By Max Bowen
Before we get into the book, you’re probably wondering what “Five By Five” is. This is the new name for our series of written Q&A interviews with writers and musicians.
The name actually refers to audio signals, which ties in with our regular podcast. Five By Five is another way to say “good signal strength” or “loud and clear,” but can also mean “exceptional quality,” which certainly lines up with the artists we speak with. Now with that out of the way, on to the book!
Set to be released on April 30,
Norah Woodsey’s book “The States” follows a young woman who enters a sleep-study that allows her to lucidly dream of summers in Ireland, and the boy she was forced to leave behind. Here’s a look at the plot:
“Tildy Sullivan is the middle child in an elite family who amassed their wealth with a cosmetics company. Despite the comforts of life, all Tildy cares about are the summers she spent in Galway, Ireland and the boy she was forced to let go. After her mother’s death eight years ago, she was persuaded to leave Ireland and Aidan behind. Now, as her family’s fortune dwindles and concerns about her future arise, she signs up for a sleep study where she lucidly dreams about her past, hoping to reconcile with the boy she can’t let go. With the dream of being with Aidan again, Tildy embarks on a journey back to Ireland hoping that her dreams can soon become a reality.” The book is a reimagine of Jane Austen’s classic “Persuasion” and in this interview, we talk about the book inspired Noorah’s, Tildy’s relationship with Austin and the original version being written during NaNoWRiMo.
For those not familiar, what is Jane Austen’s “Persuasion” and how did it inspire this book? “Persuasion” is Jane Austen’s final completed novel, published in 1817 soon after her death. Unlike Austen’s other novels, we meet Anne Elliot not before her youthful love story begins, but after it has ended. The reader learns that 8 years prior to the events of the novel, Anne chose her aristocratic family over herself, over her love, Captain Wentworth, and broke his heart. She kept it all a secret from nearly everyone. Then, her father, a vain and careless baronet, stands to lose everything and suddenly, Anne’s former love returns to her life. He is now wealthy and still handsome, and she must endure his anger while loving him still, all on the sidelines. Until things begin to shift, and… I’ll leave it there!
I have loved this book since I first read it in college. I had read Austen’s other works well before then, but I didn’t read “Persuasion” until a snowy day when I had nothing else to do. I’m glad I waited. I love “Pride and Prejudice,” I respect “Emma” and “Northanger Abbey,” but “Persuasion” beautifully describes living with regret and overcoming it to find happiness. It explores loving, mourning that love, and learning to love as a new person who has experienced that pain. It also shows the contrast between the gentry and those who work, with exquisitely written adult friendships that exist beyond aristocratic connections and money.
How does your story interpret Austen’s? Much of “Persuasion” explores loyalty and regret, in addition to Austen’s more consistent themes of class hierarchy, family drama, romantic love, and a woman finding her place in the world. I directly discuss these elements in “The States,” but I chose to give Tildy a more direct hand in her isolation. In “Persuasion,” Anne refuses to fight for herself for much of the story, but you do get the sense she and Wentworth had a lot to lose by chasing their love. His career, her place in society and her inheritance were at stake. However, modern society gives women more freedom. A modern-day Anne could have pursued Wentworth, and his career wouldn’t have suffered. When I wrote “The States,” I had to decide – why didn’t Tildy pursue Aidan? It had to be a cage of her own making. From there, I added in my science-fiction element of the dream experiment as a way for her to create a dream world to shun the real one.
I also expanded the story to discuss her mother. I think Austen deliberately made Lady Elliot a distant, beloved figure. We learn very little about her and that makes her compelling. In “The States,” I wanted to explore Tildy’s maternal side. Her mother, her nana, her mother’s origins. I always felt, maybe incorrectly, that many of the negative events in Persuasion wouldn’t have happened had Lady Elliot lived. I couldn’t resist bringing a character with that power more forward in my retelling.
What was Tildy’s relationship with Aidan and why did it have to end? Tildy and Aidan met as teenagers. Over summers together, when Tildy would visit her nana in the Galway Gaeltacht, an Irish speaking area just beyond Galway City. Their friendship quickly turned to love. Tildy promised to come back and stay, and build a life with him. But her life fell apart. Out of familial obligation, she left Aidan behind and stayed in Manhattan with her father, sisters, and the family cosmetics empire. 8 years later, Aidan is wealthy. A famous chef, handsome, and beloved by his friends. Tildy is the black sheep of her family, though she feels obligated to support them. Her father’s business is failing, her family is oblivious to imminent ruin, and Tildy dreams of returning to before her fateful choice. When they meet again, he resents her for the heartbreak but knows her better than any person in the world, as well as she knows him.
I read that this was first written during NaNoWriMo. How did it grow to the finished product? It started out as a fun little distraction from my much darker novel, “The Control Problem.” I wrote about longing for Ireland, for my grandmother, in the guise of a love story between an Irish man and a first-generation Irish-American. By the end of the month, I hit the word count and set it aside, promising myself to turn it into something someday. “The Control Problem” was released at the end of 2021, so I switched back to my Irish-American love story with fresh eyes. And I realized what was best about it really made it a rough draft of a “Persuasion” retelling. I gave it a few days, primarily to feel sorry for myself that I can’t write an original love story! Then, I decided to do the hard work of making it an honest retelling. I spent a month re-reading “Persuasion,” marking up a paperback copy I bought for the purpose, as well as listening to the audiobook and watching (most) of the movies and miniseries adaptations.
I had a lot of fun weaving in details from “Persuasion” into “The States,” particularly during the scenes with Tildy’s father and sisters. With the additional material of Tildy’s mother and nana, I think it grew into a novel that stands on its own, while still being a faithful retelling.
Why did you choose a sleep study to be used in the story? I’m fascinated by our relationships and dependencies on technology, whether from the perspective of a scientist, a user, or a research subject. I had a dream machine idea earlier in my career, but it wasn’t strong enough to support a full story. When I realized this was going to be a novel about Tildy’s internal desires versus her lived reality, I decided to use that dream machine idea now.
When I had made that decision, I got in touch with the brilliant cognitive neuroscientist Delphine Oudiette from Northwestern University. She graciously helped me understand how lucid dreaming could be initiated by an external device, the flaws in existent technology, and I tried to incorporate as much of that information into the novel as I could.
.jpg)
