“That’s right,” Lauren said. “Santa’s elves.”
Sometimes Lauren felt bad for all that Mac had missed. Her family knew about her worries. “My poor baby girl was born in a shed,” Lauren had told them.
“So was baby Jesus,” Sierra had said. Though she had been quick to point out that Mac was no angel. Just a cute kid.
And Rachel had pointed out that children were flexible. Lauren could see that in her daughter’s quick transition to this new life. She was a wonder. Mac’s experiences made Mackenzie O’Neil who she was, just as Lauren’s past was a part of her.
The purple glow of the future glimmered in Lauren’s mind as she smiled down at her daughter. They’d been through so much, but their lights were still shining. That single, beautiful light inside.
Please turn the page
for a special Q and A with
New York Times bestselling author Rosalind Noonan.
Q: Most of your novels have been set on the east coast. All She Ever Wanted takes place in Westchester County, and The Daughter She Used to Be is a New York story. What prompted you to set this novel in Oregon?
A: Since I moved to Oregon nearly a decade ago, my editor, John, has been encouraging me to set a novel out west, and I felt I’d gained enough cultural competence to embrace this locale in a story. The wide open spaces out here lend themselves to a tale of abduction, as there are acres of land that would make good hiding spots, unlike the urban/suburban areas along the east coast that are well-populated. When I lived in Queens, New York, it was hard to imagine how a kidnapper could hold a victim captive without a neighbor or relative finding them. Now I get it.
When I knew I would be writing the story of a girl who’d been imprisoned near her home, I became aware of the gullies and forested acres that surround our city. Nearly every day I walk a trail that cuts through farmland near my house. It’s a public trail, built for runners and walkers and dogs. The area is full of wildlife, with flocks of birds that swoop from tall fir trees, circle neat rows of vegetation, and then loop back to their nests. The farm is open to the public, and some towering ponderosa pines cast deep, dark shade that hints of secrets and fairylands. It’s a lovely path, but much of the land along the trail is clumped with brambles and bushes, stands of trees and old outbuildings half-covered in vegetation. One small house that is obviously occupied has an odd configuration of cloth hanging in the window—some sort of makeshift curtains. Every time I pass by I am sure those are the pajamas of a young girl.
I’m probably wrong about those curtains, and with the number of cars parked outside that house, it’s clear that people are coming and going all the time. Still, I feel a chill from the bushes some afternoons, and I wonder how long it would take to find someone who has been tied up and pulled off the path and dragged into the scrub. At the dip in the valley the path goes over a bridge, and in the rainy season the watershed below becomes a swamp. What might be hidden in the tall, dense grasses there? This is a dangerous question to ask a writer.
Q: This is your fifth novel with Kensington Books. Since your plots mirror life, do your friends ever worry that you might turn their lives into a story?
A: Usually I get the opposite reaction. Some of my friends come to me with amazing stories they want to see in print and others are always looking to see if their name has been dropped into a book. My cousin Karen, whose New Hampshire home inspired parts of my Christmas novella in Making Spirits Bright, would love to see her name in print, along with her husband, Dave, who is such a steadfast romantic he could inspire an entire romance series. My friend Moira was hinting around about seeing her husband, a New York City police detective, in a book, and so he appears in this novel, working for a different law enforcement agency. When I do drop in a name or story thread, it’s just a small homage. I would never try to draw a full portrait of someone I know; fiction needs to morph into its own shape and size.
Q: Much of the backstory of And Then She Was Gone echoes the high profile kidnappings and recoveries of victims like Jaycee Dugard and Elizabeth Smart. Did you research their stories?
A: Early on, when I was pulling together a thumbnail sketch of this novel, I studied the profiles of those kidnappings, as well as information from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The NCMEC has an excellent website, and I appreciated the open, earnest way that Jaycee Dugard recalled her experiences in A Stolen Life: A Memoir. Dugard’s memoir is a testament to her personal courage, resilience, and wisdom.
Throughout my research, a handful of questions persisted in each case I studied. How did the kidnapping happen? What motivated the captor? How was the girl treated? Why didn’t she escape? This last question about escape is not meant as a judgment; it simply seems like the obvious solution for a captive who is not tied by physical bonds. Many asked this question about Elizabeth Smart, who reportedly denied her identity when police questioned her nine months after her abduction.
I learned that the dynamics of a kidnap victim’s relationship with her captor are complex. Many captives stay because they fear for their lives, and would rather live in captivity than die. Furthermore, abductors create an atmosphere of alienation. They physically and mentally dehumanize victims and rob them of their identities. Victims are often given new names and forced to wear disguises. Victims begin to think there is no way to return to the world because their former “self” no longer exists.
The traumatic bond created between victims and kidnappers often keeps them together. This dynamic, this psychological chokehold, makes the actions of Amanda Berry, one of the young women kept captive in a Cleveland house, quite extraordinary. After nearly a decade, she dared to break out and seek help. What an amazing young woman. The news of these three women in Cleveland broke just after I had turned the manuscript of this novel in to my editor. For me, the timing was uncanny. It’s one thing to play the “what if” game and write about terrible turns of events; quite another to read of terrible crimes against three young women.
