The alligator scene was my favorite to write. It never ceases to amaze me how some passages can take ages and be painstaking to complete, and other scenes seem to erupt fully formed in a single sitting, as was the case with the gator scene. I was laughing maniacally the entire time as I wrote it—though I wouldn’t expect most readers to find it very funny. It was one of those rare and blissful writing moments that feel like riding a wave. You don’t understand the mechanics; you just try to keep up and enjoy yourself.
How and why did you choose to set this story in the 1990s instead of the present?
Technology changes so much and so fast nowadays that I struggle to feel rooted enough in the present to capture it on the page. I’m especially clueless about how today looks and feels to younger generations. In the 1990s I was in grade school through early high school, so it was easier for me to imagine the lives of the children in the book in roughly that timeframe. I don’t know what it would be like to have a Facebook account at age thirteen, but I do know what it was like to operate a VCR. Once I started writing the story in that time period, various logistics became important to the plot. For example, characters don’t have cell phones but are able to dial *69 (for Caller ID), so the nineties ended up feeling both right and necessary.
Your descriptions of Fripp Island are stunning! There are the fancy golf courses and swimming pools, but the natural beauty of the island also comes through and is integral to the book—the crabs and gators, the beach, the ocean, the swamp. Can you tell us about your own experience with Fripp Island and what inspired you to set the novel there?
Thank you! My mother-in-law has family roots in South Carolina and an aunt who had a home on Fripp Island. That house is no longer in the family, but the island has remained a beloved destination, and we spent a week there several years ago. I was absolutely enchanted! Also, I learned right away that when crossing the bridge to enter the island, you have to either be a homeowner or provide some sort of proof that you’re an authorized guest, which instantly gave me a sense of intrigue and isolation and story. The island is extraordinarily beautiful; the Vietnam War scenes from Forrest Gump were filmed there, as was The Jungle Book from the 1990s.
The book’s narration is occasionally overtaken by a ghost—throughout the novel, too, there is a sense of haunting, of the Other, with characters pondering the existence of ghosts, sharing folk stories, conspiracy theories, and lore. How did you decide to include a ghostly narrator? Are any of the Fripp Island–specific tales real?
Nope! Well, they’re “real” ghost stories, but not specific to Fripp Island.
I’m intrigued by the conflict and overlap between facts and feelings, especially as they pertain to memory, and this theme is explored in the book by both the living and the ghost. The ghost mentions at one point that the living are trying to recall the facts and feelings of their lives, and later mentions that it is actually a relief, in death, to be freed of the burden of feelings and “the belief that everything that originates from within you is true, can be trusted, and must be acted upon.” I don’t necessarily believe that intuition or emotions are what separate us in our human form from the Other, but it’s something I enjoyed considering as I created the ghost voice.
In terms of the characters, you introduce such a range, in terms of age, class, and life experience. Was it tricky bouncing between so many different perspectives? Were there any that felt particularly difficult to write?
I get bored quickly, so it’s best if I have several minds and hearts and sets of eyes to bounce between as I’m exploring a scene. I find it harder to write males, so you may notice that although I’ll include insights from male perspectives, I tend not to linger there. The three girls, Rae, Kimmy, and Alex, were the easiest and most enjoyable to write, as all three contain specimens from my own childhood, from the swimsuit made to look like acid-washed denim to baiting hooks with night crawlers.
This is your third book. In what ways was the process different this time around?
The manner in which I became acquainted with my characters was different with this book, which is more of an ensemble story. In my first two novels, there was a clear protagonist from the outset, and my goal was to chase the story surrounding that character, with their emotional life at the helm of every decision I made. In this book, I started off with a cast of characters and a central mystery, which is introduced in the prologue, but when I started writing the first draft, I hadn’t yet decided how it would shake out. So I was unearthing multiple characters as I wrote (while they were unearthing one another), without a preordained hierarchy as to which narrative and whose voice would prove most critical to the story. Also, my first and second books both spanned several decades, whereas ninety percent of the action in this book takes place over the course of three days, give or take. One of the early challenges was learning how to draw out time without decelerating the pace of the narrative. In other words, I needed to figure out how to make time become slow without letting it feel slow to the reader, which was a new skill to consider and develop.
Do you have any hobbies, and if so, do they contribute to your creative work in any way?
Hiking, running, reading, fly-fishing, Dungeons & Dragons, cooking (or, more often, watching my husband cook), houseplants, fantasy football.
My experience has been that nearly everything I do away from my computer has the potential to enrich creative thinking. Solitary outdoor activities are when I’m best able to quiet my mind and focus on one thing for a very long time. Dungeons & Dragons sharpens my understanding of story and helps me approach problem-solving differently. Any scenario where I’m challenged—socially, physically, intellectually, or otherwise—helps me become more adaptable, which is absolutely essential to novel-writing. I’ll concede that fantasy football adds nothing to my creative life but is merely an exercise in weekly self-flagellation.
Reading Group Guide
Questions for Discussion
Much of the conflict in this story is centered around wrongful assumptions and/or a fundamental misunderstanding of people who are different. How do characters navigate their misunderstandings successfully, or unsuccessfully? What are the ripple effects of either outcome?
How are class, gender, or age differences conveyed in the dialogue and thought processes of each character? How does the author emphasize differences or similarities in perspective?
The author includes many memorable physical descriptions of people and places. Talk about the way they’re woven into the text, and how they affected your understanding of the characters.
Two very different marriages are represented in this story. How are both of these relationships impacted by the events of the book? How do both relationships affect the lives of their children, and their children’s relationships?
“She wanted to know that her life could be her home.” Fripp Island becomes a temporary home to the visitors, but for Keats and Roxie, the island is a home they look forward to leaving. In which ways do the characters find what they think they want in a home and in their lives on the island? In which ways do they feel unsettled?
There is a strong current of anxiety throughout the novel. Lisa feels a sense of “doom,” and Poppy is “consumed by thoughts of her husband’s death.” Compare and contrast their worries about themselves and their relationships.
Kimmy is keenly interested in issues of faith and seeks information and answers from those around her. How do you see her spirituality change over the course of the book? How does spirituality shift for other characters?
“Over time, she accepted the fact that the price for this great love was this great fear. Love’s unfortunate alter ego.” This realization is from Poppy’s perspective, but does the inextricable link between love and fear ring true for other characters as well? If so, which ones, and how?
This novel wrestles with the possibility that people are often punished for the wrong acts and/or for the wrong reasons. Which characters suffered on account of events that
were not their fault, and which characters evaded punishment for real acts of wrongdoing? What does redemption and forgiveness look like?
The epigraph and various passages in the book allude to the feeling of being somehow ill suited for this world or at odds with one’s own existence. In what ways do you believe this dynamic factored into the story?
Much of the novel takes place over the course of three days—yet time moves differently toward the end, and even jumps into the future, beyond the island. Discuss why you think the author may have chosen to do this, and what are its effects on the narrative and on the emotional arc of the novel?
The epilogue includes this phrase: “in one instant the universe gave up all its secrets, showed its full hand, pulled back the curtain, and laid itself bare right before me.” What do you believe this is referring to?
About the Author
© Rachel Herr
Rebecca Kauffman received her MFA in creative writing from New York University. She is the author of The Gunners and Another Place You’ve Never Been, which was long-listed for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. Originally from rural northeastern Ohio, she now lives in Virginia.
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