This was one blog tour I didn't want to miss - Sweet Breath of Memory remains one of my favourite books of the year. You can read my review here but as part of the blog tour, I give Ariella Cohen a warm welcome to my blog as I ask her some questions about her fantastic debut novel.
I
would like to welcome Ariella Cohen to my blog as I ask her a few
questions about her wonderful book Sweet Breath of Memory. I was
privileged to be invited to read this book before it was published
and consider it one of my favourite books of 2016.
Sure;
and thanks for inviting me to chat, Michelle. Sheila, the character
who owns Vitelli’s Grocery, would say that Sweet
Breath of Memory
is a bit like her lasagna – colorful comfort food with layers of
flavor. Although satisfying enough on their own, those layers are
best savored together. The people of fictional Amberley are like
that – spicy, meaty characters who work well as a team.
The
newcomer to town is war widow Cate who views Amberley as a new page
on which to rewrite her life. And remake herself. In the nature of
things, Cate becomes a catalyst for change, stirring the pot by
shining a light on Amberley’s past.
Q: Can
you also tell us a bit about yourself?
That’s
always the toughest question! I grew up in suburban New Jersey, the
youngest of four. Mum was a single parent who worked all the hours
God sent. A librarian and primary school teacher, she filled our
house with books. I can’t remember learning how to read so it must
have been early on. One of my favorite books as a child was Mister
Pine’s Purple House.
It tells the story of Mr. Pine who lives at the end of a long block
of white houses. After he paints his purple, neighbors follow suit.
Mr. Pine then paints his house white. The nonconformity message
resonated with me loud and clear – Mum’s doing. She believed
that, just as books unlock doors in the mind, education unlocks
society’s doors. We were each encouraged to go to university and
on to graduate school. I became a lawyer with a large firm in New
York City but am now privileged to be a full-time caregiver for Mum.
I’m
a self-taught writer; I didn’t study literature at university and
I’m not in a writing group. This new profession is both the most
wonderful thing I’ve ever done and the toughest. What drives me to
revise and rework a project is the desire to give my characters the
life they deserve.
I
read a lot of lovely prose about women falling to bits when death
shreds their lives, but the truth is that most of us DON’T fall
apart even after losing the people we love most. We may huddle for a
time, sobbing and broken, but then reality knocks. We feel hungry,
the dog wants a walk, and the children start crying. So we get up
and do the things that need doing. Some days it’s a matter of two
steps forward, one step back. Others, we’re virtual zombies. But
we keep moving forward; we’re animals, after all, bred for
survival. Although a source of pride, this rebuilding rests on a
foundation of guilt, for we question whether our ability to move on
means our love was somehow flawed. How can
we continue living after the death of a loved one? How can the world
keep spinning and birds keep chirping? The novel explores these
questions in a number of ways.
My
‘favorite’ tends to change with my mood. At the moment, I’m
gravitating toward MaryLou, the always-speak-your-mind iconoclast.
MaryLou’s a risk-taker who gambles on love and tells the truth even
when it costs her. She’s funny, a loyal friend and lots of fun.
Her unfiltered personality was a joy to write, as she represses
nothing. And she’s also a skilled mechanic – something that is
completely beyond me. MaryLou is the sort of friend you would go
into combat with; just don’t eat lunch with her, as she’ll steal
the food from your plate!
Quite
some time as the characters developed over many years. I initially
wrote so many characters that Amberley got a bit overcrowded. Sadly,
those who didn’t make the cut are waiting on the literary sidelines
– a binder on my kitchen table. I plan to spring them from
captivity for the sequel.
Developing
Miriam’s storyline took time; she’s a Holocaust survivor and I
was concerned that her narrative might overshadow the rest. It was a
balancing act of sorts to intertwine her tale with so many others.
Those
were the toughest bits of the book, both due to the subject matter
and because I wanted the novel to be issue and
voice driven. My goal was a book club title that celebrates the
timeless value of community and
addresses timely issues of war and its aftermath. Regarding the
Holocaust, I tried to narrow the focus such that the detail wouldn’t
be overwhelming. There’s a takeaway, but it’s one that readers
should be able to carry without feeling too weighed down, if you take
my meaning. The challenge with respect to the Iraq War was quite
different as I decided to explore its inherent ambiguity – were our
allies really allies; are children culpable for terrorist acts; does
combat fundamentally change a soldier or simply strip him to the
core? Unlike the moral certainty underpinning America’s struggle
in WWII, the Iraq conflict was coloured in shades of grey. As the
goal posts moved and the rules of engagement shifted, victory and
defeat were redefined, sometimes daily. That sense of uncertainty
was tough to fit on the page.
Protagonist
war widow, Cate
– Emily Blunt, Sandra Bullock or Drew Barrymore. Each has that
wonderful combination of vulnerable and feistiness.
Father
Sullivan –
My first choice is Alan Alda. Liam Neeson could also do it quite
well and it would be nice to see him in a nonviolent role. Richard
Gere would make an awesome priest.
Amberley’s
ornery ex-mayor and matriarch, Beatrice
– Helen Mirren or Olympia Dukakis.
Italian
grocery owner, Sheila
– Katey Sagal – an American TV actress who would be perfect for
the role. (Brilliant choice, Ariella - Katey is known for playing Gemma in Sons of Anarchy but I'll always think of her as Peg in Married...with Children)
Empathetic
diner owner, Gaby
– ONLY Cate Blanchett. If she’s not available, we wait until she
is.
Tough-as-nails
mechanic, MaryLou
– Susan Sarandon.
Hardware
store owner, Peter
– Scott Glenn.
Yes!
I’m hard at work on the sequel. All the Amberley folks will be
back, although a funeral and a wedding will reshape the town. New
businesses will open and we’ll meet three new characters:
-
Sara, Sheila’s chef daughter, who finds herself unexpectedly back
in her hometown coping with her parents’ expectations and her own
disappointments.
-
Penny, a victim of spousal abuse who finds refuge in the ordered
universe of accounting because, “Numbers are solid things that
don’t need talking to or tending. They can’t be twisted around
like words. The colour bleeds out of words when the people who said
them change. But numbers – they stay put. Always add up.”
-
Ben, a mechanic who works for MaryLou. Ben is mute and a favorite of
the Amberley Diner’s owner who observes that, “Although what most
people said wasn’t worth listening to, there was a quality to Ben’s
silence one couldn’t hear anywhere else.”
Thank
you very much for answering my questions and good luck with your
book.
Thank
you, Michelle!
Don't wait a minute longer - you MUST buy this book! Head over to any of the retailers below and add to your basket.
About Ariella
Ariella Cohen is a graduate of Columbia University, the Hebrew University and the University of Michigan Law School. Although she makes her home in New England, her dream self resides in County Mayo, Ireland. She believes in the healing power of cat purrs, coffee and almond cookies. Sweet Breath of Memory is her debut novel and she's hard at work on the sequel.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ariella_cohen
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