Interview With Elizabeth Harlan (Becoming Carly Klein)

Carly soon becomes obsessed with one patient in particular—Daniel, a blind junior at Columbia College—and, desperate to become part of his life and knowing he’ll never go for a high school girl, gets close to him by pretending to be a student at neighboring Barnard College. Becoming Carly Klein follows Carly on a roller coaster romp through the exhilaration and disappointment of first love—and the unintended consequences of disguise, deception, and discovery.

.  What gave you the inspiration to write this book?

            While growing up in NYC, where my story is set, I visited a therapist who worked out of a wing of her own apartment. I would occasionally cross paths with her young children in the hall by the elevator, and many years later, my curiosity about what these youngsters thought of their mother’s patients morphed into my high school character Carly’s curiosity about Daniel, the handsome, blind Columbia College senior who’s in therapy with her mother, who works out of their home. Writing Becoming Carly Klein has been inspired in many other ways by my life in New York City, whose neighborhoods I know and love well, and by my years at Barnard College and Columbia, where Carly’s story also unfolds.

Who is your favorite character in the book?

            I not only identify with my lead character Carly —  I spent much of my adolescence wishing I were anyone but me — I’m totally in her corner as she struggles through the many challenges she faces, not least the problems she brings upon herself by faking an identity as a Barnard College student in order to form a relationship with Daniel, unbeknownst, of course, to her mother.

 What scene in the book are you most proud of and why?

            I actually have two favorite scenes, each of which advances forgiveness, conciliation, and resolution. Both scenes come toward the end of the novel after Carly’s parents have divorced and Carly’s relationship with Daniel has ended. In the first, Carly comes to visit her father and his gay boyfriend who have started living together. When she arrives before her dad gets home from work, Carly at first resents having to spend time alone with Edwin. But Edwin winds up being surprisingly easy-going and supportive, as well as funny and fun loving, and Carly begins to appreciate him in a new way, which allows her to better understand why her father is happy in his new relationship. The second scene is when Carly and her mom are packing for Carly’s summer away. Carly’s crisis with Daniel has made her mother, who only learns about the relationship after Carly breaks down, more attentive to Carly’s needs. Rather than blame and punishment, Carly is treated to her mother’s full-blown love and understanding for the first time in her life. Their new-found comfort with one another is dramatized in a scene where they laugh so hard they almost pee their pants as they jump up and down on Carly’s overstuffed duffle to make it close.

If you could only write one genre for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?

I would choose YA, to which I’ve gravitated over the course of my 40 years since my first YA novel, Footfalls, was published. There’s something about writing in the voice of an adolescent that frees me up to describe experiences and to express feelings that connect me still and always with my impressionable and formative teenage years.

How do you keep your “voice” true to the age category you are writing within?

This question follows perfectly on the heels of the last one about genre. For me, as for many girls and boys coming of age, adolescence was an especially emotionally intense time of life. My impressions of people, places, events, and relationships that I developed in those years have remained present and vivid in my imagination. When I write through the lens of a teen protagonist, I feel deeply connected to what I felt and experienced as a young person growing up and seeing the world with fresh, unjaded eyes. Maybe it’s simply that what stirred me then stirs me again as I give “voice” to my young characters, but whatever the reason, they speak to me with all their heart and I hear them loud and clear.

 What can readers expect to find in your books?

            Girls facing adversity and overcoming difficult challenges as they come of age is the thematic thread that weaves its way through all my writings, along with a special focus on mother/daughter relationships. And while my characters face conflicts and daunting obstacles, my stories follow them through their individual course of healing and resolution.

 What’s up next for you?

I’m so glad you asked, because I’m very excited about this one! My next project is an historical fiction set toward the end of World War II in the Alpine region of Haute-Savoie. This novel’s lead character is a young French girl whose family produces a traditional French cheese called Reblochon. Unbeknownst to her father, who sympathisez with the collaborationist Vichy government, Cécile is provisioning her boyfriend’s troup of Maquis (Resistance fighters hiding out in the mountainous countryside), with wheels of Reblochon to sustain them as they organize attacks on the occupying Nazi forces. To avoid, spoilers, I won’t say more, but I’m thrilled to be working in a format that draws on my skills as a YA novelist and my nonfiction experience writing historical biography. Not to mention my love of French cheese!

  What is your favorite holiday or tradition and why?

Thanksgiving is and always has been my absolute favorite holiday. I love that it’s a universal American holiday that transcends all ethnic and religious differences. And I love that Thanksgiving celebrates the bounty of the fall harvest, which is something to which all people living in all parts of our great nation can relate. And I especially love the traditional Thanksgiving menu of roast turkey with all the delicious sides followed by fruit pies. Thanksgiving was the holiday my parents continued to make as my siblings and I married and began our families. We were all invited back to our family home on the East End of Long Island, where for many years, before my parents passed, we spent the long holiday weekend together, making memories that will last forever.