Book Club Questions for the Author

One of the greatest pleasures of being a writer is the chance to meet with readers who want to talk about the story you invented.

I am fortunate to be invited both in person and on Zoom to talk with book clubs, service organizations, synagogues and history buffs about the story and to give presentations on the research I did to create Ravenscraig.

It is just a lot of fun to talk with readers who become deeply involved in the story.

Even during the time of COVID restrictions, I was able to work out visiting with readers, often on Zoom, but also in person. In February, 2021, I was in Winter Haven in Polk County in Central Florida where I had the pleasure to meet the “Contemporary Club” which has been in existence since the 1970s. What a wonderful group. Most conveniently, it turns out that Winter Haven is a three hour train ride from my home. With no travel for over a year, it felt like an adventure to just be on a train!

My hosts, Dianne Smith and Judy Thompson, and their circle of friends treated me like visiting royalty. I was given a tour of Winter Haven Landmarks and taken out to dinner with a vibrant and interesting group of women.

The Contemporary Club of Winter Haven, Florida

We had our book meeting the next morning on a large screened in porch. Everyone wore a mask. The weather, the friendliness and the questions could not have been better.

Then we all went out to lunch where we sat outdoors at a lakeside restaurant. It reminded me so much of Manitoba. New friendships had so easily taken root. All too soon it was time to get back to the train for the ride home. We packed a lot in 24 hours and I will never forget their kindness and enthusiasm.

Book Club Questions

The following questions came to me from a book club, also in Florida, a few years ago. I couldn’t attend this event due to an ill-timed appendectomy (which I had in Winnipeg while on a visit). I wrote out the answers to these questions while I was recovering.

Here then, is a little background on the writing of Ravenscraig. Please do write to me if you have any other questions!

**Why did you decide to title your novel Ravenscraig? What other options did you consider?**

Finding the title was challenging. My first working title was the incredibly bland Willows on the Crescent. After that there were a number of titles that related to the Titanic. Finally I settled on Ravenscraig because it was the name of Rupert’s home (Rupert Willows is the lead character) and because it just seemed to work better than any of the other titles I had on my list.

Ravenscraig Hall (a fictional home) is located in the real neighbourhood of Armstrong’s Point which has a charming history and truly remains a sought-after historical neighbourhood to this day. On the location that I placed Ravenscraig Hall there originally sat a mammoth home known as Bannatyne’s Castle, which became the first home of Ravenscourt School. How unfortunate that only the gates of that home are still in existence today. I took the name Ravenscraig from Ravenscraig Castle in Scotland, which is big, ugly and was among the first built “to withstand cannon fire.” Once I tripped across that, I knew it was perfect for the mansion. Coming to the conclusion that it was the right name for the book took much longer.

Naming characters was a similar problem. I learned all of the baby name sites on the internet in my search for names that I felt would be most appropriate. I also did extensive searching through archival materials from Ellis Island, the Canadian Census reports of 1901 and 1911, the Jewish Genealogy website and City of Winnipeg archives.

What is your greatest pleasure – researching the historical underpinnings of the plot or creating the characters and dialogue to communicate the historical elements?

I love the research. The idea of writing a novel first came from stumbling across a great story about the scandals involved in building the Manitoba Legislative building a century ago. Great story. The more I learned the further back I needed to go. What I learned about the conflicts between rich and poor, and English and everyone foreign during the height of the immigration boom (1896-1914) became so interesting that the focus of my story naturally shifted to the stories of that time.

There was such extreme poverty and so little political will to do anything about it that it just seemed unbelievable. I read stories of 40 or more people living in boarding houses of 800 sq ft or less and thought it impossible that this had happened. Moreover it made me wonder that if it indeed had happened, how had I never heard of that before? The 1911 census is an amazing document that lays out the truth. Then, knowing the extent the overcrowding existed set a different colour to the many essays and memoires that I had read and new materials that I sought out. What I had seen as perhaps exaggerated through a nostalgic memory suddenly came into focus as an undertold story of suffering. I wanted to bring that story to life.

This led to learning about the Typhoid epidemic in 1904-1905 when Winnipeg had the highest rate of typhoid per capita in the western world. I first learned of it in a book by Dr. Alan Artibise, titled: A Social History of Winnipeg, 1874-1914. There truly was a Dr. Jordan called in from Chicago to investigate the health crisis. I ordered a full copy of his report from the Manitoba Archives and was shocked to learn that he did not condemn the use of dirty river water being brought into the water mains for use in fire control. He did say the water should be used “as little as possible”. Equally interesting was that the Winnipeg newspapers produced no screaming headlines demanding to know the source of the typhoid. It appears the city leaders just didn’t want to be shamed on a national scale.

