Click here to browse our fantastic gallery of FREE or hugely discounted novels

Interview with Nancy Freund, author of Rapeseed

image

image image

A scene of teenage indiscretion — back-of-a-station wagon — a synesthetic twin and the twin’s boyfriend – one of them taking drunken advantage of the other. An explosive cross-wiring of blended senses — colors and smell and music.

Rapeseed is about synesthesia and displacement.  It’s about Carolann Cooper, a Kansas woman who sees her letters and numbers in color, smells phantom aromas when she sees certain colors, and hears music in her food.  And she remembers every thing in her turbulent history through those cross-wired senses — including something that happened long ago with her twin sister’s boyfriend.  Carolann’s husband Lyn is the only person who knows all her secrets — other than the things she’s keeping from him, to keep her marriage and family life stable in her small town.  Her teenage son Chip is none the wiser about any of it.

We’ve just figured out what synesthesia is. It’s that condition where a person’s senses get jumbled up and that’s why they end up seeing numbers as colours, right? Tell us about the displacement, though.
When Lyn’s job moves the family overseas, Carolann’s stability is rocked by the displacement.  Lyn’s career goals are changing fast, and their son is suddenly chasing new dreams too — with rap music, foreign friends, and one very worldly, foul-mouthed young lady. Carolann is desperate to untangle the blended textures of her past to restore her marriage and to save her son, but even through the disruptive colors and visions and sounds of her unusual neurology, she can clearly see that she’ll have to choose one or the other.

What genre is your book?
Women’s contemporary fiction.  It might also be called literary fiction, or family issues or metaphysical/visionary or travel.

What kind of readers will it appeal to?
Optimists, reluctant pessimists, people who believe there might be a bit of divine guidance at work in the universe, anyone who loves vibrant color and is passionate about short, sensual description in their fiction.  Anyone who enjoys cross-cultural misunderstanding and gaining of understanding — specifically American anglophiles. And English America-philes.

Tell us more about Carolann.
Carolann is a twin who knew from a very young age that she was not like her sister, was not loved like her sister, and would not grow up in any way like her  sister.  Hers became a path of independence, and a series of lies and untruths began to litter that path early on.

Ultimately Rapeseed is about Carolann’s learning to accept herself and to understand the destructive nature of various fictional biographies she has forced herself to believe about herself.  It’s the story of a grown woman helping her son become a successful teenager and becoming a “real” grown-up herself in the process.  Her neurological phenomenon of synesthesia, her relationship with God and her neighbors, and her expatriate life in England add new texture and pitfalls to her journey.

Complete this sentence for us: if you like _________________, you’ll love my book.
If you like Richard Russo, you’ll love my book.  I feel so bold even writing that!  But let’s proceed on this bold path — Joyce Carol Oates! Margaret Atwood! Barbara Kingsolver! Siri Husvedt! Jane Hamilton! Anna Quindlen! Ann Packer! Myfanwy Collins! Kim Edwards! Richard Yeats!

How would you like the reader to feel as they read the last word of your book?
Optimistic and satisfied and thinking I wonder if Nancy Freund’s got another book coming out soon… and I sure hope she does!

Do you have a book coming out soon or any other books?
Yes, Gobreau Press will bring out four novels I’ve written.  In addition to Rapeseed, there is Driving the Smoky Red, Big Gecko Tango, and Effort of Will.

Tell us a bit about yourself.
Creative Writing degree and Masters of Education from UCLA.  Taught high school English and ESL in Los Angeles (Loved that!) and then in Kansas City, I was VP-Publisher Services in distribution and marketing for about 250 indie publishers.  (Loved that too!)  Writing and teaching and publishing and working with words is pretty much all I’ve ever wanted to do.  I also wanted to be the first female goalie in the NHL.  But I was never any good on hockey skates, so luckily, my parents bought me a second-hand typewriter when I was nine.  Made my dentist very happy.

Do you have a website where we can keep up with your work?
The website is www.nancyfreund.com.  I update my facebook author page more regularly though.

Where can we find that, and do you use Twitter too?
@nancyfreund and nancy freund author on Facebook.

What’s next?
Can’t decide if it’ll be the next book’s proofreading, another book’s revision, talking to other writers, cover design, or PR… or all at the same time!  The beautiful juggling act of indie publishing.

Final question: how does rapeseed come into it?
I was on a bus in Southern England one beautiful evening in April. We rounded a bend and the slanting sun lit up a spectacular view over an enormous hillside – bright yellow rapeseed flowers in bloom. Everyone on that bus was awed by the scene. I told my husband that will be my next title: The Color of Rape. And before we’d arrived at our destination I knew the plot would hinge on a scene of teenage indiscretion — back-of-a-station wagon — a synesthetic twin and the twin’s boyfriend – one of them taking drunken advantage of the other. An explosive cross-wiring of blended senses — colors and smell and music. That working title survived through several drafts of the novel, and much of that original scene remains in tact too. The final title, Rapeseed, works with that original title but points to the larger plot as well.

Leave a Facebook, Google+ or Wordpress Comment

Loading Facebook Comments ...

One Comment

  1. Great interview, announcing a fine new author. FAB ficiton! Discover NANCY FREUND now before everyone else does.

Leave a Reply