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A brother and sister revisit their painful past

Review by Karen Ann Cullotta

Sibling rivalry, the bane of many a family, never reared its ugly head for brother and sister Antoine and Melanie Rey. Tethered together by a childhood tragedy, this loyal pair remain the best of friends as they head bravely, albeit begrudgingly, towards middle age. But the companionable camaraderie enjoyed by Antoine and Melanie in Tatiana de Rosnay’s latest novel, A Secret Kept, is torn asunder when brother and sister are haunted by resurrected childhood memories, with one sibling longing desperately to remember, and the other, determined to forget.

De Rosnay’s novel, her follow-up to the 2007 bestseller Sarah’s Key, begins innocently enough with Antoine planning a surprise 40th birthday weekend for Melanie at Noirmoutier Island, where the brother and sister vacationed during many joyful summers before their mother’s tragic and untimely death. Still devastated and demoralized by his recent divorce, Antoine is eager to escape Paris and the depressing detritus of middle age, in particular, a pair of rebellious, sullen teenage children, irrational clients and an ex-wife for whom he still stubbornly holds a torch.

“They had always done things together,” writes de Rosnay. “Made decisions together. Faced the enemy together. That was over. Antoine was on his own now. And when Friday night came around and he heard his children’s key in the lock, he had to brace himself, to square his shoulders like a soldier going into battle.”

Antoine’s grief over the dissolution of his marriage and fledgling attempts at single parenthood are the most poignant portions of A Secret Kept. Though at times Proustian—Antoine has never recovered from his beloved mother’s death, and bitterly resents his father for surviving into old age—de Rosnay makes no mention of madeleines, but serves up plenty of Freudian intrigue. To be sure, Antoine’s louche sexual escapades (he enjoys a steamy hookup with a new girlfriend, seemingly unperturbed by the fact that his visiting teenage children are in the next room) ultimately prove cathartic, restoring his dignity and passion, and spurring him on to finally learn the truth about his mother’s life—and death. Though Melanie never evolves beyond the beautiful, dutiful daughter in denial, de Rosnay has crafted a compelling, heartrending tale. This enchanting hybrid of a mystery/love story is certain to keep her readers hungrily turning pages in the middle of the night.

Sibling rivalry, the bane of many a family, never reared its ugly head for brother and sister Antoine and Melanie Rey. Tethered together by a childhood tragedy, this loyal pair remain the best of friends as they head bravely, albeit begrudgingly, towards middle age. But…

Audio

Jeff Shaara

Interview by David Madden

Jeff Shaara’s The Last Full Measure brings a unique and monumental father-son trilogy to a triumphant conclusion.

Michael Shaara’s powerful novel, The Killer Angels, appeared in 1974, winning critical acclaim and the Pulitzer Prize. It did not, however, gain wide appeal until the movie version, Gettysburg, was released in 1994, six years after the author’s death. With Gods and Generals, published in 1996, Shaara’s son, Jeff, continued the story of the same generals. This sequel was an immediate bestseller, and filming is now underway.

With The Last Full Measure, Jeff Shaara sustains a major achievement that distinguishes this trilogy from most other Civil War novels: He gives a balanced experience of the temperament, sensibility, and character of generals on both sides of the battle lines. Shaara also proves once and for all that, though influenced by his father, he has a voice and talent all his own.

The author spoke with BookPage from his home in Missoula, Montana.

BookPage: You strike me as a natural born writer. With no training or experience, you took up the challenge of writing Gods and Generals. At what point did you realize that you had the ability to do the job?
Jeff Shaara: From the time I tried to do it all the way through the book tour after it was published, I didn’t know. I was scared until I showed to my wife the first couple of chapters of The Last Full Measure that focus on Lee, and she said, "This proves you can do it on your own." Then I knew.

BP: Reading The Last Full Measure, I sensed that in General Grant you had discovered your own special subject.
JS: I’m glad you felt that way. I loved writing about that man. I wanted to shatter the myths about him and tell his story fully and truthfully. I liked being able to bring out the differences between Lee and Grant. People are emotional about Lee, a beloved figure, an inspiring figure. But Grant is cool and aloof, so I wanted to bring him alive for the reader. Writing about him was a little like writing about Stonewall Jackson in Gods and Generals — exciting, discovering the man as I tried to recreate him as a real person, not just an awesome legend. Both men were hard to get close to in life.

BP: Of all the generals in the trilogy, who is most like your father?
JS: Two men, not just one. As a man, my father was most like Joshua Chamberlain. I think my father felt an affinity with him. My father was idealistic (although he became a cynic in his later years), an intellectual, a scholarly kind of man, like Chamberlain. . . . And then the other side of my father that I was quite aware of as I wrote comes out in General Hancock. Hancock is very good at what he does. After Reynolds died, he was perhaps the greatest Union general in the field. Like Hancock, my father had no patience for incompetence, stupidly, inefficiency. You know that scene [in Gods and Generals] in the newspaper office when Hancock reaches across the desk and grabs the newspaperman by the throat? I felt my father guiding me as I wrote that scene.

BP: As you wrote Gods and Generals, did your father’s style influence your own?
JS: Definitely. How else would I have known how to write? My sister Lila said to me, "This novel is being written by the ghost of our father." But then the style changed toward the end.

BP: Like your father, Grant is a great stylist, which is partly why Hemingway declared Grant’s autobiography to be one of the masterpieces of American literature. As you wrote from Grant’s point of view in The Last Full Measure, did Grant’s style influence you?
JS: My father modeled his own style on Hemingway’s, by the way. But yes, I tried to catch the simplicity and the flow of Grant’s style when writing inside Grant’s mind, and I worked to change my style to be more appropriate to Lee when writing from his point of view.

BP: As in Gods and Generals, you continue to use your father’s background and structuring devices.
JS: Yes. A conscious decision. My wife told me that she, who didn’t know all that much about the Civil War, needed the kind of background material my father provided, and, you know, most of my readers are like her. Also, I wanted all three novels to have the same basic features.

BP: But in The Last Full Measure, I see a difference in your handling of the structure. As an omiscient author, you venture into fewer minds than you and your father did in the first two novels.
JS: I agonized over that. I worried that there might be an imbalance between Union and Confederate points of view, but I really couldn’t think of a Southern general of great enough stature or interest for me or the reader. Longstreet gets wounded and is no longer of use to Lee. Stuart gets killed. I go into their minds once only to show that everybody is fading out, leaving Lee alone. It’s subtler in General Gordon’s one chapter because he can see, as Lee cannot, the futility of opposing Grant. One by one, all the great generals go — Jackson is already dead — and Lee misses each of them. So of the Confederate generals, I decided to show Lee’s mind isolated. Lee, who was the symbol of the whole war, of the whole confederacy, is out there by himself, facing Grant.

BP: This coming July will mark the 135th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. People often ask you, I’m sure, why you think Americans are so intensely interested in an event that took place so long ago.
JS: It’s not that there is a general interest in Civil War history — the facts and figures — per se, but an interest in character, which my father helped to create and which I am trying to carry on — a demystifying effort to help the reader see that the generals are just like us. Grant and Lee didn’t start out as Grant and Lee the mythic heroes; they evolved in crisis action. It is through seeing them as like us that we truly realize how great they are.

BP: It’s always interesting to compare fictional renderings of famous people with biographies. Have you read the latest biography of Grant?
JS: No. For both novels, I didn’t want to read any of the great books by recent writers because I didn’t want to be influenced. I wanted my interpretations to be my own. I read very few books written after about 1920.

BP: I wonder whether you will someday write a novel or a memoir about your relationship with your father?
JS: Oh, yes, that’s very likely, and it’ll probably be a memoir. But in the meantime, there is this documentary movie in four parts that looks at the Union generals, the Confederate Generals, and the role of the Irish. The fourth part is a biography of Michael Shaara, and in that there is some sense of our relationship.

BP: The scenes between Mark Twain and Grant at the nnd of the novel are so appealing and moving. The two of them are like aged versions of Huck and Jim on a raft on the Mississippi River.
JS: I love this element, the contrast between the two characters. When I learned that Twain commissioned Grant to write his autobiogra1hy, I was ecstatic. Twain is such a public icon, he’s worked into Westerns, even science fiction movies, as a character. And so, yes, the parallel between Twain and Grant talking together with Huck and Jim on a raft on the Mississippi River rings true to me.

BP: The early scenes in Grant’s point of view moved me to tears, not out of sentimentality but out of appreciation for your artistic achievement. I knew then that you had demonstrated the steadfastness of your talent and that we can await, with no apprehension, your third novel. What will that one be about?
JS: It’s about the Mexican War, and I’m in the research phase. I get to write about General Scott. I love that old man.

Sharpshooter: A Novel of the Civil War is David Madden’s 11th work of fiction.

