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| Kristy Woodson Harvey, Author DEAR CAROLINA |
Kristy
Woodson Harvey just released DEAR CAROLINA, described by a reviewer as a “great tale of love, complicated family
relationships, and heart-wrenching sacrifice.” Harvey tells us that a friend
originally sparked her story, and the birth of her own son amplified it
emotionally. Set in the South, she also believes that southern lifestyle augmented the plot, although she looks forward to viewing how other areas of the world receive it.
Harvey is working on her next novel about family secrets and
what we do to protect those we love, scheduled for release in Spring 2016. When
she’s not writing her novels or blogging at Design
Chic, she enjoys spending time with her three-year-old son and her husband.
Don't miss the excerpt from the book following the interview.
Don't miss the excerpt from the book following the interview.
Q: What
inspired the plot for DEAR CAROLINA? How authentic is the story?
Kristy Woodson
Harvey: The
story was inspired by a friend telling me years ago about a family he knew that
adopted a child and essentially ended up adopting the birth mother as well. I
hadn’t thought about it in years, but, when my son was born, I had this moment
where I started to realize what an incredible gift giving up your child really
was. Of course, you always know that, but it hit me on such a deep and profound
level, far beyond what it had before. I wondered what would have to happen in a
woman’s life in order to be able to give up her child and then, on the flip
side, what both birth and adoptive mothers go through in an open adoption. The
insecurities and fears…
The
story and the characters really came to me sort of all at once, but then I did
research as well. I have a lot of friends who are adopted and/or have adopted
children, so they were generous with their stories and their feelings, and I
read a lot of books on the subject as well. It isn’t “my story,” per se, but,
all the same, writing it felt intensely personal. It actually took me months to
sit down and write the book because facing Jodi’s story was so emotional for me
at that time in my life.
Q: DEAR CAROLINA is described as Southern women’s fiction. How much did your upbringing
in the South influence your story?
Kristy Woodson
Harvey: The
South is such a special place to me, almost more like a feeling, really. I
wanted to write a book that captured the South—or at least a particular region
of it—and some of the things that make it really special. The importance of
family, in particular, is something that was extremely important in my
upbringing and the book. And the focus on living near the land and the role
that food plays in our lives is something that I think is even more sacred in
Eastern North Carolina, where the book is set and where I live now. I learned a
lot about it for this book, and it was fascinating.
Q: How relevant
is Southern culture to the setting? Could the story have been as effective if
set in California, for example?
Kristy Woodson
Harvey: I
think the South is really almost a character in the book. It influences every
aspect. The growing seasons, for example, are critical to the plot, as is a
certain Southern dialect. I think the story could have been set anywhere, but
the Southern element adds a richness that wouldn’t have existed otherwise.
Q: How would
you characterize the genre “women’s fiction?” Do you think it’s different in
the South, i.e., are southern women more likely to embrace a different type of
story than northern women?
Kristy Woodson
Harvey: To
me, women’s fiction is anything that tells a woman’s story—and we have diverse
and varied ones to tell! I will be very interested to see how this book is
received in different parts of the country, but, as women today, I think, no
matter where we live, we’re all facing similar challenges—and joys. Juggling
children (if we have them) and work and family and following our dreams can be
tricky. I do think the South still respects and honors the stay-at-home in a
very real way, but there’s no doubt that women are largely finding ways to be
great mothers but still pave a way for themselves in the world outside of that.
Certainly motherhood isn’t a part of every woman’s story, but women without
children are juggling a lot of demands on their time and energy too. In fact,
in some ways, I think life has slowed down since I became a mother! So I think
Khaki’s story in particular is one that women can relate to no matter where they
live. I find it encouraging that my reviewers have been from all parts of the
country, and I think the story has largely resonated so far.
Q: Would you
characterize DEAR CAROLINA as “modern” women’s fiction? Do you think women’s
fiction has changed as women’s interests and roles have changed?
Kristy Woodson
Harvey: I’ll
have to say yes and no to that question! I think the South in and of itself can
tend to be a bit of a throwback (Khaki says that, actually!) so, in some ways,
I think there are traditions and roles that maybe don’t even exist in other
places anymore. But, in a very real sense, I think both Khaki and Jodi are very
modern women. Khaki isn’t worried about cooking dinner and changing diapers.
She’s worried about cooking dinner and changing diapers and her coffee table
book edits and catching the red-eye to check a sofa in a huge client’s living
room remodel. And Jodi is finding her passions and making her way in the world
all on her own. There is romance involved, sure, but I think the men in these
women’s lives make them more meaningful but certainly don’t define them.
My
friends run the gamut from full-time, incredible careers to full-time,
incredible stay-at-home moms to something in between, but, no matter what,
we’re all making choices every single day and creating lives that we want to
live within the constraints we have. I’m 29, so I’m at a time in life where my
friends are at every life stage imaginable and we’re all really starting to
navigate who we’re going to be for the rest of our lives. There’s no blueprint
and there’s certainly no right or wrong, and that is very, very exciting! We’re
all learning from each other, and, to me, that’s what being a “modern” woman is
all about: choosing the path that’s right for you while cheering other women
along on the path that’s right for them.
Q: Reviewers
tout your characters as “rich” and with “strong voice.” What makes them so? How
do you create characters that readers will embrace?
Kristy Woodson
Harvey: These
characters are totally real. Khaki is strong and loving, but she can be a
little obnoxious and know-it-all. She has good intentions, but she thinks she
always knows what’s best for everyone. You feel for Jodi and she’s totally
lovable, but, at the same time, you want to shake her at times for decisions
she makes. But flawed characters that you can fight for are the best kind, I
think, because we’re all flawed and we’re all a little obnoxious sometimes!
