We're talking to Marly Youmans, author of A Death at the White Camellia Orphanage. And, OK, those aren't camellias but azaleas in the picture, but it's definitely Marly. This is part 2 of a two-part interview that began yesterday.
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BETH: Among the books that you've written so far, what's unique or special for you about this one? (By that I mean special about the characters or story.)
MARLY: In A Death at the White Camellia Orphanage, I addressed some questions that rose up in my childhood and were never answered to my satisfaction. When my father was a poor sharecropper's boy, he ran away from home several times and rode the rails. I know that once he was found in Southern Florida, but that's about all I have to tell; I wish that I knew more. I knew the places where he grew up, knew that he left home at seventeen and became a tailgunner in World War II--knew that he went to Emory on his return. I could remember something of his time as a graduate student at LSU, before he worked as a professor of analytical chemistry. But I knew little about those teenage years and what the rails (or being a tailgunner, or learning to fly during the Korean War, for that matter) meant to him.
Other questions about our family remained an enigma. My great-grandfather Nathaniel was a bridge builder in south Georgia who fathered twenty-two legitimate children, as well as two mixed race children. After the neighbor lady who was the mother of these children died, the two little boys were brought up in the family. One of them was my grandfather's favorite brother. These bits of news out of the past startled me and made me realize that the history I had been taught was only a partial thing.
Often an absence or a mystery is what draws a writer to a story. With language I toss some bridges over gaps, and though my words cannot conjure missing family history, they can conjure a story, an angle of vision, and a sort of rightness and fullness.
BETH: Do you feel your craft as a novelist advances with each book? What were the particular challenges you faced in A Death at the White Camellia Orphanage?
Fascinating. Great questions, Beth.
i love the way Marly tells a story. This glimpse into her family history, and other things she has shared either in e-conversations or her blog have me all the more eager to read this new novel.
Posted by: zephyr aka vicki | March 23, 2012 at 09:34 AM
Loved the entire interview, Beth's questions and Marly's responses. I'm looking forward to what promises to be a great read.
Posted by: Nancy Richard | March 23, 2012 at 09:43 AM
Me,too, me, too. Really wonderful couple of interviews.
Posted by: Laura | March 23, 2012 at 10:02 AM
These interviews teach me more and more about Marly and her work. I'm looking forward to reading the book.
Posted by: Robbi Nester | March 23, 2012 at 01:32 PM
Thank you again, Beth--
I enjoyed answering your good questions, and hope some of your readers will enjoy reading the book. I just received some copies, and they look quite handsome!
Posted by: marly youmans | March 23, 2012 at 06:05 PM
What a refreshing and enjoyable read this interview is. The final question was rather... exciting to me! What a grand question!
Marly's answer to that was so satisfying indeed. Newness. Every new venture is a new venture in every way. This is one of the reasons I look forward to reading this novel so much. I have no idea how it will be to read (based on Marly's previous, wonderful novels). I just know it's going to be good!
Beth - thank you for conducting this interview and sharing with us.
Posted by: Paul Digby | March 23, 2012 at 10:42 PM
Paul, you are so very sweet! Thanks.
Posted by: marly youmans | March 26, 2012 at 09:51 AM