The Steep and Thorny Way (36 page)

Before I submitted my proposal for
The Steep and Thorny Way
to my agent, Barbara Poelle, I, admittedly, got cold feet, despite my extreme passion for the book. I worried that people would be uncomfortable with the fact that I'm a white woman writing about a biracial character. I got nervous about the controversial nature of my chosen subject matters. I nearly even changed my main character to a half-Jewish girl, because my husband is Jewish and I was raised Protestant, and we witnessed some of the prejudices against interfaith marriages when we married in the mid-1990s. Changing Hanalee's race didn't feel honest, though. That wasn't the story that wanted to be told.

I conferred with my agent and my early readers, all of whom urged me to go forward with the novel. It was important to me to consult with readers of different backgrounds, but I also understood that the opinions of a few people would not necessarily reflect the reactions of all readers.

I approached the creation of my characters the same way I do with all my novels: through intense, detailed research. Thanks to the Oregon Black Pioneers, the Oregon Historical Society, and the Washington County Museum, I found a wealth of information about the first decades of the 1900s in Oregon—everything from photographs to letters and personal items from the time period, as well as oral histories and museum exhibits, such as the wonderful “A Community on the Move,” presented by both the Oregon Black Pioneers and the Oregon Historical Society in 2015. I also dove into 1920s Harlem Renaissance literature, exploring the works of such writers as Nella Larsen, Zora Neale Hurston, and Wallace
Thurman, who wrote about the varying experiences of African Americans and biracial individuals during the era. I do not claim to have gotten everything right. However, I made every attempt to portray Hanalee's experiences, as well as Joe's, with accuracy, honesty, and respect. Any mistakes made in this regard are entirely my own.

For Joe's character, I conducted research using such sources as
Same-Sex Affairs: Constructing and Controlling Homosexuality in the Pacific Northwest
, by Peter Boag (University of California Press, 2003), and the Gay and Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest (
www.glapn.org
). I first learned about the eugenics movement when I read the book
Mad in America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine, and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill
, by Robert Whitaker (Basic Books, 2001). Interestingly, the University of Vermont's website (
www.uvm.edu
) contains a highly detailed page covering the history of the eugenics movement in Oregon, including a lengthy list of links to historical documents, photographs, and institutions related to the use of eugenics in the state.

When writing a novel about the prejudices of the past, a writer must inevitably tread a delicate line when deciding whether to incorporate terms and labels now considered offensive. If I chose to completely strip
The Steep and Thorny Way
of such words, I felt I'd be sanitizing history—cleaning it up and pretending that modern political correctness actually existed in the past. I strove to study the language of the 1920s to reflect how people in that era would have described both Hanalee and Joe and to learn how
the two of them would have identified themselves, to make their characters and social interactions as authentic as possible. There are some words, however, whose power to hurt and belittle goes beyond the need for historical accuracy, and I chose not to use them. No offense is intended by the inclusion of any derogatory and/or outdated words within this book.

As I mentioned before, William Shakespeare's
Hamlet
served as the template for the main plot structure of the novel, as well as the inspiration for the characters and the source of the chapter titles. I also wanted to incorporate an African American story to reflect Hanalee's father's influence upon her. I turned to the 1996 Coretta Scott King Award–winning story collection
Her Stories: African American Folktales, Fairy Tales, and True Tales
, by Virginia Hamilton (Blue Sky Press, 1995)—a book I highly recommend. The Creole-based tale “Marie and Redfish” particularly caught my eye. I did a little digging and also found an 1889 retelling of the same story, titled “Posson [sic] Doré,” or “The Golden Fish,” in
The Journal of American Folklore
(Vol. 2, No. 4, pp. 36–40, American Folklore Society, Jan.–Mar., 1889). I strove to make Hanalee aware of stories and songs from her father's Southern heritage, as well as from his years of working at the Portland Hotel, in which he would have met other employees transplanted from various regions of the South. To me, “The Golden Fish” also wonderfully represented Hanalee's growing connection to Joe and his fears of getting caught and butchered. The folktale is one of violence, yet also one of survival and love. I hope readers will find the same to be true of
The Steep and Thorny Way
.

