LUCY BURDETTE: Leslie Wheeler is an old friend of the New England contingent of Reds--and we're so thrilled that she has a new novel out! Today she's talking about the importance of her setting--and offering a book giveaway to one lucky reader. Welcome Leslie!
LESLIE WHEELER: A college
writing teacher of mine said that we write about what we love and hate. In Rattlesnake Hill, I’ve written about a
place that’s very close to my heart: the Berkshire Hills of Western
Massachusetts. I love the area and the seventeen acres I own, especially the
pond.
The
pond was my father’s idea. Perhaps because he’d spent boyhood summers by a lake
in northwestern Montana, he always wanted to live near fresh water. If there
was no body of fresh water nearby, he created it. In Southern California, we
had a swimming pool, as did many other families, but my father also installed a
small Japanese pond, and at another home in Maryland, he built a miniscule
waterfall.
My father
picked the site for the Berkshire pond in a low-lying area behind the house,
with tall pines at one end. Over the years, he showed such a keen interest in
it that we dubbed him the Pond Master. Sometimes, he fussed over the pond.
During one particularly dry summer, he extended a garden hose into it to raise
the water level. But mostly, he enjoyed the pond. He could sit for hours in a
chair, turned to give him a view of the water. He was a driven man in a
demanding profession, and I think he found tranquility in that view.
Like my
father, I feel duty-bound to preserve and protect the pond. I’ve battled
beavers that tried to dam it, waged war on cattails and other weeds that
threatened to overwhelm it, and when the pond filled with silt, I’ve had it dredged—not
once, but several times.
The
pond is also a source of great pleasure for me. I love watching how it changes
from one season to the next, from spring green, spotted with tadpoles, to
summer murky, fall crystal clear, and finally to winter frozen over.
It serves
as a barometer, too. If I want to find out how windy or rainy it is without
going outside, I observe the pond’s surface. When its surface is so still that
I can see the reflections of the trees in the woods beyond, I could sit for
hours, like my father, taking in the beauty and peace.
A pond
not unlike my pond figures in Rattlesnake
Hill. It’s where Kathryn Stinson, my main character, goes when she needs a
break. With all I put her through in the novel, I figured she needed a place
where she could relax and regroup, if only for a little while.
Readers:
Do you have a special place, indoors or outdoors, where you go when you want to
get away from it all? Have you given your main character such a place, too? One
of the commenters will receive an ARC of Rattlesnake
Hill.
You can buy the book right here.
