A conversation between me and writer Jacqueline Alnes is up on Electric Lit! I really enjoyed doing this interview and the nuance and depth of the questions.
We talked about the patriarchy, conspiracy theories and adventures in research, driving some of the routes and visiting locales from Salt Lake City to small Colorado towns all the way through to Miami, pre-creating my hero’s journey.
Here’s an extract:
JA: Belief systems can be such a form of comfort for people and they can also be harmful in the way that we see Miles being so impressionable that he can listen to a podcast from a religious leader on a bus and his whole worldview shifts. All of the nuns, too, suppress parts of themselves that are totally normal and human. Why did writing about a religious group interest you?
LB: It was a play on gender and expectations about roles for women, which unbelievably is something we are still coming up against now, not just through religion but through society. It’s omnipresent, the weight of patriarchy. I wanted to be able to explore the idea of women being complicit in this.
Photo creds to reader @strandedinbooks.