Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Emily Arsenault reads the tea leaves...

HALLIE EPHRON: I was blown away by Emily Arsenault's clever and brilliant (really) THE BROKEN TEAGLASS in which a pair of lexicographers find mysterious clues in old files. She's a literary writer who knows how to spinout suspense. Now she's out with THE LEAF READER, a young adult mystery about a high school girl whose tea-leaf reading abilities draw her into a missing person case and deep into danger. 

Here's what Kirkus had to say in a starred review:
“Arsenault’s page-ripping whodunit not only will send readers running for their tea kettles, but packs the thrill of self-discovery and acceptance amid base adversity: a rich, rewarding teen debut.” – Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
Welcome to Jungle Red, Emily! Please tell us about tea-leaf reading. So fascinating. How did you get interested in it?

EMILY ARSENAULT: My first introduction to tea-leaf reading was in 1999, when my husband (then boyfriend) introduced me to his grandmother Ruth in Arizona. He remembered that she did readings when he was a kid, and asked her to demonstrate for me.  

We tore open Lipton teabags and made tea with their contents. (I know tea connoisseurs and practiced tea-leaf readers might be a little aghast that we didn’t use real loose-leaf tea.) When we were done drinking, Ruth studied our tea dregs. 

“I see a lot of dogs,” she said of the clumped formations in my cup. “You must have good friends.” I would later learn that she said this to almost everyone, in almost every reading she gave.

We didn’t get to see Ruth that often, because we lived on the other side of the country, in Massachusetts. But from that time until her death in 2007, whenever we’d visit, we’d ask for a reading. Sometimes she seemed embarrassed by the request, and often seemed to rely on stock predictions (It looks like you’re going to get your wish. But not exactly in the way you wanted it . . .  It looks like you’re going on a trip . . . probably going home.  . . . I see a lot of dogs . . . ). 

But almost every time, she’d look deep into the cup, her eyes would light up, and she’d say something that would later turn out to be uncannily prophetic.

Most memorable to me was a time she said, I think you’re going to have a dispute about a pet. But it’s not really the pet’s fault.

A few weeks later an eccentric neighbor of ours started coming unhinged because our cat was sneaking onto her porch and eating her cats’ food. She’d call us up to scream about how mean our cat was to her cats. She was going to call the pound, she said, or take our cat “for a ride” if he kept coming onto her porch.

One of the last times we saw her, Ruth gave us a small, battered paperback—How to Read Tea Leaves, by Joyce Wilson, published in 1969—and told us we could keep it. Over the following years, my husband and I would occasionally give each other tea leaf readings. We’d have fun joking around with it, but neither of us seemed to have the instinct for it that Ruth had.

Wikimedia 
Like many tea leaf reading guides, Wilson’s book lists all kinds of possible symbols one might find in a cup. (E.g. a fish might mean good news, an hourglass could mean imminent danger, a moon crescent can symbolize good luck.) And from this book we picked up this very basic way of reading a cup: symbols on the rim represent things happening in the immediate future, while symbols in the bottom of the forecast farther into the future. 

I’ve read several tea leaf-reading guides, and this is absolutely not the only way of looking at a cup—but it’s the general principle I’ve used, in real and fictional readings.

Over the years, I would come across Wilson’s book on our shelf and flip through it, thinking: I’d like to have a character who does tea leaf readings in a book someday. But I couldn’t quite decide how to make it work. Until I tried it in a YA novel.

I’ve always been interested in YA. In fact, my first completed (unpublished) manuscript was a YA book. But the result was a story more depressing than I ultimately wanted to inflict on young readers. You see, I was a fairly miserable teenager and didn’t really know how to write teenagers any other way.

I’ve often thought of my sullen high school years and wondered, Wouldn’t I have been a lot happier if I’d just gotten a hobby? (A hobby besides writing gloomy poems, to be clear.)

So the next time I tried to write a YA book—more than a decade after my first attempt—I gave my main character a hobby. A weird hobby—tea leaf reading. But a hobby nonetheless. And from there I was able to develop a character whom I thought wouldn’t completely depress my readers.

