Through centuries of conquest and persecution, the Irish have held steadfastly to their unique heritage and storytelling. The Gaelic word for storyteller is seanachie, and these individuals are highly revered. One of the many themes in Irish legend is the presence of the sacred in ordinary daily life, and this is what I wanted to convey to, and for, Kara through an Irish storyteller.
Q. Water plays an important symbolic role in the novel. Would you say a few words about the various ways you use water, and what it means to you?
A. Water is symbolic in numerous and varied ways depending on culture and interpretation. In this novel, water suggests Kara’s internal struggle. Rivers represent the linear aspect of time; water is where reflection—literal and figurative—occurs for Kara. The reliability of tidal and oceanic movements represents security for Kara in an unsure world, where people have left her. The fog and mist are in-between states for Kara, places where she is confused. Places near water are where she is quiet enough to hear “the hints of her heart.” Water surrounds the place where she lives and therefore represents more than one thing for her: time, security, movement, change, new life and, of course, personal reflection.
Q. There’s also a lot of angel imagery—Kara and Jack make “sand angels” on the beach; Kara finds a stone angel with a missing wing and then, at the end of the novel, its unbroken mate; Kara is sometimes described as looking like an angel. What is the significance of this image for you?
A. Kara has an open, aching, missing place in her heart since she lost her mama at such a young age. She is constantly searching—even when she doesn’t know it—for some authentic way to fill that loss. I wanted the reader to understand that there is something going on—beyond Kara’s everyday, rational and busy world—that is influencing her life, moving her toward fulfillment and authenticity. I wanted to hint at the sacred in Kara’s life under the influence of Maeve Mahoney.
Q. Once again, you set your novel in the Lowcountry off the coast of South Carolina, in the fictional town of Palmetto Pointe. It’s a place where Southern tradition is juxtaposed against nouveau wealth, where Kara’s brother chooses to live in a simple, old beach house while her fiancé’s mother lives in a huge, heavily designed new home. Describe the tensions between old and new that you see being played out in the Lowcountry today.
A. The area is lush in both nature and history, in spirit and beauty, and therefore new construction will always be a concern. The push and pull between conservation and development will be an ongoing battle as more people discover and fall in love with the area. Fortunately, those who love and live in the Lowcountry are doing all they can to safeguard their natural world.
Q. Your work has been compared to the work of other writers who set their stories in the Lowcountry, such as Pat Conroy, Anne Rivers Siddons and Mary Alice Monroe. Why do you think the comparisons have been made?
A. I am humbled and grateful to be compared to such outstanding writers. They are masters at crafting sentences rich in description and meaning. I can only hope that the comparisons arise from the deeper, shared truths we each explore in our novels.
Q. As you travel around the South to promote your books, what has most surprised you about reader and bookseller response to your work?
A. I am constantly surprised and thrilled to hear how my books have touched the hearts of readers. As writers, we are often isolated in our work, stumbling through the creation of our novels, so it is satisfying and exciting to hear that others have read and loved my novels, that my work has been worth the strenuous daily effort.
Q. You have now published three novels in three years. When and why did you first start writing? Has it turned into more of a job or chore than something you are inspired to do?
A. I wrote my first books when I could first hold a crayon. I’d write a story, design and paint the cover using my box of pastels, then staple it together to make a “book.” Somewhere during the hectic pace and distractions of high school, college, and my expectations for a degree and a real job, I let go of my desire to write books.
Then, fast forward years later when I had a six-year-old towheaded little girl. I was playing dollhouse with her when I asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” She looked up at me with the big blue eyes she got from her daddy and said, “Oh, I’ll be the writer of books.” Something inside me woke up and whispered, “That’s what I want to do when I grow up.”
That conversation with my daughter was the start of a journey I’m still on. Writing has become a job for me, but never a chore. Writing has enriched my life in so many ways. It has brought treasured friendships, new experiences, and a wider, fuller life. I’ve had to make choices, and in the more hectic times—such as when I’m facing a deadline—I do have to say “no” to things I would have done before I started writing. Yes, the work can be exhausting and frustrating, but it is still something I love and desire to do daily. I am grateful, every day, for the chance to have my work published and read.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. What do you think the title means?
2. Maeve asks Kara to consider whether she would live her life differently if she knew her first love would return to her. Was there a first love in your own life, someone you waited for? Would you live your life differently if you knew that he (or she) would return for you?
3. Kara learns that her mother hoped her children would “listen to the hints of their hearts.” In your own life, are you listening to the hints of your heart? Do you agree that it’s important to do so?
4. Maeve tells Kara: “All our lives we must choose between what others define us to be and what we were meant to be.” Is that struggle being played out in your own life? Do you see it in the lives of family and friends?
5. Kara and Jack have an intense romance at very young ages—not quite fourteen—yet during the novel they discover that all these years later, their feelings for each other have endured. Do you think that children and/or young teenagers are capable of mature and sustainable romantic relationships?
6. Both Kara and Jack suffer as children from brokenness within their homes—Kara through her mother’s death and Jack through his father’s alcoholism. Discuss how those losses influence their relationship, both as teenagers and as adults.
7. Deirdre was fifteen years old and Kara just nine when their mother died. Discuss how the difference in their ages affected their experience of their mother’s death. How do you think Kara’s relationship with her sister will change in the future?
8. Why does Kara’s father, Porter, decide not to reveal to his children their mother’s dying wish that they “listen to the hints of their hearts”? Do you agree or disagree with his decision?
9. Although Maeve feels compelled to share her life story with Kara, she also asks Kara for help in answering one last question—what finally happened to Richard? Why do you think Maeve needs to know?
10. Maeve tells Kara, “Be careful what you believe.” What do you think this means and how do you think it affects Kara’s life and decisions? How does what you believe affect your own life and decisions?
11. Describe the lives of each of the characters in the novel six months after it ends. What do you imagine will happen to them?
Patti Callahan Henry Page 25
