An Interview with Theresa, from THE STARK BEAUTY OF LAST THINGS by Céline Keating

An Interview with Theresa, from THE STARK BEAUTY OF LAST THINGS by Céline Keating

As overdevelopment and sea level rise threaten Montauk, an unexpected legacy grants the fate of its last undeveloped parcel to Clancy Frederics, an outsider scarred by his orphan childhood. Everyone in town has a stake, among them Julienne, a painter fighting to save the landscape that inspires her art and Theresa, a bartender whose trailer park home is jeopardized by coastal erosion. When a forest fire breaks out, Clancy comes under suspicion for arson, complicating his efforts to navigate competing agendas for the land and to find the healing and home he’s always longed for.

CK: Theresa, it may surprise you to know that many readers have told me that they find you to be the most interesting of my characters—also the most inscrutable. 

Theresa: Wow yeah, it does surprise me, and that’s really alarming. You’re the author. You know quite well that I don’t let people get close. It was unnerving to be laid bare to your readers. I wish they’d all forget about me and pay attention to someone else.

CK: You sound a little bit peeved.  

Theresa: More than a little, but what choice did I have?

CK: Well you gave me a hard time too. What was I supposed to do with all your contradictions? You’re a devout Catholic and Catholics are supposed to practice love and charity, and yet you were completely unforgiving with your father; you refused to make peace. And what about sex? You were essentially promiscuous in your twenties and then you decide to be celibate. It’s a lot to make sense of. By the way, since the time of the novel have you let down your guard at all? Any men in your life?

Theresa: Sorry, but that’s off-limits. The novel is finished, and you don’t get to know my private business anymore.

CK: I could write you into a new one, you know.

Theresa: Don’t you dare.

CK: OK, let’s call a truce. I was just teasing anyhow. I think it was very moving how you struggled with your anger and bitterness toward your father during the course of the novel. You also were tough on Clancy, but by the end of the novel you were quite warm toward him. Do you feel differently about both these men now, with the passage of time?

Theresa: I admit I was unforgiving and even cruel to my father but I had my reasons, as you well know.  With Clancy, once I knew his story and trusted him, I did feel compassion for him. I guess it opened me up to being able to forgive my father. It was hard. I do admit I feel much freer since then. 

CK: You said that a little begrudgingly. Still, I’m very happy that you were able to grow and change in that way. What about Cody? You walked away from a relationship with him. That disappointed me. He is pretty damn cute and appealing. Do you have any regrets?

Theresa: [She looks away, biting her lip] I know I was really brusque and off-putting and he didn’t deserve that. 

CK: I hope you’ve stayed in touch with Molly? She was something of a little sister to you – do you agree?

Theresa: Yes, and yes. Molly is pure goodness.  

CK: I was very interested in your work trying to shore up the dunes where you live at the trailer park, and how you used some of the methods of habitat restoration. Do you have any thoughts on that work and how well it succeeded?

Theresa: I just felt I had to do something, and the town was dragging its feet. 

CK: Do you think that the town doing a beach reclamation project at the trailer park was partly in response to your work there?

Theresa: What? That never occurred to me. 

CK: You took a very different kind of action against the artificial dune that was installed on the downtown beach, destroying the sand bags that created the dune. Did you expect to get away with that? Any regrets?

Theresa: Yeah, OK, so I acted out. I’m pretty ashamed of that. It didn’t solve anything. Slashing the bags released incompatible sand onto the beach. It just added insult to injury. I just needed to do something.

CK: I get it. Beach erosion was destroying the beaches you love. You did join one meeting of the trailer park community, but you never got involved in any group action, did you?

Theresa: Not a group person. It’s like Joe Tretorn says – we all contribute in our own way. 

CK: I know it’s outside the sphere of the novel, but I hope you’ve found what you’re looking for? I confess to being surprised by your decision in the last chapter.

Theresa: How can you be surprised? You wrote it!

CK: I really wrestled with that. I didn’t want it to end that way, but somehow, when I was deep into your experience, it seemed like the only possibility.

Theresa. Well, as you know, it’s being in nature, and the ocean, that gives me peace.  

Luckily, for now, there are wild places still.

CK: So you think there’s still hope?

Theresa: Yes, there is still hope.

BUY HERE

—

Céline Keating is an award-winning writer living in Bristol, Rhode Island. Her novel THE STARK BEAUTY OF LAST THINGS is forthcoming in October, 2023. She is the author of two novels: Layla (2011), a Huffington Post featured title, and Play for Me (2015), a finalist in the International Book Awards, the Indie Excellence Awards, and the USA Book Awards. Her short fiction and articles have been published in many literary journals and magazines. For many years a resident of Montauk, NY, Céline continues to serve on the board of environmental organization Concerned Citizens

website: www.celinekeating.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorCelineKeating/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/celinekeating

Instagram: https//instagram.com/celinekeatingauthor

Tags: featured, women writers

Category: Interviews, On Writing