Wednesday, May 17, 2023

A Time To Celebrate—And Reflect! By Katherine Hall Page

JENN McKINLAY: What a treat to have our friend Katherine Hall Page visit us today to talk about her latest Faith Fairchild mystery! Take it away, Katherine!



     Today is Syttende Mai, Norwegian for the Seventeenth of May or Constitution Day and celebrated not only all over Norway, but by Norwegian migrant communities across the world (think lutefisk and lingonberries in Minnesota, waffler in Cardiff, and a huge parade in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn). The day celebrates the signing of Norway’s Constitution in 1814, but earlier celebrations were a protest at being ceded to Sweden (story for another time and source of jokes belittling that country made by my grandfather when I was growing up). My mother was Norwegian, and we always had something special for dinner. It joined the 4th of July as our national holidays. Today I’ve been thinking of the 17th of May as a slightly different kind of celebration, one of survival. The brutal Nazi occupation of Norway with three concentration camps and other horrors forbid the celebration, and also wearing colors of the Norwegian flag (red, white, and blue) on clothing. Norway was liberated on May 8, 1945, and the flag continues to be a strong symbol of freedom, as is Constitution Day with its children’s parades, more diverse these days with the country’s increasing ethnic diversity. 

     The Body in the Web is about a crime, but the book is set against the backdrop of the pandemic, survival. I kept a daily journal, jotting a few sentences about things happening in our lives and outside the Pod (three—our son under the same roof happily) ‚ what we ate and how I “foraged” for essentials. Once it was safe to be with people and I started the book, everyone had stories to tell—some tragic, but also many about their ways of coping, ingenious, even humorous. Similar to one of the subplots in the book, I learned about a postponed very elaborate wedding, and plan for a honeymoon baby prompting thorny discussions since no one could pick a new date, for either. Biological clock ticking, baby first? I detailed other issues. Unlike paper goods, there were many shortages, that could not have been predicted— thread since we were all stitching up masks, cream cheese! and the search for yeast alternatives. 

     Faith Fairchild and family form a Pod with son Ben home from college, daughter Amy a senior in high school and husband Tom, all dealing with their lives remotely. Faith’s catering business is suspended. When a close friend’s death is deemed a suicide, Faith must solve what she knows is a murder remotely as well. She can’t go knock on doors, face suspects eye-to-eye. The book begins on January 14, 2021. Here are the first few sentences: 

      “Faith Fairchild set her phone down with the first sigh of relief she had felt for almost eight months…Such was the effect of the call from her husband Tom, the Reverend Thomas Fairchild, with the stunning news that as one of the local VA hospital’s chaplains he was eligible for vaccination and was on his way to get the shot. A simple sentence, a series of words turned the room from the everyday to a rare setting she would always remember as the beginning flicker of hope.” 

     I thought the book needed to begin with this emotion since it will also look back at those worst weeks and months, we experienced beginning in late February 2020. Norway’s Resistance Movement is storied and today I am recalling the food packages we sent after the war and how desperate things were there but hope never died. Norway survived and although it is a very wealthy nation now, there is still a sense of remembrance, cherishing the survival of that time, passing this down to children, grand and great grandchildren. 

     I received a number of comments about rereading or reading The Body in the Lighthouse, which I was writing just before 9/11 and had to put aside until I could write again after some months. The following is part of the Author’s Note in the new book and especially resonates today: 