Jeff Shaara's The Last Full Measure brings a unique and monumental father-son trilogy to a triumphant conclusion.

Michael Shaara's powerful novel, The Killer Angels, appeared in 1974, winning critical acclaim and the Pulitzer Prize. It did not, however, gain wide appeal until the movie version,…

Audio

John Irving

Interview by Alden Mudge

"I hold a novel accountable for a good story," says John Irving during a conversation about A Widow for One Year, his ninth and most intricately crafted novel yet. "And by a good story, I mean one that’s a little too complicated and twisted and circumlocuitous to be easily encapsulated in a newspaper or television story."

It’s no surprise, then, that A Widow for One Year defeats easy summary. In fact, so lush and energetic is the branching and leafing of plot and subplots (which take us from Long Island in 1958, to Amsterdam’s red light district in 1990, to Vermont in 1995), and so tightly woven are the stories and stories-within- stories, that Irving and I can actually differ on what the book is really about — and both be right.

"I wanted to write about a woman’s sexual past and the choices in her sexual past that make her uncomfortable," Irving says, recalling the development of the novel’s central character, Ruth Cole. "I wanted to deliberately choose things that, were she a male, would discomfort her hardly at all. I wanted, in other words, to work on that double standard that Ruth herself is so aware of. I wanted to keep positioning Ruth vulnerably — sexually vulnerably — while giving her considerable esteem for her toughness, her work ethic, her success in her career. I wanted her to be a thinking woman and a self-critical one."

Irving also wanted to return to telling a chronological story for the first time in 15 years. "The Hotel New Hampshire and The World According to Garp were linear narratives, and I felt very strongly that I wanted to write a linear narrative again." This time, he decided to "structure the story in the manner of a play, with three distinct and separate moments of time: We see Ruth as a four-year-old girl, we see her as a 36-year-old unmarried woman — successful in her career but struggling in her relationships — and we see her five years later when she is a 41-year-old widow with a child who, not coincidentally, is the exact age Ruth was when we first met her and when her mother abandoned her."

But, Irving says, he did not hit upon the novel’s comic masterstroke — making Ruth Cole a writer — until quite late in his work on the book, until he had populated A Widow for One Year with almost everyone in it. Then, with one of those typical inventive exaggerations that endow his books with so much of their energy, Irving made almost everyone else in the book a writer, too. Ruth’s father, Ted, writes and illustrates haunting little children’s books and seduces the lonely mothers of his young models. Ruth’s mother, Marion, abandons her husband and four-year-old daughter and eventually writes well-received mystery novels in which she mourns the deaths of her two teenage sons. Marion’s 16-year-old lover, Eddie, grows up to be a good man who writes bad novels about the love between younger men and older women. Ruth’s best friend, Hannah, is a journalist who writes celebrity profiles and is lonely and sexually self-absorbed. Ruth marries an editor but falls in love with a reader.

"I wrote Garp when I was a decidedly unfamous writer and a writer who always expected to support myself by teaching and coaching," Irving says. "I’ve often found it puzzling that I wrote that book about not just one famous writer, but two — Garp and his mother — when I didn’t give being a famous writer a second thought. Once I decided to make Ruth a writer, I had a lot of fun with areas of being a writer that I didn’t know anything about when I wrote Garp. I didn’t know publishers had publicists until my fourth novel was published. I didn’t have book tours. Nobody interviewed me. The public life as a writer, which Ruth is so uncomfortable with, is something I wasn’t able to give attention to before because I hadn’t had the experience. That and Ruth’s obdurate denial that there is any truth to Hannah’s accusation that Ruth is an autobiographical writer. It is enduringly fascinating to me how simplistically that subject is treated, both by writers themselves and by people writing about writers. When the writer is any good, it’s complicated. It’s a subject I think can be fascinating — and very funny."

Of course, this barely scratches the surface of a novel whose sorrows and delights depend heavily on time and the anticipation of its passing. "From the very beginning," Irving says, "I was aware that I was writing a love story, and that it was a dual love story. It was Marion and Eddie’s love story, and it was Harry and Ruth’s love story. But I wanted that love story to feel so distant and take so long to get there, that you don’t know what it is until it’s almost over. . . . You want the reader to guess what’s going to happen next — and guess it right. But not always. You want things to happen that they don’t see coming. The balance between the two is very delicate. It has to do with the interconnectedness of people’s lives, and that has to do with plot and with carefully making a character stay true to himself or herself."

"Composing a novel," Irving concludes, "is like constructing the interior architecture of the house you live in. Other people will pass through and say, ‘Oh, it’s a nice house but what a hideous window over the kitchen table.’ Only a writer really lives in a novel. So much of what works best about it are things that people who come to dinner never know about or see."

It’s a fitting analogy. A Widow for One Year is wonderfully constructed, and its characters and their interrelationships are, indeed, even more interesting on return visits.

Alden Mudge is a writer in Oakland, California, and a frequent contributor to BookPage.

 

"I hold a novel accountable for a good story," says John Irving during a conversation about A Widow for One Year, his ninth and most intricately crafted novel yet. "And by a good story, I mean one that's a little too complicated and twisted and…

Audio

Anne Rivers Siddons

Interview by Alice Cary

Many have likened novelist Anne Rivers Siddons to Margaret Mitchell, a comparison that prompts a chuckle in Siddons, the author of such blockbusters as Outer Banks, Colony, and Peachtree Road. "We don't write remotely about the same thing," Siddons says, only to reconsider, "Well, she wrote about the profound loss of one society and the need to live in another one, and I have too a little bit, but we really are not the same. I guess it's because we're both from Atlanta and we both write long books."

However, they won't be from the same city for long. In November, Siddons, her husband, and their four cats will move from Atlanta to the heart of historic Charleston, South Carolina. "It's an enormous move," Siddons admits. "I have lived in this area for seven generations and in this house for 30 years. I may end up in Prozac City. Who knows? We have lots of friends in Charleston, but it's going to be an enormous shock."

Readers can get a hearty helping of the Charleston vicinity in Siddons's latest book, a page-turner called Low Country, about the perennial war between natural beauty and coastal development.

Low Country's heroine, Caroline Venable, has one precious thing left in her life: a pristine island inherited from her grandfather. In addition to the family cottage, it's home to a small Gullah settlement, a band of wild ponies, and other wildlife, including a mysterious panther. Caroline's husband, Clay, has made a fortune developing resort communities in various locales, but when his empire faces bankruptcy, he is convinced that financial salvation lies in developing Caroline's island. For Caroline, this is unacceptable, which means she must face one of the biggest challenges of her life.

The seeds for the plot were born years ago when Siddons worked as a copywriter for the first island resort on Hilton Head, South Carolina. "I watched the land turn from almost primeval forest to what it is now, which is Manhattan South," Siddons remembers. "It isn't that any developer sets out to ruin a place, it's just that even the best and most ecologically sensitive plan requires something fragile to be lost. I have always wanted to write about this clash."

Once Siddons knew she was moving to Charleston, she began spending a lot of time in the surrounding islands, especially in the vicinity of Ace Basin. Describing the area as primeval, she says: "It's a real experience to go out on a warm summer night. You come back thinking you've been back to the dawn of the millennium. It's one of the wildest places I've ever seen. And the idea that someone might build a Disney World-type place there is just abhorrent. I really would like to do what I can to help the area stay intact."

Specifically, she applauds the efforts of a group called the Carolina Coastal Conservancy for buying and preserving large tracts of wetlands. Meanwhile, she preserves the feel of such natural treasures in her fiction, having Caroline, who has faced great tragedy in her life, find solace on her island, where she is free to relax and paint.

Ironically, when Siddons herself seeks peace, she heads north instead of south, to a peninsula on Maine's Penobscot Bay, a summer retreat that's been in her husband's family for years. "I'm very drawn to that severe, cold, rocky beach [of New England]," Siddons says, "and I'm equally drawn to that blood-warm water [of the South]. But I'm never so happy as I am on the waters of Maine. I have a sense that whatever is looming or bothersome can be put off until I get home. Also, it's physically a long way from any other entanglements I may have, so if anybody gets upset and needs to be comforted, it had better be good."

Why do islands have such prominent roles in her novels? "I think it's the idea that they're totally apart from the world," Siddons explains. "An island has some sort of magnetic pull. It makes all these promises that it will keep you safe and nurture you. Of course this is not true, but I still never sleep as soundly as I do on an island or on our little peninsula in Maine."

Caroline, like several of the author's heroines, risks losing the core of her existence. "I think my heroines will always be ordinary women who have made a journey," Siddons says. "Maybe it doesn't happen so totally and drastically to most of us, but I haven't seen many women fall into middle age without losing something that has always been a very important part of their lives, and either having to make a life around that, or find a way to go on, or change in order to go on. It seems to me that women are left to do the changing and accommodating."