I
credit the birth of my son for the “strong voice” and not in some sweet and poignant
way. When I had him I was sneaking in writing a few minutes at a time and I
didn’t have time to worry about what it was “supposed” to sound like. When I
let that go, I really heard these characters’ voices and that’s what I think
made them come to life.
Q: Why did you
choose to tell the story from the perspective of letters from the adoptive and
birth mothers?
Kristy Woodson
Harvey: I’m
not really sure except to say that that’s how the story came to me. Jodi was
the character that really kept me up at night and I envisioned her telling this
story to her daughter. And it went from there.
Q: Did you
write DEAR CAROLINA to entertain or did you intend to deliver a message or
educate your readers?
Kristy Woodson
Harvey: In
all honesty, I wrote it to entertain. But I think there are some definite
touchstones that readers can take away from this book, the biggest one being
that families don’t have to look any certain way to be “real.” There is a lot
of talk in this book about family being the most important thing, and I hope
it’s clear that that doesn’t only mean the people in your bloodline. And if
you’ve ever wanted to can or make jam or decorate your own house you can
probably get some good insight into that as well!
Q: What’s next?
Kristy Woodson
Harvey: My
next novel is coming out early Spring 2016, also from Berkley/Penguin, and I am
beside myself! It’s all about family secrets and the things we do to protect
the people we love. Both of these books have a lot to do with motherhood,
simply because I was becoming a mother when I wrote them. But I look forward to
telling so many other women’s stories in the future. I’m in the midst of three
manuscripts right now, and they are all decidedly different from one another.
Q: Tell us
about Kristy Woodson Harvey. What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
Kristy Woodson
Harvey: I
am first and foremost a mom to my three-year-old and a wife to my incredible
husband. My mom and I have an interior design blog, Design Chic, that served as a lot of inspiration for this book and
Khaki’s career, in particular.
Plus, it’s a lot of fun! I love to read and write (obviously!) and do
yoga. Those are my “must-dos,” but right now, other than that, spending time
with my son is my main activity! And he keeps me on my toes!
About
Kristy Woodson Harvey
Kristy
Woodson Harvey is the author of DEAR CAROLINA. She blogs at Design Chic about how creating a
beautiful home can be the catalyst for creating a beautiful life and loves
connecting with readers at kristywoodsonharvey.com. She is a Phi Beta Kappa,
summa cum laude graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's
school of journalism and holds a Master's in English from East Carolina
University. She is a regular contributor for The Salisbury Post, Domino magazine
and Houzz. She lives in North Carolina with her husband and three-year-old son.
About DEAR CAROLINA
One
baby girl.
Two
strong Southern women.
And
the most difficult decision they’ll ever make.
Frances
“Khaki” Mason has it all: a thriving interior design career, a loving husband
and son, homes in North Carolina and Manhattan—everything except the second
child she has always wanted. Jodi, her husband’s nineteen-year-old cousin, is
fresh out of rehab, pregnant, and alone. Although the two women couldn’t seem
more different, they forge a lifelong connection as Khaki reaches out to Jodi,
encouraging her to have her baby. But as Jodi struggles to be the mother she
knows her daughter deserves, she will ask Khaki the ultimate favor…
Written
to baby Carolina, by both her birth mother and her adoptive one, this is a
story that proves that life circumstances shape us but don’t define us—and that
families aren’t born, they’re made…
Excerpt
Khaki
Salad Greens
I designed a special scrapbook for each of my
children. A custom-made blue or pink album with white polka dots and a fat bow
tied down the side, the front center proudly displaying a monogram that was
given to each of you. I take those books out every now and then. Sometimes I
add a new photo or memento. Other times I gaze at the pictures and marvel at
how quickly the eyes-closed-to-the-world phase of infancy morphs into the
headfirst-plunging alacrity of toddlerhood.
Other times, like tonight, with your book in
particular, my sweet Carolina, I sit on the floor of our family room
overlooking my favorite field of corn and simply stare at the cover, running my
finger across the scrolling monogram. It’s only a name,
we have been reminded since middle school in what has now become perhaps the
most cliché of Shakespeare’s musings. But, in what is certainly not the first
exception to a Shakespearean rule, that name means more than the house your
daddy built in this field where we spent so much time falling in love or the
sterling silver service that has been in our family for generations.
It means more because that name wasn’t always
yours. And you weren’t always ours.
I was, just like a mother should be, the
first person to hold you when you were born. Your birth mother, after thirty
hours of labor, fainted when she saw you, perfect and round and red as a
fresh-picked apple. I felt like holding you first would be like stealing money
from the offering plate. But as soon as the misty-eyed nurse placed you in the
nest of my arms, you quit crying, opened your eyes, and locked your gaze with
mine. That instant of serendipity was fleeting because it wasn’t more than a
few seconds that your birth mother was out.
When she came to, and I was there, cuddling
this lighter-than-air you that she had grown inside herself for nine long
months, I begged for forgiveness. But she said, “I’m glad you got to hold her
first. You’ve been here this whole dern time too.”
I had given birth myself before, and that
teary first introduction to a new life after a forty-week hormone roller coaster
was fresh in my mind, still damp like the coat of paint on the wall in your
nursery. But I’d never been on my feet, outside the bed, when four were
breathing the air and then, with one tiny cry, there were five. To experience
that kind of wonder is like being born again.
Even in that resurrection moment, I couldn’t
have known that one day, I would get to hold you, swaddled and warm, all the
time. But I did swear that I would do everything in my power to protect you,
love you, and make sure you grew up good and slow as salad greens.
Links
Twitter/Instagram: @kristywharvey
Pinterest: @mydesignchic
I'm so thrilled that you would take the time to share Dear Carolina with your readers. Thank you so much!
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