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Complicated Families: An Exclusive Guest Post from Hanna Halperin, Author of Something Wild—Our July Discover Pick
Our July Discover pick is a deeply emotional, sometimes shocking, story of mothers and daughters, and truth and lies and love. This deeply resonant and insightful novel about family trauma, adolescence and the power of sisterhood is beautifully written, and it’s a perfect recommendation for fans of The Most Fun We’ve Ever Had by Claire Lombardo, Saints for All Occasions by J. Courtney Sullivan, or My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent. We had a few questions for Hanna about her wonderful book, and she answers them here.
B&N: There are a lot of complicated family dynamics in the novel: the relationship between the sisters Tanya and Nessa, their relationships with their parents and stepparents, for example. Which characters and relationships came to you first?
Hanna Halperin: I started writing Nessa and Tanya’s childhood before anything else. I knew that the sisters came from a place of closeness; at one point they felt very safe around one another. The way their relationship shifts, especially as teenagers, was this central tension that I was writing toward. I understood that they both occupied, or were assigned, different roles in the family when they were young. I started there to lay the groundwork for how these roles and their relationships with their parents affected them moving forward.
B&N: You worked as a domestic violence counselor. How did that work inform your thinking about trauma, and how did you draw on it while you were researching and writing this novel?
HH: My work as a counselor was not research, though it affected me and changed the way I understood trauma, as well as patterns that are present in abusive relationships. I read a lot about domestic violence. Rachel Louise Snyder’s book No Visible Bruises was an especially helpful and haunting read.
My work made me think a lot about how trauma is not just about the traumatic event, but everything that follows. How are you sleeping? How are you eating? How are you getting through your days—one month out, one year out, ten years out? Trauma can include being retraumatized, blamed or gaslighted about what happened, or dealing with the aftermath. There are some very visible traumas in the novel—like severe physical violence—and then there are seemingly more ‘casual’, everyday traumas. I’m equally interested in all of it.
I was also thinking about how trauma is passed down in families, and how much children pick up on; what it feels like to carry family trauma. There is a lot about the body in this novel. Trauma is so often felt in the body. When I was doing crisis work, I was much more aware of my own body—discomfort or pain or relief—as opposed to writing, where I’m mostly in my head.
B&N: It takes a lot of strength and resilience to break cycles of trauma and violence within a family. Why do you think it is important to tell these stories and why did you want to frame the story from multiple points of view?
HH: I had originally been writing in only one of the sister’s points of view. When I started dipping into all three points of view, it turned into a whole different kind of novel. It became about a close but disjointed family. Nessa’s passages are more ruminating—she’s still stuck in the past. Tanya’s trauma is more compartmentalized. By going into different perspectives, I was able to explore the ways in which all three women are trying to break cycles—whether it’s with partners, each other, or within themselves.
I think these kinds of stories are important because they address this tension that I think so many have experienced—of feeling stuck in a familiar pattern, but also having hope that there might be another way.
B&N: What surprised you the most while writing this book?
HH: Simone’s character surprised me. At first, I saw her the way Tanya and Nessa did when they were girls. That is, an invader in their family—and someone onto whom to project their anger and their fantasies. When I realized Simone was sticking around, she became more three-dimensional to me, as well.
B&N: As booksellers, we love to ask: what are you reading and recommending right now?
HH: Cheat Day by Liv Stratman is so funny but it also broke by heart. The Office of Historical Corrections by Danielle Evans is brilliant. I’m halfway through Animal by Lisa Taddeo and trying to read slowly because I don’t want it to end, but it’s impossible because it’s so good.
B&N: There are a lot of complicated family dynamics in the novel: the relationship between the sisters Tanya and Nessa, their relationships with their parents and stepparents, for example. Which characters and relationships came to you first?
Hanna Halperin: I started writing Nessa and Tanya’s childhood before anything else. I knew that the sisters came from a place of closeness; at one point they felt very safe around one another. The way their relationship shifts, especially as teenagers, was this central tension that I was writing toward. I understood that they both occupied, or were assigned, different roles in the family when they were young. I started there to lay the groundwork for how these roles and their relationships with their parents affected them moving forward.
B&N: You worked as a domestic violence counselor. How did that work inform your thinking about trauma, and how did you draw on it while you were researching and writing this novel?
HH: My work as a counselor was not research, though it affected me and changed the way I understood trauma, as well as patterns that are present in abusive relationships. I read a lot about domestic violence. Rachel Louise Snyder’s book No Visible Bruises was an especially helpful and haunting read.
My work made me think a lot about how trauma is not just about the traumatic event, but everything that follows. How are you sleeping? How are you eating? How are you getting through your days—one month out, one year out, ten years out? Trauma can include being retraumatized, blamed or gaslighted about what happened, or dealing with the aftermath. There are some very visible traumas in the novel—like severe physical violence—and then there are seemingly more ‘casual’, everyday traumas. I’m equally interested in all of it.
I was also thinking about how trauma is passed down in families, and how much children pick up on; what it feels like to carry family trauma. There is a lot about the body in this novel. Trauma is so often felt in the body. When I was doing crisis work, I was much more aware of my own body—discomfort or pain or relief—as opposed to writing, where I’m mostly in my head.
B&N: It takes a lot of strength and resilience to break cycles of trauma and violence within a family. Why do you think it is important to tell these stories and why did you want to frame the story from multiple points of view?
HH: I had originally been writing in only one of the sister’s points of view. When I started dipping into all three points of view, it turned into a whole different kind of novel. It became about a close but disjointed family. Nessa’s passages are more ruminating—she’s still stuck in the past. Tanya’s trauma is more compartmentalized. By going into different perspectives, I was able to explore the ways in which all three women are trying to break cycles—whether it’s with partners, each other, or within themselves.
I think these kinds of stories are important because they address this tension that I think so many have experienced—of feeling stuck in a familiar pattern, but also having hope that there might be another way.
B&N: What surprised you the most while writing this book?
HH: Simone’s character surprised me. At first, I saw her the way Tanya and Nessa did when they were girls. That is, an invader in their family—and someone onto whom to project their anger and their fantasies. When I realized Simone was sticking around, she became more three-dimensional to me, as well.
B&N: As booksellers, we love to ask: what are you reading and recommending right now?
HH: Cheat Day by Liv Stratman is so funny but it also broke by heart. The Office of Historical Corrections by Danielle Evans is brilliant. I’m halfway through Animal by Lisa Taddeo and trying to read slowly because I don’t want it to end, but it’s impossible because it’s so good.