The White Forest (40 page)

13. After Jane sees Nathan and Maddy together in the woods, she prays for him to be taken. Do you think her prayers cause his disappearance? Is Nathan responsible, to some extent? Ultimately, what do you make of Jane
“devouring”
him?

14. In the white forest, Jane realizes that her friends have changed her and that
“the flesh and blood part of [her] had grown strong. [She’d] learned to love the world”
. What does Jane’s humanity cause her to do? How might she have acted if her friends had not drawn her out of Stoke Morrow?

15. Jane, her mother, and Mother Damnable are all avatars or manifestations of the Lady of Flowers. In what ways are the three women similar or different? How does each handle her powers and her role?

16. When Jane visits the church in Spitalfields she is told:
“The role of the gifted one has nothing to do with power or with kings. She’s meant to keep a balance between air and aether”
. How does this differ from what Jane and others believe her role to be? In the end, is the balance maintained or upset?

Enhance Your Book Club

1. Flowers hold a great deal of significance and power in the novel. If you’re hosting the group discussion, sit outside (like the heath), decorate with fresh cut flowers, or give each member a tiny bouquet like the one Jane ties to her wrist. For instructions on how to make a corsage, visit
www.save-on-crafts.com/cormakbas.html
.

2. Read Adam McOmber’s short story collection,
This New and Poisonous Air
, for your next book club pick. Do you notice any similarities to
The White Forest
?

3. Jane’s unique ability allows her to see the souls of manmade objects. As a group, choose a nearby object. It can be anything—a favorite mug, a vase, a chair. Spend a few minutes writing a paragraph about the colors, feelings, and energy that you associate with that object. Share your profiles with the other members. Were you surprised by what others wrote? Who had the most imaginative profile?

A Conversation with Adam McOmber

Are there elements of
The White Forest
that are based in research or inspired by a certain event? Or is the story purely a product of your imagination?

I researched many aspects of life in mid-nineteenth century London. I wanted Jane’s surroundings to feel authentic, so when the reader arrives at the more fantastic moments in the narrative, those too will feel somehow true. Though no single historical event inspired the story, there are many pieces of actual history embedded here.

How did you dream up Jane’s talent? What is the connection between the souls of objects and this other reality, the Empyrean?

It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly how the idea for Jane’s talent came about. The best way to explain it would probably be to say that the talent was built, piece-by-piece, both from research and from my own imagination. I considered concepts like animism (the notion that non-human entities possess life or spirit) and psychometry (the nineteenth century idea that a psychic can perceive the history of a manmade object simply by touching it).

As for the connection between the objects and the Empyrean, there are many ways to think about this. If a body (either animate or inanimate) has a soul, it doesn’t seem much of a stretch to imagine that the soul might provide a kind of window onto the metaphysical world. I’m interested in the idea that the material can become a doorway to the immaterial.

The book contains some powerful imagery, such as Jane’s visions of the Red Goddess and the white forest. How did you write these scenes? Why is the recurring imagery important to the story and to your style?

Images arrive at odd moments and often seem to come out of nowhere. These sorts of fantasies tend to form suddenly in my mind when I’m thinking about something unrelated to writing. I try to keep myself receptive to such images, and I write them down when they occur to me. After I find the right image, I begin to explore it, pushing it as far as it will go. It’s my hope the reoccurrence of images that resonate will help the reader slip deeper inside the dream of the story.

Why did you choose the Victorian setting and Hampstead Heath? Did you spend time in London before or during the writing of the novel?

Yes, I spent time in London a few years ago and was certainly inspired by what I saw during that time. I chose Hampstead Heath as the primary setting for the novel because of its natural beauty and the sense of isolation it evokes. Jane feels comfortable on the Heath because she is surrounded by nature, and yet at the same time, she is left feeling ill at ease. She senses that she has been separated from something vital—something she must find in order to make herself whole again.

The names of the characters and places in the book are so distinctive. How did you come up with them?

For me, a character’s name should act as a kind of invocation. I worked for a long time to get the names right in the
The White Forest
, speaking them aloud and listening to them. There were times when I started only with a sound, and I worked until I found a name that matched the sound. My hope is that the reader gets a feeling of the character from the name alone.

What do you hope a reader will take away from
The White Forest
? What kind of experience do you look for when you read?

My hope for readers of
The White
Forest is that they will feel drawn into the book by both the story and the characters. I want Jane and the others to come alive for a while in the reader’s imagination and to take him or her on an adventure. As a reader myself, I’m interested in books that have characters who feel like real people. I’m particularly interested when these realistic characters have strange and fantastic experiences that I myself could not have. The best sort of literature for me is the sort that creates ecstatic moments—moments when a reader feels that the everyday world has been torn away. I want to feel that a book has connected me to something larger than myself—something mythic.

When you are writing fiction, with what germ of an idea do you begin? A story element, a character, a setting?

This varies from story to story, but for
The White Forest
, the character of Jane definitely came first. I saw her clearly, walking across the overgrown Heath beneath a gray sky. I knew that she was lonely and dangerous. She didn’t belong on the Heath. In fact, she didn’t belong anywhere in our world. There was a kind of desperation in her. And I wanted to write about that.

Do you think of your fiction as literary gothic, supernatural, or something else? How do you, as a modern writer, approach these genres? How do you keep them feeling fresh and contemporary?

I am attempting to blend a wide variety of genres and literary tropes that I personally enjoy. At the same time, it’s important to me that my stories do not rely on generic cliché or formula. As I write, I am always asking myself if the scene or image feels fresh. If so, I know I’m going in the right direction.

If you could tap into the emotions of one specific object, what would it be? Why?

I’m not sure I can privilege any one object over another. I love the thought of being able to look
through
the objects—to look beyond the surface of the everyday world and see what’s behind the curtain. In a sense, I think using one’s imagination provides a similar feeling. Looking at a blank sheet of paper can have the same effect of looking into another world.

What do you like to read? If you were to suggest a book to a reader to read after finishing
The White Forest
, what would it be?

I love to read great imaginative fiction—works that reach beyond our everyday lives. I would encourage anyone who enjoyed
The White Forest
to read Isaac Dinesen’s
Seven Gothic Tales
. For me, these tales are near perfect. They are at once lushly Romantic and strange.

What are you working on now?

I’m working on a new novel that, like
The White Forest
, makes use of an imagined reality. It’s too early to say much about the story itself, but I’m really enjoying my exploration of this new set of characters and the mystery of the world that they enter.

The Crystal Palace was originally erected in Hyde Park as part of London’s Great Exhibition. Subsequently, the structure was moved to Sydenham Hill. For the purposes of this novel, I have retained the Hyde Park location.

My gratitude to Sally Kim, whose thoughtful editing helped bring this book to life, and to my agent, Eleanor Jackson, who believed in me and provided invaluable guidance at every turn. I’d also like to thank the entire team at Touchstone who worked tirelessly on this book. For thoughts on the manuscript and general encouragement, I’d like to thank Brian Leung, Scott Blindauer, David Lazar, Colin Meldrum, Ryan Hamlin, Garnett Kilberg Cohen, Jennie Fauls, Gabriel Blackwell, Chrissy Kolaya, Christine Sneed, and Cora Jacobs. Thank you to my family for all their love and support, especially to my mother, Denise, and my father, Michael. And finally, thank you to Chris Breier for listening, commenting, and providing affection.

Also by Adam McOmber

This New & Poisonous Air: Stories