Pieces of the Heart (42 page)

“For what?”

“For being there for me. For understanding me.”

In answer, he leaned forward and kissed her on the lips, soliciting a soft whoop from Rainy.

Gently Caroline turned toward the water and dropped the bird onto the surface.

He landed with a splash and seemed surprised for a moment, as if he were wondering where he was and what he should do. Then with steady determination, he began to paddle hard in the water, propelling himself forward as he gained speed. His webbed feet seemed to be skipping on top of the water until, with a burst of sound and spray, he lifted into the air, soaring through the blue ceiling of sky and then disappearing into the woods surrounding Hart’s Peak.

It seemed to Caroline that the stone face of Ophelia watched the scene with a softening around her eyes, as if the legend were true and she really did have a human heart. As was her old habit, Caroline’s fingers found the crest of scar tissue beneath her T-shirt, then patted the site of the old incision. Since the accident the scar had felt like an open window to what lay inside: all the pain, guilt, and loss that had flooded her and obliterated everything else.

But now all she felt was a reminder of the brother she had loved and lost, and of all the beautiful things she still had in her life, finally noticed when she had taken the trouble to see.

Drew helped her stand and pressed a can into her hand. He pulled her close against his side and she allowed herself to lean into him. At Rainy’s signal they all raised their cans to the sky and to the absent loon, soaring somewhere beyond their vision. The flight of the loon reminded Caroline of the hand stitches on her quilts: holding together the past with the future, each stitch stopping and starting and meandering through row after row, moving forward from one lifetime to the next.

She looked up into the empty sky and spotted the pale white shade of the moon fading into the morning light. Smiling, she took Drew’s hand, and together they turned to walk down the dock toward the others, leaving the loon, the moon, and the dark water of the lake behind them.

Karen White
is the author of five previous books. She lives with her family near Atlanta, Georgia. Visit her Web site at
www.karen-white.com
.

 

 

This conversation guide is intended to enrich the
individual reading experience, as well as encourage us
to explore these topics together—because books,
and life, are meant for sharing.

 

FICTION FOR THE WAY WE LIVE

 

A. I have written seven books, and all but one have been published or are slated to be published.

 

I wouldn’t call this book more “difficult” to write than the others, but it was certainly different. I write what has been called “grit lit”—Southern family dramas. I’ve always included lots of family angst, a bit of laughter, sometimes a mystery, and of course a great love story. Although I’ve always had lots of different relationships involving my books’ characters, the main relationship was usually a romantic one. In
Pieces of the Heart,
however, the main relationship actually involves the protagonist, Caroline, and her mother. There is a love story in this book, but it definitely takes a backseat to the mother-daughter relationship.

 

Q. How did you come up with the idea for
Pieces of the Heart
? What inspired this story?

 

A. I remember reading or hearing on the news several years ago the story of two siblings injured in a car accident and one of the siblings became the organ donor for the other. The drama of the situation stayed with me for years until I found a book in which I could use it. Since I’m one of four children (and the only girl) and I’m also the mother of two children twenty-one months apart, the whole situation was especially poignant for me. As any mother or sibling can tell you, sibling rivalry plays a vital part in sibling relationships—including vying for the love and attention of parents. I thought that coupling this with a family tragedy would be a strong platform on which to build a story about exploring family relationships and finding forgiveness.

 

 

A. The low country has a very special place in my heart, and I will definitely be revisiting it in future novels. However, Caroline’s story needed to be told in a different environment, which is why I chose a quiet mountain lake house. I have been a frequent visitor to the North Carolina mountains and have enjoyed the warmth of the people, the stunning beauty of the fall foliage, and the quiet solitude. I thought this to be the perfect place for a woman with a wounded heart to start asking questions about her life and to perhaps find the right answers.

 

 

A. While I was researching this book and trying to find native wildlife to use in the book, I came across the Indian legend of the loon and I was hooked on this amazing and unusual bird. I thought it serendipity when I discovered that loons are found in the northern United States and Canada and migrate south, through North Carolina, for the winter. To have a loon stop in North Carolina and decide to stay instead of flying farther south would make such a wonderful statement in the novel. I like to think that the loon symbolizes the beloved Jude, still present in the lives of those who loved him. The loon is also necessary to remind Caroline about what she used to be as a champion swimmer, and how much she misses the water. The call of the loon brings her back to the past, to happy memories of Jude and the good parts of her childhood, and is a catalyst for her change. Symbolically, the loon is set free at the end of the novel, just as Caroline is freed from her past.