Siddons's own transforming journey occurred 15 years ago, when she battled severe depression that lasted three years, leaving her unable to write. "It was mostly a matter of brain chemistry, but I didn't know what it was. It was totally crippling. I could hardly exist. We finally found a drug that worked and a wonderful woman therapist. It felt like one of those things you either survive or you don't — there aren't too many in-betweens."

Finally, she had an idea for a book, and slowly, hesitantly, began to write. "If I couldn't write, it would have killed me," she says, "but I had to try." The result was Homeplace, followed by a string of additional bestsellers.

Siddons has not only survived, but flourished. She excitedly talks about the prospect of moving into the antique Charleston single house, which is one room wide, two stories high, and about eight rooms deep. "The idea of living in a city with that kind of resonance and beauty is so exciting," she muses. "I feel spoiled to be able to keep that much of everything I love about the South. It's like a fairy tale."

Alice Cary writes from her home in Groton, Massachusetts.

Many have likened novelist Anne Rivers Siddons to Margaret Mitchell, a comparison that prompts a chuckle in Siddons, the author of such blockbusters as Outer Banks, Colony, and Peachtree Road. "We don't write remotely about the same thing," Siddons says, only to reconsider, "Well, she…

RomanceAudioContemporary Romance

Fern Michaels

Interview by Karen Trotter Elley

Now firmly established as one of the royalty of romance writers, Fern Michaels began writing in 1973. When she submitted her first manuscript she was sure it was going to be published. Actually, I was greedy. I thought I was going to be a millionaire. Her second manuscript crossed in the mail with the rejection letter of the first. The second manuscript was published, and Michaels has never looked back.

"I made $1,500 on the sale of that book and bought some things for the house." A frog toilet seat stands out in her mind. Since then she has written over 50 books, been on the New York Times bestseller list many times, and sold approximately 60 million copies of her books throughout the world.

But as Michaels knows, the only thing constant in life is change. After being with the same publisher for 22 years, Michaels accepted an offer from Kensington Books, fired her agent, and moved from New Jersey to South Carolina, all at the same time. It was a traumatic move as she made a quantum leap from the known to the unknown, from the fast track northern lifestyle to a slower Southern pace, and endured the resulting culture shock.

The change turned out to be for the best. Michaels now lives in an historic home (the oldest part was built in 1702) near Charleston. It's an L-shaped house with an unusual, convoluted layout and a resident ghost. "She came with the house; her name is Mary Margaret."

"It's not scary or spooky but Mary Margaret does let you know when she's around." One Christmas Day, in front of several eyewitnesses, the ghost decided to pass the plate, lifting a decorative platter from a stand and setting it gently on the floor. "No one wanted to touch that plate," the author says.

Late on sultry, breezeless days an empty front porch swing glides back and forth. "Clocks stop on Monday morning at ten after nine, but not every Monday. Sometimes months will go by before it happens again," Michaels says.

Her latest book, Listen to Your Heart, has a supernatural twist and a Mother's Day theme. This delightful story about orphaned twin sisters is set in New Orleans where Josie and Kitty Dupr run a catering business. With Kitty about to get married, Josie finds herself alone and at a crossroads. At times, Josie feels that their deceased mother is trying to send her a message. She senses her presence and smells her mother's cologne.

On the eve of the hectic spring catering season, Josie's life is turned upside down by the arrival of mysterious Paul Brouillette and his rambunctious boxer, Zip. After one look, Zip instantly bonds with Josie's tiny Maltese dog, Rosie. Despite all efforts to keep them apart, the two dogs are inseparable, resulting in problems for their owners. As the story unfolds, Paul and Josie are challenged to deal with issues of death and emotional abandonment as each of them learns to Listen to Your Heart.

Michaels says she writes from her own personal experience. "Anyone who writes a book and tells you there is nothing about them in it — is full of it. I may try to disguise it, but that's me in 87 different directions." She also writes about her friends, like singer/songwriter Corinda Carford. The two met at an event and hit it off instantly. Both are gutsy ladies who love food, music, and animals and hate pantyhose. When Michaels received a copy of Carford's CD, she loved The Pantyhose Song and decided to include it in Listen to Your Heart.

Her love for animals comes through in her writing and in her life. When she learned from a news broadcast that a local police dog had been killed in the line of duty, Michaels had bulletproof vests made for every dog in the police department.

When asked what she feels is the best part of her writing career, Michaels says it's her readers. "I get a lot of e-mail. I wrote a book called Dear Emily about overweight people. At first, I wasn't sure I wanted to do it because I might offend people; it's such a sensitive subject. But after it was published I received the nicest letter from a lady who was on her third copy of the book. She had read it so many times; she knew it by heart. She said, 'You saved my life.' " It doesn't get any better than that.

Karen Trotter is a writer with romance in her soul and boogie in her feet.

Now firmly established as one of the royalty of romance writers, Fern Michaels began writing in 1973. When she submitted her first manuscript she was sure it was going to be published. Actually, I was greedy. I thought I was going to be a…

FictionAudio

Richard Ford

Interview by Ellen Kanner

The seven deadly ones get all the press, but it’s the multitude of other, seemingly petty sins that Richard Ford writes about in his new short story collection. "All of those small acts we commit on a daily basis at ground level are how we fail," he says. "We fail by lacking patience, sincerity, passion, truthfulness, lacking all kinds of things — that’s what A Multitude of Sins is." 

Ford, whose 1995 novel Independence Day won both the Pulitzer Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award, uses his new collection to pinpoint pivotal moments of failure in people’s lives. Their sins aren’t spectacular ones, just the sad accretion of betrayal and loss that’s part of daily life.

"I don’t think these people are doomed, desperate or on the edge more than anyone else," says Ford of characters like the husband and wife in "Charity," whose marriage of 20 years is in limbo after the husband has an affair. "They’re socked into life pretty good. I don’t think if you were to stand outside the lives of the people in these stories, in ‘Creche’ and ‘Charity,’ you would think they were anybody special. By looking at these lives, you’re liable to see something as great as kings and heroes. In that fabric of otherwise under-noticeable lives is the stuff of real moral existence. It’s meant to ennoble and make more poignant the lives you may not have noticed."

In the struggle of these ordinary characters, Ford creates a mirror, a way to view our own humanity. He’s made infidelity a theme in his stories, and as he does with the title A Multitude of Sins, takes a term "we think we understand and have a working definition of, and lifts the lid on it."

Infidelity in Ford’s lexicon means a betrayal of our true selves. His characters fumble, deceiving each other and deluding themselves. Many also commit the more common definition of infidelity — adultery. It’s an intriguing theme from Ford, who married Kristina Hensley, his college sweetheart, in 1967 and has stayed good and married to her. That doesn’t make him eager to be literature’s patron saint of wedded bliss. "I think that nobody’s marriage is alike," says Ford, who believes even in so-called solid marriages like his own, "you see all kinds of peculiarities, idiosyncrasies."

In Ford’s case, he has a restless nature and doesn’t like to stay put for long. Since publishing his first novel A Piece of My Heart in 1976, he’s crisscrossed the country and lived abroad, as well — a man with no sense of home and no patience with the subject. "I don’t think about it. It doesn’t matter. I don’t care. I’m a Mississippian. Was born in Mississippi. I don’t want to live there. I did live there. I may live there again. I finally have given up. I’m an American."

Ford, 58, frequently tires of his home on New Orleans’ Bourbon Street and lights out for his homes in Maine and Mississippi. His wife, a New Orleans city planner, doesn’t have the same luxury. "We have not been living together very much," admits Ford. "But the overriding thing about Kristina and me is we really love each other and we know that and have seen it over and over again at every pass. What makes a solid marriage is not necessary kind of conduct or stewardship or guardianship. That seems to me to be missing the point. You have to love somebody."

His housing situation is soon to change. "We just bought a much more commodious house in the Garden District," says Ford. "I was never good at living in the French Quarter. It makes a great story, great letterhead, but it was kind of a drag. Like living in a theme park."

Aware of his own quirks, Ford never plays moral arbiter as a writer. In A Multitude of Sins, he serves as witness, sometimes speaking through the narrator by writing in first person, sometimes portraying scenes with a cinematic crispness by writing in third person.

"Third person is hard for me," he confesses. "I struggle with that. Sometimes I write in third person just to prove I can." Ford works to determine how much the omniscient narrator tells, how intimate the voice should be. "The bar I set for myself is a very high bar. It’s the bar of Alice Munro. I’m never as successful at it as I want to be, whereas in first person I feel I’m as successful as I could be."

He selects point of view "by the way in which the first lines of the story occur to me. I don’t think it’s always right, but I’ve never changed the point of view once I have it under way."

