I was longing to write another novel, but my life was full with a different kind of learning and experiencing, and I felt it would be impossible to incorporate it all into a novel. I don’t know of any novel that has achieved it successfully. A Sea-Grape Tree was an attempt, and it was meant to be more like a poem. I went back to Mrs. Jardine because I had always longed to know what had happened to her. The creation of a novel starts with a sort of explosion: images appear and coalesce, people and landscapes come into focus, and you say, “Oh yes, it has come back, now I can begin to write.” Poets feel the same way. After eleven years of total silence, Rilke wrote the glorious Duino Elegies, as you may remember.
Rosamond Lehmann, Paris Review
Matthew Frye-Castillo 