I gave Marnie a lot of circumstances that resemble my own in high school. I grew up in a Connecticut town that bears some resemblance to Marnie’s.  My position within that town resembled Marnie’s in some vague ways. I’d rather keep the comparisons vague, but Marnie’s house is a little worn down, and her family is a little offbeat. But she is far more laid back about these things than I ever was. Her tea leaf reading is her way of saying, “Yes, I’m a bit of a weirdo in this town. But I’m just going to bide my time and embrace that.” She has a sense of humor about her situation. She realizes she can have fun with it, and manages to see past it. In addition to her hobby, I gave Marnie Ruth’s gift of perception.

Of course, Marnie’s gives her friends and classmates tea leaf readings for fun—and maybe for a little bit of attention. But when a guy named Matt Cotrell—whose best friend disappeared last year—asks for a reading, things get a little more serious. As Marnie’s readings become darker and more prescient, she is pulled into a mystery—a mystery that appears to involve murder.

HALLIE: Does this sound irresistible or what? Have any of you out there had your tea leaves read? Or Tarot cards? Or even your palm? I hope it didn't lead to a murder, but were there any epiphanies

Note from yesterday: Libby Dodd is the winner of Edith Maxwell's new book!

44 comments:

  1. Congratulations, Emily . . . your book sounds irresistibly intriguing and I’m looking forward to reading it.
    I have no experience with having my tea leaves read [or my palm, or Tarot cards], but after reading your fascinating story about Ruth, it sounds like quite an interesting idea . . . .

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    1. Thanks, Joan! I don't think I had any kind of psychic reading before Ruth, either. The nice thing about tea leaf reading is that it's quite easy to try yourself.

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  2. Congratulations Emily on your YA book "The Leaf Reader". I have never had my tea leaves read or had a Tarot Card reading. I did have my palm read once, and I hope what I was told is wrong!

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    1. I hope so too, Grace. Goodness!

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    2. Thank you, Grace! I've never had a Tarot card reading either. It sounds like your palm reader said something interesting. I hope it wasn't anything too terrible!

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  3. Welcome Emily! Oh how I loved this post and must trot down and pick up your book pronto. I've never had tea leaves read, but I do have Lorenzo the tarot card reader in my Key West series and he has a definite spiritual connection to the world. He's based on a real person who does the same thing in real life, and I completely believe that he notices and understands things in a way that many people don't.

    Question: where do think Marnie (and Ruth's) gift of perception comes from?

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    1. That's a great question, Lucy! I'm afraid the answer for Marnie is a bit of a spoiler. As for Ruth-my husband thinks that she had a natural psychic ability that she couldn't really exercise in her time and (stoic rural New England) community. The tea leaf reading was something she did later in life, as a bit of a parlor trick, but we think it did give her a little window into the supernatural. I'll have to check out your Lorenzo character. I found it a challenge to describe Marnie's psychic sensations in a way that felt genuine to me--even though I've never experienced anything like that myself.

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  4. Emily, I love the fact that you gave your teen character tea-leaf reading for a hobby. I immediately want to meet her--I'll be looking out for your book & checking to see that our local libraries have it. I've had my palm read, my cards read, and my tea leaves read. The tea leaf reading: a woman I did not know gave a program at our library--she saw a cardinal, which she said represented my mom. And she kept counting and counting and turning the cup--why would the cardinal be surrounded by 8 roses? Roses were my mom's favorite flower--and she had 8 children--it was a little eerie!

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    1. Oh my - that gave me chills, Flora. Someone is sure to put that in a book... it's fiction-worthy.

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    2. Wow. Thanks for sharing this story, Flora.

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  5. I have never done a reading of anything. I say it's because I don't really believe in it, but maybe I'm just afraid of what I'll be told! LOL

    Whenever I think of tea leaf readings, I think of the scenes in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. =)

    Mary/Liz

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    1. Hi Mary! People often mention Harry Potter to me when I describe the premise of this book. I then have to confess that I've never read any Harry Potter books. I plan to read them with my daughter when she is old enough, though.

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    2. Oh Emily, you'll love them. The storytelling is so much fun. The HPs are also among the BEST audio books ever.

