Eleanor’s journey in COUNT THE WAYS is about learning how to forgive. I’m glad I can say I never lived through an experience like the one that struck their family, but I know some things about holding onto anger in a way that not only hurts another person, but one’s own self. This destroys the couple’s love for each other, and their marriage. Her great struggle is with her own bitterness over her husband’s failure to prevent a tragedy in their family. For the central character in COUNT THE WAYS-Eleanor-the great longing she carries is for family, something she didn’t have when she was young, herself, and wants to create with her husband, Cam, and their children. Is that true for you? Joyce Maynard:Įvery character I write yearns for something she doesn’t have, and struggles with something that’s getting in her way. I always want to know what you were trying to discover or answer in your own writing? Much of what we do as writers, I think, is exploration. COUNT THE WAYS is a gorgeous exploration of family and love, forgiveness, and so much more. Please join me in welcoming the lovely and talented Joyce Maynard to the author interview series: Leslie Lindsay: Told in 101 short, named chapters, Joyce Maynard is a master at observation, a keen eye for detail not just in the visual sense, but also in social-emotional nuances as she transforms the landscape of words into meaningful connections of home, family, parenthood, love, loss, identity, and also forgiveness. I wasthrust back to my own childhood–many scenes triggered ideas and scenes quite vividly for me. We follow the family through heartache and loss, life and birth, art and stagnation, days of illegal abortion, the draft, computer age, AIDS, early #metoo era, the Challenger explosion, divorce, and so much more. Cam has an affair with the babysitter, the marriage ends (not a spoiler this is all mentioned on the back jacket). Their life is pretty idyllic, if only Cam would step-up and be a bit more of a provider–overall, there’s love and heart and good things happening in this quiet, secluded life of art and merrymaking.īut there’s a tragic accident that brings a chasm between Cam and Eleanor, changing the family forever. There’s grief and blame, resentment, and more, but they will manage. ABOUT COUNT THE WAYS:Īfter falling in love in the last years of the 1970s, Eleanor and Cam set out to follow their dream to raise three children on a New Hampshire farm, a parcel of land she has purchased with her hard-earned children’s book royalties. Joyce Maynard is the author of eighteen books, including the New York Times bestselling novel, Labor Dayand To Die For (both adapted for film), Under the Influence and the memoirs, At Home in the World and The Best of Us. Follow on Instagram #alwayswithabook #bookstagram WRITERS INTERVIEWING WRITERS| ALWAYS WITH A BOOK Leslie Lindsay & Joyce Maynard in conversation
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