Was Robert Lewis, the emotionally scarred but heroic journalist, based on someone in particular?
KS: His character spontaneously popped into my head about a dozen years ago, after I spent time in a refugee camp in Papua New Guinea listening to people tell me they’d been tortured, that their loved ones had been killed. It was agonizing. The Lewis character was a response to my own feeling of helplessness. A: Overall, do you consider The White Mary a dark novel? KS: There is darkness there. But Marika’s journey is similar to one that many people have to take in life. They have to hit rock bottom, go to the deepest parts of their own souls to realize there’s a way out. A: One of the themes in the book is the tug between the footloose, adventurous life and the ties of love. KS: Yeah, I’ve definitely had to deal with that. I do have a pretty unconventional life, compared to many women. A: You seem unconventional in the extreme. C’mon, confess a conformity. KS: Well, I like to eat at Kentucky Fried Chicken. How’s that for mainstream?
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