were contemporary fiction, Euphoria is her first novel of historical fiction.
Let’s look at some ingredients that went into the making of this novel.
From an interview (blog.sarahlaurence.com), the author addresses why she switched to
historical fiction:
“Nine years ago, when I was just starting my third novel, Father of the Rain, I found
Jane Howard’s 1984 biography of Margaret Mead in a used bookstore and I
got to this chapter all about this fieldtrip to Papua New Guinea she made with her
husband 1933 where she met and fell in love with another anthropologist, Gregory
Bateson, with whom she connected both emotionally and intellectually, and they had this really intense love triangle for five months. I couldn’t help thinking that scenario
would make an interesting novel. So that got me reading Mead’s memoir, her academic
work, and her letters. But for a long time I didn’t think I could actually write that novel……
It was just so far out of my comfort zone on every level. These people would not live in
houses but in the jungle of a country I’d never been to. It would take place in 1933 and the three main characters would be scientists. Plus it was historical and I don’t usually read historical fiction. “
Why did the author change Margaret Mead’s name to Nell Stone?
“Nell is not Margaret Mead. I got the idea by reading a biography of her and I
Definitely borrow many details from her life and the lives of her husband Reo
Fortune and Gregory Bateson, but in the end of the first chapter, as the characters took
shape, I felt handcuffed by history and I had to break away from it. Once I changed their names, my characters were free to be different people. They became my characters. I didn’t land on their names immediately. Nell was originally Polly, but she wasn’t a Polly. Andrew Bankson started our as Geoff. Characters grow into their names.”
Why was the book not narrated in Nell’s voice?
“Initially, I tried to write it exclusively from her point of view, then from all three of their perspectives. But Bankson’s voice was the one that really felt right. Once I got his voice
I realized it was his story. And that really changed all my ideas for what would happen in the
end. But I did need her perspective, so I included her journal entries, which were initially letters
from her to Helen, her lover of many years.”
Also: The author was “an English major and never took an anthropology class. The
only experience I have had in the jungle was when I went up the Amazon in Peru with my
new boyfriend (now my husband)….I had to be an armchair traveler for this novel. I
read everything I could find about the region and anthropology, ethnography and fieldwork.”
Awards and Honors for Euphoria:
Amazon's Best Books of the Month (June 2014)
Kirkus Prize for Fiction (2014)
New York Times Notable Book of the Year (2014)
New England Book Award (Fiction, 2014)
Maine Reader's Choice Award (Finalist, 2015)
Book Discussion of Euphoria: January 5, 2017