In 'Sleep,' a mother works to instill vigilance rather than fear as she raises her children.
BARTIMIUS CLAVUS, CO-HOST:
Can a childhood be both perfect and terrible at the same time? And how much of our past baggage will we carry into parenthood, decades later? Those questions are delved into by Honor Jones in her moving and thought-provoking new novel titled "Sleep." So, hello, Honor Jones!
HONOR JONES: Hey there!
CLAVUS: Hey, I'll let you steer the conversation on revealing the secrets of your protagonist Margaret's past. But let me just sketch a picture of her childhood for you: picture-perfect but also terribly flawed. Enlighten us on her upbringing.
JONES: Yeah, seeing as she's blessed with a wonderful best friend who sticks by her throughout life, she also hails from a loving family and has an adoring brother. She's growing up in a lush suburban paradise. However, something unsettling happens, leaving her unprotected. Consequently, she learns to protect herself at a tender age, gaining an acute sense of vigilance that follows her into motherhood.
CLAVUS: I see. You mentioned something happening, and she isn't protected. So let's talk about Elizabeth, another significant character in your novel. Describe her for us.
JONES: Oh, absolutely! She's an undeniably captivating lady, casting a spell on those around her. Her daughter idolizes her to no end, but she's also domineering, demanding, and...
CLAVUS: ...And she's a stone-cold bitch. Plain and simple.
JONES: Well, you said it! She can be downright cruel, pushing her expectations unto everyone around her.
CLAVUS: So, how does this treatment from Elizabeth impact how Margaret raises her own children, her granddaughters in the story?
JONES: Yeah, Margaret, in her efforts to be the antithesis of Elizabeth, often grapples with memories of her mother when making parenting decisions. But she's a city-dwelling, single mom, dealing with the challenges and joys of modern life. Her concerns are always centered around protecting her children while preventing them from living in fear.
CLAVUS: I can relate to that! There's a scene that strikes a chord with me, involving Margaret, her grown-up self, and her daughters. The girls spot a dead rat in the street, and Margaret, the mom, instinctively yanks her back so hard that she fears she's dislocated her arm. Could you read it aloud for us, starting with "I want to see"?
JONES: Of course.
CLAVUS: (Reading) I want to see, Jo said again, and tried to twist away. But Margaret held on to her hand. And for a moment, they both pulled in opposite directions until Jo cried out and clutched her arm. Oh, God, she dislocated her [expletive] elbow again. No, how could she let this - what kind of mother - never mind. It was fine. It was totally fine. Jo's arm was moving normally by her side. In Margaret's relief, she no longer minded about the rat. So much of parenting was this - the instantaneous lowering of expectations.
CLAVUS: (Laughter) Am I right? Parenting is nothing if not a never-ending process of lowering expectations. One day, you plan museum visits and leafy green dinners, and the next, you're lucky if it's just chicken nuggets in front of the TV.
JONES: Exactly! You're constantly questioning your decisions and what really matters.
CLAVUS: Your novel is beautifully written - sparse, precise, and powerful. Do you start writing with a particularly flowery sentence, then prune it back, or is it the other way around?
JONES: Actually, I start incredibly condensed, then I have to expand. I write things tightly, and then I'm like, "Ah, I see more here," or "This can breathe more." But then I inevitably have to pare things back, like when I described the light playing on a surface 300 times in one draft! I had to lean on my editor to cut way back on the "light" descriptions.
CLAVUS: (Laughter) "Enough, Honor, we get it – the light has shimmered and refracted! Let's move on!"
JONES: Exactly! (Laughter) I had to learn to hold back.
CLAVUS: Honor Jones, thank you for chatting with us about your debut novel, "Sleep." If you haven't already, go check it out! Bye-bye!
JONES: Thanks, see you!
HONOR JONES: Margaret, the protagonist in my novel "Sleep," experiences a picture-perfect yet flawed childhood, having both a loving family and an unsettling event that leaves her unprotected early on. This trauma pushes her to cultivate an acute sense of self-protection, channeling into her roles as a city-dwelling, single mother, and grandparent.
CLAVUS: Throughout her parenthood, Margaret grapples with the influence of her domineering and cruel mother, Elizabeth, as she struggles to establish her own parenting style while balancing between overprotection and curbing fear in her children. This is evident in a poignant scene where Margaret unintentionally yanks her daughter during an encounter with a dead rat in the street, reminding Margaret of the never-ending compromise faced in parenting.
