September 2, 2014
*For Fans of Karen White*
From the acclaimed author of The
Secrets She Carried comes a novel about the pull of the past and the power of love. As off-season
begins on the Outer Banks, a storm makes landfall, and three unlikely strangers are drawn together.
Meanwhile, Mary Quinn has become a common sight, appearing each morning on the dunes behind the inn, to stare wistfully out to sea. Lane is surprised to find a friendship developing with the older woman, who possesses a unique brand of wisdom, despite her tenuous grip on reality.
As Lane slowly unravels Mary’s story, and a fragile relationship blooms between her and Michael, Lane realizes the three share a common bond. But when a decades-old secret suddenly casts its shadow over them, Lane must choose between protecting her heart and fighting for the life—and the love—she wants.
Click here to read an excerpt.
__________________________________________________________________________
Barbara Davis is the author of
The Secrets She Carried and currently lives near Raleigh, North Carolina. Visit Barbara online at
www.barbaradavis-author.com,
www.facebook.com/
_____________________________________________________________
Dew
on the Kudzu Interview: Barbara Davis/The Wishing Tide
People are always curious about how writers get started. Could you tell
our readers a little bit about your own journey?
I’ve always
written. In fact, I can’t remember when I didn’t. But there was a time when I
was in the corporate world, about I fifteen years, when writing pretty much
went on the back burner. It was a high-pressure job with long hours and a lot
of travel, which didn’t leave a lot of room for creativity. Then, a corporate
shake up gave me the opportunity to change directions. I decided it was time to
re-connect with my dreams. I’d been percolating on a story for about five
years, one I’d been dying to write, so that’s where I started. I was about
halfway through when I realized I needed to find a circle of writers and get
some feedback. It was time to put myself out there and find out if I was on the
right path. And thank goodness I did. The first night I submitted a piece for
critique a woman approached me after the meeting. She turned out to be a literary
agent scouting new clients. Two weeks later I had an agent. Four weeks after I
finished the manuscript for The Secrets She Carried, I had a two-book deal with
Penguin. It all happened so fast that I’m still pinching myself.
The Wishing Tide is your second novel. How would you say your creative
process changed between the writing of your first novel and this one?
With my first novel I had ideas, lots of them, in fact. I just didn’t
have any sort of plan for how to tie them together into a nice neat story. Needless
to say, there was more than one false start. When the book was finished I
absolutely loved it, but it had taken nearly two years to produce. With book
two, The Wishing Tide, I was under contract, which meant I had a deadline. I
didn’t have two years. I needed to know where I was going before I started. So
I found an outline process that worked for me, and now, before I start writing
I already know every scene that will appear in a book and why. Once the outline
for Tide was finished the book almost wrote itself. I finished it in just ten
months. Lesson learned.
How difficult is it for a girl from New Jersey to become a “southern
writer” and how did you make that choice?
Well, I’d be lying if I said I set out to be a southern writer. What I
did set out to do was write a story about a grave on an old tobacco plantation
in North Carolina. That story eventually became The Secrets She Carried, my
debut novel. In writing one of the main characters, a woman named Adele, I had
to work and rework her voice until I found what I was looking for. The result
was an entirely new feel to my prose, which my publisher happened to love. I’ve
been writing southern ever since. I might have been born in New Jersey, but I
live in Carolina. I write about the south because it feels like home.
One of your characters in this novel is called Dirty Mary. Tell us a
little bit about where the idea for this character came from, and what it was
about her that you found so compelling.
The idea for Mary actually came to me while the hubby and I were on
vacation in Newport, Rhode Island. We were walking along the Cliff Walk when a
weathered old woman fell in with us. We began chatting, and over the course of
the next mile and half, she shared snippets of her story, except I could sense
that there were pieces she was purposely withholding, gaps in the timeline
that, when I asked about them, were neatly sidestepped. By the end of that
walk, I had filled in the blanks for myself, and I knew I was going to write
the story of a woman named Dirty Mary. I wanted to tell the story of a woman
who had seen things, been through things, and had come through to the other
side, scarred but wise—or as Hemmingway put it, stronger at the broken places.
