Michael Baron talks about his debut novel, When You Went Away

Michael Baron's debut novel, When You Went Away, is set in New York and centers on the grief of Gerry Rubato following the death of his wife and the disappearance of his daughter.  The novel follows Gerry as he deals with his grief and attempts to take care of his infant son, Reese.

However, When You Went Away is about how we each can lose our way when we lose someone close to us and how we find our way back to ourselves and our families.  Savvy Verse & Wit says, "Readers will embark upon a meditative journey with Gerry and Reese as Gerry works through the loss of his wife, the realization that love can find you at the most inopportune moments, and the harsh realities of repairing a relationship with his lost daughter."

Michael Baron, who writes nonfiction under his real name, took time out of his busy schedule to answer a few questions.

When You Went Away is your first fiction novel after many years of writing nonfiction.  How much of this novel is nonfiction?  And how long did it take you to complete from the first inspiration to final proof?

The setup of the novel is very much fictional. I'm not a widow and I've never had to raise an infant on my own. Still, as is the case, I think, with all fiction, much of it is informed by personal experience. I put Gerry in that situation because I wanted to write about fatherhood, and many of the fathering stories come from my life. I've also been through the experience of being the "other parent," so much of the writing about Gerry's relationship with Tanya comes from that.

Ultimately, this is a novel about a man rediscovering himself. Since that was that case, I wanted to start the novel at the point where he was most lost. The most challenging part of doing so was making Gerry's relationships with Maureen and Tanya real since I had to do so much of it in flashback. I'll let the reader tell me if I succeeded.

As a dedicated family man, how much of Gerry's actions regarding Tanya are how you would handle a runaway teenager and her older boyfriend?  And how much of those actions seem misguided to you?

I've had people say to me that they didn't think Gerry tried hard enough to find Tanya after she ran away. In reality, it's fairly easy to drop off the grid if you want to disappear, and it's a very big country. Gerry tried very hard to find Tanya and even hired a PI to locate her. Then he had to accept that he couldn't. 

The huge mistake that Gerry made, one I would like to believe I wouldn't make myself, was in losing communication with his daughter at the most critical time. When Tanya hooks up with her dangerous boyfriend and starts to change in front of Gerry's eyes, he becomes offended by the way she treats him rather than reaching out to her. I'd like to believe that I would have handled that differently, that I would have gotten past my personal feelings to realize that I needed to intervene lovingly before the situation got out of control.

In your biography on your website, you indicate that you were an English teacher with a lot of dynamism.  Please describe one of these dynamic moments in the classroom.

I liked to keep things very loose in the classroom. I was always walking around while I taught, sometimes addressing the entire class from the back of the room, sometimes sitting on a student's class in the middle of the room. I felt that if I kept moving, I could keep the kids from becoming bored. Of course, this also created an overall sense of looseness in the class. My classes were always very loud, and not only because I had a big voice. Some administrators had issues with that.

Stay tuned for more of this interview on Oct. 22, 2009

Check out these reviews of Michael Baron's novel, When You Went Away: Savvy Verse & Wit, Long and Short Reviews, and Cheryl's Book Nook.