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| Leonora Meriel, Author THE WOMAN BEHIND THE WATERFALL THE UNITY GAME |
When Leonora Meriel
starts to write a novel, she is never sure which genre will “rise most strongly
to the surface.” Whether she is bringing us the “magical realism” of her first
novel THE WOMAN BEHIND THE WATERFALL, or the expanded realm of science fiction
in her most recent novel, THE UNITY GAME, she writes to the perfection of
literary fiction. She creates characters who have flaws preferring the
grey-tones of real life to the black and white of heroes versus villains. Her
extensive travels have given her insight and the ability to stay open to the
uniqueness offered by other cultures and lifestyles.
Meriel shares her home
between London and Barcelona, and enjoys exploring the worlds offered by travel
as well as the world surrounding her two “interesting” children. She finds that
running helps to clear her mind. She is currently working on a new literary
fiction novel.
Q: Your novels cross
genres. When telling your stories, do you consider what is the most appropriate
genre? Are some themes better told in specific genres? Is science fiction more
supportive of telling some stories and literary fiction others?
Leonora Meriel: When
I set out to write a book, I usually have a myriad of ideas, but I am never
certain which ones are going to develop into the main story line. It takes a
few weeks of following different paths before I understand which central idea
lies the deepest in me and demands to be explored through the 3 – 5 years it
takes to perfect an entire novel. In the same way, those myriad ideas may each
fall into different genres, and so when I start a novel, I never know exactly
which genre will take precedence or which idea will rise most strongly to the
surface.
I enjoy mixing combinations of genres, however I see all of
the genre elements I use as existing beneath the umbrella of literary fiction,
which will always be my primary genre. My understanding of literary fiction is where
the quality and artistic value of the writing comes first, and the plot,
characters and everything else comes second. In pure genre fiction, this is
often the other way round.
Q: THE WOMAN BEHIND THE WATERFALL has been described as “magical realism”—an interesting and
appealing concept. How do you define magical realism? And how does THE WOMAN
BEHIND THE WATERFALL meet that definition?
Leonora Meriel: I
define magical realism as a story that is at least 70% set in the accepted
world and society of humankind. The other 30% may be supernatural elements,
usually associated with the spirit world. In magical realism, the magic is not
at the center of the story, but it enhances the story. One could contrast this
with zombie or wizard genre fiction, where the supernatural elements are the
very core of the story. In magical realism, they are a feature that support a
central story told in the real world.
In THE WOMAN BEHIND THE WATERFALL, the main characters are a
mother and a daughter living in a village in western Ukraine. Their life is
simple and very rooted in everyday domestic tasks – fetching water from the
well, making a cake of honey and walnuts. The mother drinks vodka and struggles
with depression. Around this story, the spirit of the grandmother returns to a
nearby riverbank to help the mother overcome her unhappiness, and the daughter
finds she can merge into the spirit of nature around her. Thus, the central
story is the search for happiness, but the magical realism elements serve to
illustrate and enhance aspects of that journey.
Q: One reviewer
describes THE UNITY GAME as “sci-fi with a bit more of a deeper meaning” and
“deeply philosophical science fiction.” Others applaud “love of characters”
& “creative plot.” How did you conceive of the plot? Are you a SciFi fan?
Leonora Meriel: I
love any writing that is brilliant, irrespective of genre, and some of the best
literature ever written is science fiction. A few of the books that have deeply
influenced me are Stanislaw Lem’s SOLARIS, Ursula Le Guin’s THE LEFT HAND OF
DARKNESS and more recently Ken Liu’s THE PAPER MENAGERIE. These are some of the
finest pieces of fiction ever written and the fact that they take place in
different worlds and dimensions makes them even more powerful and
transformative.
