Authors: Kathleen McCleary

Leaving Haven (43 page)

BOOK: Leaving Haven

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I wrote the first third of the book and sent it to my agent and editor. They both had the same response: Georgia's and Alice's stories seemed too similar, maybe because they were both at similar life stagesâworking mothers living in the same suburb, struggling with their midlife marriages. Then my editor, Tessa, had a suggestion: What if I told one point of view
backward
in time, so it unspooled from the end to the beginning, and the other point of view the usual way, from beginning to end?

It was scary (I'd never attempted anything like that before); it was crazy (I'd never read a novel like that before, although I'm sure one has been written); and it was daunting (I'd have to rewrite a lot of what I'd already written). But it also was exciting. So I did it.

That makes it sound as though I went home and wrote and wrote and wrote and then was done. And of course it was nothing like that. I wrote and wrote and wrote and rewrote and rewrote and rewrote and was interrupted by major life events (daughter graduating high school! daughter starting college! mother moving to town!) and minor life events (What's for dinner tonight? Did you pay the Visa bill? Where are my socks?). But it came together, and I wrote the final third of the book as seamlessly and quickly as I have ever written anything in my life.

You've written three novels now. Do you have a favorite?

The one I've just finished is always my favorite. I become a better writer with every book; my writing is tighter and sharper, and I get more deeply involved with my characters with every book.
Leaving Haven
is the first book I've written that left me with the feeling that maybe I wasn't quite done with the characters, or they weren't quite done with meâI want more. So I may write another novel involving Georgia or Alice one day.

Read on

More from Kathleen McCleary

For more books by Kathleen McCleary check out:

A SIMPLE THING

When Susannah Delaney discovers her young son is being bullied and her adolescent daughter is spinning out of control, she moves them to remote, rustic Sounder Island to live for a year. A simple island existenceâwith no computers or electricity and only a one-room schoolhouseâis just what her overscheduled East Coast kids need to learn what's really important in life. But the move threatens her marriage to the man she's loved since childhood, and her very sense of self.

For Betty Pavalak, who moved to Sounder to save her own troubled marriage, the island has been a haven for fifty years. But Betty also knows the guilt of living with choices made long ago and actions that cannot be undone. The unlikely friendship between Susannah and Betty ignites a journey of self-discovery for both women and brings them both home to what they love most.
A Simple Thing
moves beyond friendship, children, and marriages to look deeply into what it means to love and forgive .Â .Â . yourself.

Also by Kathleen McCleary

House & Home

A Simple Thing

Credits

Cover design by Mumtaz Mustafa

Cover photograph Â© by Tetra Images/Alamy

Lines from “Baby Wrens' Voices” reprinted from
Kinnickinnic
by Thomas R. Smith, Parallel Press, Madison, WI, 2008. Copyright Â© 2008 by Thomas R. Smith. Used with his permission.

This book is a work of fiction. References to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locales are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity, and are used fictitiously. All other characters, and all incidents and dialogue, are drawn from the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real.

P.S.â¢ is a trademark of HarperCollins Publishers.

LEAVING
HAVEN
. Copyright Â© 2013 by Kathleen McCleary. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

FIRST
EDITION

ISBN 978-0-06-210626-1

EPUB Edition October 2013 ISBN 9780062106254

13 14 15 16 17
OV
/
RRD
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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