Sixteen-year-old Emilie Day is not like the other girls from her town on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. She has epilepsy, is homeschooled, and would rather be reading classic literature than be the center of attention. Ever since her father’s death and her diagnosis, risk has not been in Emilie’s vocabulary. Unfortunately, all the safety she’s built for herself is about to be stripped away when, on her doctor’s recommendation, Emilie is sentenced to spend her junior year at North Ridge High School. Fueled by frustration, Emilie doesn’t plan to stay…or tell anyone about her epilepsy. But Emilie isn’t banking on meeting new friends or getting to know the handsome and charming Chatham York. And she definitely isn’t counting on falling for him. Chatham challenges Emilie to face her fears—but he doesn’t know what she dreads most is a public grand mal seizure.
Author interview:
What inspired you to write The Thing with Feathers?
As a teacher and mom, I observe so many teenage girls hiding their true selves from
their peers. So I wanted to write a hopeful story about a girl learning to a accept herself
for who she was. I taught a student whose family was greatly impacted by her sister’s
epilepsy and learned about the unique challenges of living with a covert disability that
isn’t immediately visible to strangers and acquaintances.
I also love dogs. By chance, my family inherited a golden retriever who was bred to do
service work. The dog was more human than many humans. I began working with this
amazing dog training him for agility and obedience. I became fascinated by golden
retrievers and assistant dogs and did a tremendous amount of research and reading
about service dogs and the people they love. I was especially intrigued by seizure alert
dogs as seizure alerting cannot truly be taught and is greatly affected by the bond
between the owner and dog.
I knew I had to write a story about a girl with epilepsy learning to love herself
unconditionally the way her golden retriever did.
What is behind the title?
The title is a line from a well-known Emily Dickinson poem. She writes: “’Hope’ is the
thing with feathers; that perches in the soul; “ When the title came to me, I knew it was
perfect. Everything about this book and about Emilie, the main character, is about
learning to find hope even in the most difficult circumstances. And reading poetry and
studying Emily Dickinson have a major impact on Emilie’s emotional arc in this story.
Thankfully, my agent, editor, and publisher also agreed the title was perfect. I don’t
personally think a title is going to make or break a book, but I love a nice title—especially
one that’s somehow connected to the theme of the book and that readers have to
uncover the meaning of for themselves. And I think this title does just that.
What was one of the most surprising things you learned in writing Emilie’s story?
Any interesting facts that you found out in your research?
As I said, I’ve been fascinated with service dogs for years and have worked with
students with epilepsy and their families for years. I also mentioned Emily Dickinson’s
poetry plays a central role in the book and in my main character’s emotional
development.
Emilie, the protagonist of The Thing with Feathers, must complete a research project on
Emily Dickinson for her English class. I’m an American Literature teacher and thought I
knew a lot of the basics about Dickinson as a reclusive poet, but I still needed to verify
things like when she died, where she went to school, etc. In the process, I came across
a biography published in 2011 that hypothesized based on several poetry references
that she suffered from a disability of her own and went on to explain that the disability
could very possibly have been epilepsy or some type of seizure disorder.
I don’t think anyone will ever be able to confirm this one way or another, but it certainly
added to the already growing connection between Emily the poet and Emilie my main
character.
How you do think this book will open dialogue among teens about mental health
and disability awareness?
I hope that The Thing with Feathers will open dialogue concerning the invisible and
covert nature of mental health issues and a wide variety of other illnesses. Mostly, I want
teenagers to realize that growing up can be really painful but really beautiful as well. I
want all of us to remember that just because someone doesn’t wear an illness, or
disability, or emotional wound on the outside doesn’t mean she isn’t carrying one on the
inside. Mostly, I wish we would all learn to be a little gentler and kinder with one another
and with ourselves.
Author's Website: http://mccallhoyle.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ mccall.hoyle
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ McCallHoyle
Instagram: www.instagram.com/ mccallhoylebooks
No comments:
Post a Comment