Discuss your inspiration for writing Milagros: Girl from Away. How did you find your story?
I found the seed of this story inside my family history. My parents came to the USA from Cuba in the early 1960s. As in Milagros, they left a country that they were never to see again. There was no choice but to adapt to a world that seemed completely unfamiliar. Their grief took many forms over the years, but the sense of yearning and loss are the feelings I most remember.
When I began writing, I closed my eyes and imagined the Cuba my mother kept in her heart and spoke of so often – one part true, one part all she wished it could have been. This wildly idealized Cuba – a land I never visited -- became the basis for Las Brisas – the fictional setting for my novel. From there came Milagros – fierce, smart, hurt, and resilient. Above all, I wanted a story where a young girl emerged victorious from her self-doubt and from the bewildering choices of the adults surrounding her. Milagros was faced with extraordinary circumstances, but she was doing what most bi-cultural children have to do –maybe what all young people have to do in one way or another: Find their own sense of identity in the world and lay claim to it.
Describe the writing process for this book. Did the story change much over the course of the revision?
The original manuscript took about a year to complete. I wrote furiously each day while my children were at school, and I relied heavily on good friends to read sections and give me their thoughts.
The story did change during editing, but not in its basic storyline. Surprisingly, a small change in the setting made the biggest impact. Part of the challenge of working with mythical realism is that the novel takes on an “other worldly” quality. Sustaining the realistic illusion of that world is a delicate thing. In the original draft, Milagros’s arrival in Holly Pointe felt jarring, like a rough landing out of a dream. Christy Ottaviano, my editor, suggested the solution: creating an equally remote and idealized northern setting. “Perhaps a remote island in Maine?” is how she put it. At first, I was baffled. But in doing research on island life and letting my imagination take wild liberties to create the northern island I needed, I was able to balance the magic of both places and allow Milagros to have a comfortable place in both.
Did you base Milagros’s character on anyone in particular, or is she a composite? Please explain.
All the characters in the novel are composites, though they have elements of real people and events. Some examples: My parents divorced when my sister and I were very young; I tried to capture the sense of loss in that experience. My paternal grandmother was a seamstress, who was very involved in my growing up. She was an amazing woman – a strong and no-nonsense person, all the way to her death at age 93. Naturally, I used her to model Old Woman Perez. As for Milagros herself, she is far more courageous than I ever was, but we share the wild child factor. As a child, I had endless energy– a trait that exhausted my family. I chose to celebrate that trait in Milagros as a positive, rather than presenting it as something problematic that should be smoothed out of girls.
Discuss the fantastical realism aspects of the novel. Were you consciously trying to write a novel with this genre in mind?
Magical elements feel very natural to my thinking and writing. It’s one of the storytelling traditions of so much of the unforgettable literature from Latin American – the stories that I adore and that, for me, are told with the sound and heart of my own home. I’m happy to honor that tradition and bring it to a young audience – especially Latino readers who grow up reading and speaking mostly English as I did. I like that I am able to introduce them – in their own new language – to the sound and style of their families’ past.
Name a few of your favorite writers. Why do you admire their work? What was your favorite book as a young reader?
I have to start with the “greats,” of course. Isabelle Allende, Angeles Maestretta, Sandra Cisneros. I am always left breathless by the power of their voices as women. In the area of children’s books, my tastes run to those writers who speak to the troubles of being young through thoughtful, tasteful and elegant stories. I especially admire Cornelia Funke, David Almond, An Na, and Kate DiCamillo. My favorite book as a child was E.B White’s Charlotte’s Web. It was the first time a novel brought me to tears – and the thrill of that emotional experience linked me to reading for the rest of my life.
Discuss the significance of stingrays in the story? What do they represent to Milagros?
The stingrays symbolize her inner light. We all have that sense of what makes us worthy and unique in the world, although sometimes it is so very hard to find beneath self-doubt and worry, especially when we’re young. In my mind, an inner light is what its possible for a person to persevere even in the most challenging circumstances.
In Milagros, the stingrays appear with each obstacle, and each time, they point the way out. They first appear when Milagros is battling the distrust and sadness in Las Brisas. They guide her on the ocean when her home is destroyed. They bring her Rosa’s message, when she is convinced that her mother abandoned her. And of course, they surface when Milagros faces the greatest obstacle of all, the loss of her mother.
Milagros grapples with many challenges in Holly Pointe: a foreign environment, the loss of her parents, bullying. How does she surmount these hurtles and manage to keep hopeful?
One nasty surprise of growing up is finding out that terrible obstacles do appear – and for the most part, you have no choice but to deal with them, ready or not. Milagros certainly learns this.
I find resilient people to be a wonderful mystery. They share the ability to hold on to their inner light despite all manner of darkness around them. In my view, Milagros was especially blessed with loving people early in life who reinforced what was important and magical about her: that she was intelligent, perceptive and daring. Those were the qualities she depended on when she was alone, and they served her well. She relied on her intelligence and perception to read others reliably. She was daring enough to let her magic shine in healing Mollie, in her studies and in the garden. By staying true to her own gifts, she was successful.
Discuss Milagros’s relationship with her mother. How does it guide her through life? What would you like your readers to take away from this relationship?
Rosa is definitely flawed as a mother in Milagros’s view – not present enough, too quiet in her emotions, maddeningly unconcerned about her oddball reputation, maybe even a terrible judge of husbands. And yet, you can feel the respect and love each has for the other, even as they are struggling to find each other emotionally and, of course, literally across an entire ocean.
What’s amazing about Rosa is that despite these perceived “failings,” she gets the single most important thing exactly right: She proves her unconditional love and faith in Milagros. Her appearance as a ray proves that love. Her simple farewell -- “You will be well” – is a firm statement of utter confidence in the young woman Milagros is and will be. That’s what I believe we as adults need to do for girls. Love them fiercely, help them find their gifts, and let them go alone into the world with our confidence behind them.
Readers of Milagros are usually at the start of the long process of pulling away from their parents. It’s can be a joyous and frightening time for all involved. It was for me as a girl, and I am living through that now as a mother. What I’d like my readers to take away from the relationship between Rosa and Milagros is that neither was perfect, and yet each was lasting and priceless to the other.