Is there a theme to The Wishing Tide? Something you’d like readers to
carry with them after they’ve turned the last page?
There are several themes that run through The Wishing Tide, but the
main one, the one I hope readers take away from the book, is the importance of
fighting for the life we want, for not settling, or letting other people call
the shots. Too often, people abandon their dreams because someone else has made
other plans for them. The reason I know this is because I was one of those
people. I’ve done a lot of things in my life, most of them because someone else
thought it was a good idea. And for a lot of years I was unhappy. Then I
decided to stop caring what other people think, and go chase my dreams. It
isn’t always easy to swim against the tide, but I honestly believe following
our dreams is why we’re here, and that those dreams, whatever they might be,
are worth fighting for.
Tell us a little bit about what your life looks like when you’re not writing.
I write full time, which means my office is at home, so sometimes it’s
hard to tell when I’m on the clock, and when I’m off. I’m also one of those
people who’s lucky enough to be able to work anywhere, as long as I have my
laptop. Again, this makes it difficult to draw a clean line between work and
play, as I often write in the car, on trips, or even at the beach. I’ve also
been known to plot scenes on a white board while in the hot tub. But when I’m
truly, truly, off work, the hubby and I like to hit the road. Sometimes it’s
just a day trip. We pull out the map, pick some place we’ve never been, and off
we go. We explore local shops and restaurants, and are always on the lookout
for new wineries. When we can get away for longer stretches we either head to
New England, usually in the fall, or to Florida. We love Clearwater Beach, and are
huge fans of Disney World.
You’re working on novel number three as we speak. What would you like
to tell us about that project?
The novel I’m currently working on is set on Florida’s Gulf coast, on a
pristine strip of beach called Hideaway Key. It’s the story of Lily St. Claire,
a young woman who inherits a beach cottage from her father, that neither she
nor her mother even knew he owned. When Lily heads south to investigate, she
finds boxes and boxes of memorabilia, all of it belonging to Lily-Mae Boyle,
the notoriously beautiful aunt whose name has been forbidden for as long as she
can remember. As Lily sifts through journals and old scrapbooks, a series of
shocking betrayals gradually comes to light, painting a very different picture of
the infamous Lily-Mae than her mother has been touting for years.
I’m sure it’s hard to choose, but do you have a favorite book, and when
was the last time you read it?
I do. It’s Harper Lee’s, To Kill a Mockingbird. We read it in ninth grade, and I’ve probably read it thirty times since,
with the last time being about two years ago. I fell in love with it the minute
I read the first paragraph... “Ladies
bathed before noon, after their three-o’clock naps, and by nightfall were like
soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum.” Apparently, even back then
I had a penchant for southern fiction.
What is it about writing that gives you the greatest joy, and what
causes you the most angst?
I’d have to say the biggest joy would be talking to readers who really
know and love my characters, even the so-called villains. It’s so much fun to
talk about these characters like they’re real people, because for me they are
real. I’ve spent so much time with them, creating their dramas and giving them
their scars, walking them toward love, or redemption, or forgiveness, so it’s
always a pleasure to get to revisit them, like catching up on what’s happening
with old friends. As for what gives me the most angst, that would have to be
juggling the non-writing aspects of my career, things like blogging, handling
contests, scheduling travel and appearances, and keeping up with the myriad
forms of social media. It really can swallow your day whole if you’re not
careful, so I have to be really disciplined.
10) What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
Three things: 1) Read. Read. Read. Chose well-written, well-plotted
books, and study the way the authors build their characters and craft their
stories. 2) Write. Write. Write. Write every day, and keep on writing in order
to hone your craft. Find your own voice, and then write from the heart, every
single day. 3) Listen. Listen. Listen. Listen to constructive feedback. Actively
seek it out. Build a circle of readers and writers willing to read your work
and give you a solid critique, then be willing to accept their observations and
act on their advice.