Rereading the Lighthouse note, I’ve been struck by how I could simply have copied it, changed the date, several descriptive sentences and it would apply—saying what I want to say to you now. “There were no degrees of separation on September 11” I wrote and that was true at the start of the pandemic. “We are all in this together.” I am not naïve and there are deep divisions in our country, but throughout the pandemic, and continuing as each new variant like the Hydra’s head raises fears and causes a spike in cases, people helped each other. Acts of kindness were enumerable. The heroic work of healthcare workers of all kinds, putting their lives on hold and on the line will be remembered when the history of all this is written in the future. The future. At the close of the Lighthouse note, I write “Just as many of us date things from before the Cuban missile crisis and before the assassinations of the Kennedys and Martin Luther King, Jr., we now have another ‘before’.” Now we have an even greater “before”. “Pre-pandemic” has entered our daily conversations. “I saw someone…” “That was…” and so forth. After September 11th, I mourned a world lost to our children that had seemed a place safe from such an attack. Those children are adults now, many with children of their own, and I mourn the loss of the pre-pandemic world for them. The toll that remote learning, isolation, and loss has taken in multiple forms can never be remedied. As we enter in what is being termed, “Living with Covid”, my wish for you, dear readers, is the same as I expressed all those years ago. That we hold on to hope—and in every way possible, each other. Altogether. 

     And so, as we think back and look forward, let’s enjoy whatever heritage we represent—I’ll have some Aquavit (Dad’s Anglo Saxons might have had ale) saying “Skål”. Cheers to all of you!! 

      P.S. A photo of much much younger me wearing my Vestfold (the part of Eastern Norway on the Oslofjord) Bunad, traditional dress for the holiday!! 


And as an extra treat here is Faith Fairchild's Beer Bread recipe: 


Katherine Hall Page is the award-winning writer of the Faith Fairchild series (Wm Morrow/Avon), a recipient of the Agatha for Best First, Best Short Story, and Best Mystery Novel as well as other Agatha, Edgar, Mary Higgins Clark, and Maine Literary Awards nominees. She received Malice Domestic’s Lifetime Achievement Award and another—Crime Master—from the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance. The Body in the Web is the 26th in the series. She has also published a cookbook, Have Faith in your Kitchen, and books for YAs and Middle Grade readers. A New Jersey native, she lives in Massachusetts and Maine. 

www.webmaster@katherine-hall-page.org

50 comments:

  1. Congratulations, Katherine, on your newest book. [And thanks for the recipe!] Twenty-sixth in the series . . . definitely an accomplishment to celebrate!

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    1. Thank you—and have fun with the bread!

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  2. Katherine, congratulations on book #26 in your series. Your essay is touching, not only bringing me back to the relief we felt when we knew our vaccinations were scheduled, but also remindering me of other tough emotional times. Tell us a little more about your series. You are a new-to-me author.

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    1. It's a traditional mystery series with an amateur sleuth who is a wife,mother, clerical spouse and caterer. The first, The Body in the Belfry, came out in 1989 and the books don't have to be read in order. She's changes over the years, as have we all, but is always driven by curiosity, a what has happened and what's going to happen next. There's much more, a summary of each book, on my website www.katherine-hall-page.org

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  3. What a beautiful note, Katherine. And so well-said. I find myself often saying, "It was maybe three years ago," and then realizing it had to be at least five years ago or more, because what I'm talking about couldn't have happened during lockdown or even until 2023.

    That bread sounds yummy - does it rise some solely from the beer? Best of luck with the book - must get my hands on a copy!

    For my Reds backblog friends, Katherine is one of the reasons I write the kinds of books I write! I was reading her series at the very beginning when it first occurred to me to write my own mystery. So of course it became a cozy/traditional featuring a female amateur sleuth - and recipes.

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    1. Ah, Edith! Katherine inspired you. Nice!!

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    2. Thank you!! I am stunned!! As for the bread, yes the beer acts as yeast. We've come to like it so much I bake varieties of it often.

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  4. KATHERINE: As a long-time reader of your series, I am delighted to hear about your newest Faith book. Congratulations on book #26 and enjoy your Norwegian celebrations today.

    And how did I not know about HAVE FAITH IN YOUR KITCHEN? I also collect cookbooks and will seek this one out.

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    1. Thank you so much! There are also new recipes on the web site from time to time. We are having salmon for dinner of course! My dream is to be in Norway on the 17th of May and see the parades!

