Rene is the author of
the acclaimed novels The Child Finder and The
Enchanted. Her essays have appeared in publications such as the New York
Times. Her new literary thriller, The Child Finder, explores
themes of survival, resiliency and redemption. It has received much
acclaim, including a starred Library Journal review, major press, and an
Indie Next pick. Landing as the #1 fiction bestseller at Powell's within its
first week, The Child Finder became a top 10 bestseller in Canada and a
bestseller in the U.S.
Rene's lyrical, beautiful writing is inspired by her work with
sex trafficking victims and innocents in prison. She was the Chief
Investigator at a public defender’s office and has worked hundreds of cases. In
addition to her advocacy work, she has been a foster adoptive parent for
20 years. Rene will be awarded the Break The Silence Award at the 24th Annual
Knock Out Abuse Gala in Washington, DC, on November 2, 2017, in recognition for
her advocacy and social justice work. The child of a
difficult history herself, she is an accomplished speaker who loves connecting
with others. Rene lives in Portland, Oregon, where she is the happy mom of
three kids adopted from foster care.
I read your beautiful piece in “Modern
Love,” about finding your foster children and am very moved by your commitment
to love and success as a mother. Having read all else that you are involved with additionally,
I’m also in awe of your boundless energy. Did you know you were a writer before
you became a mother? How have you managed to integrate all that you do as a
mother, investigator working with lost children, and worker in prisons with your
writing career?
When I was young I
escaped into imagination to survive severe abuse. The library was my sanctuary,
and from the stories there I learned how to tell myself stories. I made up a
fantasy world that I escaped into for months at a time. But I didn't think someone
from a background of poverty could be a novelist. Eventually I went into
journalism, but it wasn't until my 40s I started writing fiction. Once I
started writing my first novel I knew that was what I was always meant to do.
It's true I have a very
full plate! I have a day job as an investigator; I have three kids I adopted
from foster care—and I've fostered others; and I have written and published two
novels. I'm someone who thrives on being active, and to be honest, my career
inspires me. I feel so lucky to be helping others. It gives me endless juice
and inspiration to keep going. I feel lucky to have adopted my kids, too. When
people tell them they are lucky I interrupt to say no, I am the lucky one.
Through my kids I got to experience a healthy, happy childhood. I got to take
part in their journey to healing. What could be better than that?
One of the struggles for
mothers, I think, is we get messages we shouldn't prioritize our writing. We
spend so much time taking care of others we forget to take care of ourselves,
including our artistic and creative spirit. So I make sure to set aside time to
write. I let the chores go, I don't try to keep a perfect house, and yes, the
kids eat junk food. I embrace imperfection and let myself be a good-enough mom
in order to write. It turned out to be the best choice for the kids. I don't
have time to get all up in their business, and they have learned to be
responsible and supportive. They are proud of me and I am proud of them. We're
a happy clan.
Your first book,
The Enchanted, is described as
combining magic and evil and is set in a prison. I’m assuming it was inspired
by your prison work. What specifically moved you to write it? Is it about the
redemptive ways the human mind deals with terror? If so, what kinds of terrors
do you feel a kinship with and why?
At the time I wrote my
The Enchanted I was working a lot of death penalty cases. I have exonerated
innocent people out of prison, and stopped executions. When you see the news
that over 250 innocent people have been exonerated out of death rows, that's
the work of investigators like me. We like to joke the attorneys take all the
credit, ha.
The inspiration for the
novel came one day as I was leaving the death row prison in our state. It's an
ancient stone prison built in 1846. I was leaving one day, hearing the gates
slam behind me, when I heard a very soft, distinctive voice say "this is
an enchanted place." I went right home and started writing that
evening.
I was moved by all the
things I had witnessed and was learning working death row cases: the harms we can
commit, the goodness we are capable of, the way redemption can spring from the
most unlikely of soils. The Enchanted explores our strength and ability to
survive even in the most horrific of circumstances. It's about the preventable causes
of violence. It turned out to be a love song to the world, a song of hope. It
was about finding beauty in the pain.
Looking back, I can now
see my first novel was also about me "coming out" as an abuse
survivor. Until that point I had not publicly admitted my own abuse history.
The Enchanted was so nakedly about my own journey I realized I had told my
story to the world. It was after it came out I began being more open
about my own history, including writing about the man I considered my father, a
registered predatory sex offender. I began talking more about how I had taken
my hardship and turned it into strength by helping others.
Please discuss The Child Finder, your second novel. Is it a fairytale? What did
you hope to accomplish with this book?
The Child Finder is
being called a literary thriller. The Library Journal called it "a
glittering gem of a story, part mystery, part fairy tale, and all
white-knuckled, edge of your seat thriller." It's a real page turner, but
also a deeply literary, thoughtful novel. It follows a young female investigator
who specializes in finding missing children. The novel follows her as she looks
for a missing eight-year-old girl. Her point of view is juxtaposed with that of a magical
child who tells herself fairy tales to survive.
It's an examination of
trauma and how we can survive through our imaginations. It's a book about
female courage, and it really pushes back against the shameful messages around
sexual abuse; that we are forever damaged or destroyed, because that just
doesn't have to be true. It shows how much we can do to save each other, and
that the path towards healing and recovery is about embracing one another for
all we have experienced—not despite our trauma, but including our trauma. One
of the key phrases from the novel is "it is never too late to be
found." I believe that. The longer I do my work, the more I help my kids, the
more I believe we all deserve to be saved. We all have the power to save each
other.
Please discuss in whatever way you wish
the role of healing in the art of writing.
What a great question!
Writing—and reading—can heal us. If you think about it, the act of writing is an
act of courage. It is a statement of self. It says, "I have the right to
create a story. I exist. I can tell my own truth." By writing our stories,
memoir or fictional, we lay claim to our place in the universe. We demand to be
heard, we voice our rights to be heard. Writing is a profoundly courageous,
healing act. As readers, we can then bear witness to one another. So story acts
as a communication, linking us, informing each other of who we really are, in purer, more honest ways.
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