As with the stories in his 1987 collection Rock Springs, the stories in A Multitude of Sins originally appeared in The New Yorker and Granta. Each story stands on its own, a searing indictment of how ethically lost and emotionally isolated we’ve become. In his story "Quality Time," Ford writes, "[S]omeone has to tell us what’s important because we no longer know." Taken together in this collection, though, the nine stories read as though all of a piece.

"They were meant to," says Ford. "I realized when I was three stories into it. ‘Privacy,’ ‘Creche’ and ‘Quality Time’ prefigured the rest of the book. It was a sort of a relief. Sometimes you write books of stories that come in from all quadrants, a rattle bag. But I’m a novelist principally and had this prefiguring idea. I could choose what I was thinking about, choose with a novelist’s eyes, to make one story fit after another."

In order to ascertain that he’d created the effect he wanted with repetition of words and themes, Ford read each story aloud as he did with the 700-plus manuscript pages of Independence Day. "I’m dyslexic. I can’t see those things," he says. "When you read it out loud, you catch everything."

He expects readers to enter into his work with the same seriousness and dedication. "The idea of authorship is that you authorize the reader’s responses as much as you can. You don’t want there to be a great discrepancy between what you write and what you know the reader will read. If there are great discrepancies, you’re not running the story as much as you need to be. I feel it’s a tincture of failure," says Ford.

"I know the reader will have his own history, preoccupations, priorities, obsessions, thoughts, I know that. And that just means everybody’s different. But at the point of contact with my story, I want everybody to be mine."

 

Ellen Kanner is a writer in Miami.

The seven deadly ones get all the press, but it's the multitude of other, seemingly petty sins that Richard Ford writes about in his new short story collection. "All of those small acts we commit on a daily basis at ground level are how we…

FictionAudio

Julia Glass

Interview by Eliza Borné

Fans of Julia Glass’ beloved Three Junes will feel a sense of familiarity when they dive into The Widower’s Tale, the author’s fourth novel. The stories share similar plot points: in both, the matriarch of a family dies young, leaving a husband and children behind. In both, a widower unexpectedly falls for another woman. In both, Glass creates a slowly unfolding, yet fully rendered, portrait of a family.

But don’t think this book is just a rehash of past work. The tone is more satiric—you can look forward to amusing passages on everything from freeganism to “books as bytes.” And the protagonist, 70-year-old Percy Darling, is distinct from Paul McLeod, the widower of Three Junes.

“There's a way in which you cannot create good fiction without inflicting pain on your characters.”

In a telephone conversation from her home in Marblehead, Massachusetts, Glass said, “When I started writing The Widower’s Tale, I was trying to describe Percy’s character, and I said he’s like a cross between Paul McLeod and Malachy Burns. He has that razor edge to his wit.” Never matter if you haven’t read Glass’s National Book Award-winning debut from 2002—although if you have, you’ll understand why that combination will be a delight to fans. Paul, an elderly Scottish newspaper publisher, is a bit hapless. Music critic Malachy is cranky and clever.

Glass “always begins a story with a character,” and she says her best ones are pulled from some corner of her soul.

In this story, Percy was that character. He is also the center of the tale, which chronologically begins when his wife, Poppy, drowns in a pond. Percy is left to raise his two daughters, Clover and Trudy, who grew up to be very different women. As an adult 30 years after her mother’s death, Clover has a free spirit and big heart, although she’s also troubled, having walked out on her husband and two children during a breakdown. Trudy is chief of breast oncology at a major hospital and is organized and serious.

Percy was born out of several of Glass’ experiences—one being a consciousness of her “resistance to the modern world.” (“I’m like the only writer on the planet who doesn’t have a website and refuses to join Facebook,” she says.) She also drew from her move to Massachusetts, her home state and the setting for The Widower’s Tale, after years of living in New York.

When she returned to her hometown, Glass at first felt like the place hadn’t changed—“very rural, quite privileged, but with a kind of faux-rustic liberal quality to it.” In the time she lived there, she discovered that it had become more affluent than it was during her childhood. “There were certain . . . I call them millennial attitudes that had taken hold,” she said. “I found myself disturbed that this very hallowed place in my life had changed.” Percy is similarly disturbed by the changes in Matlock, his fictional town—or “enclave,” as he quips in the book.

In Glass’ words, her novel is about “the fear of change as juxtaposed against the yearning for change.” For Percy, a retired Harvard librarian, the impetus for change in his life is the opening of Elves & Fairies, a progressive preschool that moves into the barn in his backyard. When the preschool moves in, Percy’s solitary life is disturbed and he falls in love with the mother of a student. Percy’s world is further rocked when the woman is diagnosed with cancer.

Because Glass didn’t want to write about only “looking at the world as this relentlessly changing place from the point of view of someone old and curmudgeonly,” she asked herself, what is the flip side of that coin?

“Whether you’re talking about global warming or pollution or the ocean or automotive technology, the sense that we must change or we’re doomed seems to me far stronger than it has been at any other time in my life,” she said.

The character who embodies this attitude is Robert, Trudy’s 20-year-old son. Robert is a pre-med student at Harvard and becomes involved with a radical environmental group. By the end of the novel, his life is completely altered. Without giving too much away, Glass explains, “Sometimes bad things happen to good characters, and Robert is a good character. He suffers a very benign character flaw, which is that he’s easily drawn in by other people’s passion.”

Like in each of Glass’ three previous novels, The Widower’s Tale is told from multiple perspectives, including Percy’s and Robert’s. Though Glass considered telling the story from a sister’s voice, she ultimately decided that much of the book is about “the absence of a woman in Percy’s life.” So, there are no female narrators.

Parts of the story are also told by Ira, a gay man who teaches at Elves & Fairies, and by Celestino, an illegal immigrant who does yard work in Matlock. Both of these characters become intertwined with Percy’s family and home, and both face discrimination and heartbreak.

When asked about forcing Percy and the people in his universe to suffer, Glass joked that “characters are like voodoo dolls.” She explained: “You stick in the pins, maybe you take the pins out. But there’s a way in which you cannot create good fiction without inflicting pain on your characters.”

That said, The Widower’s Tale ends hopefully. “That’s important to me,” said Glass. “This novel has ultimately less darkness and tragedy than a couple of my other books. I think it’s more comic. But even the best comic novels include sorrow and heartbreak; that’s what gives a kind of pungent edge to the humor.”

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Want more on The Widower's Tale? Check out Eliza Borné's 'behind the interview' blog post.

Author photo by Dennis Cowley.

Fans of Julia Glass’ beloved Three Junes will feel a sense of familiarity when they dive into The Widower’s Tale, the author’s fourth novel. The stories share similar plot points: in both, the matriarch of a family dies young, leaving a husband and children…

FictionAudioPopular Fiction

Kathleen McInerney

Interview by Mary Kay Andrews

This interview is sponsored by Macmillan Audio.

Mary Kay Andrews is the bestselling author of The High Tide Club, The Weekenders, Beach Town and more. She’s also a big fan of audiobooks! In fact, for her latest audiobook, Sunset Beach, Andrews herself reads a bonus chapter, “Beach House Dreaming,” that is included on the program. Accomplished voice actress Kathleen McInerney narrates the rest of ​​​​​​​Sunset Beach and many of Andrews’ other audiobooks. Here Andrews poses some questions to McInerney about the Sunset Beach audiobook and her process.

MKA: Set the scene in the recording studio for me: What do you wear? Do you bring anything to eat or drink into the booth with you?

KM: Narrating books is an intensively creative, yet incredibly unglamorous job. When I open the studio door, I step into the world that I will live in for the next few days (literally and figuratively). Technically speaking (ha!), recording sessions are around 8 hours a day so loose, quiet clothing is required. I bring light snacks to eat throughout the day and lots of water!

What was your process like in preparing to narrate Sunset Beach?

To prepare a book, I read it. (This may sound obvious but some people don’t.) I note the storyline, the tone of voice of narrator, the setting/time period, words that need pronunciation help (in English or other languages), etc. I write down all the characters and anything that is said to describe them. Then, I build all of the voices off of the main character. She is normally in ‘the middle’ and others are ‘higher’ or ‘lower’ in comparison, a kind of vocal tapestry. Some accents are brought in as needed. I try to keep in mind what will help the listener clearly understand who is talking, especially in group scenes, and allow them to be drawn into the story. I look at each audiobook as a sort of play. The character development and interaction is so important to how the scenes play out and the story is told.

 

"I look at each audiobook as a sort of play."

 

How is Sunset Beach different than my other audiobooks you’ve narrated?

