Jan 15, 2021
Liese O'Halloran Schwarz joins us to discuss her new novel
What Could Be Saved, a Bookreporter Bets On selection. The
book began as a short story in which she reflected on her life in
Bangkok as a child. The bones of the story were there and grew to
be the novel we have now.
What Could Be Saved follows the perspectives of a family.
When the book opens, it’s 2019. We meet Laura Preston, an artist
who struggles with her sister about family matters and whose mother
is dealing with dementia. A stranger calls claiming to know where
her brother Philip is; this is the brother who has been missing for
forty years.
The book pivots to 1972, and the story flips to the perspective of
Laura's parents and household staff as the children grow up. We see
the family living happily, and then Philip disappears before they
return to the United States.
Liese, who worked for decades as an emergency room doctor, talks
with Carol about how writing was always a part of her life--even as
she was practicing medicine. Her relationship with her sister, an
author named Carla Buckley, was much different than Laura and
Bea's, but has found its way into the books. She speaks at length
about her writing process, but especially about the elements that
make her fiction both engrossing and powerful.
Books discussed in this episode:
What Could Be Saved by Liese O'Halloran Schwarz
Sign up for the weekly Bookreporter.com newsletter here
FOLLOW US
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bookreporter
Website: https://www.bookreporter.com