Pleasant Surprises and Happy Accidents

It's always a pleasant surprise when I received books in the mail. I few weeks ago I received Sea Changes by author Gail Graham. I was fortunate to set up an interview with her and she was gracious enough to take the time and answer the questions I sent over even while out and about in Mexico.



1. What book are you currently reading?

I usually read several books at once. At the moment, I’m reading The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski, which is about a mute boy growing up with his beloved dog Almondine and helping his father and mother run the family kennel; The Language of Miracles by Amelia Kinkade, an animal psychic who runs workshops teaching people how to communicate with their pets; and Return to Dragon Mountain by Jonathan Spence, which is an account of a Chinese scholar and connoisseur who lived during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.
 


2. How did you happen to come across this book?

Stephen King’s recommendation of The Story of Edgar Sawtelle persuaded me to try it, and I have an on-going interest in parapsychology and would love to communicate with my dog Bao, so when I saw The Language of Miracles advertised, I had to have it. As for Return to Dragon Mountain, Jonathan Spence is the best writer I know when it comes to Chinese history, and I buy all his books.



3. What was the last book you read?

The Other, by David Guterson. It was about two rather unprepossessing young men. One of them was a “trust fund” baby who ended up killing himself and leaving all his money to the narrator, to whom it didn’t seem to make much difference. 
 


4. Can you name your favourite book? And why is this your favourite?

A Proper Marriage by Doris Lessing. This book literally changed my life. I was wretchedly unhappy in my first marriage, and (this was in the early sixties) filled with awful guilt feelings about having the temerity and sheer ingratitude to dare to be so unhappy. I thought I was a total misfit, and that it was all my fault. I thought I was some kind of monster. I’d probably still be trapped in that bad marriage, if I hadn’t read this book. It spoke to me. It gave me the courage to leave, and to start over. Kids and all.


 
5. What genre of books do you prefer reading? Do you have a favourite author whose works you gravitate towards?

Well-written books, which often means literary fiction, but includes non-fiction as well. I really enjoy books that transcend or blend genres, so I love Stephen King and P.D. James, although I don’t think of them as “genre” writers. Other favourites are Simon Schama, Peter Ackroyd, James Hamilton-Patterson, Barbara Kingsolver, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Tim Winton, Sarah Waters, Joyce Carol Oates and Ian McEwan.



6. What was your favourite book as a child?

Rusty, A Cocker Spaniel. I read it so many times I knew it by heart. There’s this wonderful scene where Rusty is dying and his owner is sobbing and “almost through the gates of death, Rusty lifts his head and licks the tears from her face.” My own eyes still fill with tears, just thinking about that line. Also, all the books by Gladys Tabberer (who raised cocker spaniels) and Albert Payson Terhune. I absolutely loved dogs, although my parents wouldn’t let me have one.



7. What book growing up was THE book that made you fond of reading/literature?

It wasn’t actually a book. It was a short story, “The Lady or the Tiger” by Frank R. Stockton. I read it in the sixth grade, and it totally blew me away. It was my first experience with ambiguity. I didn’t know writers could do things like that. I thought about that story for months. And I guess I was still thinking about it when I wrote Sea Changes. 
 


8. Was there a particular book or writer that inspired you to write? What was it about this book and/or author that made you want to become a writer yourself?

Goodbye, Columbus by Philip Roth. I always wanted to write, but I didn’t think I could. Most of the novels I’d read up to that point (other than kids books) were about adults in adult and/or exotic situations or about boys – David Copperfield, Tom Sawyer, Oliver Twist – with whom I couldn’t identify. I found heroines like Nancy Drew totally unreal. I didn’t want to write stuff like Nancy Drew, but I couldn’t quite imagine myself writing A Tale of Two Cities or Rebecca, either. I grew up in South Orange, New Jersey. Nothing much happened in South Orange. Suddenly, here’s this book about real kids in a high school that sounded like my school and bar mitzvahs and all this stuff I could identify with. Mrs. Robinson reminded me of my mother’s best friend. I remember thinking, I could write a book like this. I could be a writer.



9. What books did you read as research for your novel Sea Changes, if any?

None, really. It just leapt out of my subconscious.
 


10. Can you please describe a bit of what your book is about?

Sea Changes is about a widow, Sarah Andrews, who finds herself isolated and alone in an unfamiliar, somewhat dystopic society. Then, something happens. Something that is literally impossible. What do you do when something impossible happens to you? How do you react? Do you trust your instincts? Or do you assume you’re crazy? 
 


11. How did you come up with the concept? What made you choose to write about a "sea world" as the second world in the novel? Symbolism?

I meant Sea Changes to be – on one level -- about the concepts of sanity and reality. The idea that sanity is contingent rather than absolute has always intrigued me. Years ago, people who heard voices were considered sages, or prophets. Now, they’re medicated. Some years ago, I saw a BBC documentary about people who believed they’d been abducted by aliens, and the thing that struck me was they were all so ordinary. They weren’t exhibitionists, they weren’t publicity-seekers – in fact, a couple of them were quite inarticulate – they were simply ordinary people who’d had an extraordinary experience. They knew nobody believed them. But they believed themselves. I wondered what that would be like, to have something impossible happen to you, to live with that dichotomy, simultaneously knowing it was impossible and knowing it was true.

