Celebrating BLUE BIRDS with an interview with author Caroline Starr Rose!

Today we’re celebrating Bluebirds, Caroline Starr Rose’s soon-to-be-released historical fiction novel-in-verse, set in the 1587 "Lost Colony" of Roanoke, Virginia. There’s so much I could say about this book: how much I loved it, how it rang wonderfully true to the time period, how it made me think and made me laugh and made me cry--you know, all the good things books can do. But since you get to hear me talk all the time, I asked Caroline if she would join us here today for an interview, and she graciously agreed. Without further ado... 


FEH: Welcome, Caroline! I’m so grateful for your story and particularly grateful right now for your generosity in joining me here today.

I think people tend to pigeonhole writers of historical fiction as romantics who wish they lived in the past, but I’ve found that most of them are happy to be solidly situated in the present. What are a few things about life in the past that you’re glad are, in fact, past? (Even if they make for interesting fiction...)

CSR: Barber surgeons. Privies. Bathing rarely and having to heat water batch by batch to fill a tub. Butchering an animal rather than buying meat nicely packaged at the grocery store. The gross factor is a big one for me. Part of my fascination with the past is that everyday living seemed like so much work in comparison to my own life. I have tremendous respect for those who lived “ordinary” lives. Really, they inspire me.

FEH: What are a few things from the past you wish could be resurrected?

CSR: Less distraction. A slower pace of life. Handiwork! I’d love to be able to make beautiful things.

FEH: Isn’t it interesting that with all the work women had to do, they still had time to create beautiful handiwork? (Proof, perhaps, of the time-stealing nature of the internet and television...) The great thing about all the past things you love is that it’s not too late to bring them into your own life a little at a time!

One of my favorite things about BLUE BIRDS was--as with all great historical fiction--the glimpse into cultures I would never be able to experience outside of fiction. You tackled not only one, but two very diverse cultures, and I was struck by how different they both were not only from each other but from our lives today. What detail about each of your main character’s lives do you think would strike a modern reader as the most surprising?

CSR: What a great question! I think young readers might be surprised how much work each girl was expected to do within her community. Alis is expected to serve as nursemaid, first to two toddlers in the English settlement and then to her own brother and the infant Virginia Dare (the first English child born in the New World). Kimi works in the fields, along with the other Roanoke women, and does other tasks, such as weaving and meal preparation.

One of my favorite passages is a very simple reflection on Alis’s part. She is going about the English settlement, comparing it to London:

Some say the village is a rude establishment:

There are no pipes and fountains

as there are in London,

just water from a stream.

No fish and vegetables appear in market stalls,

just those we trap in swirling waters,

those coaxed from the withered garden.

But I’ll take a bit of extra work

for the forest’s wild beauty,

the open skies as fair trade

for the luxuries we’ve left behind.

I picked the word “luxuries” deliberately. I wanted readers to see what Alis considered a luxury — pipes and fountains, market stalls — and have a moment to compare her world with their own lives.

As for Kimi, one obvious surprise for readers will be her appearance. Roanoke women had tattoos on their arms, legs, and sometimes faces. Alis meets Kimi in the summer months, when skirts were the only clothing Roanoke women wore. I remember trying to explain this to my eleven-year-old son a few months ago. He got very serious and said, “Mom, you have to change that.” In other words, he was uncomfortable. I think this is a very natural modern-day response, especially for a kid! Both Alis and Kimi find the other odd as far as appearance goes, but there is something fascinating about the other, too. They are able to move beyond fascination and into the other’s true personhood once their friendship forms.

FEH: The passage you quoted was the exact one I had in mind when I wrote that question! To me, the new world is, indeed, a totally different world from Tudor London, but the hardships were a trade-off; you had more convenience in Europe, but you had to take the filth to go along with it. After London, Virginia must have seemed pristine.

Do you have a favorite bit of research that didn’t make it into the story?

CSR: The day Governor John White returned to the island Roanoke (and found the settlement empty) was the third birthday of his granddaughter, Virginia Dare. What a cruel irony!

FEH: I’ve heard you mention that writing and revising BLUE BIRDS was one of the hardest things you’ve ever done. What kept you going during the hardest moments, and what advice could you offer to other writers going through tough writing times?

CSR: This book was hard on so many levels. Because it was the first novel I wrote after publishing a rather successful first book, I had an invisible audience I had to learn to ignore. The stakes felt higher. I worried about comparisons between May B. and Blue Birds. This was also the first time I’d written a historical about specific events, rather than just a specific era. Then added to this was the realization the story needed to be told in both girls’ voices. I felt utterly unqualified to write as a Native American child.

I suppose I kept working on the book because that’s what I do. I write. There was definitely some stubbornness and pride involved. But also, I wanted to see the book and these girls through to the end. They deserved that. I’m someone who finds drafting terrifyingly hard, and I know that’s part of what kept me going: If I could push through to the end, then I could get to the good stuff — the shaping and discovery that takes place in revision. The real writing, in other words.

What I would encourage others to do is to shut out the rest of the world — what you think they think of you, what you think they think of how you approach your writing. Then shut yourself off, too — your worries, your fears, how monumental the task feels. If you can, find some friends also on the writing journey. I have a Brenda Ueland quote on my wall my friend Valerie Geary sent me while I was working on Blue Birds. It’s such a lovely way to approach writing. I’ve highlighted my favorite bit:

“And when you work on your writing remember these things. Work with all your intelligence and love. Work freely and rollickingly as through talking to a friend who loves you. Mentally thumb your nose at the know-it-alls, jeerers, critics, and doubters.”

FEH: Beautiful advice, Caroline! Thank you so much for this, and for taking the time to answer these questions. I wish you much--deserved--success for BLUE BIRDS!

This post is part of a week-long celebration in honor of the book Blue Birds. Author Caroline Starr Rose is giving away a downloadable PDF of this beautiful Blue Birds quote (created by Annie Barnett of Be Small Studios) for anyone who pre-orders the book from January 12-19. Simply click through to order from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books A Million, IndieBound, or Powell's, then email a copy of your receipt to caroline@carolinestarrrose.com by Monday, January 19. PDFs will be sent out January 20.