 

 

A. I think I identify a little with all three, but I find myself acting more like Caroline in dealing with grief. Like Caroline, I can make myself believe—at least for a little while—that if I don’t talk about it or acknowledge the “bad thing,” then it doesn’t exist. I think it’s a survival mechanism, perhaps, shielding those who need to be shielded until the psyche is ready to deal with the pain.

 

 

A. My friends and family find it amusing that my protagonists always have wonderful skills like gardening, cooking, sewing, or—in this case—quilting. Unfortunately, I’m woefully ignorant of all the above. However, I have two friends who make memory quilts, the kind of quilts Caroline makes in
Pieces of the Heart
. The first one that I saw was to be a gift from a mother to her daughter who was graduating from high school. It was so beautiful and so moving and I knew it was only a matter of time before I had to have one appear in a novel. I was so pleased to be able to use the whole memory quilt idea and process as a major part of this book.

 

A. As I see my parents get older, and as I raise my own children, I find myself looking back at my childhood more and more. I examine my old hurts as a child would pick at a Band-Aid, not always sure I want to see what lies beneath. We often ask ourselves why certain things still sting, even after the passage of so many years. I found it very cathartic, as an author, to write about a parent and adult child bringing the old hurts to the surface to face the light of day, exposing them in new and unexpected ways. I suppose the message of the book would be that it’s never too late to ask for forgiveness—of others or of oneself. Subconsciously, I probably had this in mind when I started the book, and I allowed Caroline and Margaret to take over and say it for me.

 

 

A. When people ask me to tell them about this book, I always tell them this is the perfect book for any woman who’s ever had a mother. It’s pretty universal. As a daughter, and as the mother of a daughter, I think I have a unique perspective about this relationship—it seems we’re always trying to emphasize how different we are from our mothers, but how much our daughters are like us. It’s like we’re trying to correct the errors of the generation that came before us while passing on only good to the one that comes after us. And we don’t understand why our daughters don’t agree! In
Pieces of the Heart,
Margaret and Caroline are so much alike in so many good ways, but they don’t recognize it until they must face another crisis together.

 

A. My next book, tentatively titled
Learning to Breathe,
is set in rural Louisiana and focuses on the youngest of five grown sisters, Brenna O’Bryan. Brenna lives on the surface of her life, never delving too deeply into it for fear of being disappointed. She collects unopened war letters, liking the way they feel, as if she is holding in her hand possibilities of what might be. When she discovers an entire mailbag filled with old letters from a WWII soldier who still lives in her town, she uncovers an ill-fated love story and unravels a secret from her own past. This sets in motion a chain of events that forces her to examine the assumptions that underpin her life.

1. In this story, water emerges as a motif and plays different roles throughout. Describe those roles. To whom is water important? Why?

2. How does quilting help these characters? What is it about quilting that opens up their lines of communication?

3. At certain points in the novel a character will observe to him-or herself how alike Caroline and her mother are. In what ways is this true? How are they different?

4. Drew is having second thoughts about taking control of Rainy Days. He seems to miss working in a courtroom. How does he resolve his doubts?

5. Caregivers assert that there are five stages of grief—denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. What stage of grief is each of the main characters in? Give proof to support your ideas.

6. Jude was the favorite son—a golden boy. When he dies, Caroline quits the one thing she is better at than Jude, and stops swimming. Why does she quit? What finally leads her back to the water?

7. We get to know Shelby through Jewel’s eyes as she reads her mother’s diary. What kind of woman was Shelby? What kind of mother?

8. Why does Drew pursue Caroline, even when she makes it clear that she has no interest in his attention?

9. Why does Jewel keep Jude’s quilt a secret?

10. Caroline and Drew find an injured loon and nurse it back to health at Rainy’s shop. What does the bird symbolize to them?

11. Why does Caroline resent her mother so much? What does she learn over the course of her stay at home that makes her change her mind, and how do they resolve their differences?

12. In what ways does Drew feel he’s failed as a father and a husband? How does he try to make up for these past failures?