Answers to Interview Questions
from Katie Estill

Answers to Interview Questions from Katie Estill

There are a lot of undercurrents in this novel that aren't fully expounded on, leaving many small plot decisions up to the reader's interpretation. For example, why did Dahlia choose to work the night shift at the hospital? Also, where did the strangle marks come from on her neck?

I think I've written a novel that conveys some of the mysteries of life, not a conventional mystery. In real crime cases, even those that get solved, a good deal remains unknown or uncertain. This is also true in life, even with people we know well.

We never know why Dahlia went on the night shift. Maybe there is no significance to it, but certain details suggest she may have done so to avoid dating her then boyfriend who was pressuring her for sex. In Lyman's memory, it was soon after she went on the night shift that she and her boyfriend drifted apart. But it's also possible that Dahlia didn't want to be in her own house at night or she wanted to turn her schedule upside down so that she wasn't available to interact with the other household members. Lyman remembers Dahlia's asking him not to go on their trip. At the time he thought she was being a sulky teenager. In retrospect, he is haunted for not having listened to her.

When Patti and the sheriff observe strangle marks on Dahlia's body that are already beginning to heal, they interpret this, I think fairly, as evidence that Dahlia was in a violent relationship with someone. Someone she didn't call the police about. Someone close to her. While they can't and don't rule out other possibilities and leads, they suspect that whoever left those marks on her throat ended up killing her. There is no suggestion in the book that they are ultimately proven wrong.

Answers to Interview Questions from Katie Estill

Answers to Interview Questions from Katie Estill

You alluded many times to the relationship between Patti and Harry but all we found out is the basic story about how they met. Can you tell us more about the nature of their relationship?

Actually, I didn't write a scene in which Patti and Harry met. Patti remembers an important night when she went over to Harry's house, but they already knew one another well enough that Harry would offer her a drink and she would feel safe to tell him what she does. We know from the novel that Patti and Harry were intimates. Were they having sex? Personally, I don't think they were, but there is a charged air about their relationship. Patti has a memory of rubbing his feet to comfort Harry while he was dying and had not yet told his daughter what was happening to him. Patti's relationship with Harry is far less conflicted than Sand's. And it's Sand who wonders about the extent of their intimacy.

Answers to Interview Questions from Katie Estill

Answers to Interview Questions from Katie Estill

Norah and Timothy are devout Christians. For much of the book I felt that Pastor John was leading a congregation of "fire and brimstone bible-thumpers." Is my perception wrong about the church? Is it actually the way Norah and Timothy took the words of the Lord at face value that seemed inappropriate? Is it an allusion to the fact that these "mountain folk" are deeply misguided in their religion but have no one to shed light on this fact?

Queenie, I would never suggest that mountain folk are misguided and need someone (from a big city) to enlighten them, but I think your perception of Norah's church is valid.

Certainly at Dahlia's funeral, Sand, Patti, and Lyman all feel they are hearing a "fire and brimstone" sermon, and Lyman gets so upset he causes a disruption and has to leave his own daughter's funeral. That being said, it is ultimately up to parishioners to maintain or develop compassion and discernment. Norah and her son Timothy, who is mildly retarded, don't have that discernment. They always choose rules over compassion. For them, belonging to their church gives them a sense of superiority over anyone who doesn't. They see themselves as the chosen ones who will go to heaven, while the rest of humanity will go to hell, regardless of how they have led their lives. You can find this tendency anywhere in the world. And the results. I think it's fair to say that Norah's religious beliefs are pretty rigid at the beginning of the novel. Her suffering forces her to search for God and meaning in ways she has not done before. She grows.

Answers to Interview Questions from Katie Estill

Answers to Interview Questions from Katie Estill

Lyman ends up leaving his family, too distraught over what might have happened or what might have been saved to stay with them. Is this a normal reaction in this kind of extreme circumstance? How often do you think tragedies of this nature tear families apart?

A child's death is hard on a marriage, especially a murder. Part of grief is having feelings of anger, blame and guilt. A strong marriage can weather tragedy, but any cracks in the foundation will be tested. In this case, Norah is already dissatisfied with Lyman when they're walking on Myrtle Beach just hours before Dahlia is killed. Their situation is further complicated by the fact that they are a blended family, each of them bringing a child to the union. As the story unfolds and suspicions roam, each parent's loyalty to his/her own child becomes a real issue in the marriage. If you were Lyman at the end of the novel, could you have stayed?

Answers to Interview Questions from Katie Estill

Answers to Interview Questions from Katie Estill

Sand struggles with so many issues of her own, mostly connecting back to her father in some way. Why doesn't she have children of her own? There is mention of sex without birth control when she first met Frank but nothing else that even suggests that having kids ever came up between the two of them. Were they unable or unwilling?