I'm extremely grateful that Amulet Books has allowed me to share this novel with the world. If the pages of this book bring hope and inspiration to even one person who's found himself or herself on a steep and thorny path in life, then I'll feel I have done my job as its writer.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

MY DEEPEST GRATITUDE GOES TO THE FOLLOWING:

To Barbara Poelle, my tireless agent, for her continued ability to boost my confidence in my work. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for urging me to press forward with this book.

To Maggie Lehrman, my talented editor, for sitting across a restaurant table from me in Philadelphia and saying, “I'm sold,” after I'd merely uttered the words “I'm working on a retelling of
Hamlet
set in the 1920s.” Thank you for editing this novel while also launching your own writing career. I'm incredibly grateful that I've had the opportunity to work with you on three of my novels.

To the entire team at Amulet Books, for their thorough and
beautiful work on all my young-adult novels. Special thanks to Erica Finkel, Jason Wells, Susan Van Metre, Tamar Brazis, Maria T. Middleton, Emily Dowdell, Tina Mories in the U.K., my diligent copy editor, proofreaders, and everyone else who played a role in the creation and promotion of this book.

To my sister, Carrie Raleigh, the very first reader of all of my books and one of the most special people in my life. She called me up in tears after finishing the last chapters of this novel and made me feel I was on the right track. Thank you!

To Francesca Miller, for her passionate belief in this book and for sharing her insights as a woman who grew up in an interracial home. And to Kim Murphy, for always digging deep into my manuscripts and letting me know exactly what they need.

To Katrina Sarson, producer of the OPB TV series
Oregon Art Beat
, for featuring me in a 2014 episode. To the Oregon Historical Society, especially library director Geoff Wexler, for being so patient while the OPB crew filmed me in the archives, and for providing me with a treasure trove of 1920s documents and photographs to peruse. Thanks to Scott Rook for assistance with the use of OHS images in this book.

To the Oregon Black Pioneers for keeping the history of African Americans in the region so wonderfully alive. And to the Library of Congress and Karen Lange and Pam Madaus of the Washington County Museum in Hillsboro, Oregon, for the generous use of archival images.

To my team of supportive writer friends, both in person and online: Miriam Forster (who came up with the David-and-Bathsheba connection, as well as the idea of using Hanalee's boot as a hiding
place), Teri Brown, Kelly Garrett, Amber Keyser, Laura Byrd, Heidi Schulz, Lauren DeStefano, Susan Adrian, Ara Burklund, April Genevieve Tucholke, Megan Shepherd, A. G. Howard, Sarah Skilton, Elisabeth Dahl, April Henry, Jenn Reese, Sarah Bromley, and all the amazing kid-lit authors in Portland, Oregon, and around the world. Thanks, also, to the close friends in my life who've been cheering me on for decades, with special nods to Regena Orr, Cindy Bullock, Susanne Brookens, Jarret Lovell, Marianne Pitterle, Sarah Eishen, Laura Ponto, and Heather Hoffman.

To my parents, Richard and Jennifer Proeschel; my cousin Marie Rourke; my aunts, Carol Hacker and Mary Ward; Jack and Lois Karp; and Tim and Kim Karp, for all the years of love and encouragement.

To my daughter, Meggie, for listening to the entire plot of this book before I'd even written it and telling me she was looking forward to this novel more than anything else I'd written. To my husband, Adam, who has loved and stood by me ever since we were nineteen-year-old college kids. And to my son, Ethan, for his infectious excitement for my books, even though he hasn't yet been old enough to read them. That will change soon.

This book is for my cousin Jimmy Hacker, who passed away while I was revising the novel in February 2015. When we were kids, he helped inspire my imagination. As an adult, he showed me what courage looks like when he made a new life for himself in a place that accepted him for who he was. I hope the dedication of this novel will help keep his memory alive and bring some comfort to his mother, sister, and longtime partner.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

CAT WINTERS
is the author of
In the Shadow of Blackbirds
, which collected three starred reviews and was a finalist for the William C. Morris Award for debut YA fiction, and
The Cure for Dreaming
. She lives in Portland, Oregon.
www.catwinters.com
.