How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?Visit Julie Hensley's website.
The title Five Oaks is indicative of how important setting and landscape are to the story. It is the name of the family lake cottage where the current temporal frame of the novel takes place across a summer in 1988. The historical chapters all branch into that space eventually, as well. It is truly a nexus. The working title for this novel was actually The Recklessness of Water, a reference to the REM song “Night Swimming.” I changed the title to Five Oaks at my agent’s urging. I spent about a day worrying over it, but ultimately, I grew to love the new title. Both that lake cottage and the five sprawling oaks for which it is named anchor the lives and secrets of all the women in the Stone/Pritchard lineage.
What's in a name?
I found the name my narrator, Sylvie, in a cemetery. I love to...[read on]
Q&A with Julie Hensley.
--Marshal Zeringue
Posts
