There will never be enough right words to say how grateful I am to my mentor and friend, Guida Jackson. The wise counsel, the support and the opportunities to learn and grow as a writer and editor that I have received from her have been invaluable. Her faith in me has given me the confidence and will to keep going. I’m so grateful, too, for her celebration of every small and large victory. She has generously nurtured and nourished so many of us fledgling authors and is herself a remarkable author and teacher.
On my own with my manuscript, I can touch the lives of a handful of people, but for an author to bring an actual book into being, to extend her reach beyond that initial closed circle, requires help from publishing professionals, not just any sort of professionals, either, but people who conceive a passion for your story, who see the potential and who are seized with a vision, who love the story as much as you do. I would like to convey my heartfelt thanks to the entire, incredible MIRA team, everyone who has helped to bring the book into being, from sales and marketing to art and publicity. I am especially grateful to Erika Imranyi, my editor at MIRA, for her perception that is unfailingly accurate, and for the many hours she has invested that have shaped, honed and immeasurably enriched my work, and for her support and encouragement, which she offers in liberal quantities right when I need it most.
Huge, profound thanks to my dream agent, Barbara Poelle, who saw the potential and whose early faith, enthusiasm, friendship, and editorial guidance gave the manuscript the exact right polish. I wish I could convey in words what her support and encouragement mean to me. She’s a gift of herself and I will always be more grateful than I could ever say for that day when she decided that rather than email, she would give me a call. Thank you, B2, for helping my dream come true beyond anything I could have imagined.
And last, a big shout out to readers everywhere. Books wouldn’t happen without you.
Joy to everyone, many thanks, and love to you all.
Questions for Discussion
Abby goes to great lengths to find her family, including going to the Hill Country with Hank, a stranger. Do you think she was brave or foolish? What would you do in similar circumstances?
Is Nick’s vulnerability at the time he met Sondra a mitigating factor in his betrayal of Abby? Can there ever be mitigating factors in the betrayal of one person by another? Do you think Nick and Abby’s marriage would have survived if Nick had lived? Could you forgive an unfaithful spouse?
Many times throughout the story, Abby is surprised by the behavior of people she believed she knew—her husband, her son, her best friend; she learns she doesn’t know any one of them as well as she thought. Have you ever been surprised in the same way? Do you think it’s possible to know someone completely, even those with whom you live?
Abby and Kate are two very different people. Kate is outgoing and verbal, while Abby tends to be more solitary and introspective. Would you say their friendship proves the old adage that opposites attract? What traits do you admire in your closest friend? In what ways does the relationship enhance who you are? Do you feel, as Abby does, that you and your closest friend are two halves of the same heart?
Many of the characters keep information from Abby in order to protect her: Jake, about seeing his father with Sondra; Kate, about running into Nick at the courthouse. Should they have told Abby about the incidents immediately or at least once Nick was dead? Or is ignorance truly blissful? What would you have done?
It takes Abby a while to recover her will to move on, and when she does, it is partly through observing nature. Where do you find comfort and healing in times of great heartbreak?
What do you think is the significance of the scene where Dennis and Abby come across the injured doe and her fawn? What about the old Indian chief’s sacrifice in the legend of the bluebonnet?
Discuss the significance of the title.
Motherhood and sacrifice are strong themes in the book. Discuss the sacrifices Abby made for her children. Do you feel she did enough to protect them and to steer them in the right direction in life? How do you feel she handled Jake’s troubles with school? Is there anything she could have done to prevent what happened with Lindsey?
A Conversation With the Author
Evidence of Life is the story of an ordinary woman in an extraordinary situation. What was your inspiration for Abby’s story, and how, if at all, do you relate to her?
I certainly relate to her as a mother, in particular when it comes to her abiding concern for her children. And I can relate to how quickly the ordinariness of life can detour into calamity. I think most of us can. I hear a siren and it gives me pause. It’s a signal that somewhere something has changed. Someone’s day, someone’s life is irrevocably altered from what they planned when they woke up that morning. In Abby’s case, too, I was looking at the question of whether it is possible to ever really know someone. Human nature is so unpredictable. We wake up next to someone for years on end, but do we, can we, truly know every thought they’re having, every decision they’re making that could have consequences for us down the line? But for me it is the very mystery of all of this that makes life uniquely beautiful and compelling.
The Texas Hill Country is a captivating, picturesque locale. Why did you choose this as the setting for the novel?
I live in Texas and yet never truly bonded with the state until I began visiting that part of it. It seems to me to have an energy that’s singular. The very air has an effervescent quality and the land itself has a presence, an aura that is energizing and yet peaceful and serene. And it’s such an improbable location for a flood. They don’t happen often there and when they do, they can be epic in the truest sense of the word, perfect for storytelling.
