Both women in the book have to learn to let things grow and die at their own natural pace. Relationships, especially occurring in pairs, are central to the novel: Ideas of trust and love, honesty and lying, forgiving and growing up arise within the various formulations of these pairings.
How did you discover her sensibility—from her humor and her anger to her eventual understanding of her marriage and her place in Menamon? I once had a relationship where I just felt like I was failing all the time. Everything I did was wrong. And I learned a lot of things from that. In the following drafts of the book I gave this experience to Leah in an amplified way and suddenly she was no longer nice or competent. As we all are. She is not necessarily a blanket-likeable woman, but I hope that a lot of readers will see the truth in her and respond well to that.
Quinn will eventually meet her father, the famous musician Carter Marks, and discover her own talent for music; Leah will decide where she stands, even if in disagreement with Henry; and the town will gather in the local bar and on the town green to work against the forces that threaten a longtime way a life. When juggling all of the parts that create a whole—in light of character arcs and plot lines, pivotal moments and scenes—how do you keep track?
I invented the place and the people and the relationships… seeded some conflicts… and then I figured out how they all worked together from there. Imagery plays a role in terms of the characters. Quinn describes Rosie in a halo of light with moths circling and landing in her hair. Tell us how you come upon imagery as it relates to your characters.
Julian Barnes
There are lots of reasons to write, but for me, most things begin with an image. Blood-brown lobsters in an old bathtub. A moon hanging low so it looks like its sitting on a hill.
A swarm of moths around a head. Someone fingering a glass taxidermy eye their pocket.
The From-Aways by C.J. Hauser
These are things I see in my head and I want to make them so that other people can see them too. And if you get it right, the meaning will follow. Suspense builds slowly as we discover the characters we thought we knew are doing unexpected things. This is not a whodunit.
The From-Aways: A Novel
We know who , but we are trying to understand why. Sometimes we can empathize, but sometimes we feel critical. We would do better, be wiser. The From-Aways is also a story of the interaction between place and personality. Henry is a product of the hardscrabble fishing village where he grew up surrounded by friends and a loving family.
Leah is a city girl who sees Menamon as the home she never felt she had with her emotionally distant parents. Her relationship with Henry is inextricably tied up with her attraction to his New England roots. Hauser, who grew up in Reading, Connecticut, and moved to New York, where she attended Brooklyn College, understands the allure of both city and village life.
The From-Aways
She speaks to the dichotomy of small-town life: The writing is well crafted and rings true in the analytic, educated, urbanized voice of Leah, as well as in the raw, hard-edged, boozy voice of Quinn. Hauser forms beautiful, multilayered images. Santore is a freelance writer and editor in Fairfax, Virginia. Support the Independent by purchasing this title via our affliate links: Book Review in Fiction More.
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