Peeking Between the Pages

...escape into the pages of a good book

A Chat with Karen White, author of Falling Home & GIVEAWAY

by


Falling Home by Karen White is available on November 2/10. From Karen’s website: In this revamped edition of the book originally published in 2002, Karen brings her readers to small-town Georgia where “everybody is somebody” and attempts to answer the question, “Can you really ever go home again?”. I haven’t had a chance to read my copy but really hope to soon as Karen is one of my favorite authors and this is one I haven’t had a chance to read yet. In the meantime I’m pleased to welcome Karen White here to Peeking Between the Pages for a little chat about hometowns, writing and her new novel, FALLING HOME—

Karen, many people spend their lives trying to get away from their hometowns. You’ve spent much of your life searching for one. Why? What does “hometown” mean to you?

A “hometown” is what all my cousins had—a place where they went to school with the same people from kindergarten through high school, where everybody knew their name—at school, at the grocery store, getting a traffic ticket. I’m sure the grass is always greener and all that, but I’ve always thought that to have a place like that to go home to had to be the best part of life.

You’ve lived in major cities and metropolitan areas—including in the UK and South America. Yet, you’ve coveted your grandmother’s town, Indianola, Mississippi, for much of your life. What do you find to be the best about each—the cities you’ve lived in and the towns you’ve coveted?

The places I’ve lived in have given me a wonderful global perspective—and made me appreciate what we have here in the States (and if you didn’t think you’d miss 24 hour stores, you’re in for a big surprise!). It also allowed me to do an almost anthropological study of my Southern relatives and their hometowns, enabling me to see them as an outsider would. If I’d grown up amongst them, I wouldn’t be able to appreciate their unique qualities, not to mention their accents.

Where did you get the inspiration for Walton, the fictional town at the center of FALLING HOME? Which came first—the plot and its conflict looking for a home? Or “Walton” followed by thoughts of what you could make happen there?

Nothing comes to me sequentially, but usually a setting and the main protagonist and her “problem” are the first things that settle in my mind when starting a book. I believe (to a point) in the adage of “write what you know.” I’d never lived in a small Southern town, but I’d visited them enough growing up to believe I could write about one as if I had. So I made up Walton—but it’s based on several real towns including Indianola, Mississippi and Monroe, Georgia.

You’ve explored family conflict in many of your novels, you deal with a range of family dynamics, and you cross gender and generations in your work. It seems mother and daughter, and sister-to-sister relationships have most frequently played a role in your books. Do you agree? And, if so, what pulls you in that direction?

I was raised with three brothers so of course I always wanted a sister. I spent a lifetime studying the sister relationships of my mother and my aunts, as well as those of my friends with sisters. I think it was inevitable that I people my stories with sisters.

As for the mother-daughter relationship, well, being a mother AND daughter I can definitely relate on a personal level. It is, I believe, the most complex of all relationships. It’s somewhat reassuring to know that there’s at least one thing in my books that I don’t have to go very far to research!

Can you imagine any situation in which you would cut off relationships with family members as Cassie did?

I’m a middle child, meaning I avoid conflict at all cost. If somebody slighted me, I would go to great lengths to get that person to like me. So, no, I can’t imagine what circumstances would compel me to do that. However, if I’d been in Cassie’s shoes, I don’t know if I’d behave any differently.

FALLING HOME is so compelling in its use of unrequited love—Cassie’s for Joe, Sam’s for Cassie, Harriet’s for Cassie, and the decades Miss Lena spent alone. What makes these emotions so powerful, and so difficult to diffuse?

I think it’s because we can all relate to a broken heart which is, at any level, unrequited love. It’s so painful to love someone or want something so badly, and knowing that the desire is not returned. It is the most elemental pain—and can start as early as not being picked for a kickball team on the school yard playground.

In FALLING HOME, you don’t seem to dwell on the negative, even as you tackle your characters’ conflict, pain, disappointments and challenges. Somehow you manage to maintain emotional and sometimes polarizing plot threads while still emphasizing positives such as loyalty, love, and triumph. Do you think this is true? And is this something you’re conscious of doing in this and other of your novels?

I don’t know if it’s a conscious thing; I do know that my characters tend to emulate the same kinds of characteristics I try to maintain in my real life. I don’t believe that a disappointment is the end of the road, or that loss negates any of life’s meaning. I’ve also learned—although usually kicking and screaming—that all of life’s challenges are learning experiences and that life isn’t fair. Deal with it and move on. It sure beats the alternative.

For readers who are first discovering you through FALLING HOME, please recommend which of your novels they should read next. And—for those of us who have been happily following Melanie and Jack from THE HOUSE ON TRADD STREET and THE GIRL ON LEGARE STREET—when will we see them again? Lastly, what is going to hit bookshelves next? And when?

Hopefully, the sequel to FALLING HOME, AFTER THE RAIN, will be rereleased in the near future. In the meantime, I’d suggest LEARNING TO BREATHE, another book set in a small Southern town, but this one in Louisiana.

As for the Tradd Street series, there will be two more books out in 2011 and 2013, respectively. I’ve already started writing number 3, and it is tentatively entitled THE TURRET ON MONTAGU STREET.

My next book, out in May 2011, will be THE BEACH TREES, set in pre-Camille New Orleans and post-Katrina Biloxi, Mississippi.
__________

Thank you so much for a wonderful chat Karen. I for one am really looking forward to reading Falling Home and am one of those fans who can’t wait for another Tradd Street book!
__________

About the Book (from Karen White’s Website)

Cassie Madison, estranged from her sister, returns home to be with her dying father, intending to leave the sleepy Georgia town immediately after his funeral. Unexpectedly, she inherits the family home. Now she has to stay in Walton until it sells…which happens to be just long enough for her to learn how the power of family, memories and a former love can lead to the most amazing discoveries.

