Friday, October 25, 2019

Patricia Henley's HUMMINGBIRD HOUSE

Up now at The Millions, my interview with Patricia Henley, whose acclaimed novel HUMMINGBIRD HOUSE is being re-released by Haywire Books as a special 20th anniversary edition.





Says Patricia: "It took 10 years from the original idea to holding the book in my hand. I went through two agents. Neither liked the story or thought it had a chance. I made five trips to Central America. I was obsessed. It was a heady time. I was still young and had so much energy. I felt I could do it all. I was completely obsessed with the novel, the travel, the research. I dreamed about it.

When it came out in 1999 that was validation. When it became a finalist for The National Book Award that seemed almost secondary, after all I’d been through. Then it went out of print. It’s been out of print for a decade at least. Jon Sealy bringing a new edition into the world feels like recovering from a long illness, a generalized malaise. I’m not exaggerating."

Read the rest here, and find Patricia's website here