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  6. Emily's book sounds delicious! I enjoy reading YA, and that's a fine age to dip into things like leaf reading and fortunetelling. When I was in high school I was asked to staff a palm-reading/card reading booth at a local fund raising fair. It meant I got to dress up in a gypsy mystic costume (or what passed for such in rural Missouri) so why not? I got a couple of books, brushed up on the basics, and raised a little money for a good cause while amusing the children. I found it fascinating, and I still read Tarot today, from time to time. Now, I see it as a sort of mirror of my subconscious, and I use it at times when I want to think about change or find a new focus. It can be an interesting tool, not unlike a Rorschach test. I don't often read for friends though, and never for money--not even for a good cause. People might take me seriously, and they shouldn't.

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    1. I love this story, Gigi. I agree with you that high school is the perfect time to try this kind of thing. My character Marnie shares your reluctance to do readings when there's a potentially sensitive situation involved. But ultimately she has trouble resisting, which gets her into a little trouble.

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  7. It looks so wonderful! What a terrific idea… I am enchanted with tea leaf reading and Tarot cards ( although I have never had this done because I think it is too scary) and any other future predictors you can imagine. It's fascinating to me that they rely on the acceptance that the future is fortellable… I mean, that it is somehow set.
    So many dominoes fall if you believe that.
    I am really looking forward to this book… So perfect. Congratulations!

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    1. Thank you, Hank! Yes, I understand what you mean. That's one reason I don't get these kinds of readings myself. I'm a pretty fatalistic person--I could get into a lot of trouble in the hands of the wrong "psychic," I think.

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  8. Emily, I have never had my palm or tea leaves read, but I did have a tarot card reading once as part of research for a story. It was an interesting experience, but the reading seemed a bit vague. I think my inner Doubter was in attendance that day.

    I'll be a fan for a moment and say that I've read and enjoyed every one of your books and find your endings unexpected and thought-provoking. I'm looking forward to reading this one soon.

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    1. Thank you, Ramona! That is so wonderful to hear! Although I've never had a Tarot reading done myself, I once accompanied a family member when he got his done. It was definitely quite vague, but I was impressed how quickly the reader was able to pick up on a couple of his personality traits and play off of them.

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  9. Emily, welcome to JRW! Congratulations on your new book. Reading tea leaves reminded me of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot. I remember a story where he was reading someone's tea leaves.

    Your YA book sounds fantastic! I agree that it is important to have a hobby. It is really hard being a teenager with growing pains. Going through changes from being a child to become an adult is quite an experience! It helps when one is focused on a hobby like horses or playing soccer (or any kind of sports).

    Is it OK to ask if grandmother Ruth was a Native American? When you mentioned Arizona, I immediately thought of Native Americans. I remember seeing many Native Americans when I visited Arizona.

    I have not had my tea leaves read YET.

    Adding your book to my TBR list.

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    1. Hi Bibliophile. No, Ruth wasn't Native American. She actually spent most of her life in northern Vermont. When she was older, she moved to a retirement facility in Tucson because her sons had ended up in the southwest.

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    2. Emily, thank you for sharing with us. Ruth sounds like a wonderful person.

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  10. I look forward to Edith's book! Many thanks.
    This author sounds really interesting. I must look for this book.
    Libby Dodd

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  11. This sounds fascinating! I was really into the I Ching and tarot reading for a while. I've also had my tarot read by a friend, and I also went to a fortune teller while living in Korea.

    I think I need to add this book to my TBR pile. Congratulations on the new book!

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  13. I have not done any of the tea leaf reading, palms or tarot cards or had my astrological chart done. I'm not really into that kind of thing.

    However, I do read my horoscope in the newspaper each day. Most of the time it is bunk, but on occasion it does hit the mark. Like when it says something like "Tonight: Eat your favorite meal" on the day I was going to my regular haunt for trivia night and my delicious bacon cheeseburger meal".

    Of course, it never says something I'd really like to read such as "You are definitely going to win the lottery tonight, Jay."

    But I suppose that's too much to hope for.

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    1. Laughing! I read my horoscope, too. And I love when it tells me to pipe down and take a backseat. As if...

