Southern towns, real or fictional, radiate a certain ambiance. The archetypal town is small. Giant oak trees are festooned with Spanish moss. The air is heavy with heat and humidity, and redolent with the perfume of jasmine and azaleas. The voices drip with the slow cadences of magnolia and honey. There is always a family that "owns" the town, a character who exists outside the norm, and one person who bucks the traditional way of life. The very real town of Fairhope, Alabama and the fictional Fairhope share many of these traits. Both are small towns (15,000) on Mobile Bay, set amidst spreading oak trees.
As in real life, relationships are complicated and the plot of Queen of Broken Hearts centers on Clare and her work and the people around her. Clare, a Ph.D. psychologist and divorce therapist, is a widow whose husband died in what may have been a hunting accident. Her step-daughter, Haley, is married with two young children when her marriage goes asunder, an event that Clare did not see coming. Two men love Clare. Rye Ballenger is a sophisticated Southerner and cousin to her late husband. Lex Yarbrough has just moved down from Maine, bought the local marina, and been divorced by his harridan of a wife who then wants him back so Clare cannot have him. Clare's best friend Dory is married to Son who thinks he "owns" the town by birthright and has just been allowed back into her life. It sounds like a soap opera, but this story is imbued with more humanity, understanding, and well-rounded characters.
As in real life, relationships are complicated and the plot of Queen of Broken Hearts centers on Clare and her work and the people around her. Clare, a Ph.D. psychologist and divorce therapist, is a widow whose husband died in what may have been a hunting accident. Her step-daughter, Haley, is married with two young children when her marriage goes asunder, an event that Clare did not see coming. Two men love Clare. Rye Ballenger is a sophisticated Southerner and cousin to her late husband. Lex Yarbrough has just moved down from Maine, bought the local marina, and been divorced by his harridan of a wife who then wants him back so Clare cannot have him. Clare's best friend Dory is married to Son who thinks he "owns" the town by birthright and has just been allowed back into her life. It sounds like a soap opera, but this story is imbued with more humanity, understanding, and well-rounded characters.
Cassandra King, a voice dripping with the soft Alabama accent of her childhood, explained recently how she came to write her fourth novel. "It was serendipitous in a way. I was planning something else. I'd started outlining the other novel in my head, but a family event changed my direction." Her youngest sister was going through a painful and traumatic divorce. With 12 years difference in their ages, that sister had been almost a "baby doll to dress up and play with" when they were kids so this had an effect on me also. "I got to thinking about my earlier divorce, how it caused so many changes among my family and friends. I decided to write about divorce in a different way, not from an individual point of view."
King was speaking at Mercer College in Atlanta when she met a woman who was helping women going through the process of divorce. She arranged for her sister to attend one of their retreats. As she thought about this, King realized, "I'd been handed this gift of a different approach." It would be a story told from the point of view of a divorce therapist, showing how her personal life and how her friends' lives were affected.
King was speaking at Mercer College in Atlanta when she met a woman who was helping women going through the process of divorce. She arranged for her sister to attend one of their retreats. As she thought about this, King realized, "I'd been handed this gift of a different approach." It would be a story told from the point of view of a divorce therapist, showing how her personal life and how her friends' lives were affected.
As an author she wanted a peaceful, secluded retreat site. Fairhope, Alabama was just the spot. Her editor thought she had made it up! She even included the annual jubilee in which fish, crabs, and shrimp wander into the shallow waters where they can be scooped up in any handy container. Fairhope and one place in Japan are the only two places in the world where this phenomenon occurs. The rebuilding of an old fish camp into a retreat parallels the work the protagonist Clare does for women. Despite her wisdom in working with other women, Clare cannot see the problems coming for her daughter Haley, whose fictional divorce is modeled on that of King's sister. King did get permission from her sister and did ask her to review the manuscript.
Birds play a central role in the story. "My aunt and uncle raised peacocks. My dad raised pheasants, guineas, ducks, and fish ponds. Zoe and Cooter are based on my dad who was a real character." Her dad named all his birds as does Zoe. Cooter, the original Mr. Malaprop, is based on a real person who worked for one of King's friends, actually one of the same sweet girls of that novel. Cooter ordered a hotdog with "mustard and sour crotch" at a ball game once. They present an earthy, counterpoint to the more educated Clare and the New Age Dory, Clare's best friend.
Birds play a central role in the story. "My aunt and uncle raised peacocks. My dad raised pheasants, guineas, ducks, and fish ponds. Zoe and Cooter are based on my dad who was a real character." Her dad named all his birds as does Zoe. Cooter, the original Mr. Malaprop, is based on a real person who worked for one of King's friends, actually one of the same sweet girls of that novel. Cooter ordered a hotdog with "mustard and sour crotch" at a ball game once. They present an earthy, counterpoint to the more educated Clare and the New Age Dory, Clare's best friend.
King said, "I've been writing as long as I can remember. I wrote ghost stories and read them at recess to the other kids. I'd always leave a chapter hanging and 'charge' a popsicle to hear the ending." She had read big novels - Dickens, Michener - as a kid so she was afraid of starting on a novel herself. She wrote an "awful poem" in the late 70s, a women's lib piece: "Oh, Eve, I would have eaten an apple, too." She started with short stories and worked up to her first novel, a 256 page collection of interconnected short stories.
Being married to a writer is a good thing, King said. "We both understand the need for solitude. We can avoid socializing when writing." King normally writes in the morning, while her mind is fresh. When stuck, "I stop, put it aside, and come back a few days later." Her characters are developed before she writes, an outline completed in her head. She knows the beginning and the end, although there are occasional side turns in the middle. In The Same Sweet Girls, for example, a love story developed which she had not planned.
She maintains a good relationship with her editor - "She's twelve!" Everyone in publishing is young, King continued. "When I taught, I tried to be diplomatic; I used a green pen for comments. My first manuscript was a shock. Whole pages were marked out with a red pen!"
Being married to a writer is a good thing, King said. "We both understand the need for solitude. We can avoid socializing when writing." King normally writes in the morning, while her mind is fresh. When stuck, "I stop, put it aside, and come back a few days later." Her characters are developed before she writes, an outline completed in her head. She knows the beginning and the end, although there are occasional side turns in the middle. In The Same Sweet Girls, for example, a love story developed which she had not planned.
She maintains a good relationship with her editor - "She's twelve!" Everyone in publishing is young, King continued. "When I taught, I tried to be diplomatic; I used a green pen for comments. My first manuscript was a shock. Whole pages were marked out with a red pen!"