I suppose this is a good time to say that I am a big fan of all of your books! I really love a strong female character who has incredible challenges and finds herself by taking a path that was not clear from the start. They are stories that entertain and inspire me. ​​​​​​​Sunset Beach is a terrific mystery which kept me guessing until the end. Getting to narrate this was so fun. I have to tell the story in a way that doesn’t give away the ending prematurely, but, rather, keeps the listener on the edge of their seat. Also, the longer format of this book allows for a deeper dive into the lives of the characters and the story and, therefore, a more "meaty" journey for the listener/reader. And, speaking of food…amazing meals are served in this book. I was hungry the whole time!

How did you come up with main character Drue Campbell’s voice?

Drue is a woman figuring out how she wants to fit in, where she wants her life to go. She is unassuming and quiet one minute, self assured and headstrong the next. She needed to have a voice that allowed for that range and could show her intelligence and the growth in her self-confidence.  

Any challenges in voicing Sunset Beach?

The main challenge in narrating a mystery is to not make the bad guy a suspect from the beginning. Also, any type of romance that may or may not blossom needs to be handled carefully so the listener can decide what is going on, not be hit over the head with my interpretation.

How does the Southern setting impact your narration?

Certainly the Southern setting allows for a variety of accents for some characters, which is fun. But, honestly, I think the setting mostly impacts my enjoyment of the book. The descriptions of the places, the food, the houses….I can really visualize where I am and live in that place for a while. It makes for nice "armchair traveling," if you know what I mean.  

Do you listen to audiobooks, or is that too close to work for you?

My daughter and I often listen together on road trips. Our favorite was Roald Dahl’s The Witches, narrated amazingly by Lynn Redgrave. We listened to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy for her summer reading assignment in 8th grade. I was able to pause and explain the jokes…very helpful! I find audiobooks to be entertaining and inspiring. I get ideas from how other narrators approach characters and pace the story. I don’t listen as often as I’d like as I am consumed by NPR while driving and prepping the next book that I am working on when at home!

 

Andrews author photo © Bill Miles.

 

This interview is sponsored by Macmillan Audio.

Mary Kay Andrews is the bestselling author of The High Tide Club, The Weekenders, Beach Town and more. She’s also a big fan of audiobooks! In fact, for her latest audiobook, Sunset Beach, Andrews…

Children's & YAAudioMiddle Grade

Kelly Gildea

Interview by Cat, Deputy Editor

One of 2019’s most exciting audiobooks was a new recording of the 1953 Newbery Honor book Charlotte’s Web, read by an ensemble cast that included Meryl Streep and with a new cover by E.B. White biographer and mixed-media artist Melissa Sweet. It’s the first new audiobook of the beloved classic since White’s own recording in 1970.

Some pig? Some audiobook! We wanted to hear more about this astounding audio production and reached out to its producer, Kelly Gildea, who has also worked on award-winners like Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders (another ensemble audiobook) and Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson (a graphic novel adaptation). Gildea shares a look into the world of audiobook production and chats about working with Streep and hearing voices when she reads.

In the most basic terms, for audio fans who may not know, what does an audiobook producer do?
Well, to put it very basically: We read the book, cast the book and carry it through the recording and post-production processes. At Penguin Random House, we divvy up our title list among the producers. Each individual producer is working on many titles at once, in different stages of production. It starts with reading the manuscript and thinking about what the text is asking for: what type of narrator, how many narrators, etc. Then we consult with the author to check that our visions line up for the program. Once we have a plan in place, we schedule our recording with the selected narrator(s) and, in most cases, a director. Sometimes, our producers also direct the recording sessions, as I did with Charlotte’s Web.

All along the way, we are in continuous contact with the author, consulting on pronunciations, text queries and any other questions that come up. Once the recording has wrapped, our post-production team takes it through edit and QC, after which we are weighing in again on any notes that come back. It’s a lengthy, exciting process and there’s a great sense of accomplishment for the whole team when a project has wrapped.

Describe the production process for us. How long does it take? What’s a day in the studio like?
An average book might take about four days to record. But it truly depends on the book’s length, density and difficulty. Charlotte’s Web, though short, took a very long time to produce, because there were so many moving parts: booking the many sessions, recording all of the actors individually and working closely with the audio editor once all the pieces were assembled.

A typical day in the studio would be about four or five hours of actual reading, with a few breaks and a lunch. For Charlotte’s Web, I spent a day and a half in the studio with Meryl Streep and several hours with each of the main characters. A lot of the additional featured characters had very brief recording sessions, an hour or so.

“Charlotte’s Web is such a cherished and stunning piece of literature, so that makes it both thrilling and terrifying to adapt to audio.”

How do you decide whether a book will be a full-cast production (like Charlotte’s Web and Lincoln in the Bardo) versus a single-narrator production? How involved are you in the casting?
Most times, the format of the book dictates how we approach it. For something like Lincoln in the Bardo, which was constructed almost like a play, it seemed only natural to use many voices, and author George Saunders was fully on board for that. For Charlotte’s Web, both the Estate of E.B. White and Listening Library had decided to release a full-cast production before I was assigned to produce and direct. Our producers decide the casting of each program, with input from our authors.

Tell us a bit about transforming a beloved classic like Charlotte’s Web into a new audiobook. What is difficult about a classic? What was easy?
Charlotte’s Web is such a cherished and stunning piece of literature, so that makes it both thrilling and terrifying to adapt to audio. When Meryl Streep accepted our offer to narrate, I decided to hold off on casting the remainder of the book until she had done so. Her reading was so warm and captivating, and I knew I had to round out the cast with actors who could give performances that would fit with the tone Meryl had created. Everyone recorded separately, so we really didn’t know (until all the sessions were edited together) exactly what we had on our hands, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried that it would not marry together well. Thankfully, I got to work with Ted Scott and Heather Scott, a post-production team who also worked with me on Lincoln in the Bardo (and many others), and their work was exceptional. It is such a beautiful, cohesive piece, and it could not have been achieved without this stellar cast and crew.

On a similar note, are there any special considerations when creating an audiobook for a children’s book versus a book for adults?
That’s a good question. In this case, I wanted to create something that would be enjoyable for everyone, a true family program. E.B. White’s tone is never condescending. He spoke to children as he’d speak to anyone, with immense respect and trust. It’s there in the text, and I think it’s evident in the performances. For young children’s books, we work very hard to make sure our programs are word perfect, to honor the author’s work, while also taking into consideration the fact that some kids might be following along with a piece of text.

Does your work impact how you read? When you read, do you always find yourself thinking, “Oh, so-and-so would be such a great narrator for this?”
Yes! It’s funny, because rarely can I read something these days without thinking about narrators and pronunciations. Pretty soon after starting a book, someone’s voice will likely pop into my head. I guess I’m now hardwired to think about the audio approach to everything.

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Three authors and two audiobook readers share a peek into the art of audiobooks.

Do you listen to audiobooks for fun, or is that too much like work?
I do listen to audiobooks on my commute to work. It’s really the only way I can read books that I’m not working on. And my son, Miles (who’s 9), and I will often listen to children’s books when we’re in the car together. We listened to Charlotte’s Web once it was finished, and I was constantly looking in the rearview mirror to gauge his reactions! (Fun fact: Miles and several of his friends are the voices of the goslings and the baby spiders in the program! That made listening, for them, extra special.)

What’s the weirdest thing about your job, or something that audiobook listeners might not expect?
One of the weirdest (and coolest) things about the audiobook industry is that it’s a relatively tight-knit community and seems to remain so even as it grows. Even for those who work in isolation, when we all come together for conferences or awards shows, the energy is extremely positive and supportive. This is a community of people who love books, so there is deep appreciation for each other.

What do audiobooks offer that a book can’t? In the case of Charlotte’s Web, what do you think the production offered?
For me, audiobooks offer a way to take in books that I otherwise would not have the time or capability to read. Though some people might reject audiobooks based on the idea that, in many ways, it is someone else’s interpretation of the text. But I can assure you that the producers, directors and narrators take this responsibility very seriously and do all that they can to honor the text and present it in the most authentic way possible. I think that E.B. White’s recording of Charlotte’s Web is beautiful. Our new production just opens another door into that world, where every single voice is realized by a person who fully committed to their character.

Audiobooks are booming! Digital audio is the fastest growing segment of the publishing industry. Why do you think this is? What do you see as the future of audio?
Audio is so readily accessible. If you want a book, you can download it and start listening immediately. For many works of nonfiction, it has been incredible to hear the words in the author’s own voice. And fiction can be completely elevated by an exceptional performance. I think the format offers so many possibilities, and I think we’re just going to see more exciting things from this industry in the future.

One of 2019’s most exciting audiobooks was a new recording of the 1953 Newbery Honor book Charlotte’s Web, read by an ensemble cast that included Meryl Streep. Some pig? Some audiobook! We wanted to hear more about this astounding audio production and reached out to its producer, Kelly Gildea.

