Barbara Sibbald talks to Open Book about her latest novel, The Book of Love: Guidance in Affairs of the Heart (General Store Publishing House), a story of a group of women searching for love in an unforgiving world.
Open Book:
Tell us about The Book of Love: Guidance in Affairs of the Heart.
Barbara Sibbald:
I?ve delved into cross-genre writing with this novel, which melds fiction with self-help to take an intelligent look at romantic love: why we bother and what it?s all about. The story follows three thirty-something friends through the sordid singles scene, cheating spouses and lackluster marriages — spun with a refreshing optimism. Embedded in the fictional narrative is a self-help treatise that cites the likes of Plato, Voltaire and William Carlos Williams — a sort of fourth character who acts like a wise auntie dispensing philosophical advice.
OB:
How does your use of the fictional self-help book contribute to the success of this novel?
BS:
The self-help portion of the novel illuminates the book?s two dominate themes: the importance of friendship and self-love.
Self-help is extremely popular: it?s a $10 billion dollar a year industry in the US. These books feed on our desire to be perfect by telling us what?s wrong, then offering solutions. There?s even a fancy name for it: Bibliotherapy. These books deliver ?false hope syndrome? ? the belief that we can be perfect if only we keep trying. And buying.
I started out wanting to make fun of self-help. I was weaned on I?m Okay, You?re Okay, which, like many books in the genre, offers a limited lexicon to deal with an infinite variety of problems. But then I began reading extensively and discovered a few genuine pearls of wisdom.
I?ve combined these pearls, with a good dollop of scientific literature (surveys and structured interviews mostly) and mixed in some of the things I?ve learned personally through myriad relationships and three marriages. And what my characters bring to the book is some critical thinking as they dissect and dismiss or accept the advice.
While the self-help Book of Love brings the false promise of perfect love, the novel shows that you can?t learn from a book; you learn from trial and error: experience and pain.
The book also points to our lack of community; in our fragmented society we turn to self-help because we don?t have that wise auntie dispensing advice. But what we do have are our friends, the people who know and love us. And in the end, that?s whose advice we take as we learn to be happy with who we are.
But of course that process isn?t simple. And thank goodness or I?d have nothing to write about.
OB:
You chose to set The Book of Love in Ottawa. What did you enjoy most about using your own city as the setting?
BS:
I?ve lived in five cities across Canada and the US, and I adore Ottawa! My characters offer a guided tour of my favourite walks and neighbourhoods, and into bars, restaurants and other curious places. In many ways, it?s a celebration of the rich diversity of this beautiful city.
OB:
How does your writing process differ when you're writing fiction as opposed to journalism?
BS:
When I?m writing journalism I rely on my research and my notes from interviews, I write an outline and I usually stick quick closely to it. Creativity often comes to bear in how I tell the narrative, but I can?t make stuff up! Fiction, on the other hand, is all about making stuff up. Of course, it has to be believable, but that still leaves huge scope. T.S. Eliot talks about fiction as weaving together the disparate fragments of the already made. It?s this weaving that unleashes the creative.
OB:
What is your ideal writing environment?
BS:
I?m a homebody and that?s where I work best. My office is tucked into a nook off my open-concept, living, dining and kitchen space. I love being separate from, yet part of a bigger space. It helps, of course, that my husband knows not to disturb me!
OB:
Who are your first readers or mentors?
BS:
For this novel, I was extremely fortunate to have psychiatrist and author Dr. Miriam Shuchman as my first reader. Miriam offered some very astute observations about human nature that actually led me to rewrite the ending.
I?ve had some fabulous mentor/teachers over the years including Carol Shields, Douglas Glover, Audrey Thomas and Gerald Lynch.
OB:
Can you recommend a novel you've read recently that made a strong impression on you as a writer, or that taught you something about writing fiction?
BS:
I had to stop myself from reading The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern, in one sitting! It?s so visually stimulating and so imaginative; I found it entered my dreams at night, putting me in alternate, fantastic worlds. It taught me how little is actually required to suspend disbelief.
OB:
What are you working on now?
BS:
I?m in the final stages of editing The Kitchen Chronicles, a dialogue-driven, online novel in 52 weeks. That?s all I?m saying about it for now!
Barbara Sibbald is an award-winning journalist and dedicated fiction writer. Her work has won the Canadian Association of Journalists? Investigative Journalism award and was twice cited for the Michener award for Meritorious Public Service Journalism. She has published in The Globe and Mail, Ottawa Magazine, Ottawa Citizen, Chatelaine, and elsewhere. Her first novel, Regarding Wanda (Bunkhouse Press, 2006), was shortlisted for the 2007 Ottawa Book Award. Visit her at her website, barbarasibbald.com.
For more information about The Book of Love please visit The General Store Publishing House.
Buy this book at your local independent bookstore or online at Chapters/Indigo or Amazon.
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