Kim Edward’s debut novel, The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, was a huge hit, a #1 New York Times bestseller that challenged and entertained millions of readers around the world – especially the LA Books Examiner.
Intrigued by the book’s horrifying premise (a 60’s-era doctor delivering his own twins decides to give away one of his newborns with Down syndrome and tells his wife their daughter has died) I was quickly caught up in the devastating consequences of the doctor’s actions and ended up, thoroughly impressed with the author’s decisions throughout the book, devouring this literary page-turner in one sitting.
Well, I’m pleased to announce that Kim Edwards is back with a new book called The Lake of Dreams, another complex family drama that I look forward to reading.
According to Edwards The Lake of Dreams is “the story of Lucy Jarrett and her discovery of a hidden past, glimpsed first through fragments of old letters and traces left in stained glass windows. Lucy’s quest through the artifacts of history brings her face to face with the dynamics she fled the summer after her father drowned; it compels her to make an inward journey, too, one that will alter her understanding of herself and change the course of her life.”
On Monday, January 24th at 7 p.m., Kim Edwards will be reading and signing her latest book The Lake of Dreams at
Borders Bookstore in Torrance
3700 Torrance Blvd.
(310) 540-7000
In the meantime, check out my revealing interview with bestselling author Kim Edwards:
Q. Your first book, The Memory Keeper's Daughter, was a huge hit, #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. How did your "overnight success" affect your life and your family? And did it affect the way you approached writing your new book, The Lake of Dreams?
A. Happily, I'd started writing The Lake of Dreams even before The Memory Keeper's Daughter was published. I'd discovered Lucy's narrative voice and was beginning to unearth the secret history she discovers of the course of the novel. The wonderful excitement around my first novel interrupted me for a year or so, but when things began to calm down I was very glad to be able to return to Lucy and her story and the mysteries of glass and genealogy.
Q. You write about family secrets and parallel lives, among other themes, and there are some clear parallels between your life and the lives of your lead characters (in terms of the settings of both books and your time in Asia, for instance). How much of yourself and your family appear in your work?
A. Truthfully, not much. I tend to use geographical places I know well because that frees me to focus on imagining the characters. In this novel, I wanted to set the story in the Finger Lakes because they are so beautiful and, since I'd grown up there, I knew and loved the area. The geography led me to the research on stained glass and glass blowing, as well as to the women's suffrage movement. It was absolutely fascinating to delve deeply in the history I'd known only in a glancing way as a child.
Q. You've said that you've always wanted to be, and planned on being, a writer. Looking back, is there anything you would've done differently? What advice do you have for others with the same goal?
A. My path has been rather unconventional--after getting my MFA I taught English as a Second Language in Asia for five years--but I wouldn't change a thing I've done. Leaving the rich literary culture in Iowa City and moving to a small city on the coast of Malaysia was a shock, but it forced me to create a writing discipline, and also gave the freedom to take risks I might not have explored otherwise. It was impossible to submit stories--this was before email--and so I didn't worry about publishing. I just wrote. Letters, journals, stories, essays. And I read deeply and widely. They were years of apprenticeship, when I learned to use the tools of craft I'd gained at Iowa, and I made many artistic leaps. I also gained insight into new world views and perspective, which has fundamentally shaped me as an artist.
Q. I read your first book in two days (one long day really) and I couldn't put it down. What's your writing process? Do you know how the whole story will end before you begin writing or is it a more fluid process?
A. No, I never know in advance how the story will unfold. For me, discovering the story is the thrill of writing. If I knew it all before, it would take the life out of the story. The process is a bit hard to describe--it's a kind of dance between the intuitive discovery of the characters and their stories, and stepping back to do the intellectual shaping of the pieces once they begin to be written. I don't write in a linear way, from start to finish, either, but move around in the narratives as I find pieces of the story. In both of my novels, I was within sight of the end before I knew what that ending would be.
Q. What are your hopes for The Lake of Dreams, and who do you think will benefit most from reading it?
A. One of the pleasures of the success of The Memory Keeper's Daughter was that I got to meet readers--smart, passionate book lovers who live all over the country and the world. It's wonderful to have a sense of that large and vibrant community, and I hope The Lake of Dreams will touch my readers as it moved me in the writing of it. I learned so much about the history of women's suffrage, glass-blowing. the history of women in the church, and genealogy, and I think this book will appeal to people with those interests. The Lake of Dreams is really the story of two women, Lucy Jarrett, who tells the story, and Rose, the forgotten ancestor she discovers. I find Lucy's journey and her discoveries very moving, and I hope my readers will, as well.
Q. More than writers, I admire teachers, and I always like to point out the writers I interview who are also teachers. In fact, both you and your husband were teachers for years. Can you discuss how being a teacher and how the teachers you've worked with have benefitted your life and your career?
A. I love teaching, and know firsthand the impact good teachers have on young writers. I was fortunate enough to study with Frederick Busch and James Alan McPherson, who taught me both about craft and about honoring the integrity of the story and the characters. As for my own teaching, I focus a great deal on revision, because I'm a writer who believes in revision as a means to discovering the heart of a story and honing the language to tell it. During the writing of both of my novels I used writing exercises that I teach to my students. I really do practice what I preach.
Q. What book(s) are you currently reading? Are there any writers you feel deserve more attention than they currently receive?
A. At the moment I'm reading The Voyage Out. I have new anthologies by Alice Munro and William Trevor on my desk, and those will be a treat. Also, Jose Saramago's The Cave. I'm looking forward to more time to read in the coming days than I've had recently. Writing is so absorbing that I tend not to read as much when I'm in the midst of a novel.
Q. What's next for Kim Edwards?
A. I have an idea for a new book. Well, idea might be too concrete and formal a way to put it. Let's just say that I have a book in my peripheral vision--when the time comes to write again, I'll know where to look.
The Lake of Dreams by Kim Edwards (Viking Adult; January 4, 2011, 400 pages).
Read more great author interviews from Frank Mundo, the LA Books Examiner.
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