In the sex scene you mention, what is being described is not intercourse but a female orgasm. Sand was not on birth control. Frank promised he wouldn't enter and he didn't. Good for him!

I did not want to give an explanation for why Sand is childless. I could have come up with some tragic reason to explain why she does not have a child so that she would be more likable or acceptable. My point is that she is childless, and therefore a suspect woman. The book is concisely written, but the answer to your question can be found in the scene at the sheriff's department when Norah accuses Sand of murder, page 150 of the paperback.

Answers to Interview Questions from Katie Estill

Answers to Interview Questions from Katie Estill

Staying with the theme of children, what is Patti's back-story on this? Did she have a child and then lose it, hence the dreams of babies she's always taking or rescuing?

The back story as relayed in the novel is that Patti was once married to a fellow deputy, but no children issued from that marriage. Now she's in her thirties, divorced, and feeling the pressure of her biological clock. She's beginning to realize that time may pass her by. She dreams of babies because she longs to have children and be a mother, but she's not even dating anyone. She dreams of rescuing babies, because of some of the horrendous mothers she has encountered as a law enforcement officer, such as the female prisoner she has to search when Patti is first introduced. One of my favorite scenes in the novel is Patti's last scene in her kitchen, when her experience of time, the ticking clock, blooms into a moment of infinity, and what transpires gives us hope that her dreams will come true and will include a loving man.

Answers to Interview Questions from Katie Estill

Answers to Interview Questions from Katie Estill

Would the people of the town really have been so uncomfortable with a rape case? Is that just Norah's perception of what would happen?

It is definitely Norah's perception, however when I was head of a county task force to stop violence against women, I discovered from interviews with law enforcement officers and hospital Emergency Room personnel that the vestiges of taboo still linger over the crime of rape in a rural landscape. One of my tasks was to understand why women were not coming forward. Historically women have not wanted to be victimized again by coming forward. One officer told me about a family that eventually had to leave their church and the area because of painful gossip.

No one could explain the reason for the taboo or the remnants still felt. I think it's fear, like the fear of a contagious disease. If anyone can be raped, then we are all vulnerable, but if there's a reason, such as "it's the woman's fault" or "she brought it on herself," then people feel the crime won't happen to them. They feel more protected.

Understanding this kind of taboo is relevant, because this is exactly how our culture deals with all the really scary and important issues. There is always a reluctance to admit it can happen to us, whatever the "it" may be. I was just reading an article in the New Yorker this morning about the rise of bacterial infections that resist all known treatment. Dr. Louis Rice, an expert in antibiotic resistance, said, "Anytime you hear about some kid getting snatched, you want to find something in that story that will convince you that that family is different from yours. . . But the problem is that any of us could be an ICU patient tomorrow. It's not easy to convey this to people if it's not immediately a threat. You don't want to think about it." (New Yorker, Aug 11 & 18, 2008, p. 52)

Answers to Interview Questions from Katie Estill

Answers to Interview Questions from Katie Estill

Is it forgivable of Norah that she found solace in the fact that Dahlia died chaste? Does that really matter in the end as it can't bring the person back to life?

Yes, forgivable, but terribly ironic. Forgivable because Norah's in pain, but it also shows how inflexible she is at that point when it comes to the religious edicts of her church, this one stating that a woman should be chaste until marriage. Again she chooses rules instead of compassion or logic, perhaps because abiding by those rules gives her a sense of superiority. Her sense of solace infuriates Lyman. His point is: who cares about chastity? His daughter is dead! And I doubt he shares her beliefs about sex before marriage period.

Answers to Interview Questions from Katie Estill

Why is there such an animosity between Norah and Sand even before Dahlia's murder? Is it because they have such different ideas of what it means to be a woman?

Dahlia's Gone is about three very strong and different women. Sand and Norah seem to be polar opposites and really get on one another's nerves. People who press our buttons usually have something to teach us about ourselves. I think you're right--a lot of their conflict has to do with their different ideas about what it means to be a woman. What is the right way to be a woman?

The development of true friendship between Sand and Norah is very healing for them both, but it requires them to acknowledge their own shadows. I see this kind of friendship-building as having both an emotional and spiritual component.

Answers to Interview Questions from Katie Estill

Where did your idea for this book come from? Do you have any other books in the works right now?

The seed of this novel began with my interest in a murder case that happened while I was head of a county task force to stop violence against women. I was quite haunted by the murder and the complexities it brought forth, but Dahlia's Gone is a work of the imagination.

Yes, Queenie, I am well into a new novel. Thanks for the interview!