  The Space Shuttle Discovery made the first return to space after a major disaster. Seventeen years later, it would once again launch into space after a terrible tragedy.

  April 24, 1990

  The Hubble Telescope was launched by Discovery.

  For more information about Hubble visit: http://hubblesite.org/

  December 2, 1993

  Endeavour returned to Hubble to replace its flawed vision.

  June 29, 1995

  Space Shuttle Atlantis docked with the Space Station Mir.

  October 29, 1998

  John Glen, seventy-seven, the first American to orbit the earth, flew again aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery.

  December 4, 1998

  The International Space Station began with Endeavour’s delivery of the first U.S. component, Unity.

  February 1, 2003

  The Columbia disaster occurred when it broke up during reentry. Insulating foam fell off the external tanks during liftoff and damaged the heat-resistant panels on the left wing of the orbiter. On reentry, the hole caused the ship to rip apart. All seven aboard were killed. The program was grounded during the accident investigation.

  January 2004

  George W. Bush called for the retirement of the Space Shuttle program. Although he called for a new program to take us back to the moon, that program was later canceled.

  July 26, 2005

  Discovery once again made an intrepid return to space.

  February 24, 2011

  Discovery made its last flight after thirty-nine missions, two of which followed disasters.

  May 16, 2011

  Endeavour made its last flight, docking with the International Space Station.

  July 21, 2011

  Atlantis made the final Space Shuttle flight, the program’s one hundred thirty-fifth mission.

  Meteor Watching:

  A Few of the More Prominent Annual Meteor Showers

  BEFORE TRYING TO WATCH a meteor light show, get away from city lights. Find an open field or a beach. Moonlight can also block out a good showing. If the meteor shower conflicts with a full or gibbous moon, watch before the moon rises or after it sets. Take along a blanket to lie on and another to wrap yourself in. A reclining lawn chair is a good idea. Even a late-summer night can be chilly. And in the winter, bring warm clothes and a thermos with hot chocolate. You’re looking for fire in the sky. Have a late-night picnic. Have music. Have fun!

  (Listed below are the usual peak dates for viewing.)

  January 3, 4—Quadrantids meteor shower. About forty meteors per hour. Look around the constellation Boötes (northern sky).

  April 21, 22—Lyrids meteor shower. About twenty meteors per hour and are known to leave dust trails that are visible for several seconds. Look at the constellation Lyra (visible in the northern hemisphere, almost overhead, spring through autumn).

  May 5, 6—Eta Aquarids meteor shower. This is a light shower with only about ten meteors per hour. The best viewing will be after midnight. Look for the constellation Aquarius in the east, far away from city lights.

  July 28, 29—Southern Delta Aquarids meteor shower. Look toward Aquarius again. The best viewing is usually after midnight.

  August 12, 13—Perseids meteor shower produces about sixty meteors per hour during its peak. The debris is from the comet Swift-Tuttle. Look for the constellation Perseus (toward the northeast).

  October 21, 22—Orionids meteor shower. The Orionids produces about twenty meteors per hour. The best viewing will be after midnight in the east.

  November 17, 18—Leonids meteor shower. One of the better light shows. In the northern hemisphere, look for it coming from the constellation Leo after midnight.

  December 13–15—Geminids meteor shower. This is considered one of the best showers and produces up to sixty multicolored meteors per hour at its peak. Look toward the east and toward Gemini after midnight.

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  Advance Praise for

  THE PROMISE OF STARDUST

  “A literate and incandescent Nicholas Sparks-like love story complicated by intense moral and ethical questions.”

  —Kirkus

  “There’s nothing like devastating moral quandary to spark reading, and this trade paperback original would be a great book club choice.”

  —Library Journal

  “In this brave novel, The Promise of Stardust, [the members of] a family making choices about death with dignity find themselves in uncomfortable opposition. Author Priscille Sibley explores with compassion and insight, how political and personal needs align and shift as a husband, a mother, and a father navigate the needs of a family member in crisis.”

  —Randy Susan Meyers, author of The Murderer’s Daughters

  “Sibley explores an ethical dilemma in a way that might lead you to question your own beliefs. Woven with elegance through a twenty-year love story, the novel takes numerous twists and turns that will keep you turning the pages.”

  —Catherine McKenzie, internationally bestselling author of Spin, Arranged, and Forgotten

  “Sibley’s debut dissects the ethics of a patient’s
right to die with dignity…. The journey is heartrending and tragic.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “The Promise of Stardust is a riveting story of a family ripped apart by an impossible choice. You will live these characters’ lives like they are your own, and race through the pages of this engrossing, deeply moving novel.”

  —Kristina Riggle, author of Keepsake

  Credits

  Cover design by Mumtaz Mustafa

  Cover photograph © by plainpicture/Gilles Rigoulet

  Author photograph © by DiGiovanni Photography

  Copyright

  This book is a work of fiction. References to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locales are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity, and are used fictitiously. All other characters, and all incidents and dialogue, are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real.

  P.S.™ is a trademark of HarperCollins Publishers.

  THE PROMISE OF STARDUST. Copyright © 2013 by Priscille Marcille Sibley. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

  FIRST EDITION

  ISBN 978-0-06-219417-6

  EPUB Edition © FEBRUARY 2013 ISBN 9780062194183

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