Ultimately, my goal was not to tell the story of a kidnapping; I was focused on the aftermath. Recovery and reunification. The struggle to let go of regrets, fill in the blanks, and find the new normal. A story of heartbreak and hope—that’s the backbone of the O’Neil family’s journey.
Q: Do you see yourself in any of the characters of this novel?
A: There’s a small piece of me in all the characters. When I write a scene, I try to get under a character’s skin. Sort of like method acting. It’s important that every character have his or her own voice, and the action must be colored by the character’s distinct point of view. Dan’s love for his daughter is different from Rachel’s complicated relationship with Lauren. Paula’s viewpoint is somewhat more clinical and a hell of a lot more down to earth. Sierra’s perspective, which I enjoyed writing, is more impulsive and unfiltered. Maybe I got some help from my teenage daughter on that.
My writing voyages have taken me to some interesting places. Through my characters I have served as a soldier in Iraq, saved lives in a hospital emergency room, and tangled with a serial killer. So when my son asks me how my day went, occasionally I share what I learned about branding cattle or tracking down an infant abductor or defusing a roadside bomb. You might say, “It’s not brain surgery.” Well, actually, some days it is. All in a day’s work.
A READING GROUP GUIDE
AND THEN SHE
WAS GONE
Rosalind Noonan
ABOUT THIS GUIDE
The suggested questions are included to enhance
your group’s discussion of Rosalind Noonan’s
And Then She Was Gone.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Although stranger abduction is one of a parent’s worst nightmares, most abducted children are kidnapped by their own parents or relatives. Are there ways that society might safeguard children from people like Kevin Hawkins? Discuss the balance between warning children of “stranger danger” and allowing them a modicum of trust towa
rd their community.
2. Do you think Rachel’s decision to let Lauren walk home from school was irresponsible? Have you ever made a “responsible” choice that you regretted later?
3. Kidnapped at age eleven, Lauren was held captive in semi-isolation for six years. Discuss the important stages of development she “missed” during that time. What life-defining moments do you remember from your teenage years?
4. While in captivity, Lauren nurtured an idealized view of family life by watching videotapes of old television sitcoms. What is the downside of looking for relationship truths in shows like Full House and Seventh Heaven? What positive values might these shows teach a child?
5. In the later years of her captivity, Lauren was not handcuffed or locked inside by Kevin Hawkins. What kept her from fleeing the compound?
6. Rachel believed that the terrible ordeal would be over once her daughter was found. Instead, the young woman who was rescued did not want to return to her family. What expectations should society have toward recovered captives? Should women of legal age be pressured to return to their families of origin? Why or why not?
7. When Lauren tries to re-assimilate with her family, her mother is the one person she finds it hard to bond with. “I know Mom can be a pain in the ass,” Sierra tells Lauren, “but she does mean well. She loves you a lot.” Although Lauren knows this is true, the feelings of resentment and betrayal prevail. Why does Lauren feel so much anger toward her mother? Do you think Rachel’s personality makes their breach worse, or does it help them mend their relationship?
8. In therapy, Lauren learns about finding balance in life. “Male and female, darkness and light, cold and hot, evil and good. At first she had told Wynonna that she wanted to be only yang, the sunny side of the slope. But Wynonna pointed out that the sun always moves across the slope, obscuring what was revealed and revealing what was hidden.” Discuss the interplay between yin and yang. Do you agree with Wynonna’s assertion that “We appreciate the sunlight more when we’ve been living in darkness”?
9. In the past, conventional therapy has not worked for Dan, who “was not an advocate of wasting time on a shrink’s couch. Too invasive, too touchy-feely, and way too expensive.” What elements of Wynonna’s program appealed to him? How could conventional psychotherapy be adapted to better suit clients?
10. The use of horses as a therapeutic aid dates back to ancient Greece. This therapy developed Lauren’s cognitive skills as well as establishing a relationship of trust between horse and rider. From playing ball with a horse to teaching it how to deal with fear, what was the most interesting aspect of this therapy for you?
11. What do you think Lauren will be doing five years after the story ends? What sort of career/future do you envision for Sierra?
12. If you were producing And Then She Was Gone as a movie, who would you cast as Lauren? What actress has the nurturing quality and hard drive of Rachel? Who do you see as Dan? Sometimes attractive villains are the most devastating. Who would you cast as Kevin Hawkins?
KENSINGTON BOOKS are published by
Kensington Publishing Corp.
119 West 40th Street
New York, NY 10018
Copyright © 2014 by Rosalind Noonan
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
Kensington and the K logo Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.
ISBN: 978-0-7582-7499-1
eISBN-13: 978-1-61773-026-9
eISBN-10: 1-61773-026-2
First Kensington Electronic Edition: January 2014
And Then She Was Gone Page 29