Andrew Roe is the author of The Miracle Girl.From his Q & A with Caroline Leavitt:
What sparked this novel? I always believe there is a question that is haunting the author and the writing is the salve.--Marshal Zeringue
I love that phrase: “a question that is haunting the author and the writing is the salve.” I’m going to regularly quote that, if it’s OK with you. And I totally agree!
The question that haunted me for this book was the question of belief, the mystery of belief—and not just religious but also secular belief. As someone who’s not religious, I do appreciate how faith draws people in and serves as such a foundation for their lives, particularly when confronted with death, illness, life challenges, and so on. So I suppose there’s a bit of me going against that old writing chestnut of “Write what you know” and instead choosing to “Write what you don’t know.”
So much of this exquisite novel is about what we believe, what we want to believe, what we need to believe—and why. Why do you think a miracle has so much power?
For me, the book has two types of miracles: the divine, otherworldly kind (which, of course, can never be proven), and the day-to-day, more commonplace kind (which can be verified). Both are powerful, but we might tend to not appreciate the daily miraculous nature in our lives—things like forgiving a parent or spouse, raising a child, or simply being fully present in our lives.
As for the divine kind, I think there’s a hunger, a thirst for these things to be true. But there’s never...[read on]