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Tigerlily · Last edited by Tigerlily on Mon Apr 14, 2008 10:34 pm; edited 2 times in total

Chat with Ami McKay - author of The Birth House

We are delighted to announce that Ami McKay will be coming here to take part in a Q&A session on Weds 22nd August.

Please post any questions here by the 22nd. Ami will then sign in and answer your questions.

For more information about The Birth House including a reading guide -
www.thebirthhouse.com Harper Collins' Website

Ami's personal website- http://www.amimckay.com

Facebook - The Occasional Knitter's Society Group
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2499221501 (Anne Cater and I are members!)

Glynis's review for Harper Collins

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Reading: Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow by Peter Hoeg
Reading Challenge 2009: 8
2008: 4
2007: 10

Tigerlily · Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2007 8:22 am Post subject:

PS With tea and mitts of course

_________________
Reading: Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow by Peter Hoeg
Reading Challenge 2009: 8
2008: 4
2007: 10

annecater · Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2007 9:08 am Post subject:

Glynis - how exciting! I wont be around the evening of 22nd - I have tickets for an Author Talk and Book Sign at Waterstones - Peter Robinson. So am stuck between authors now!!
However, I will have a think about questions before then. I'll really look forward to reading her posts.
Anne x

Tigerlily · Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2007 9:36 am Post subject:

Hi Anne - you don't have to be online the same time as Ami to take part. Enjoy the book signing event; it sounds great.

Gxx
_________________
Reading: Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow by Peter Hoeg
Reading Challenge 2009: 8
2008: 4
2007: 10

MissMuppet · Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 1:18 pm Post subject:

Not sure I'll be able to read the book before this... but will tune in anyway to see what she says!!

annecater · Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 9:43 pm Post subject:

Glynis
I would love to know if Ami has read Midwives by Chris Bohjalian. I loved both that and The Birth House. Midwives is more modern but like The Birth House is based on an independent midwife who is up against criticism.
If she has read it, what did she think of it.
Also, who would she like to see in a film of The Birth House.

I will be listening to Peter Robinson at Waterstones on Wednesday but will be back to find out the replies.

Tigerlily · Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2007 4:35 pm Post subject:

Hi Ami

Welcome to Babbling Books and thank you for agreeing to take part in a Q&A here with us; we hope you enjoy your stay. Congratulations also on The Birth House.

I have a few questions for you:

1. Marie Babineau is such an interesting and exotic character. What was your inspiration for her? I especially liked how upon her death she seemed to disappear into thin air. What happened to her when she died? Did she go back to her roots for her final resting place? (I imagined her ascending to heaven or resting with her babies beneath the tree).

2. It's interesting that your own home was once a birth house. Do you know when it was used as such? Was it actually called a 'birth house'?

3. I love the scrapbook style of the book. Will you be continuing this style in your next work? It adds an interesting visual element to the story. I felt I was opening a box of treasures every time I picked up the book. What made you choose to add a scrapbook element to The Birth House? Are you a collector of personal ephemera yourself?

and finally, can you tell us anything about your next book?

Thanks Ami. Looking forward to your next book.

Best wishes
Glynis
_________________
Reading: Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow by Peter Hoeg
Reading Challenge 2009: 8
2008: 4
2007: 10

MandyJ · Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2007 5:12 pm Post subject: Ami

Hello Ami

I'd be interested to know whether any of the characters are based on people you have met, or have been told about. There's a lot of violence in the book, which I imagine is based on fact, but are there some true stories it is based on? I'm thinking particularly of the Ketch family.

Mandy

heathera · Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 8:42 pm Post subject:

Hi Ami,

I just wanted to say congratulations on The Birth House. I thoroughly enjoyed it - the subject matter, the historical setting and content and also the style in which it was written.

I just wanted to know if you are working on any new material at the moment? If so are you going to follow a similar topic / subject and will it be written in the same style? Or are you going for something different?!

Many thanks and I look forward to reading your answers on the site tomorrow.

Heather.
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Currently Reading:

The Moonlit Cage - Linda Holeman

1001 Book Challenge:
2009 - 4
2008 - 14
Books Available for Swapping on RISI

annie130 · Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 9:26 pm Post subject:

Hi Ami

I wondered about your writing experience. Did the book turn out the way you expected it to when you started? Do you remember any conscious decisions that changed the direction?

We already know a lot about you from the website (excellent, by the way). This website idea seems to be a growing trend - I regularly visit Jodi Picoult's for example, and Diane Setterfield had a really good one for The Thirteenth Tale. To what extent was it your idea? And doesn't it need a lot of input? When do you find time to write?

Thank you for joining us!

Annie
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Currently reading: American Wife - Curtis Sittenfeld

Tigerlily · Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 11:38 pm Post subject:

Hi again Ami

I'd be really interested to know if your views on today's birthing practices echo those of The Birth House: hospital (use of drugs etc) vs traditional births, or can a happy medium be achieved?

Is the attitude towards the doctor's role in the birthing experiences described in the book, with traditional methods eventually triumphing over the intervention of modern medicine, a view you share? Or something you uncovered whilst researching the novel?

Hope that makes sense!
_________________
Reading: Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow by Peter Hoeg
Reading Challenge 2009: 8
2008: 4
2007: 10

Ami · Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2007 3:19 am Post subject: Hello!

Hi everyone -
Thanks so much for having me at Babbling Books.
I'll be replying throughout the day (and with the time difference, that may mean that it goes into the 23rd...hope that's OK) - I look forward to your questions and the conversation!

Cheers,
Ami

Tigger · Enjoys Books Joined: 07 Jun 2007 Posts: 51

Hi Ami

I enjoyed reading The Birth House, my mother-in-law as a midwife has also enjoyed reading it.

