Maynard's 'unexpected' sequel leads to book tour, stop in central Ohio
Joyce Maynard has written 12 novels, as well as three memoirs, short stories, true crime tales and hundreds of newspaper and magazine pieces, but she's never written a sequel to a novel before.
Her new novel, “How the Light Gets In,” picks up where the 2021 bestseller, “Count the Ways,” left off.
“Count the Ways” followed heroine Eleanor through decades of her life, including a move into the countryside of New Hampshire, the beginnings of a career as an artist, a young marriage, three children, a tragic accident, a divorce, a move and much more.
“How the Light Gets In” begins in time where the previous novel left off, in 2009, with Eleanor at 54, dealing with life as the mother of adult children, changes in her life and career and a possible new romance, and follows her up through the present day.
“I thought when I had finished 'Count the Ways' that I was totally done. It was readers who suggested otherwise,” Maynard said, speaking from France, where she was visiting friends before starting her current book tour.
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“Almost as soon as the book came out, I began to get really passionate letters from readers. Some of them were quite upset. They said, 'You can't just leave us here,'" Maynard said.
"They were also upset with my character, Eleanor, the way she always sacrificed for everyone else. It seemed important to bring her to the next stage in life, which I know something about, because I'm in it, where finally you turn around and your children are grown, and there's space to consider what we might need for ourselves.
"And then I still didn't write the sequel for about a year, because I love this character so much. I had to think really long and carefully about what I wanted her next chapter to be."
The novel is written in such a way that it can either stand on its own or as a follow-up to the earlier novel, though readers who don't want spoilers should start with the first one.
Writing it presented certain challenges, though.
“If I had known I was going to write a sequel, I would have planted some things in the first one," Maynard said.
"Whenever I write, I either have a giant white board, almost the size of my wall, or, because I was doing a lot of this in my little cabin in New Hampshire, a wall full of Post-it notes. I had to keep track of all the characters — how old they were, what was going on in their lives and the world and with each other over the course of more than 50 years.
"Most of all, I wanted to both give a realistic picture of the sorrows of the world and the sorrows of life and love, and still hold on to a sense of optimism and joy, which I really do have about my own life. I really wanted a hopeful ending. I knew it wasn't just going to be some great man coming along to gallop up on a big white horse and sweep her away. I wanted to give her some love and some passion, but I didn't want a man to be the whole answer."
Among the heartaches that Eleanor faces along the way is long-term estrangement from one of her adult children, and therefore, from her grandchildren.
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“One of the things that matters to me as a writer is to talk in my stories about things we don't always get to talk about. In the last 10 years, as I have been teaching memoir writing, I have probably come to know well and hear the stories of 50 women who have a deeply loved adult child with whom they no longer speak and grandchildren they do not know," Maynard said.
"We don't hear that story; people don't talk about it, maybe because there's an enormous amount of shame and guilt around it. So many women suffer extraordinarily with that. And they suffer alone."
While Maynard will be occupied with her book tour for a while, she said she looks forward to getting back to writing afterward.
“There are two books that are very much on my mind. For the first time ever, I want to write about writing. So I'm going to write a book that I consider a hybrid: A book about my writing life and one that I also hope will be helpful to people who want to write," she said.
"And the other is a sequel to the novel 'The Bird Hotel,' which came out between these two books. When I finally land, I've given myself an entire month of absolutely no commitments but the commitment to be at my desk, and we'll see what happens.
“It may be a whole new set of characters who haven't even come alive in my head yet. Often I'm taken by surprise, and I love that.”
At a glance
Maynard is to be appearing at an event sponsored by the Friends of the Delaware Library at 6 p.m. July 10 at the Dempsey Event Center, 123 Hyatts Road, Delaware.
The cost is $55, which includes a copy of the novel, a conversation between Maynard and novelist Lee Martin, book signings, wine and charcuterie, qigong, singing bowls, crafts and a tour of the herb garden.
More information can be found by visiting delawarelibraryfriends.org.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Acclaimed author hits up Delaware County on book tour
