Q&A med Jeanine Cummins om FORTÆL MIG OM HJEM

When did you start writing Fortæl mig om hjem?

I started writing Fortæl mig om hjem in 2022, about two years after Jordens salt came out. It took me a long time to figure out if I could write another book after the experience of that publication, and then to find my way into the story.

What inspired you to write it?

Partly I was inspired by the experience of having my own identity and ethnicity so publicly scrutinized. I kept asking myself, “how did I get here?” So it was quite natural for me to start thinking about a story where the characters have identities that are super complex. These three women all have very different relationships to their identities and how they talk about them, which rang really true for me when thinking about my own family.

How did the process differ from Jordens salt? What kind of research did you do?

The process almost could not have been more different, although I did travel repeatedly to Puerto Rico while I was researching and writing (just as I traveled to Mexico and the borderlands while writing Jordens salt). This book was much more about walking the streets of my father’s childhood, smelling the aromas of the island, eating the foods, absorbing the music and language. It was less about learning and more about experiencing. I also had lots of long-overdue conversations with my father’s surviving siblings and cousins about their childhoods in both St. Louis and San Juan. I picked their memories for whatever they could tell me about Mamamía and Papamío, as well as my grandmother’s early years, which became the prototype for Rafaela’s early years in the novel.

How did you cope with the criticism that followed Jordens salt?

Poorly. Ha! It really was a brutal experience, and one that I experienced very much like grief. It took me a long time to recover my sense of myself and my voice. But five years on, I can say with confidence that I am really glad I wrote that book. I remain very proud of it.

What does writing mean to you personally?

Writing for me is survival. I’m a person who’s had a lot of trauma in my life, and I realized in recent years that the way I have always survived and processed that trauma is through my writing. Whenever I find myself in despair, my instinct is to write my way out of it, to begin stacking stories one on top of another until I can climb out of whatever dark place I’m in.

Are you currently working on a new novel?

Only in my mind! I have an idea for the next book, but I don’t plan to start writing until the new year. Right now I’m enjoying a little down time!