By Adam Prudhomme
Staff Reporter
Frances Itani was in Deseronto on Friday, returning to one of the settings of her latest novel, That’s My Baby.
The Ottawa-based author was at the Deseronto Library to read an excerpt from the novel, which is a companion piece to her best selling books Tell and Deafening, both of which were also set in Deseronto. Tell was particularly acclaimed, earning a selection to the Scotiabank Giller Prize.
Her latest book centres on Hanora, who appears previously in the series, though as a very minor character. That’s My Baby doesn’t continue the story from the previous two novels, however, but instead spins off to tell the story of Hanora, who at the age of 18 learns she was adopted.
“That’s My Baby is set in a number of places, partly in Deseronto for the early years,” explains Itani, who says the novel jumps between 1938 and 1998. “I was trying to figure out what I was going to do for my next novel after Tell. My agent and I and my publisher and I were throwing ideas around and having phone conversations and I made a few suggestions that I could take the baby, Hanora. She’s adopted. She’s on the first page of Tell and the last page. She’s adopted but we know absolutely nothing about her.”
Itani says the lack of information given about the character in the first two stories allowed her to write without the restrictions of having to stay true to what was written in the previous stories.
Itani says the latest story also allowed her to stray from the First World War era and explore a new time frame. In this case, she wrote about Deseronto during 1938, just before the breakout of the Second World War. Hanora’s search for her birth parents brings her across the ocean where she ends up in London, England during The Blitz. Having lived in London herself, Itani says that real life experience was a benefit for her when she was writing the London scenes. She also happened to have a chance meeting with a man who lived in her condo that lived through The Blitz and was able to provide intricate details of the attack that aren’t also available in a history book or archive.
Before even putting pen to paper, however, she did extensive research, travelling to the few remaining dance halls in the area as those were the kinds of places Hanora frequents during the story.
“The research part of it gets me fired up,” said Itani.
It wasn’t just historical research either as she wanted to really get into the mindset of her characters.
“I interviewed adoptees,” she said. “I wanted to know things that I didn’t know. I wanted to know what the issues were that they carried forward with them.”
That’s My Baby, which is published by HarperCollins, is Itani’s 17th published book. During her appearance at the Deseronto Library she also signed some covers and took questions from the audience.