Tell us a little about THE DAY THE ANGELS FELL.
Where did you get your inspiration to write this story?
I was cowriting a memoir with a man in Istanbul, Turkey, who was dying of
cancer. The goal was to finish the first draft before he passed away, so it was
an intense three weeks, and we spent a lot of time together. For the first time
in my life, I was face-to-face with mortality—he was forty-nine years old, a
husband, a father of two children—and I wondered how I would feel if that was
me, preparing to die.
When I got home from the trip I started talking to my children about what kind
of story they would like, and together we came up with the basic structure for
THE DAY THE ANGELS FELL.
As I began to write the book, I realized that doing so was my way of working
through this fear of death I had taken on. And writing it really helped me come
to grips with my own mortality.
Which character is your favorite and why?
My favorite character is Abra. She’s a strong, determined girl, fiercely loyal,
courageous in the face of death. In other words, she’s who I would like to be. I
also like the old Samuel Chambers because I have a feeling he’s very much how I
will be when I’m an old man—a little grumpy, a little bit of a hermit, but
mostly a soft, sentimental type.
How did you choose the setting for your novel?
The setting is the farm where I lived for five years, really the earliest place
I can remember. It’s always had mythic attributes to it, at least in my
mind—there was the farm with its shadows and huge barns and open spaces; there
was the church across the street and the creek behind it; there was the cemetery
and the road that went off into the country. This setting has always meant so
much to me.
Would you classify your book more as a mystery or as a fantasy?
I don’t think of it as a fantasy, although there are certainly fantastical
elements. What I wanted to do was write a story that an old man looking back on
fifty or sixty years later might find hard to believe, which is what’s happening
here. I guess I’d say more mystery, although not in the classic whodunit sense.
The mystery is Samuel and Abra trying to find out more about the mystery of
death, which is, I think, a mystery we are all very concerned about.
Did you write THE
DAY THE ANGELS FELL for pure enjoyment, or is there some lesson you hope
readers will take away from reading your book?
I’d like young readers, any reader, to think more about their own death, to
think about why it’s scary for many of us. Our culture does everything it can to
keep death at arm’s length, especially with children. I’d like us collectively
to consider what death actually is, what it might lead to, what its greater
purpose could be.
In what way would you say your faith is worked into the book?
My personal faith is strongly rooted in hope. I think what this book really is,
at its core, is me trying to find hope even in the darkest edges of life.
Who is the primary audience for THE DAY THE ANGELS FELL?
The primary audience would be people who enjoy whimsical tales about childhood
that are a bit melancholy, a bit nostalgic. Also, people who would like to
explore the idea of death being a part of life.
What are you working on next?
I’m working on a lot of things! I cowrite and ghostwrite nonfiction for
individuals and publishing houses, so there’s always something going on there.
We’re currently working on the edits for the sequel to THE DAY THE ANGELS FELL.
And I’m exploring some ideas for my third novel, which will be for the general
market.
It was the summer of storms and strays and strangers. The summer that
lightning struck the big oak tree in the front yard. The summer his mother died
in a tragic accident. As he recalls the tumultuous events that launched a
surprising journey, Samuel can still hardly believe it all happened.
After his mother's death, twelve-year-old Samuel Chambers would do anything
to turn back time. Prompted by three strange carnival fortune-tellers and the
surfacing of his mysterious and reclusive neighbor, Samuel begins his search for
the Tree of Life--the only thing that could possibly bring his mother back. His
quest to defeat death entangles him and his best friend Abra in an ancient
conflict and forces Samuel to grapple with an unwelcome question: could it be
possible that death is a gift?
Haunting and hypnotic, The Day the Angels Fell is a story that explores the
difficult questions of life in a voice that is fresh, friendly, and unafraid.
With this powerful debut, Shawn Smucker has carved out a spot for himself in the
tradition of authors Madeleine L'Engle and Lois Lowry.
Young Adult | Inspirational
[Revell, On Sale: September 5, 2017, Hardcover / e-Book,
ISBN: 9780800728496 / eISBN: 9781493411078]
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