Village as muse in new book about relationships
A new novel by Cecily Ross explores one women’s relationships with her mother, sister, daughter, husband, female friends, and the small town in which the story is set.
Attachment Disorders is the humorous fast paced story of 57-year-old Hattie who moves from the city to a farm near the small village of Avalon, “a tree- lined, red-brick gingerbread and false store-front cliché” on the Mad River. Although fictionalized, the village is very much inspired by Creemore and long-time residents will be transported back in time as Hattie and her friends catch up at the Eggplant Café.
The title pokes at the therapy speak oversimplifying attachment styles, often blaming the mother. The mother-daughter relationship is central to the story, as the protagonist balances responsibility for her aging mother and fledgling daughter.
Ross said most of the characters are completely fictional with the exception of the protagonist, who is “channeling her own outlook on life in an exaggerated way,” and the character of Florence, Hattie’s mother, wholly based on her own mother who was a “big character.”
“When you’re writing it all, it’s kind of a collage of your life and other people’s stories they’ve told you, and characters, I mean, you combine them,” said Ross, who like her main character mines her own life and relationships for inspiration.
Hattie, a self described “failed novelist” resents the anti-aging freelance writing assignments that come her way and is trying to prioritize a novel about menopause entitled The Beginning of the End. She is trying to balance the care of her daughter and aging mother while finding time to write.
“Women are seen as unproductive after menopause, because they are no longer childbearing.
What’s a woman for if she can’t have children? She’s seen as being useless to society,” said Ross. “So I’m saying that after menopause, this is when women can be their most productive, because those things, the small children and the really big career are waning, and so I see those years as the most productive years for a woman, because she’s not as distracted and she can focus on those things.”
Attachment Disorders is meant to be a satirical look at the publishing industry, with which Ross has much experience. She is the author of two published books Love in the Time of Cholesterol, a memoir, and The Lost Diaries of Susanna Moodie, historical fiction, in addition to being a journalist.
“As a fiction writer you have to go through this whole ridiculous thing with agents and publishers, and if you’ve done something successful, they want you to do the same thing again. They’re always just looking for the next big thing,” said Ross.
“[Hattie’s] first book didn’t earn out its advance or came out at the wrong time of the year. And so her career is over, but because that happened to me, I wanted to have her redeem herself,” said Ross.
Unable to find a publisher for her novel Ross committed to self-publishing through a Montreal based press. Books can be ordered directly from boutique.bouquinbec.ca.
They are also for sale at Curiosity House Books, Nottawa Cottage Bookstore and Booklore in Orangeville.
Ross will be the guest at Curiosity House Books’ first author event “Wine & Words” on April 23. Admission costs $25 or $45 including a signed copy of the book.
Ross is also hosting a book launch at Gallery Lagom in Creemore from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on May 1. Admission is free and open to everyone. Ross will be doing a reading and signing copies.
