Local author Jessica Keener, whose debut novel Night Swim was a national bestseller, returns with Women in Bed: nine stories about different stages of love—from desire and unrequited love to marriage and familial love to betrayal and forgiveness. I emailed with Jessica to talk about her new collection and her Brookline Booksmith event happening this Wednesday, February 12 at 7PM.
Brookline Hub: Women in Bed opens with a very mysterious, powerful story, “Secrets”, about two women who meet in a restaurant where one of the women waits tables. Their relationship is filled with mixed messages, cryptic signs, and a desire that goes unfulfilled. You never even learn the women’s names. Why did you choose this particular story to open your collection?
I assembled these nine stories so that, together, from start to finish, they would form a larger story—a journey that embraces growing awareness and fulfillment of self. “Secrets” begins this journey. By purposely withholding the narrator’s name (and her friend’s name), I wanted to underscore a feeling of her emotional life existing beneath the surface. The young woman who waits on tables does not yet know how to wait on herself. She is undefined, hidden; floating in a morass of overwhelming sensations. Symbolically, you might say, she is unnamed—a babe in utero. She’ll surface and take shape over the course of four more stories, including the final story, “Heart.”
BH: Several stories track the romantic life of a character named Jennie. As a short story writer, is it difficult to leave a character behind after just one story? I found all of your characters compelling in their own way and wonder, what makes a character “worthy” of exploring over a series of stories?
Jennie is a fighter. She has the strength and the will to battle her demons and a desire to live a better life. These qualities offered possibilities for multiple scenarios. Even when things are not going right for her, she refuses to be a victim. I tracked Jennie over the course of a decade or more—from the age of nineteen to her thirties—a time in one’s romantic life that is often fraught with confusion and difficulty, innocence and disappointment. I wanted to give readers a chance to see how Jennie would develop and grow over time, and how she would endure despite the heartache she experiences.
BH: Love is such a time-honored theme in fiction writing, yet can be challenging because so much has already been written about love and relationships. For example, in a recent interview with NPR, novelist Jenny Offill told Weekend Edition that she had trepidations about choosing to write about such a familiar trope as marriage. What made you want to take on love as your central theme?
Love is complex. It’s a source of great joy and pain and everything between, isn’t it? I wanted to explore and dramatize different aspects of love—falling in and out of love, sibling love, love of self, the pursuit of love—because love is the juice that runs the world. It’s endlessly powerful. I never tire of its possibilities.
BH: How much of yourself can be found in your fiction? One story, “Recovery,” concerns a woman who is isolated in a sterile hospital room undergoing a transplant. I read on your website that you yourself survived a rare blood disease. As a writer, do you find that real life or the imagination is the best source of material for fiction?
As I see it, the best source of material for fiction is what inspires a writer. In my case, I pull from personal experiences, as you noted. But, I’m also fascinated by human behavior in general—not just what I’ve observed in my own life, but what I’ve heard or read about in books, psychology, education, religion, and history. Why are humans so destructive to each other and the world? How does someone rise above negative impulses and pressures? How do countries change? Why do families struggle? What gives us hope, or the ability to pursue truth, have faith, feel empathy?
BH: You set many of your stories in the Boston metro area. What about the Northeast interests you as a backdrop for your fiction?
–The variety and extremes in weather and people; the compression of terrain. I grew up in a suburb of Boston, and have lived in Brookline for a total of 25 years now. The region is unquestionably part of who I am. I understand it, so I use it in my fiction. The distinct seasonal changes, hills, coastal regions, urban and suburban settings—all of this offers opportunities for creating stories and drama.
BH: You enjoyed phenomenal success with your first novel, Night Swim. It was a national bestseller and got exceptional reviews, including glowing endorsements from bestselling authors Jennifer Egan and Sara Gruen. How has your life changed since the publication of your novel?
The change is internal. It’s a deep sense of fulfillment, of something settling down after many years of pursuing a dream and making sacrifices to improve my craft. It’s immensely gratifying to see my books circulating and available to the world. Of course, I’m not done. There’s more writing to do!
BH: When did you first know that you wanted to be a fiction writer?
In my mid-twenties.
BH: Are there any authors you can name who have influenced your writing? What are you reading now?
Many authors! Too many to list. My influences go back to Greeks myths, and plays, and include European, American and South American influences. More recent authors include Dickens, Shakespeare, Tolstoy, Doestoevsky, James, Conrad, Flannery O’Connor, Mann, Balzac, Yeats, Wharton, Beckett, Kafka, Bowen, Collette, Austen, Hawthorne, Carver, Machado De Assis, Clarice Lispector, Brontes, Dickenson. As a child I adored fairy tales, Beatrice Potter, Dr. Seuss, Nancy Drew, E.B White, Marjorie K. Rawlings and so many more. These days, I read a lot of friends’ books, which include novels in different genres–historical fiction, mysteries, literary, and short story collections. I also enjoy biographies.
BH: What do you have planned for the Brookline Booksmith event?
I’ll be reading with two wonderful authors: Gina Frangello, whose newest novel, A Life In Men, is just out, and debut author, Mary Elizabeth Pope, whose story collection, Divining Venus, came out in November. Our theme for the evening will address “Matters of Love” followed by book signing and treats. Bring your friends!
—By Jennifer Campaniolo
