WRITING, A LABOUR OF LOVE
Itani discusses That’s My Baby
Q When did you know that you wanted to write That’s My Baby, and when did you write it?
A I’ve worked on this book since 2014. After finishing Tell, I decided to create the story of Hanora, the adopted baby who made an appearance at the beginning and end of that novel. She was a character about whom we knew nothing except the identity of her birth parents. And by “we” I mean my readers and myself. I could make Hanora into any sort of person of her time, keeping in mind her birth date of 1920. Overall, I decided to make this a sort of trilogy, to wind up the three interconnected books: Deafening, Tell and now That’s My Baby. These books are now being considered (one has already been optioned) for film or TV series.
Q Tell me about Hanora’s quest.
A Hanora is a working journalist in her 70s, who at the beginning of the novel is writing a book about a 19th-century Canadian artist. Hanora is open to travel, open to learning, open to tracking information. As a young woman, her first writing was for a smalltown newspaper in Deseronto. At the age of 18, she was told that she was adopted but she has never been able to uncover the identity of her birth parents. Many adoptees of the early 1900s were never told, so this is not an uncommon situation. Adult adoptees sometimes learned by accident, or during overheard conversations, or after their adoptive parents died and documents were uncovered. I was curious to explore the subject of adoption from the point of view of adults who had been adopted as children, and this book gave me the opportunity to deal with the subject. Thematically, the book is about identity and belonging.
Q Why did you situate much of the book during the Second World War?
A I wanted to move away from World War I and research a different period. I especially wanted to listen to the music of the big band and jazz eras. I was born in Canada in the middle of the Second World War and there are still plenty of people around who can offer information and detail about the period. I interviewed many people who had first-hand accounts to relate.
Q What other research did you do?
A I probably began with the history of Ontario dance halls of the period. I was given a tour of the Dance Pavilion in Tweed, Ont., a wonderful old building now restored to its almost original state. I interviewed people in their 80s and 90s (including my 97-year-old mother and a 95-year-old aunt) who remembered dancing in various halls in Hastings and Prince Edward counties.
I also researched the Blitz in London and the bombing of Coventry. I had lived in London myself, during the ’60s, so I do know something of that city, which I love. For the Hasty Ps, I relied on Farley Mowat’s The Regiment, which was moving, informative and truly helpful.
For Duke Ellington there were many biographical sources. I listened to his music for three years while writing the novel, and that was no hardship. I also wanted to set part of the novel on an ocean liner, as that was once the main means of transportation across the Atlantic. I was thrilled to discover that Ellington and his entire orchestra sailed on the S.S. Champlain from New York to Le Havre in March 1939, so I immediately included that voyage in my novel.
Finally, I dealt with the large subject of dementia. This is an enormous concern in our society right now, and I wanted to bring attention to and address the condition as well as I could. I have first-hand experience as a former nurse who cared for patients with dementia.
Q How hard or easy was it to write That’s My Baby? How enjoyable was it?
A Every book I write presents difficulties. Writing a novel is not easy. Not for me. This is hard work, and thank heavens I am disciplined and never give up. I love to write, but would I describe the process as enjoyable? Not every day. I do love being in the preoccupied state of creating when the writing is going well. But for me, each book is a journey. A journey in learning, in developing characters, in creating story that is informed by the themes I’m after. When I finish writing a book, I can’t bear to think about it for a month or more. Of course I love to research, and I so enjoy meeting people who have the information I am seeking. I reach out to the experts in various fields and that is rewarding in its own way.
To sum up, I would say that a book gives me greatest enjoyment when it’s finished. And then I never look at it again. I move on. Onto the next book. The day I finish the last. I actually leap into the next subject, start the characters whirling through my imagination.
Q What’s next for you?
A Ah, I’ve already begun another novel, and I know what I want to write after that. So there are two novels I know about down the road. This new one is giving me great pleasure. Set in contemporary times, 2017, it is about five characters, each of whom is a stranger to the others at the outset. These five people are on my mind constantly now. And the research has begun! I dare not give a clue in case everything collapses. But I am enthusiastic! And I really did start it the same day I finished That’s My Baby! phum@postmedia.com twitter.com/peterhum