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  5. Congratulations Katherine, we're so happy to have you here! I know very little about Norway's history so this was fascinating!

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    1. Thank you! And yes, I treasure my Norwegian heritage and the history is fascinating-and often tragic unfortunately, particularly the 19th and 20th centuries.

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  6. Katherine, congratulations on #26--I have enjoyed this series ever since I came across book #1. Your snippet took me back to those days of unrelenting panic and fear--and yes, to the immeasurable relief I felt when vaccines were available locally. As to your 'note'--well said! And finally, thanks for the beer bread recipe--my sister will thank you, too! Cheers!

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    1. It's fun to make and until the pandemic I had never even heard of it. Yes, the relief was amazing when we got that first shot. Thank you!

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  7. Pandemic fallout: My grandson is about to graduate from high school, culminating a unique three years for a teenager. He was isolated with only his parents for over a year; that age group is now heading off to college with strangely crippled social development. We may never understand the true consequences of our shared global experience.

    Katherine, what was it like reliving the Pod, and other bits of the pandemic? We're you newly traumatized, or was it cathartic? Possibly both?

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    1. You are very astute. It was both and at times I was pushed back into the worst of it, but we were very fortunate to be together. I think we all took turns reacting. I'm so sorry about your grandson and have heard this from so many, with kids of all ages, but missing those final high school years is particularly tough. It will take him a while—and isolated adult friends have told me how they have trouble still in social interactions, not in the habit of making conversation. Wishing him all the best.

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  8. Congratulations, Katherine! The beer bread sounds yummy.

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    1. 'Hold onto hope' - these days it feels easier said than done. I feel as if our polarized world has driven me into a protective crouch. Afraid to express an opinion. Afraid not to. Gloomy, I know. I am reassured when I spend any time with my grandkids. They seem just as goofy and free spirited as I could wish.

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    2. Agree about the little ones, Hallie. Am gratified my thirty-something sons and their wives are planning for/working on producing babies. They have not lost hope for the next generation.

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    3. Amen to the above...

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    4. The Boy, who is going to be 21 this summer, talks about eventually getting married and having kids.

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  9. Cheers to you Katherine! I'm hanging on to hope, and am so glad that first anxious year of the pandemic is behind us.

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    1. Thank you!! Give it a try as is first and then fool around with grated cheese or spices.

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  10. Congratulations on your latest release! Our perspective on life and its impediments has changed since the pandemic. Can't find what you need at the grocery store? Improvise. Try something new. And now that all the local pandemic puppies are three, we're still stopping to chat with their owners on our dog walks.

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    1. Thank you and this is so true. My road is a dog walking one, even for those who don't live on it. A lovely long dead end. Our masks are off now, but we all still stop and chat!

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  11. Hank Phillippi RyanMay 17, 2023 at 8:54 AM

    Standing ovation! 26 novels in the series… That is basically unheard of, and an incredible accomplishment. And, reds and readers, Katherine Hall Page certainly changed my life… It’s a long story, and a lovely one, but suffice it to say that early early early in my “career “, when it wasn’t even a career, Katherine open doors for me and generously and powerfully gave me opportunities I would certainly not otherwise have had. I am endlessly and infinitely grateful. And cannot wait to read this book!
    Plus, and something she did not tell you, I saw her just the other day, as she was being applauded and awarded by the Youth Advocacy Foundation, and presented with the lifetime justice award. She received a standing ovation, and again, that is what we give her here, too. She is a treasure.

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  12. Hi Katherine! I can't wait to pick up your new book. Congrats!!

    Our daughter and her family were living in Bergen, Norway (my son in law was on a Fullbright). Anyway, I was visiting on May 17, 2015 and we marched in the parade with our grandkids' schools. We also spent the morning with our daughter's neighbors who were kind enough to invite us all over for a big brunch and celebration they were hosting.

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    1. I am SO envious! The Bergen parade is famous and one year my parents went to visit the family on the other coast and they all traveled to go to spend the 17th of May in Bergen, had the time of their lives. Norwegians are very good at celebrating.