AudioWomen's HistoryBiographyArts & Culture

Saskia Maarleveld

Interview by Cat, Deputy Editor

After more than 300 recorded audiobooks, acclaimed narrator and voice-over actor Saskia Maarleveld knows that every audiobook requires something special. But what’s the difference between narrating a historical book versus a biography of a beloved icon? Comparing two of Maarleveld’s performances, The Queens of Animation: The Untold Story of the Women Who Transformed the World of Disney and Made Cinematic History and Carrie Fisher: A Life on the Edge, offers a look into an audio narrator’s preparation, devotion and ability to roll with the punches.

Here she discusses a day behind the audiobook curtain, what it’s like to deliver Carrie Fisher’s jokes and why narrating nonfiction is so much harder than fiction.

Tell me a bit about transforming books into audiobooks. How do you prepare, and what do you enjoy about the preparation? From one project to the next, how much do you change your approach to each audiobook?
Once I have a script, I will first and foremost read it through. That’s the most important prep you can do: knowing the book, its characters and flow. Depending on the genre, there will then be a certain amount of research to do. Looking up correct pronunciations is one of the most important. I also like to know about the author and more about the subject matter, especially if it is a genre like historical fiction or nonfiction. I tend to not “overprep” a book, as for me the most fun part is having the story feel fresh in the booth. You want to know it but not have belabored it such that the words and characters don’t feel alive. Being open to what might come out in the booth is part of the fun!

What’s a day in the studio like for you?
I live in New York City and am lucky to be surrounded by the best audiobook studios and producers, so I go into a bunch of different studios to record. I always have an engineer and sometimes a director. A usual day for us is 10 a.m. to 4 or 5 p.m. We take bathroom and water breaks when we need them and have a lunch hour, but otherwise I’m in the booth recording the entire time! I like these longer days, as you can really get on a roll with whatever you are working on, recording usually about three finished hours or more in a session. Surprisingly, it’s usually my brain that starts to fray at the end of the day before my voice!

“It puts a lot of pressure on the narrator when you are trying to portray an icon like Carrie Fisher—you need to get it right!”

I’d love to discuss two audiobooks you recently narrated: Carrie Fisher and The Queens of Animation. What was most important to you as a narrator as you approached each audiobook? Did one pose more challenges than the other?
Both of these were nonfiction, which was a thrill as I mainly record fiction. Being nonfiction, it was important to me that I respect the stories of these people, doing thorough research before getting in the booth. For Carrie Fisher, I watched a ton of interviews with her to get a feel for her voice, personality and sense of humor. I watched a lot of clips from Disney movies to revisit the scenes I was describing in The Queens of Animation. This prep helps the words not fall flat when they are being read; there is life and movement behind what I am describing to the listener. This comes through most when I have a clear picture on my head.

Carrie FisherIt was a special treat to hear your ability to deliver Carrie Fisher’s jokes. What is it like to tap into an icon like Carrie Fisher? How is it different from tapping into a fictional character?
I loved having the opportunity to learn more about Carrie Fisher, a person I knew from on screen but now had to embody in a much more personal way. Having read the book ahead of time obviously gave me so much of what I needed, but also the interviews and clips I watched helped me with delivering the Carrie lines in ways that embodied her. It puts a lot of pressure on the narrator when you are trying to portray an icon like Carrie Fisher—you need to get it right! Whereas with fictional characters, you have much more room for interpretation and imagination.

The Queens of AnimationWith The Queens of Animation, our audio columnist especially loved the way you draw readers in, “like [you’re] confiding a dark secret.” Is this something you set out to do intentionally for this book?
Nonfiction can feel a little impersonal if the narrator just reads the words on the page and remains removed from them. It’s hard because you aren’t narrating as a character, so the more you can make the listener feel like you are talking directly to them, telling them the story, the more personal it becomes. I’m glad that came across in this project!

Does your work impact how you read?
I have always loved reading, so unfortunately these days it is very rare that I have the time to read for pleasure as I am always reading for work! And when I do occasionally have the time, it takes time to turn off the narrator side of my brain thinking, How do I pronounce that word? How does this character avoids sound? I should highlight this! I thought when I stopped working to have my daughter, I would have time to get back into reading for pleasure again, but with a newborn, reading is a whole new challenge!

What do audiobooks offer that a book can’t? And considering how much audiobooks are booming, why do you think we’re being drawn to this medium more and more?
Time is precious, and these days so many of us are constantly multitasking. Sitting down with a book is a luxury, something you have to focus on not only with your mind but also your body. Being able to listen to an audiobook while driving, ironing, cooking, etc., is such a gift, as we don’t have to stop the busy work our bodies are doing while escaping into the world of a story.

What do you believe are your greatest strengths as a reader of books? What is the most rewarding or coolest thing you get to bring to this experience through your reading?
I was trained as an actor, so my skill at creating characters is something I take pride in, and I also specialize in accent and dialect work. Also, as mentioned in an earlier question, I aim to connect the listener to the story in a very personal way. I want them to feel I am speaking directly to them, drawing them into whatever world we are sharing. If I achieve this, I think my job is done!

What’s one thing people might not expect about your role as narrator?
I work on many projects that I get really attached to, and it is surprisingly hard to read that last word and know my time with this tale has ended. It is a very intimate experience to share a story and embody characters, so after hours and days of disappearing into a book, leaving it behind can be very sad!

 

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read about Saskia Maarleveld’s narration of Carrie Fisher and The Queens of Animation.

After more than 300 recorded audiobooks, acclaimed narrator and voice-over actor Saskia Maarleveld knows that every audiobook requires something special in its reading. Here she discusses a day behind the audiobook curtain, what it’s like to deliver Carrie Fisher’s jokes and why narrating nonfiction is so much harder than fiction.
FictionAudioPopular Fiction

Thérèse Plummer

Interview by Cat, Deputy Editor

New York-based actor and audio narrator Thérèse Plummer is the voice behind more than 350 audiobooks, including all of Robyn Carr’s Virgin River, Thunder Point and Sullivan’s Crossing series, plus her standalone novels like Sunrise at Half Moon Bay. Plummer won the 2019 Audie Award for her work in the multicast audio production of Sadie by Courtney Summers and was a recent finalist in the Audies’ 2020 Best Fiction and Audiobook of the Year (multicast) categories.

How does an audiobook powerhouse like Plummer do it? Here, she shares a look into the audiobook industry and describes how narrating a new book is like meeting a new friend.

What’s a day in the studio like for you?
I get to the studio to start my session at 10 a.m. I will yuck it up with the engineers and whoever else is around, and then get into my studio for a full day of performing. I love the pomodoro technique lately, as it is fantastic for productivity and keeps my energy levels at a sustainable level. It’s a time management system that encourages people to work with the time they have, rather than against it. Using this method, you break your workday into 25-minute chunks separated by five-minute breaks. These intervals are referred to as pomodoros. After about four pomodoros, you take a longer break of about 15 to 20 minutes.

Tell me a bit about transforming books into audiobooks. How do you prepare, and what do you most enjoy about the preparation? From one project to the next, how much do you change your approach to each audiobook?
I love this question! Each book is a new friend I have just met, and in order to get to know her, I need to really listen. The book tells me everything I need to know, because the author has taken the time to create this world and the characters whose journeys I am lucky to go on and bring to life. Every story has its own personality and vibe. If I have questions regarding pronunciations, I will submit a word list to my producers and also will collaborate with the authors if I am able to ask specific questions about how they “hear” certain characters. After I read the entire book and highlight “directions” I see (e.g. he whispered, she muttered, he said in a flat voice, she roared), I will have made a new friend, so when I go into the studio to give the book a voice, it is now a dialogue with my new friend.

“Storytelling is the oldest form of entertainment and connection, and to have a voice perform a story to you is such an intimate and beautiful experience.”

What do you believe are your greatest strengths as a narrator of books? What is the most rewarding or coolest thing you get to bring to this experience through your reading?
I believe my greatest strength as a storyteller is the ability to immerse my whole self into all of the characters and trust myself to then translate that vocally. I lose myself in the story and the characters, and I think you have to do that to bring the authors world alive vocally. It is so fun to play characters like lycans, vampires, gargoyles, etc., or little kids talking to their parents, and to hear my voice become what’s in my head. I am one of eight kids in my family, and I have 15 nephews and nieces to date, so I have lots of inspiration.

Tell us about your narration of Robyn Carr’s work. How you approach romance as a narrator? (Especially kissing/love scenes!)
I was asked to audition to narrate Virgin River in 2009 at Recorded Books in NYC. They chose my voice, and none of us knew the journey we would all go on! The romance books are the same as any other story, as it is a friend I have yet to meet. The thing I love about these stories though is that each book has so many mini stories going on that it feels like a soap opera or television show while I narrate.