One of the key elements of great sci-fi is that it is always
deeply philosophical. Life on another planet will always cause us to consider
life on our own planet, and one of the key tasks of sci-fi is to question, to
provoke questions, to envision futures. It is perhaps the most challenging of
all genres, as it demands a relation to the current world and a relation to the
possible, in the way that fantasy (zombies and wizards) does not. When I
started writing THE UNITY GAME I had burning questions about the meaning of
everything, and I found that those questions did not fit into an Earth-based
plot. Sci-Fi enabled me to go as wide and deep and philosophical as I desired
in order to explore possible answers to those questions.
Q: You travel
extensively and have lived in multiple countries with different cultures. How
does travel influence your writing, your characters, and your plots?
Leonora Meriel: I
believe that travel is essential for a writer. Ideally, not only visiting, but
living in different cultures, and allowing those cultures to change you and
permanently open something new in your character and your soul. As children, we
are all immersed in the culture and thought-systems that we grow up with, and
the older we get, the harder it becomes to stop imbedded beliefs from
stagnating permanently inside you.
I believe that
part of a writer’s job is to battle against residual thought-patterns and to
strive to stay open to other ways of thinking and other cultures and other
perspectives. The writers and artists must be the ones in society who envision
new thought and futures and possibilities and cultures and societies. But this
new thinking will not come from dusty, inherited knowledge. Travel and new
cultures are essential to keeping minds and hearts open and receptive and
curious.
Q: Reviewers claim
that THE WOMAN BEHIND THE WATERFALL is “thought-provoking.” Did you intend for
the novel to deliver a message and make readers think? Or did you write it
primarily to entertain?
Leonora Meriel: THE WOMAN BEHIND THE WATERFALL was my debut novel and my main goal was to write the
best possible book that I could. I had many ideas I wanted to write about but
there wasn’t a central message that I planned to convey. However I did have one
specific goal within the book, which was to portray the culture and land of
Ukraine, and allow readers in the west to experience a country where I had
lived for many years, and which was wildly beautiful. I am delighted that
reviewers have called it “thought-provoking” as that suggests that some of the
ideas that run through the novel have resonated with readers.
Q: How do your
characters engage the reader? Why will readers care what happens to them? Are
they super-heroes or ordinary people in extraordinary situations?
Leonora Meriel: My
characters are all ordinary people, and they all have a balance of strong
points and flaws. In my debut novel THE WOMAN BEHIND THE WATERFALL, Lyuda
believes she has got everything in her life wrong and can’t bring herself to
embrace happiness. It is her seven-year old daughter, Angela, who forces her to
confront her issues and make a choice, but not without herself experiencing
some of the pain of the adult world.
In my second novel THE UNITY GAME, the hero is a New York
banker who is sucked into the addictive world of money and success and ego, but
finds he is unable to cope.
I try to make the characters I write extremely realistic, so
that even if the readers could not imagine themselves in that position, then
they clearly understand how the characters are in that position and why they
are taking the actions they choose. I truly believe that once we can see
through the eyes of another human being, then we will empathize with them
automatically, and this is one of the great tools open to writers – to draw
readers into worlds that they wouldn’t normally have access to – and to open
their minds and hearts just a little wider.
Q: THE WOMAN BEHIND THE WATERFALL is set in Ukraine and one reviewer says that the reader will
“experience the authenticity of Ukrainian village life.” In addition, does the
story have a universal theme relevant to a spectrum of readers?
Leonora Meriel: Yes,
it certainly does. The universal theme is – the search for happiness. Lyuda,
the main character, fights against depression every day. She has made mistakes
in her life, and she allows herself to live in the past, as I think many people
in the world do today. Her daughter, Angela, lives very much in the
moment-to-moment joy of everyday life – seeing the changing nature and seasons
around her, and the tiny details of the world as filled with happiness. Slowly,
she teaches her mother to live in the present and leave the dark past behind. In
this strange world we live in, I think that ‘what it means to be happy’ and
‘how to be happy’ are big questions that we all ask ourselves. In THE WOMAN BEHIND THE WATERFALL I explore this from several points of view and I intended
it to be relevant to a wide spectrum of readers.