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  13. Thank you so much for this note, Katherine! It is the most heartfelt and the best describing past and present that I have read!

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    1. Thank you so much! This means a great deal to me.

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  14. What a lovely essay. I'm looking forward to reading this installment.

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    1. Thank you! And do let me know what you think! A hard book to write.

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  15. KATHERINE, welcome to JRW! I remember meeting you at my first Malice Domestic conference. And congratulations on your new mystery novel!

    Look forward to reading your new Faith Fairchild mystery, I love the names Faith Fairchild - these are easy names to Sign.

    Many years ago I saw something on ? 60 Minutes ? or a five to ten minutes segment on a newsmagazine tv programme about Norwegian children fathered by German soldiers and how they were treated after the Second World War ended. I cried. Very sad. The story about the Norwegian occupation reminded me.

    After I met you at Malice, I read all of your Faith Fairchild mysteries!

    Diana

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    1. Thank you so much and Malice is wonderful. The Lebensborn children, the horror of it, plus other parts of the occupation were what prompted me to write The Body in the Fjord. I had been working on another book, but went with my mother and my aunt to Norway for several weeks and learned the details about those children and how they suffered growing up, then as adults. So, I put the other book aside when I returned and wrote about them. It is one of the most persoanl of my books, I think.

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  16. Faith, I love the photo of you as a child in your bunad. As a German-descended child in Germany, I wore tracht and was always so happy with how special it made me feel.

    Your opening sentence took me straight back to April 2021, when I qualified for the first vaccination and got a slot in the enormous facility the state had set up at what used to be a racetrack. I was there for a total of half an hour, and I'll remember it vividly the rest of my life. I wept after I got the shot, from relief and stress and the feeling that there was finally a light at the end of the tunnel.

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    1. Julia, I also remember the relief when we finally got the covid vaccine! Diana

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    2. I think most of us wept, Julia! My husband was getting his early (in remission, but qualified as at risk) and I didn't think they would give me one too! When the doctor said, "Why don't we get you set since you're here" I totally choked up and had to keep myself from throwing my arms around him (had it been my PCP I would have, but this was in another part of the hospital)! And yes, my bunad was passed to my younger sister and then back to Norway to my cousins' little girls.

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  17. Happy Constitution Day, Katherine! I believe about half of my dad's uncles and aunts left Sweden for the U.S. in the 1880's, including my grandfather Erickson. Since he was a teen, he left Swedish dress and customs behind, although he still had his lutefisk occasionally. Happily I was not there for those meals. .

    I felt like I had won the lottery when I got a letter from my health care provider that I could make an appointment and get my first Covid shot. It was a happy day

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    1. The 1880s was the big migration from Sweden and Norway. Lutefisk has gotten a bad rap and if made the way my family does, it's delicious. Really. And getting the shot was better than winning the lottery!!!

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  18. Hi Katherine and congratulations on the book! And for reminding us that hope comes out of dark times.

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    1. Thank you so much! It was a challenge to write this book, but hope is the theme.

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  19. Glad to learn there is a new Faith Fairchild mystery. Wonderful news!

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  20. I think what puts people off about lutefisk is knowing it's made with lye.

    So are bagels, but they have a better PR department, I guess.

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  21. Thanks so much for visiting us today, Katherine!

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    1. Thank you so much for hosting me, Jenn! Always my favorite group!

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  22. Holy moly, I am SO late to this party, but *must* comment. Katherine, I only discovered your Faith Fairchild series this winter, and instantly fell in love with it! After reading the last one I was afraid you'd brought it to an end and was so, so disappointed. Every week or so I'd google you, looking for news of another installment. I can't tell you how freaking happy I am to see you here today and read about your latest offering! Big congratulations and many thanks to you. ~Lynda

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    1. Many thanks to you! Your comment made me freaking happy!

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