Guest Post: Janis Freegard Interviews Three Characters From Her Debut Novel, “The Year of Falling.”
Introduction:
Janis Freegard is a fellow Tuesday Poet, but also a prose writer, and in 2011 I very much enjoyed her short story, The Magician, which featured in the Tales For Canterbury (Random Static, 2011) anthology.
(See A Peek Inside “The Magician.”)
When I heard that Janis had both a book of poetry (The Glass Rooster, Auckland University Press) and a novel (The Year of Falling, Mākaro Press) being published simultaneously, I was keen to do what I could to help spread the word.
Today, the spotlight is on Janis’s novel, The Year of Falling—in the form of an interview with its three main characters, which I think is a fun way to approach the book. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it and will want to find out more, so I have posted a synopsis and further information below the interview.
Now, without further ado, a warm welcome to Janis Freegard and her characters.
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Janis Freegard — & An Interview With Selina, Smith, and Quilla, Three of The Year of Falling’s Narrators
My novel The Year of Falling (contemporary NZ fiction from Mākaro Press) tells the interwoven stories of three women: Selina, her older sister (Smith), and her landlady (Quilla).
The novel centres around Selina’s unravelling life, after she falls for a good-looking celebrity chef she meets in a Wellington bar. I decided to “interview” my narrators so they can describe themselves in their own words. Many thanks to Helen Lowe for hosting us. — Janis Freegard
Selina
So Selina, tell me a bit about yourself.
Well, I’m a graphic designer, which is what I’ve always wanted to do. I like fashion, long walks. What else? Oh yeah, Sufi music. And I live in a nice little flat in Brooklyn in Wellington.
Your own place?
No I’m renting. My landlady, Quilla has the two-storey house at the front of the property and I live in a kind of granny flat right down the back. It’s very private, very cool. But you know what? This really weird thing happened recently – a strange porcelain doll appeared on my doorstep.
Sounds alarming.
It looked like a lifeless baby. I’ve always had a phobia about dolls. I just hope it’s not a bad omen.
So life’s pretty good? I mean, apart from the doll?
Kind of. But I’d really thought I’d have been promoted to senior designer by now. And I’d love to have my own home and someone to share it with. Start a family, maybe. My boyfriend, Tim, moved to Auckland a few months ago and the long distance thing isn’t really working. I hardly ever see him.
I believe it’s your birthday today.
Yeah, my twenty-ninth.
Celebrating?
Well, Tim was supposed to come down from Auckland, but he hasn’t shown up. I bought a quality bottle of bubbly for us to share, but oh well, more for me, I guess. I’m meeting up with an old friend from Uni instead. Bailey. She’s a bit of a party girl. We’re hitting Courtenay Place. Who knows what might happen?
Smith
Smith, that’s an unusual name.
It’s short for silversmith. I’m a jeweller.
And you live in Golden Bay?
Yes.
In a house truck?
That’s right. I did it up myself.
And lately you’ve been looking after your friend’s little boy?
Ragnar. He’s such a great kid. Thoughtful, inquisitive. It’s so good having someone to take care of again. Reminds me of when I used to look after my little sister, Selina.
How come you had to look after her?
Mum left. Selina was only 2 and I was 14. Dad was working shifts on the buses.
That must have been a difficult time for you.
I’ve decided to look for her. For Mum. It’s time.
Does Selina know?
She’s not going to like it.
Quilla
Quilla, hi.
Come in, dear. Would you care for a glass of absinthe?
Thanks. So you’re Selina’s landlady. What’s she like?
I don’t hear a peep out of the girl unless I see her at the letterbox. She’s a perfectly good tenant though. Always pays her rent on time.
Tell me about yourself.
Oh, let’s see. I’m 78. I play croquet. I’ve been widowed for many years. No children. And I used to be a magician’s assistant. I still have the headdress.
Sounds fascinating.
It was an excuse to run away, really. From a love affair that ended quite sadly. For me anyway.
And you have a secret, I believe?
I did something many years ago that I rather regret. I should very much like to set it right.
Intriguing. What did you do?
I’m sorry to say I took something that wasn’t mine. And for once, it wasn’t someone else’s husband.
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More About The Year of Falling:
Meeting Selina, Smith, and Quilla was a lot of fun, but here’s the backcover synopsis for the story itself:
“When the porcelain dolls start turning up on Selina’s doorstep, she knows it’s a bad sign. Shortly afterwards she embarks on an ill-judged affair with a celebrity TV chef. Both events, and the lies and untold truths at their heart, precipitate a spectacular fall from grace for high-flying graphic artist, Selina.
Enter Smith: the sister who saved Selina once before. But this time Smith’s life is complicated by a small boy called Ragnar, and she’s almost too late.
Janis Freegard’s novel is a beguiling urban tale that moves from the hills of Brooklyn, Wellington, to the streets of Iceland via Tākaka. Packed with characters who hold the reader to the page, The Year of Falling has the strut and gleam of a fairytale while not being afraid of the stuff of flesh and blood that makes people act the way they do. A novel to fall into … but beware, you might find it hard to climb out again.”
And here’s what the early reviews have to say:
“Quirky, funny and inspiringly touching, Freegard has a knack for writing scenes which are painfully human” — Emma Bryson on Beattie’s Book Blog
“… the pace and assuredness quickly increase, building layers of tension and pleasingly ambiguous characterisations that hold interest to the end” – Catherine Roberston in The NZ Listener
“… a wonderful story, I very much enjoyed reading it. I really hope this book gets widely read and promoted, because it certainly deserves to.” Felicity Murray on the Booksellers NZ blog
To find out more, go to the Mākaro Press website: http://www.makaropress.co.nz/makaro-books/the-year-of-falling-by-janis-freegard/
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About Janis Freegard:
Janis Freegard lives in Wellington, with an historian and a cat, and works in the public service. Her first full-length poetry collection, Kingdom Animalia: The Escapades of Linnaeus, was published by Auckland University Press in 2011. She is also the author of a chapbook, The Continuing Adventures of Alice Spider (Anomalous Press, 2013), and co-author of AUP New Poets 3 (AUP, 2008).
Her poetry has appeared in a wide range of journals and anthologies in New Zealand and overseas, including Essential New Zealand Poems: Facing the Empty Page (Random House, 2014), Best NZ Poems 2012, and Landfall. Janis also writes fiction, is a past winner of the BNZ Katherine Mansfield Award.
She has recently published a second book of poetry, The Glass Rooster, with Auckland University Press.
To find out more about Janis and her work, visit Janis Freegard.
What a great idea to interview your characters Janis! I loved it and look forward to reading the book.Thanks for this post Helen.