About the Author (from Karen White’s website)


After playing hooky from school one day in the seventh grade to read Gone With the Wind, I knew I wanted to be a writer—or become Scarlett O’Hara. In spite of these aspirations, I grew up to pursue a degree in business and graduated cum laude with a BS in Management from Tulane University.

I have always been a voracious reader and was encouraged by my teachers to write ever since elementary school. Writing a book was always in the back of my mind, but definitely something I’d “do later when I have time.”

One day in 1996 when my children were just babies, I decided it was time and started writing my first book. When I had a few chapters written, I sent it in to a writer’s contest and by some miracle it won. The finalist judge was a New York literary agent and she offered to represent me. That first book, In the Shadow of the Moon, was sold and then published in 2000. It was a double finalist in Romance Writers of America’s prestigious RITA award.

I have since published eleven award-winning novels, including The Girl on Legare Street which debuted at #31 on the New York Times bestseller list. I have four more books scheduled including the next two books in the Tradd Street series (in 2011 and 2013, respectively). My next Southern women’s fiction (“grit lit”) novel, On Folly Beach, will be published in May 2010.

While growing up, I lived in London, England and am a graduate of the American School in London. I currently live in sunny Georgia with my husband and two children. When not writing, I spend my time reading, singing, scrapbooking, carpooling children and avoiding cooking.
__________

GIVEAWAY DETAILS

I have 1 copy of Falling Home by Karen White to share with my readers courtesy of the publisher (thank you). Here’s what you can do to enter:

  • For 1 entry leave me a comment with a way to contact you.
  • For 2 entries blog or tweet this guest post/giveaway to spread the word.

This giveaway is open to US & Canadian residents only (no PO boxes) and I will be drawing for the winner on Saturday, November 6/10. Good luck everyone!

© 2010, Darlene of Peeking Between the Pages. All Rights Reserved. If you’re reading this on a site other than Peeking Between the Pages or Darlene’s Feed, be aware that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. I would love to be entered to win this book. As someone who has always lived in Georgia, I'm curious to see how accurately she portrayed the South. Plus the story itself sounds good.

    ~Briana
    thebookpixie[at]yahoo[dot]com

  3. This sounds interesting, I'd love to win this book 🙂
    Thanks for this chance!

    My e-mail is:
    estrella [dot] azul20 [at] gmail [dot] com

  5. I received a copy of this book (a surprise!) and I really hope to get to it soon. My mom is also a HUGE fan of Karen. I always love hearing from her…she always comes across so friendly. And I can attest she is the same in real life, having seen her at SIBA!

  7. Love the cover. I would love to win and read this book! Thanks for the chance!! schaefer7382 at aol dot com

  9. Karen White has been on my list of authors I need to try since first reading a review of The House on Tradd Street. I love books set in the South, and would love to win this novel. Thanks for the giveaway.
    lcbrower40(at)gmail(dot)com

  10. Wonderful interview! I've had the chance to meet Karen twice and she is so warm and kind. It's funny that she's longed for a hometown. Vance just told us the other night that he thought it would be strange to live in the same place your whole life. No need to enter me.

  12. I also got the chance to meet Karen at SIBA with Kathy, and she is just a really nice and warm person. Her books sounds great, and I would love to be entered in your giveaway. I will also be excited to see what you think of the book when you read it, Dar!

    zibilee(at)figearo(dot)net

  17. A “hometown” is what all my relatives back in PA and friends in MN had – and I wished our family had! Book sounds so intriguing – a must read for me.

    kpbarnett1941[at]aol[dot]com

  21. I love books about family dynamics and have just moved to the South so I would like to know more about it is different from other regions.

    Thank you for the giveway.

    CarolNWong(at)aol(dot)com

  27. Thanks for the contest.

    Please enter my name in the giveaway for the book. Thanks!

    pboylecharley AT hotmail DOT com

  31. Great interview…don't enter me because I have a copy too and I can't wait to get to it soon!!

  32. I am so excited to see that the next Tradd Street book will be out next year! Can't wait to read it.

    Now I just need to acquaint myself with some of the other books from this author!

    Don't enter me in the contest as I am not eligible.

  33. I would love to read Falling Home. Please enter me in this giveaway!

    familyhistree at yahoo dot com

    Sarah E

  35. I would love to win a copy of this book. I have a US address. I'm going to Mississippi end of this year so I'd love to be able to read this book. Thanks for the giveaway!

  36. Home is certainly a great subject! I would love to win this wonderful sounding novel. Thanks for the chance!
    JHolden955(at)gmail(dot)com

  39. I really enjoyed On Folly Beach by Karen White and want to read more of her books! Falling Home sounds like another wonderful story. Please enter me in your giveaway!

    Thank you for hosting this giveaway!
    ~ Amy
    Aimala127 AT gmail DOT com

  42. How fun to find this in my feed – I've been on such a Karen White binge lately! She answered my question about new books in the Tradd Street series – now just have to wait it out! Please enter me for this one

    the roundfile at live dot com

  44. I've heard a lot of good things about Karen White's books. I would love to read this one. It sounds really good!
    mittens0831 at aol dot com

  46. This sounds like a really good read! I just added the title to my " to read" list. I would love to win a copy. Please enter me. thank you!

    lovemykidsandbooks AT gmail DOT com

  51. As a mis-placed and displaced Southerner I love books by southern authors and set in the south. Please enter me.
    pamhastings1 at gmail dot com

  54. I would love to win this book. I find books written about the south very interesting. Please enter me. Thanks!

    ayancey(at)dishmail(dot)net