The love scenes are intimate, personal, passionate and sometimes funny, so as the voice of the man and the woman and the narrator, I have my work cut out for me. There is a way to soften my voice by getting closer to the microphone so I am not too soft and bring the scene to life. I have cracked myself up when the groan I emit as the man comes out more like a croak, and my engineer and I will have a good chuckle before going back and getting it right. Again, I am bringing a story alive to your ears, so the more natural and realistic I can get it, the better for you. That is my goal.

I am blessed to call Robyn a friend, and she is one of the funniest, most real, badass queens I know. I was able to narrate all of her Virgin River, Thunder Point and Sullivan’s Crossing series, as well as her standalone novels. I adore these stories and characters. I was able to audition and landed a role on season one of “Virgin River” for Netflix. To walk on set and be in Jack’s bar after bringing it to life for so many years through audio was surreal and amazing. I think they did an amazing job with the series! The best part of Robyn’s books is that she writes about people all of us know. Everyone can relate and escape into a really good story for a while. It’s healthy escapism.

Robyn Carr and Therese Plummer
Robyn Carr (left) and Thérèse Plummer

What do audiobooks offer that a book can’t? And considering how much audiobooks are booming, why do you think we’re being drawn to this medium more and more?
When I was 12 years old, I remember reading a book called Tully by Paullina Simons and being absolutely mesmerized. I couldn’t focus in school as I kept thinking about Tully and the next chapter I would get to after school. I was fully invested in this story and these characters. It was so real for me. That’s what a good story does. If I were to guess, I think when a listener finds a voice that works for them, it is the ultimate escape and experience. I have had listeners tell me they won’t leave their car until the chapter ends. Storytelling is the oldest form of entertainment and connection, and to have a voice perform a story to you is such an intimate and beautiful experience.

What’s one thing people might not expect about your role as narrator?
It is exhausting! The pomodoro technique helps me with energy, but at the end of a six- or eight-hour day, I usually come home and crash. I am used to playing one character on stage and film, but in the studio, it is a one-woman show and sometimes up to 40 characters a book. I have so much respect for my community of storytellers!

How do you take care of your voice?
Sleep is my number one voice-care. The others are vocal/diaphragm warmups before my session. Stretching my tongue, jaw, throat and face. Also lots of water, espresso (not sure that’s a good one, but is my vice) and tea. I love soups. And Airborne at the beginning and end of a session.

Tell us a bit about being a woman in the audiobook industry. Do you face any particular challenges? How have things changed over time?
The biggest change has been our union (SAG-AFTRA) negotiating contracts with publishers on our behalf to solidify our rates in the last 10 years or so. I think the biggest challenge as a woman is speaking up for a higher rate as time goes on. If I were a man, it would be less intimidating, but the good news is that my community of storytellers is filled with like-minded, strong, beautiful, talented and fierce queens who band together in support and encouragement of each other. We know our worth and ask for what we want and need. The worst thing that can happen is they say no, but it is worth the discomfort. As freelance artists, it is really scary, because if we ask and they say no, we don’t want to lose work or be seen as greedy or annoying to work with, so a lot of us stay quiet. The few times I advocated for myself and asked, it was greeted with approval, but my God, it was terrifying. I try to channel my inner vampire or werewolf strength at times. LOL.

Who in your life has had the biggest impact on your work as a narrator?
My father. He was a professional actor in his younger days, and when I was growing up, he was always singing and bringing characters in his head to life. We never knew who would be serving us our French toast. Was it a French man or an Italian man? Accents and characters galore. It was a one-man show and incredibly entertaining. He performed a one-man show of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, and every year I sat in the audience and was mesmerized how he brought every character in that story to life! I was in awe. When he retired, my brother and I took over the tradition and perform A Christmas Carol at Grey Towers in Milford, Pennsylvania, the first weekend in December every year. What a gift.

How does an audiobook powerhouse like Thérèse Plummer do it? Here, she shares a look into the audiobook industry and describes how narrating a new book is like meeting a new friend.
AudioHistorical Fiction

Ben Miles

Interview by Melinda Baker

What’s driving the audiobook renaissance? Smartphones have a lot to do with it, as do the rise of podcasts and the public’s insatiable desire for high-quality content. But when you boil it all down, audiobooks are booming because we love to hear stories, and we now have the tech and tools at our fingertips to do so anytime, anywhere.

Acclaimed English actor Ben Miles agrees. He’s the voice behind Hilary Mantel’s two-time Booker Prize-winning Wolf Hall Trilogy, which charts Thomas Cromwell’s meteoric rise and fall. The audiobook for the final novel in the series, The Mirror & the Light, was released on March 10, and new audio productions of the first two books, Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, also read by Miles, are slated for release this summer.

“Audiobooks are doing so well for a number of reasons, but ultimately, people always love a story,” Miles says by phone from London. “Telling and listening to stories is a vital, unstoppable human instinct and desire.” 

Miles has worked in nearly every medium possible for an actor—radio, film, theater, television—and is known for his roles as Patrick Maitland in the BBC comedy “Coupling” and, more recently, Peter Townsend in the acclaimed Netflix drama “The Crown.” He also spent years playing Cromwell in Tony Award-nominated stage adaptations of Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies. This is Miles’ first audiobook project, and he says he’s loved getting back into Cromwell’s head and revisiting 16th-century England.

“Telling and listening to stories is a vital, unstoppable human instinct and desire.” 

It’s no wonder that Mantel personally selected Miles to narrate her books. He knows these stories inside and out, and he and Mantel have worked closely during the audiobook productions, exchanging lengthy emails about Cromwell’s motivations and desires. Miles’ familiarity with Mantel’s portrayal of Cromwell pervades his performance of The Mirror & the Light, which traces Cromwell’s fall from greatness, beginning with the aftermath of Anne Boleyn’s beheading and ending with his own. Miles’ voice carries the power-hungry statesman’s monumental final act with ease and a delicate nuance, as only someone with a deep understanding of the story could.

The Mirror & the Light“With such great writing like this, you can’t put your thing on it too much,” Miles says. “You have to be a kind of neutral filter. There is no need to embellish it with any kind of tricks you may want to do. You just have to tell it, to be a kind of invisible medium that connects a reader to the writer’s imagination. You ultimately want the listener to forget about you. That’s your job done.”

The Mirror & the Light has been one of this year’s biggest print releases, selling more than 95,000 copies in its first three days. The audiobook was also hotly anticipated, which isn’t surprising given the surge in popularity of the format, both among those who consider themselves avid readers and those who don’t.

According to the Audio Publishers Association (APA), audiobooks are by far the fastest growing format in the publishing industry and have driven double-digit revenue growth for the past seven years. To give you a clearer sense of the demand: When Amazon acquired Audible in 2008, it had 88,000 titles; now it has more than 470,000.

Audiobooks are the fastest growing format in the publishing industry, driving double-digit revenue growth for the past seven years.

Then came 2020, which has brought the publishing industry to its knees. As coronavirus shutdowns swept across the nation in March and April, masses of people turned to audiobooks. Libro.fm, the Seattle-based audiobook company that launched the #ShopBookstoresNow campaign to benefit independent bookstores during this period of layoffs and closures, grew its membership by 300% from February to March, raising its total audiobook listening by 70%.

“Years ago, you’d gather in a room, you’d sit in the same spot and focus your attention on your radio, and you’d listen to music or radio dramas or something like that,” Miles muses. “Now, we have access to incredible stories all the time. I love that you can be driving or doing the washing up, but also be in Tudor England in 1536 at the same time. It’s absolutely magical.”

There are, of course, downsides, namely that audiobooks and similar on-demand forms of entertainment enable us to isolate ourselves. “But I think that’s one of the reasons why theater is still so alive,” Miles says. “There is still something so powerful about being in a group of people who go to that one place at that one time and witness something together that will never actually happen again. There is still a place for that in the world.”

It’s clear that audiobooks are becoming an art form in their own right. More titles and easier access are certainly growing audiobook listenership, but publishing houses are also pouring resources into more ambitious productions to enhance the listening experience—think immersive soundscapes, surround sound 3D audio and, best of all, improved narrations, often by A-list television, film and theater talent. Want Elisabeth Moss to read The Handmaid’s Tale to you as you sit in traffic? Or to listen to Michelle Obama read her hit memoir, Becoming, while you weed your garden? Wish granted. When readers need to get lost in a story, their favorite actors and actresses can now facilitate that with voices alone.

The real challenge of this unique kind of performance is creating a world and characters without a visual element. As Miles explains, when an actor is performing onstage or on-screen, he or she can say a line of dialogue one way but express it differently with the face or body. “That tension between what you say and what is expressed physically is often what’s exciting about drama,” Miles says. “With audiobooks, you have to put all that information into your voice and create a world and characters with just that. It’s a really interesting process. I like how it strips me of the tools I have in acting and leaves me with just one thing.”

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our review of The Mirror & the Light.

