Once again, celebrating reading, writing and storytelling with our Author Talks Series, on the evening of August 10th the Whitefield Library hosted Deborah Gould, author of Household and The Eastern series.
Deb shared her experience of moving into a house in Pittston, Maine, a house which eerily spoke to her from the start, as if whispering of a story that was meant to be written. ‘Who lived in this house; along these shores? What was life like for them?’ She brought us along on her journey of discovery to find some answers to those questions; a journey that would take her deep into land deeds and town records, uncovering the names of the people, and how they might have been connected to each other…their shared community…all the makings of her historical fiction. Her diligent research, note taking and organizing resulted in the creation of family trees and connections to other ‘trees’, photos, (some provided from family members she’d made contact with), maps and even a personal diary of one of her characters, found quite by chance (or was it some sort of ‘divine intervention’), purchased at an antique store in Brunswick?! Her ability to let discovered history speak through the human hearts of vivid characters, piecing together who they were and how it might have been, is brilliantly laid out in the pages of The Eastern books.
Deb wrapped up her talk with a discussion of Household, a novel focusing on domestic abuse. Her personal insight into this delicate and difficult topic brought extreme humility, resilience and courage to bear resonating for all of us to be part of the collective consciousness in recognizing the existence of this all too common and undetected plague and to live with compassion and courage to see what’s in plain sight and what is hiding in ‘households’…to right the wrong.
Deb’s own diverse background spanning years of living in many varied settings — from city to country, from publishing and press rooms to pastures of dairy cows, have given her a cornucopia of experience to draw on; a firsthand knowledge of the human frailties and triumphs that any life can hold. Her generosity in welcoming us inside her personal journey, resulting in her marvelous storytelling is cause for celebration…such a fullness of experience in the human condition. We are fortunate indeed!
Household and The Eastern, Book One: The Early Years and The Eastern, Book Two: Later On can be purchased on Amazon or taken out on loan from the library.