This month’s guest on The Write Up is novelist and poet Louisa Hall.
Louisa Hall’s life reads like a novel all its own – after graduating Harvard, she became a professional squash player achieving a US rank of #2. But near the height of her career, Hall abandoned the sport and headed to Texas to study literature at the University of Texas, write poetry, and begin working on her first novel.
Hall’s beautiful debut novel, The Carriage House, follows William Adair and his three talented daughters in a moment of transition and tension. The parade of characters intertwining stories results in a graceful, warm exploration of family, identity, and memory. A novel Philip Meyer praised as, “Part Jane Austen, part John Cheever, this tale marks the debut of a stunning new writer.”
Hall based the structure of The Carriage House on Jane Austen’s Persuasion. On this edition of The Write Up, Hall and I talk about the benefits of being mentored by a classic novel while shaping your first work. We discuss everything from the finest Russian novel to enjoy at an international squash tournament to the sexy allure of science fiction to the enticement of voice in crafting addictive prose.
We also track her Hall’s own journey from professional squash champion to successful writer, including the allusive moment when Hall first saw herself as an author.
As always on The Write Up, we have a brief book review. In lieu of professional book reviewers, I call up my friends and family. This month my teenage nephews review of Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut and Stiff by Mary Roach. If their high school English teacher tunes in, the boys might get extra credit.
