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We're pleased to welcome Rachel Beanland to CLC today to talk about her latest novel, The Half Life, which is now available. This sounds like a really interesting story and we are loving the cover. Thanks to Simon and Schuster, we have one copy to give away!
Rachel Beanland is the author of The House Is on Fire and Florence Adler Swims Forever, which won the National Jewish Book Award for Debut Fiction. She is a graduate of the University of South Carolina and earned her MFA in creative writing from Virginia Commonwealth University. She lives with her family in Richmond, Virginia.
Visit Rachel online:
When twenty-three-year-old Eileen O’Malley meets charismatic naval officer Paul Archer in a Charleston department store, she doesn’t expect to fall so hard, so fast. But Paul is funny and ambitious, and soon, Eileen’s got a ring on her finger and is following him to the tiny, sun-drenched Mediterranean island of La Maddalena, where Paul will be heading up Radiological Controls aboard a submarine tender.
In La Maddalena, Eileen joins a makeshift community of navy wives who are hell-bent on making the island feel a little more like home. But for Eileen, whose brother died in Vietnam, home is a loaded word, and as she settles into life on the island—taking Italian lessons and learning to make culurgiones—she begins to love the place for all the ways it is not like where she comes from.
Still, it doesn’t take long for Eileen to be confronted with the complexities of being an American abroad. The decision to send nuclear-powered subs into the La Maddalena Archipelago was a contentious one, and the U.S. government is doing whatever it can to ensure that the island—not to mention all of Italy—doesn’t go communist in the next election.
When Italian activists and scientists begin to sound the alarm about possible nuclear contamination in the water, the island erupts in a series of protests, made worse by the ongoing mishaps of the U.S. Navy. Soon, Eileen’s marriage falters and her loyalties begin to shift as she is drawn into a web of secrets—and to a local journalist who forces her to imagine a life beyond the one she’s been handed.
Atmospheric, sexy, and quietly defiant, The Half Life is a story of love, complicity, and awakening—of one woman forced to choose between loyalty to her husband and country and to the Italian locals who show her the high cost of American exceptionalism. (Courtesy of Amazon.)
"A captivating, whip-smart novel about love, loyalty, and a woman torn between two lives. I utterly adored it."
— Clare Leslie Hall, New York Times bestselling author of Broken Country
"The Half Life is a page-turner. Historical in setting, but contemporary in emotional terrain, I felt immersed in the landscape of La Maddalena and in the lives of these characters from the very first page."
— Mary Beth Keane, New York Times bestselling author of Ask Again, Yes
"The Half Life is a summer read with scope and heart."
— Adriana Trigiani, author of The View from Lake Como
What is a favorite compliment you've received on your writing?
I like it when people compliment my prose because that feels less subjective, somehow, than complimenting a novel’s characters or plot. I also love it when people tell me they lost sleep reading one of my novels. It’s a great feeling, to be so absorbed in a book that you can’t put it down.
How is Eileen similar to or different from you?
Eileen and I both have connections to the South, and South Carolina specifically. We’ve both spent time as Americans abroad, and in La Maddalena specifically. We’ve both known real grief, and we both married young—while we were still trying to figure out who we were. That’s probably the point at which our stories diverge!
If The Half Life were made into a movie, who would you cast in the leading roles?
I live in a bubble where I still think actresses like Julia Roberts and Halle Berry are in their twenties, so this question is difficult for me. When I put it to my friends, who’ve read The Half Life, they tell me they want to see someone like Abigail Cowen or Sadie Sink in Eileen’s role. And maybe someone like Elena Kampouris would make a good Laura? Paul’s handsome but pretty complicated, so maybe a guy like Austin Butler? And all my friends think Eugenio Franceschini would make a great Teo, but I lean toward Leonardo Maltese.
Which book made you fall in love with reading?
There were lots of books I loved growing up. The Laura Ingalls Wilder books, Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, and Jean Webster’s Daddy-Long-Legs were some of my favorites. But L.M. Montgomery probably did more to help me fall in love with reading than any other writer. I loved the Anne of Green Gables series with my whole heart, and went on to read the Emily books as well as some of her stand-alone novels like Jane of Lantern Hill.
What is a question you'd like someone to ask you?
I always like talking about craft, but something tells me I’m going to be answering a lot of questions about infidelity on this book tour. The Half Life has got readers asking if infidelity is ever justified and under what circumstances.
If we were to visit you right now, what places would you take us to see?
If you visited me at home, we’d be in Richmond, Virginia in the middle of a sweltering summer, so I’d suggest we meet up in La Maddalena, Italy instead. We’ll spend our days at the beach, swimming in crystal clear water, and our evenings at the piazza, sipping Aperol spritzes.
Thanks to Rachel for visiting with us and to Simon & Schuster for sharing her book with our readers.
How to win: Use KingSumo to enter the giveaway. If you have trouble using KingSumo on our blog, enter the giveaway here. If you are still having issues, please contact us.
Giveaway ends July 21st at midnight EST.
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