When you began the novel, did you have Abby’s character and journey already mapped out? How did she surprise you along the way? Were there any interesting surprises from other characters?
Not completely mapped out, no. She strengthened through her evolutions and her journey became more focused. I think one surprise for me was her friendship with Kate, what those two women shared, the sometimes troubled nature of the events in their lives and how their friendship managed to survive in spite of them… I didn’t plan any of that. Another interesting surprise was the old man. His chapter just fell into the book one day, fully formed. What’s odd is that shortly after I wrote it, a friend and critique partner who was familiar with the story told me she heard of a similar event on NPR that actually happened in England. Blinking headlights led to the discovery of a car in a remote location and a subsequent investigation found that it, and the family inside it, had been missing for six months. Strange but true!
What was your greatest challenge writing Evidence of Life? What was your greatest pleasure?
I think the greatest challenge was bringing Abby through her grief, through her dark night, and the greatest pleasure was finding out that there was hope for her, that she could recover and choose life… I liked that she did.
On your website is the tagline “At the heart of every crime there’s a family, someone you love...” What is the significance of this line in Evidence of Life, and is this a running theme in all of your work?
I became interested in the impact of crime on families when I lived with my own family on the grounds of a first-offender prison facility. It was a remarkable experience to interact with the inmates and their families and to see and hear firsthand how their lives were altered, often irretrievably. There isn’t a whole lot said about these people, how they manage in the wake of learning that
someone related to them, whom they love, has committed a devastating crime. How do they carry on, get up every day and go to work, care for their children? Shop for groceries, survive? How do they talk about it, think or feel? Can they forgive? Suppose they believe their loved one is innocent? Suppose they think the victim deserved what they got? Suppose they’re divided within the family about their feelings? In each of my novels these are the questions I seek to find answers to. I don’t focus so much on the legal issues and court procedures that come about as a result of a crime, but the emotional impact on the family. And the crime may not be legal but moral in nature, as in Evidence of Life, which centers more on the crime of betrayal. It’s not necessarily punishable in a court of law, but the conflict that rises, the nature of the collateral damage that occurs as a result, is the same.
Your previous books (The Ninth Step, The Volunteer, The Last Innocent Hour) were indie-published. How was your first experience being traditionally published different from your previous experiences?
With indie publishing, the sheer number of details I kept up with in addition to simply writing the next novel were daunting. It’s a “many hat” occupation that’s, in part, balanced by the satisfaction of almost total control of the project and fast publication. With traditional publishing, the wait is of course longer, but what I’ve experienced is the enormous benefit of razor-sharp editing by my editor, who cares as much about the novel as I do. I really like that, having a partner who is so careful, who is as devoted to how good the book is as I am. As of this writing, I haven’t yet experienced the power of marketing and distribution that a traditional publisher has, but I can only imagine that it will be far different, and wider-ranging, than what I have been able to accomplish on my own, although I’m very proud to be an indie author. I’m elated, and consider myself very fortunate, to have the opportunity to write in both worlds.
Can you describe your writing process? Do you write scenes consecutively or jump around? Do you have a schedule or a routine? A lucky charm?
I begin every morning by revising yesterday’s work and then go on to write new material, usually working for four to five hours. When it comes to writing the story, I do work consecutively. For me, one detail hinges on another. The slightest change can unhinge everything that comes after, like a domino effect, so the story has to be right from the beginning, or as right as I can get it on that day, before I move on. As for a lucky charm, I think it’s my muse, whom I envision as an adorable but capricious child and often, when I get stuck, when I can’t find her or the inspiration and creative flow she brings me, I go out into the garden and find her there, waiting for me.
Can you tell us something about the book you’re working on now?
The prison where I lived with my family was for first offenders, and, when it was possible, the inmate’s family was a key component in the inmate’s rehabilitation effort. As a result, I met some of the family members and got to know the ways in which their lives had been altered in the wake of the arrest, conviction, and incarceration of the young man they loved. The families were usually good people, ordinary people. In the story I’m writing, a man is accused of a brutal murder, and his family is left reeling. His mother and sister marshal themselves and unite in the effort to find the truth, which proves to be shattering in ways that are as shocking as the crime that launched their journey. Family loyalties are tested beyond endurance, and in the end, it isn’t only the one family member’s life, but all their lives that will hang in the balance, in a way that is both terrifying and unexpected.
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ISBN: 9781460309735
EVIDENCE OF LIFE
Copyright © 2013 by Barbara Taylor Sissel
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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