Ann Packer

Ann Packer is the author of The Dive from Clausen’s Pier and a new novel, Songs Without Words.

From a Q & A about Songs Without Words:

Q: Songs Without Words deals with the anxieties of contemporary parenting (Liz is a stay-at-home mom who feels tremendous guilt about not recognizing her daughter’s cry for help). Is this a common fear among parents: the fear of helplessness, of missing warning signs from their children? And have you had personal experience with teen depression?

A: I think fear in general is incredibly pervasive among my generation of parents: of missing warning signs, of making poor choices, of doing the wrong thing. The idea of not seeing something until it is too late and your child is really in trouble: the specter of that — really, of the regret it would create — is very powerful. It could be depression we’re afraid of missing, or it could be something very different — though of course with depression the stakes are terrifyingly high. As for me and teen depression: I don’t think I have any experience as an observer — certainly not as an adult observer — but I was a depressed teenager myself, though not nearly to the same degree as Lauren.

Read the entire Q & A.

--Marshal Zeringue