I am hopeless at thinking of questions though...lol...

I did enjoy the scrapbook feel to the book as well, where did you get that idea from?

Mai-ana

MissMuppet · Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2007 9:53 am Post subject:

Hi Ami,

So pleased you have joined us for a chat... Unfortunately I haven't had chance to read your book yet because I only got it last week, but from the reviews from others it sounds like a great book.

Do you plan on writing anymore books after the success of this one?

Thanks,
Jo

lisa2062 · Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2007 11:34 am Post subject:

Hi Ami, thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedule to answer some of our questions.

My question for you is, what advice would you give to anyone wanting to get into writing a book?

Putting you on the spot here, if you could pick one book to take with you on a desert island which one would it be and why?

Congratulations on the success of your book, and I look forward to reading it soon. Lisa x
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Currently Reading - Want to Play? By P.J Tracy (again)

http://www.we7.com/user/view-playlist?playlistId=537463&m=0

RonnieJacobs · Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2007 12:18 pm Post subject:

Hello Ami
Just wanted to say I really enjoyed your book and thankyou for taking the time out to respond to us
Ronnie
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too many books so little time

Tigerlily · Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2007 12:41 pm Post subject:

I second that - thanks for taking the time to pop by, especially when you must be busy not only writing but with your blog tour too. Hope it's going well - will be following it.

By the way - take as long as you need to answer our questions. There's no rush.

Glynis x
_________________
Reading: Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow by Peter Hoeg
Reading Challenge 2009: 8
2008: 4
2007: 10

Ami · Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2007 1:12 pm Post subject: Midwives and Movies

Hi Anne,
A friend gave me Chris Bohjalian's Midwives while I was writing The Birth House, but I put off reading it because I didn't want it to take away from the writing process. I generally don't read many novels when I have a novel-in-progress. (Then I devour them when I've reached my goal!) I started to pick Midwives up after the novel was finished, and then got distracted by another book and never have gone back to it. I really should finish it one of these days! The premise really caught my eye - especially since the story is told from the daughter's point of view. I've considered writing a sequel to The Birth House some day from Wrennie's perspective - so reading Midwives is a must before then.

As far as movie casting for The Birth House is concerned...
I'm really excited about the book having been optioned for film and that the long process towards seeing my characters on the screen has begun. It's fun to daydream about who might best fit the parts of Dora, Miss B., Aunt Fran, Hart, Maxine and the rest.
Maybe Amelia Warner, or even Rachel McAdams for Dora; although I think a younger lesser-known actress would be nice as well.
I think Molly Parker would be a terrific Maxine.
Miss B. is a tough one for me to imagine...she's so much in my mind and doesn't really match any actresses I can think of.
Anyone else have suggestions for casting?

Thanks for your questions and have fun at the Peter Robinson reading!!!!
Cheers,
Ami

Ami

Hi Glynis,
Thanks so much for inviting me to BB - I'm having so much fun!

To answer your questions:
1. Miss B. is truly a mixture of a few different women in my life - all of them strong and wise. (My mother, my great-grandmother, a woman who lived next door to me during my first pregnancy...) Some of Miss B's personal myth also comes from an Acadian/Cajun folk healing tradition. These healers still exist in Louisiana today and I first learned of them through a documentary I saw on TV. I'm glad you thought her passing was appropriate - I thought she deserved to leave the story as magically as she had lived within it. (and that's all I'll say for now, since I hope to give Miss B. her own tale one of these days...)

2. Yes, the house that I live in was once used as a birth house for the community of Scots Bay, Nova Scotia. I found this out after we had moved in and a few of my neighbours (who have lived in the community their whole lives) told me I was living in "The Birthing House" - or "The old Midwife's Houe." Almost all of the residents here who are in their 80's were born in the house. I don't think it's ever mattered who has inhabited the house since the time of the midwife who lived here, it's always been the midwife's house. She (Mrs. E. Rebecca Steele) lived and practised midwifery here from around 1900 until the 1940's. She passed away in the mid 1950's.

3. I love old scrapbooks. As a child, I always loved going through my grandmother's old boxes of photos and digging through my mother's recipe drawer. It just seemed the natural way to organize Dora's tale - and I was thrilled that my publisher was excited about the idea. They paired me with a fantastic book designer, Kelly Hill, and away we went! It was very important to me that the story reflected the way Dora lived and also that the book itself would be made into an object that physically reflected her tale. I have some ideas for "literary ephemera" for the next book (The Virgin Cure) as well - it's not in exactly the same format, but I'm having fun with it and I think readers will as well.

4. And I guess that leads me right into your next question...
I'm feverishly scribbling away at the next novel - The Virgin Cure.
It's set in 1870's New York City and is inspired by the life of my great-great grandmother. She was one of the first female doctors in New York at a time when women practising medicine was NOT accepted by society. This tale seems to be taking more twists than The Birth House, but at the same time, it's another tale of strong women taking a stand. (I like to think of it as Grey's Anatomy meets Edith Wharton, Charles Dickens and Grimm Bros.

A.

annecater · Posted: Wed Aug 22, 2007 2:11 pm Post subject:

Thanks so much Ami, for answering my questions.

You should finish Midwives - it's a great story and very interesting to think it is written by a male author.

As for casting of Miss B - well I'm not sure at the moment, I'll think it over - I'm not very good with names of actors, I usually end up saying things like 'oh you know, the one who was in that film that had a funny ending' or some such rubbish!!

I'm so excited about your next book, it sounds fascinating. Any ideas when it will be available over here?

Best wishes
Anne x

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