Q: Does the concept
of “heroes vs villains” apply to your story-telling? If so, can you describe
the characteristics of an effective villain? Can culture, mores, philosophies,
religion, or family traditions be considered villains?
Leonora Meriel: I
don’t use the concept of “heroes” or “villains” in my novels, as this is a
simplistic view of people that fits better with genre fiction or with
children’s books. I am far more interested in shades of good and bad, and how
individuals struggle with the challenges of moving in directions that are more
or less harmful to them. Culture, mores, philosophies, religion, and family
traditions can certainly be used as villains within a story, but in this
“villainous” role they would act simultaneously as catalysts to provoke the
characters to certain actions. For example, in my most recent Sci-Fi novel THE
UNITY GAME, the alien character is emboldened to reject its home planet and its
philosophy once it has realized that there is no true free will there.
Q: What’s next?
Leonora Meriel: A
new literary fiction novel. My aim is to write a novel without using any other
genres – a straightforward tale with some great quality writing. However,
neither of my novels so far has turned out to be how I envisioned them at the
beginning, so you’ll have to wait and see!
Q: Tell us about
Leonora Meriel. What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
Leonora Meriel: Exploring
is the main thing I do – which is really research as a writer. I love to
explore countries, cities, ways of life, new people, different personalities,
roles and also new worlds in books. I am the mother of two incredibly
interesting children, and I try to understand their world as it forms around
them. Apart from exploring, I love to run, which clears out all the thoughts
that have entirely filled my head. And visit the city of Barcelona as much as
possible, where there is so much creativity on every street corner, and
sunshine and laughter and sea.
About Leonora Meriel
Leonora Meriel grew up in London and studied literature at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and Queen's University in Canada. She worked at the United Nations in New York, and then for a multinational law firm.
In 2003 she moved from
New York to Kyiv, where she founded and managed Ukraine’s largest Internet
company. She studied at Kyiv Mohyla Business School and earned an MBA, which
included a study trip around China and Taiwan, and climbing to the top of
Hoverla, Ukraine’s highest peak and part of the Carpathian Mountains. She also
served as President of the International Women’s Club of Kyiv, a major local
charity.
During her years in
Ukraine, she learned to speak Ukrainian and Russian, witnessed two revolutions
and got to know an extraordinary country at a key period of its development.
In 2008, she decided to
return to her dream of being a writer, and to dedicate her career to
literature. In 2011, she completed THE WOMAN BEHIND THE WATERFALL, set in a
village in western Ukraine. While her first novel was with a London agent,
Leonora completed her second novel THE UNITY GAME, set in New York City and on
a distant planet.
Leonora currently lives
in Barcelona and London and has two children. She is working on her third
novel.
Heartbreak and transformation in the beauty of a Ukrainian village.
For seven-year old
Angela, happiness is exploring the lush countryside around her home in western
Ukraine. Her wild imagination takes her into birds and flowers, and into the
waters of the river.
All that changes when,
one morning, she sees her mother crying. As she tries to find out why, she is
drawn on an extraordinary journey into the secrets of her family, and her
mother's fateful choices.
Can Angela lead her
mother back to happiness before her innocence is destroyed by the shadows of a
dark past?
Beautiful, poetic and
richly sensory, this is a tale that will haunt and lift its readers.
About THE UNITY GAME
What if the earth you
knew was just the beginning?
A New York banker is descending into madness.
A being from an advanced civilization is racing to stay
alive.
A dead man must unlock the secrets of an unknown dimension
to save his loved ones.
From the visions of Socrates in ancient Athens, to the birth
of free will aboard a spaceship headed to Earth, The Unity Game tells a story
of hope and redemption in a universe more ingenious and surprising than you
ever thought possible.
Metaphysical thriller
and interstellar mystery, this is a 'complex, ambitious and thought-provoking
novel' from an exciting and original new voice in fiction.
Links
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THE WOMAN BEHIND THE WATERFALL
THE UNITY GAME
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