In 1978, Tillie Olsen published a non-fiction book called Silences, where she shares a survey proving that then—in 1978—one of every 12 published writers were women and 8% of the writers who write in English were women. That means 92% were men.
Yes, things have changed since then. But back then, I was struggling to write about what I considered most important, and my first two published books were very feminine, very much about hearth, children, and home.
For my third novel, I set myself the task of writing a book with seven different points of view—three of them male. One of the major characters was a minister, one an elderly man, and one a repressed professor.
Also, I wrote lots of sex scenes.
But I wrote as much about family, religion, and libraries. Some people say it is the best book I’ve written. I think for readers these days it is too slow-paced and too dense. Too wordy. Too interior. Bodies & Souls is certainly not a beach book, and I wouldn’t recommend it for people who shock easily.
It received mixed reviews. Boston Magazine ran a brilliant (at least I thought so, because it was so complimentary!) article about the book.
And people begin to ask me, “Did you do that?” about certain scenes. At first, I denied it, explaining that I wrote fiction. After a while, I learned to smile smugly and respond, “Yes, I did. I did it all.” Which I couldn’t have, since I wasn’t a woman and an elderly man and a childless college professor.
But never mind. Bodies & Souls is the novel Charley Walters interviewed me about on his Nantucket television show ArtsView.
And that changed everything.