Did Rupert Willows ever get on your nerves?

Yes. But as awful as his behavior is at times, I admit to a deep affection for him. I enjoy his complexity.

Which is easier for you, description or dialogue?

Dialogue is much easier for me. There comes a point where you spend enough time with your characters that you understand their morals, failings, strengths and misery. I don’t mean to sound nutty, but I got to like a lot of them, especially the ones I spent a lot of time with. So then, in doing the kind of research I did for Ravenscraig, I found I had historical events that my characters needed to react to. My method, I suppose, is to find the circumstance, place the people in it and then listen…and type.

There was one night I remember where I had had a particularly productive day. I work outside on the patio most of the time when the weather allows. It was dark and I was working away in the light of lamp and became quite overcome by what unfolded. Katiana, my daughter who was in high school, came out to ask a question and caught me as I wiped the tears from my eyes. “ARE YOU OKAY, MUM?”

I think that when we as writers, and readers, too, come to realize that these are not just stories, but that each of us has someone in our own ancestry who suffered, who fled, who persevered so that future generations would have a good life, it becomes something worth learning. Each of us has a history worth knowing. Sacrifice is a big word and it counts for a lot. It enriches your life when you contemplate the suffering that was done on your behalf.

Who do you imagine as your ideal readers?

Wow. To be totally honest, this was a selfish endeavor. I wrote something I had searched out to read and couldn’t find. I thought if my mum read the book I wrote I would be happy. It pleases me to no end that the story has touched others and that it has sparked interest among some readers to learn more about their own histories. Historical fiction was not one of those BIG genres publishers were clamouring to publish when Ravenscraig was released in 2012.

As an author, are you more interested in portraying the history of a period/place or in drawing “life lessons” from historical events and suggesting parallels to present issues?

I think there are life lessons in almost every circumstance and I wanted to tell a story that was historically correct. I was very concerned about reflecting the attitudes of the day, particularly in the impact on women and the underclasses. I like the idea that readers might learn something new that makes them think about the immigrant experience, whether it be a hundred years ago or in modern times.

Even in the most seemingly objective narrations of history, the historian has a point of view, a bias, a cautionary message. As an author working in the genre of historical fiction, how would you characterize your moral slant or philosophical position?

I think it is very humbling to look at all of the difficulties that were borne by our ancestors. I have little interest in anyone who might whine about not having the latest cell phone or tablet. Freedoms are too easily characterized as entitlements. I look back at that time a century ago, and imagine who or what I might have done or been. My heart goes out to the unfed children, the women who gave birth with their hair frozen to a wall in an unheated shack, and to all of the men that drove themselves to find any way possible to provide for their families. All of those who faced the tremendous challenge of putting down roots in a country where so many people were against them, simply because of a name, a religion, or an ethnic background. I think if I were to have lived in that time I would have thrown all my might behind Nellie McLung and the group of women who saw to it that Manitoba would be the first province in Canada to gain the right for women to vote in 1916. But, I would have advocated for a wider base of women to be included.

Why did you choose to conclude the book the way you did? Did you consider other options?

The ending came at the very end. I had an earlier version that I was just not satisfying so I had to take some time away and just think about it. I have a deep affection for certain characters and it was very troublesome to learn what happened. I was quite shocked, I must say, when I finally learned.

How does the ending reflect on or influence the themes of your novel. Family, Loyalty, Education, Integrity, Politics, Gender Issues (changing role of women, suffrage, etc.).

Because the ending was the last of the book to be written, I cannot say it influenced the themes. It did certainly influence thoughts of a sequel. I am interested in the Great War and its impact on the city. I am greatly interested in the work and strength of the women particularly through the Women’s Christian Temperance Movement, and the suffrage movement, prohibition, which came to Manitoba in 1916 on the heels of women gaining the right to vote.

Sam Bronfman became Canada’s best known Jewish leader after he became known for Seagram. He and his family started out in Saskatchewan and Manitoba in a variety of jobs which quickly led to the the hotel business. He became the owner of the Bell Hotel in Winnipeg when he was in his early twenties and ultimately became Canada’s most famous bootlegger. There is much to research in this area. And then there is the matter of the 1915 scandal of the building of the Legislative Building.

Through all of this, I eventually found my way to researching art forgery in 1914. I know that seems like an odd jog in the path, but it is such a compelling subject for me that it completely reshaped my novel. I don’t have a title for it yet, (stay tuned) but the novel is on track to be released in 2024.