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    2. Hallie,

      Yes, I love when it says something that is so completely opposite to myself that I say out loud. "Yeah, like that's going to happen."

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  14. Emily, what a great story about Ruth, and I love the premise of the book. As much tea as I drink, you'd think I'd have tried reading tea leaves! I'll read The Leaf Reader for a little primer:-)

    I did have my cards read by Lucy's Lorenzo when I was in Key West and I found it unexpectedly...unsettling. I was so frazzled (it was the very last stop of a month's book tour) and we were so busy that I didn't really process what Lorenzo told me. Now I wish I'd taken careful notes.

    So looking forward to The Leaf Reader!

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  15. Emily- Weirdly, I'm a CT girl (grew up in Kent and Niantic and went to college in New Haven) but then moved to AZ and have been here almost as long as I was in CT. What a clever idea to give your YA character something unusual to do that pulls her into an investigation. I can't wait to read this book! I've been playing around with YA but it is difficult to write in an accurate YA voice (at least for me). Do you see The Leaf Reader as a stand alone or will there be more investigations for Marnie?

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    1. Hi Jenn! I would love to do another book with Marnie, but I haven't started anything. I've got a couple of unrelated projects going right now and I've never written a sequel before. If enough readers wanted one, I have some ideas for where else I'd take Marnie in a second book.

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  16. The book and these stories all sound so intriguing. Thanks for sharing, everyone.

    One night in residence, a thousand years ago, I got out my ouija board (as one does) and a group of us girls dimmed the lights and got into it. Too much so, it turned out. We slowly received the response to one girl's question, and the moment the word became clear, she jumped up screaming, and remained nervous and upset for quite a while.

    Never did that again. I can't remember what it was about, but I realised some people take it all too seriously. I got rid of the board asap.

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    1. Hi, Susan! I've never had an experience with a ouija board that ended well.

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  17. What a neat premise for a book! Tea leaf reading sounds interesting. I'm afraid all I could see would be blobs though. I'd love to have a tarot card reading, just once. I did have my palm read in New Orleans eons ago. I don't remember that much about it except it seemed overly dramatic for a non-dramatic person. She did say I would be ill and fear for my life but everything would be fine. I had my gall bladder removed a few months later but never had any fears or doubts. I'm very low key about potential health issues, and very positive. So I guess I need a low key soothsayer to relate to.

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    1. Hi Pat. I think the size of the leaf and the amount of of tea makes a big difference in whether or not one sees just blobs. When I use too much tea, that's all I see, too.

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  18. Emily, I a big fan of YA books, and I especially keep an eye out for YA mysteries. I love that you've given your main character a quirky hobby and personality. Marnie is just the kind of self-confident girl that I enjoy reading about. My seven-year-old granddaughter is going to chess camp this week and has been playing for over a year now on her school team (they went to state). She is also an outdoor enthusiast who loves collecting specimens of bugs and leaves and such. Of course, her love of reading is something I'm happy about, too. But, kids in general need to be encouraged to seek out hobbies, whether they be outside the box or not. And, girls need to be encouraged to seek out anything they want, whether it is "girl normal" or not.

    The Leaf Reader is definitely going on my TBR list and Amazon wish list now.

    Oh, and I did have a tarot reading by Lucy's Ron at Mallory Square in Key West. I was a bit nervous, but he was very professional. I wasn't crazy about the message I received, wasn't horrible, just not a good news sort of message. However, there was some truth to what he told me, and it all turned out fine.

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    1. Thanks, Kathy! I definitely agree with you about encouraging kids to pursue the hobbies of their choice, even if they are unconventional. My daughter is so interested in "saving the coral reefs" that she has told me her preschool classmates have occasionally asked her to please stop talking about that.

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    2. Hahaha! Your daughter sounds like a great kid, Emily.

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  19. Emily, this is so cool! I've never had my tea leaves, tarot cards, or fortune read. I think it might freak me out! Congrats on the book!

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  20. Emily, I tried to find your book at the local indie bookstore. I will continue to look for your books at different bookstores and at the local public library.

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    1. I hope you find it, Bibliophile. And I hope you enjoy it!

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