Narrating an audiobook can also be a rigorous endeavor. On top of acting instincts, narrators need physical and vocal stamina. The Mirror & the Light is 784 pages long, and the audiobook clocks in at over 38 hours. But Miles has done a lot of voice-over work as well as some radio plays, so the process was familiar. “It’s just the length and scale that’s new for me,” he says. “And although I did quite a bit of research for the audiobooks, goodness knows how much work I would have had to do if I hadn’t been in the shows and came into these books cold. I was very lucky in that I was able to tap into what I’ve experienced already. When voicing the characters in the book, and there are many, I recalled how the other actors in the shows played them or remembered where Cromwell was in the story and what his trajectory looked like at that point. I could kind of slide right back into it.”

Mantel’s writing also made things easier, Miles adds. “Often we’d be in the studio, and I’d see a great big pile of A4 paper and think, ‘Oh my, OK, here we go.’ But I’d lose track of time and almost forget where I was. The stories are so compelling and the characters are so vivid that it carries you along, if you let it. We’d go back and review, maybe edit a couple of words. But that was about it, because it’s so beautifully written.”

Acclaimed English actor Ben Miles talks about what it's like to read Hilary Mantel's award-winning trilogy, and the ever-growing appeal of audiobooks.
Children's & YAAudioGraphic Novels & Comics

Kelly Gildea & Julie Wilson

Interview by Penguin Random House Audio

This interview was conducted and sponsored by Penguin Random House Audio. 

When Stars Are Scattered, by Omar Mohamed and Newbery Honor-winning author and artist Victoria Jamieson, tells the true story of Omar Mohamed’s childhood in a refugee camp in Kenya, caring for his brother, Hassan, who has special needs. When Omar has the opportunity to go to school, he knows it might be a chance to change their future…but it would also mean leaving the only family member he has left.

The audiobook edition of When Stars Are Scattered, read by actor Faysal Ahmed (Captain Phillips) and a full cast, stars Somali actors and speakers, with music, effects, and authentic background narration in Somali. Here, audiobook producers Kelly Gildea and Julie Wilson discuss how they worked closely with the authors to create a meaningful, authentic and thoughtful listening experience.

How did you two work together and with the authors to prepare this audiobook project? What was the process of developing the script that the narrators read? What was the most challenging part of this process?

Kelly Gildea, Senior Executive Producer: I think, after Julie and I read the book, our first question to Vicki, whom we had worked with previously (on Roller Girl) was, should we be looking for Somali actors, or using Americans who can do accents? Vicki felt strongly that it was important to have Somali actors in our cast, and Omar agreed, so an extensive search began. The book itself did not need many tweaks, in terms of adapting the text. In a few cases, we did change the language a bit, to make it listener-friendly, but for the most part, the audio reflects the original text. And though we did have help creating a user-friendly script, in studio, we ended up working directly from the graphic novel. Sometimes the art can really inform a performance, in terms of the visuals you’re seeing for the characters in the scene.

“Sometimes the art can really inform a performance, in terms of the visuals you’re seeing for the characters in the scene.”

Describe the process of casting this audiobook. How was it different than other full-cast projects you’ve worked on? What challenges did you come across, what factors came into play and how did you shape your vision for the final product?

Kelly: Though this was an incredibly challenging project, the fact that we eventually located and hired actors from Somalia, Yemen and Ethiopia, enhanced the program in ways that are too numerous to count. Our cast is rounded out by a few talented African Americans who used a Somali (or Kenyan, or Ghanaian) accents. The main obstacle, during recording, was actually the reading of the English text with a Somali accent. Though the book stunningly portrays life in a Somalian refugee camp, some of the language is adapted for an English-speaking audience. What results is something very unique. Omar’s voice, portrayed by Faysal Ahmed, is so specific and individual and unlike anything else you’ve heard. Omar is sweet and earnest and hopeful, and Faysal elevates all of that.

Julie Wilson, Senior Executive Producer: As co-producers, Kelly and I were able to discuss every character and listen to and talk through auditions we received. We tended to be on the same page about casting, but this gave us an extra ear to rely on. Once we reached a consensus about which actors we believed were best suited for the roles, we presented those ideas to Vicki and Omar. Both Kelly and I really value our authors’ input and, like Kelly said, this audiobook became the unique recording it is today because of how Vicki advocated for a Somali cast. I won’t say it was easy to find our core cast. We utilized every resource we had from reaching out to agents to posting on private ADR (automated dialogue replacement) Facebook groups. But I think all of that extra effort ultimately led to a recording that’s unlike anything we’ve heard before. For instance, if you listen close to the background sounds in certain scenes, you’ll hear our cast’s voices overlaid and their authentic dialects create an incredibly distinctive atmosphere.

You worked together on Roller Girl, also by Victoria Jamieson. How did your experiences working on that project inform your collaboration on this one?

Kelly: With Roller Girl, we received so much support and enthusiasm from Vicki, from her blessing on the choice of the main narrator, to her trust in leaving the remainder of the casting up to us, to her enormous input on the text variances for audio. We knew that we could lean on her again. She offered up some resources she’d used when researching the book, including a few sources in Minneapolis, where there is a large Somali population. One of her sources, who was an early reader of the book, expressed interest in narrating. She ended up sending us an incredible audition & was cast in a lead role! Vicki also connected us with Omar, who was invaluable. Omar listened to many samples that we sent, giving us his feedback, and also left many voicemails with Somali pronunciations. An extra special thing is that we were able to include both authors as narrators on this program, since they wrote Authors’ Notes. So, you hear this beautiful full-cast performance based on Omar’s life story and then you get to hear from Omar himself, followed by Vicki.

Click here to read BookPage’s review of When Stars Are Scattered.

Julie: With Roller Girl, Kelly and I developed a process of sharing information, reviewing the script, and exchanging ideas about casting. I think when you work that closely together you develop a trust in your producing partner. That support helped us through the more trying moments of casting When Stars Are Scattered. For instance, when we had yet to find Faysal. We were both worried that we wouldn’t find “our Omar,” as Kelly often put it. But when we heard his audition, it just clicked. Collaborating again with Vicki was also a treat. At Penguin Random House Audio, we’re lucky to have what we call “legacy authors,” which means that if you’ve produced an author’s audiobooks before, you’ll likely produce all of their future recordings. We felt Vicki’s confidence in us throughout this entire process. I think she knew that we would handle this audiobook with care because of how well Roller Girl turned out.

What did you learn from working on When Stars Are Scattered together?

Kelly: With a title this complex, it’s great to have two heads (and two sets of ears) to put together to make decisions on casting. We would lend support to each other when one of us was focused on a specific task. For instance, when I was in the studio with the actors, Julie was managing some marketing and publicity queries. Also, we must give credit to Ted Scott and Heather Scott, whom we collaborated with again, for their incredible edit and mix. All of the choices you hear in terms of music and effects were carefully selected by Ted and Heather. They once again took multiple performances and weaved them together to create a beautiful soundscape.

Julie: I love collaborating with Kelly because her commitment to production is rivaled only by her dedication to directing them. As producers, we often collaborate with actors, directors, sound editors and quality controllers, but often we don’t get a chance to learn from our fellow producers. I hope that as Kelly and I continue to co-produce, we’re able to further hone our process and work on new projects—like When Stars Are Scattered—that challenge us creatively.

This recording stood out to me for many reasons, but the one that hit me the hardest was the idea of bringing Omar’s life story to an American audience. I hope that this audiobook will expose this generation of kids to a life in a refugee camp that looks so unlike theirs, and at the same time promotes compassion and understanding. Perhaps it’s because I’m an auditory learner, but listening to Omar’s story made it resonate with me on another level. There are tough scenes, in which Faysal’s voice breaks, and viscerally I felt like Omar was right there sharing his very personal story with me. More than anything, I hope those emotionally raw moments resonate with listeners.

Kelly: Yes, Julie makes such a good point here. When I was prepping this book, my 10-year-old son kept popping over and asking if he could read it next. I think he saw the format (graphic novel) and saw it as immediately accessible. It struck me as quite profound that a book about Somalian refugees could be of interest to an American kid. What Vicki and Omar have done is quite remarkable, using the graphic novel format to tell this emotionally complex story and make it accessible to kids. The line “No one chooses to be a refugee” has stayed with me, when I first read it, and especially when I heard it, and I think it’s so important that my son hear that line too and really let it resonate and find meaning. I’m so glad to have worked with Julie on this project, as she shares the same deep passion for great text. We were able to geek out together about how much we loved this book, and later, how much we loved our production.

This interview was conducted and sponsored by Penguin Random House Audio. 

When Stars Are Scattered, by Omar Mohamed and Newbery Honor-winning author and artist Victoria Jamieson, tells the true story of Omar Mohamed’s childhood in a refugee camp in Kenya, caring…

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