As for the sea – it was one of those happy accidents that sometimes occurs when you’re writing fiction. Bantryd appeared, and took story in an entirely different direction from what I’d originally intended. It wasn’t planned. On the other hand, I do love the beach, and the sea.


12. Do you see yourself in the heroine Sarah Andrews? What other infamous storybook heroines would you compare her to/relate her to?

One writes out of one’s own life experiences. At least, I do. And that’s the first thing they tell you: Write about what you know. I was a young widow, and I lived in Australia. So I know about that, I know about loss. I know what it’s like. But although Sarah is my creation, she isn’t me. She’s stronger than I am. She’s an idealization, she’s what I’d like to be.
I suppose I’d compare Sarah to Dorothy (The Wizard of Oz) Alice (Alice in Wonderland) and Wendy (Peter Pan) Although the boys seem to have all the adventures, it’s often the girls who are more willing to suspend belief, to go with the flow and see what happens. 
 



13. There is the element of fantasy in your novel. Would you say that your book emulates "magical realism" characteristics?

Magical realism has had an enormous effect upon my work. I remember reading One Hundred Years of Solitude and thinking, Oh my gosh! You can do this with a novel? You can get away with it? It was as if a thousand creative doors leading to a million possibilities had been flung open, all at once. That’s actually when I started writing Sea Changes – in 1989, after I’d read One Hundred Years of Solitude.
 


14. Which of all your novels do you (or would you) mostly recommend to some first time readers of your work?

I’ve only written one other novel, Crossfire. It’s completely different from Sea Changes, but it won a number of awards and it’s still knocking around on Amazon.
 


15. What books (other than your own novels) do you often recommend to friends? Why?

Whatever I’m reading at the time, although sometimes I don’t exactly recommend things. If I’m reading something I absolutely love, I say so. And if I’m reading something that I don’t particularly like, I also say so. 



16. Do you carry a book around with you everywhere? If not a physical book, do you listen to audio books often? Thoughts on the Kindle?

I never go anywhere without a book, usually a trade paperback.
I’m afraid I don’t much like Kindle. It doesn’t feel like reading; it feels like work. It feels like being in front of the computer. And it’s not tactile. And if I drop it in the pool (or bathtub) I can’t just dry it off.



17. In the book "Ex Libris" by Ann Fadiman that I am currently reading (on and off) she mentions having an "Odd Shelf". It's a collection of books you own that are of a particular genre...but just a really random collection of books whose subject matter is totally unrelated to the rest of the collection in your library. Fadiman's "Odd Shelf" holds 64 books about polar exploration: naval manuals, journals, narratives, collections of photographs, etc. Do you have an "odd shelf" of your own? And if so, on what subject matter? If you do not currently have an "odd shelf" per se, what would your ideal "odd shelf" contain?

My “odd shelf” holds a collection of books about dogs, and animals in general. But mostly dogs. I’ve got books about dog psychology, books people have written about their dogs, books about communicating with dogs, books about “miracle” dogs, a wonderful book about dogs that belonged to monarchs called Reigning Cats and Dogs, books about dogs in art, and exhibition catalogs from art shows that featured paintings of dogs. 
 


18. If you could only have 3 books with you on that wretched hypothetical desert island which would they be? Why?

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire ( three, unabridged volumes) by Edward Gibbon. I’ve been trying to read it all my adult life, and I never manage to get past the first chapter. It’s a work that demands your entire attention. If I was on a desert island, I just might be able to settle down and read the darned thing. 
 


19. If you could adapt any book into a movie which book would it be? Why?

My novel, Crossfire. It’s an incredibly visual book, and as relevant today as when I wrote it. Perhaps, even more so.
 


20. When do you find time to read? Do you have a favourite spot to read at? Can you read in any situation (noisy, crowded, etc.)

I live alone, so I like to read while I eat. I read while I’m having breakfast in bed, and for an hour in the middle of the day, while I’m eating lunch. And I always read in bed at night for an hour or so before I go to sleep. Whenever I have a spare moment I pick up a book – waiting in line at the supermarket, in waiting-rooms, sitting in the restaurant waiting for whoever I’m having lunch with to turn up, in the bathtub, sitting in the car at the border waiting my turn, on airplanes, and in airports. Even in traffic jams.
My favorite places to read are in bed, in my garden or on the beach.
But I can read anywhere. And I do.



21. Can you read in another language? And if not, which language would you like to read/write in?

I read French and Chinese. 



22. Do you have any random reading quirks? (You refuse to write in margins? You hate folder pages or bending the spines? You reflect upon a passage for hours/days?)

I am compulsive about finishing a book once I start it. Even books I don’t like. 



Check out Gail Graham's website

Interested in Sea Changes? Look for a copy at your local library, used book store, general book store, or on Amazon.com