[image error]

While writing Shouting at the Rain, I’d periodically have this picture flash in my mind. A picture of my big brother, John, clasping his fingers together to create a step for me to get over fences. It’s a very literal memory for this idea of raising up the people around us. Helping them over their fences.

One of my favorite people in Shouting at the Rain is Esme. She helps my main character, Delsie, over her metaphorical fences. Esme has what I refer to as “strong shoulders.” She is rock solid. She is there for others. She keeps her promises and takes responsibility. She is leaned on, looked up to and trusted. The world is a better place because Esme is in it. There are some others in the book with strong shoulders, as well as some without them. All of these people make up Delsie’s world on Cape Cod.

[image error]I knew early on that Esme served some sort of beverage in mason jars; deciding upon tea was easy. My mum had many demons that she battled in her life. I know in my heart that she longed to be a different kind of mom but she just couldn’t get over her own fences. But, sometimes she would come to me and ask, “Should I put on some tea?” Even if I didn’t want any, I’d say yes. We never ate meals together. In fact, when she was home, she barely came out of her room. But when she made tea, we would sit at the Formica table in the kitchen and we’d talk. I’d make her laugh and she’d tell me that she wished I’d been twins. I’d do anything to relive one of those days now.

So, Esme serves what she calls, “that nourishing tea” in Strong Shoulder mason jars,[image error] which were used about a hundred years ago. At one point, Delsie asks Esme why she calls her tea, “That Nourishing Tea.” After all, “…it’s just a bunch of dried leaves in hot water,” she says. And Esme tells her that it isn’t the tea. It’s what happens when people sit down across from each other and drink tea. They don’t just look at each other. They see. They don’t just hear. They listen. And these are the times when true human connections are made. When we listen and see and have the bravery to share pieces of ourselves that let others learn who we really are. The things we long for. The things we fear. Our hopes and triumphs and failures. (Grammy has some things to say about this, too.)

Every facet of this book is about CONNECTIONS. Every character is there to show us something about connections – including when to let go of them. Every subplot balances upon the foundation of connections – to each other and to ourselves. For everything that matters in this world is about connections. EVERYTHING.

And so I wrote this whole book knowing that if you take the letters of

THAT NOURISHING TEA

And mix them up, you get

SHOUTING AT THE RAIN

Because, making and fostering and appreciating the connections that make us feel whole is the heart of the book.

(Please don’t share the anagram, itself, online as it takes the punch out of this.