What's On at the Library

Celebrated novelists and Canadian ex-pats Lori Lansens and Sara Gruen graced the stage of the Bram & Bluma Appel Salon last Tuesday evening in conversation on their new novels, The Mountain Story and At the Water’s Edge. Sporting a vintage Toronto Public Library tee and a white blazer, host and interviewer Liza Fromer, enthusiastically sang praise for the Library’s culture of books as she introduced the guests of honour: “This is so amazing! It is so fantastic to see so many people come out to support books, support reading, and to support these two wonderful authors.”

The Mountain Story, written by Lori Lansens, is a tale of adventure and suspense, and of one man’s survival atop the San Jacinto Mountains. Wolf Truly, years later recounting his story to his son Daniel, climbed atop the mountain on his 18th birthday with the intent of jumping to his death. After a chance encounter with three women and a series of missteps, Truly and the women found themselves stranded. Battling the elements (and their inner turmoil) the hikers are left with a view of the city below, and no way down. Years later the mountain still has a hold on Truly that is equal parts beauty and terror. 

Lansens explained that there is a shared sense of searching among the hikers, but that the protagonist, Truly, is also lost emotionally and in life. Truly’s character was born out of real-life tragedy in the form of a teenage suicide that occurred in the south-western California community near Lansens’ home. The name Wolf, synonymous with survival, was inspired by Lansens’ maternal grandfather who she always thought of as ‘a lone wolf’.

Lori Lansens reading a passage from "The Mountain Story"

In discussing the setting of her book, Lansens told the audience that she wanted the mountain itself to be a character, yet she had concerns about the authenticity of the story:

“I didn’t think it would be believable that [the hikers] could be lost for five days. So I went to Mount San Jacinto, which is a real place. In Palm Springs, you board the tram in your flip-flops in 110 degree temperature; you go to the top in the wintertime and there is snow! Imagine a place where a tram takes you to a different place and in 15 minutes you are suddenly in a different climate… It was clear the day we stepped on San Jacinto – my husband and I got lost on a trail and we did not handle it graciously.”

Sara Gruen’s novel, At the Water’s Edge, is set at the height of World War II. Maddie and Ellis Hyde are rejected from Philadelphia high society and acrimoniously cut off financially by Ellis’ father. In an effort to salvage Ellis’ father’s name, the two, along with Ellis’ close friend Hank, cross the ocean to search for the famous Loch Ness Monster. Every day that the men are hunting for the monster, another monster, Hitler, is devastating Europe. Meanwhile, Maddie, turned away from the dysfunctional Hyde family and left alone as her husband seeks his beast, experiences an inner reform. Tackling the demons within, she undergoes a transformation and learns to embrace compassion, friendship, and love.

Sara Gruen discusses her latest book "At The Water's Edge"

The characters in Gruen’s novel are unanimously, yet separately, searching each for their own identity. The author stated that she liked the symmetry of having the inner, seemingly smaller turbulence mirror the larger, big picture turmoil – in this case the war. “I do like to have the macro reflect the micro in my books,” she told an admiring audience.  

Initially, Gruen had no idea what time period she was going to set the novel in. During the research phase, she visited the Scottish Highlands, where the many components of the novel started coming together. She realized Scotland was much more involved with World War II than she previously thought. In visiting Castle Urquhart, she found the bits of folklore and ideas floating in her mind starting to take shape and the story beginning to unfold, explaining: “I’m absolutely alone in this huge tourist trap… I took out my cellphone and stomped around for a couple of hours dictating to my cellphone. Dictating ideas.”

Sara Gruen’s work has been translated into 43 languages and has sold more than 10 million copies worldwide. She is the #1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Water for Elephants (2006) which was adapted into a major motion picture starring Reese Witherspoon, Rob Pattinson, and Christoph Waltz in 2011. She is also the author of Ape House (2010), Flying Changes (2007), and Riding Lessons (2004).

Prior to Lori Lansens’ impressive literary debut in 2002, she had a successful career as a screenplay writer whose works include the Canadian comedy South of Wawa (1991), as well as Wolf Girl (2001), which starred Tim Curry. Currently, her third novel, The Wife’s Tale (2009) is in development as a feature film. Lansens is the author of the critically acclaimed novels Rush Home Road (2002) and The Girls (2005) with rights sold in 13 territories.

Both authors are Canadian ex-pats living in the United States; Fromer queried how, if at all, this influenced their writing styles. Gruen felt that, if anything, because she was brought up and educated in Canada, Canadian literature influenced her more than living in the States. Lansens, seconding Gruen’s feelings, added that being Canadian is not something you can necessarily point to as influencing style as many other factors outside of nationality come into play.

Post-discussion, fans queued for the book signing. Lansens and Gruen were extremely gracious and appreciative of their audience, posing for pictures and enjoying anecdotes shared by their admirers. As the event came to a close, a band of friends, family members, and colleagues engaging in lively laughter and merriment hung about the Salon with a feeling of homecoming in the air.

View the on-stage conversation with Lori Lansens and Sara Gruen at the Bram & Bluma Appel Salon on the Toronto Public Library’s YouTube channel.

Follow the conversation on Twitter with the hashtag #AppelSalon