Authors Interviewing Characters: Caitlin Hamilton Summie

Sarah Macmillan Character Interview by Caitlin Hamilton Summie, author of GEOGRAPHIES OF THE HEART,  out now, by Fomite Press.

GEOGRAPHIES OF THE HEART

Sarah Macmillan always puts family first, but she can’t quite stretch her arms wide enough to hold on to everyone as they all age: her career-minded, inattentive younger sister, Glennie; their grandparents, who are slowly fading; or a pregnancy Sarah desperately wanted. But it’s her tumultuous relationship with Glennie that makes Sarah feel the loneliest. She’d always believed that their relationship was foundational, even unbreakable.

Though blessed with a happy marriage to Al, whose compassion and humor she admires, Sarah shoulders both caregiving and loss largely alone and grows increasingly bitter about Glennie’s absences, until one decision forces them all to decide what family means—and who is family. Narrated by the chorus of their three voices, this elegantly told and deeply moving novel examines the pull of tradition, the power of legacies, the importance of forgiveness, and the fertile but fragile ground that is family, the first geography to shape our hearts.

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CHS: Hi Sarah. It seems to me that if I interviewed anyone in this novel, it would have to be you.

SM: Yes, I suppose I’m at the heart of it all.

CHS: You sound tired.

SM: (small laugh) Well, if you carry grudges around for a long time, you make them heavier.

CHS: Did you think people would be more sympathetic?

SM: Yes. I shouldered a lot. Deaths, birth, miscarriage, caretaking, starting a business. Much of it concurrently. But people didn’t notice or they seemed to think I ought to have a better attitude and have been a better person. I became a better person, but yes, I got bitter first. I’m not proud of that. Still, I think it’s understandable. Things happen, a person bears up for a while, and sometimes she sinks for a while, too. I lifted myself back up. I hope people remember that about me. My resilience. In the end, my humility.

CHS: What’s it like to have your family story out there?

SM: It’s kind of like Reality TV. Sometimes I cringe and wish you hadn’t written it, but then I think, we’re human. We’re good people. We’re like a lot of other people and families. Life isn’t always easy, and sometimes people keep getting knocked down. But we endure: I said that in the first chapter. I think the next generation may even triumph. Plus there’s humor in the story, and a dog, and a cat. And hope.

CHS: Can I ask who you most admire?

SM: My husband, Al, and my grandfather, Ed. And our family friend, Larch.

CHS: Why?

SM: They never lost their senses of humor, in Al and Ed’s cases. Larch didn’t laugh so much but was so caring in his own fierce, quiet way.

CHS: All men then? It seemed to me your mother stayed funny.

SM: Oh, yes. She is funny, and I love her deeply. But I think the fellows carried more, were at greater risk.

CHS: What do you hope for the future?

SM: Peace. Just peace, on a personal level, for everyone in my family.

CHS: What do you think your story is about?

SM: So many things, really. The nature of family, the nature of forgiveness, trying to be ethical, trying to withstand difficulties—and to understand their effects.

CHS: I’ve said that the biggest thing that can happen in one of my stories is that someone forgives someone else. What do you think of that?

SM: I think in our loud, divided world, it is one of the most important things a person could do.

CHS: Thank you. So let me turn toward a lighter subject, will you ever get your own dog?

SM: Yes. Someday. I have a name picked out.

CHS: You do?

SM: Yes. But it’s a secret. You shared so much. This little secret, it’s just mine.

CHS: I get it. All of it, you know. Everything you said.

SM: That’s the nicest thing you could say. That’s what a person hopes, isn’t it? I wasn’t perfect, but who is? The greatest gift is to be seen and heard, to have someone say, I get it, and not to judge but maybe just take your hand.

CHS: I would if I could.

SM: I know.

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Caitlin Hamilton Summie earned an MFA with Distinction from Colorado State University, and her short stories have been published in Beloit Fiction Journal, Wisconsin Review, Puerto del Sol, Mud Season Review, and Long Story, Short, and elsewhere. Her first book, an award-winning short story collection called TO LAY TO REST OUR GHOSTS, was released in August 2017 by Fomite. Her first novel, GEOGRAPHIES OF THE HEART, is due out from Fomite in January 2022. She spent many years in Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Colorado before settling with her family in Knoxville, Tennessee. She co-owns the book marketing firm, Caitlin Hamilton Marketing & Publicity, founded in 2003.

She is available to speak or lead workshops about book marketing & publicity or crafting short stories.

Find out more about Caitlin on her website https://caitlinhamiltonsummie.com/

Tags: featured, women writers

Category: Interviews, On Writing