How much work does your title do to take readers into the story?Visit Emma Garman's website.
One reader called the title ironic—meaning, I guess, that some very unkind acts are committed in the story, which is true! But I see the title as having a double meaning. Strangers can be dangerous, but so can those we know most intimately. And in The Kindness of Strangers, both possibilities play out. Ultimately, the title gestures to the idea of found family. In the novel, a disparate group—individuals of different ages, class backgrounds, nationalities, sexes and sexualities—end up living together and forming lifelong bonds.
What's in a name?
I love over-the-top Dickensian names that broadcast exactly what we, the readers, are meant to think. But...[read on]
The Page 69 Test: The Kindness of Strangers.
Writers Read: Emma Garman.
Q&A with Emma Garman.
--Marshal Zeringue
Posts
