For twenty-three years, the Grimsby Author Series has welcomed authors; some are debut writers, many are established, most are bestsellers and even more return to tell us what’s next. The fall season is upon us as the second evening welcomes Harriet Alida Lye and Hannah Mary McKinnon. Epic Books sits at a table at the back of the library, books packed to the edges. Along with some backlist titles, the authors newest novels are waiting to go home with audience members hoping to grow their own libraries. Let It Destroy You and The Revenge List are two novels that will have you waiting for future publications from both Lye and McKinnon from the moment you crack the spine.
Harriet Alida Lye
Harriet Alida Lye is a Toronto-based writer. Lye has written fiction, a memoir and a children’s book. It is fair to say her talents are varied and abundant. Lye’s interest in physicist and inventor Leo Szilard is the basis for her research that eventually created Let It Destroy You. Lye beautifully fictionalizes a life that could have been from the simple facts of Szilard’s life, she then illustrates the story of August Snow and his former wife June. The narrative centers around August, a physicist who has created technology that could save his daughters life but also send the world into chaos. Through scientific discovery, August makes it possible for the world to end with the invention of “a more lethal variation of the atomic bomb.” Lye admits she had to remove a lot of the true facts, “When creating a whole world, the facts are interesting but they might not serve the story.” Lye’s imagination and consuming prose allowed Let It Destroy You to deliver so much more than a good story.
“When creating a whole world, the facts are interesting but they might not serve the story.”
Many moral debates are presented in Let It Destroy You. When faced with so much power, it is no longer a question of how far can you go, but how far should you go? How far are people willing to go for love? Let it Destroy You is not only about cure and catastrophe, it is about love, marriage and parenthood. The story is written from the perspective of two narratives, August and June. Multiple points of view allow different feelings to arise; it can create tension or let readers understand communication breakdowns. “It’s a web of voices, I love being a writer and feeling the power there. But I don’t believe in one authority,” Lye says. As we end, Harriet Alida Lye slyly turns a question on Ken, one of the visionaries of the Author Series, and without pause Ken speaks effortlessly from his deep understanding of Let It Destroy You and all that it encompasses.
Hannah Mary McKinnon
In 2010 after moving to Oakville, Ontario, Hannah Mary McKinnon began her writing career. Growing up in Switzerland, McKinnon lived a whole other life before settling down in Canada in the early 2000s. Today she is an anticipated and prolific writer operating as herself and rom-com extraordinaire Holly Cassidy. As McKinnon takes the stage, the room is abuzz, most are familiar with her thriller novels. Reviews come from other heavy hitters like Shari Lapena and Riley Sager. Chief Librarian Kathryn Drury refers to McKinnon’s new novel, The Revenge List, as a page turner, “You won’t get much sleep and you’ll want to get it done in one go,” she says. Much like Joan Thomas, a previous evening’s author, McKinnon dreads the first draft. In fact, she refers to it as the Puke Draft. In an incredibly relatable move McKinnon admits, “I procrastinate as much as I can and there are still 300 blank pages. I have to get the puke draft out of the way as fast as possible to make room…that draft is just for you.” We’re enthralled with Hannah Mary McKinnon and any pseudonym she has, puke drafts and all.
“I procrastinate as much as I can and there are still 300 blank pages.”
The Revenge List is a menacing thriller that follows Frankie, a combative woman in an anger-management group session whose Forgiveness List has gone missing. Eventually, the people on the list start getting horribly injured and Frankie can’t help but think of her own fate as her name is on the list as well. We look forward to more original twists and turns from McKinnon. Between questions from Drury and the audience, McKinnon reads the first chapter of The Revenge List; a mere two pages. Yet the library does not stir, all ears are tuned in. We hope that McKinnon’s own voice graces future audiobooks as the cadence and familiarity makes the story sound like an enthralling conversation with a friend.
Thank You
Thank you to Harriet Alida Lye and Hannah Mary McKinnon for sharing your novels that are so emotionally steeped in the intricacies of human nature. We look forward to more from these powerful writers. Thank you to The Peanut Mill Natural Foods Market in St. Catharines, Norm and Sue McCarthy and Joanne Gaulton. Calamus Estate Winery provided the most delicious wines for the event, Balls Falls White and Cabernet Shiraz. For more from our authors, including their new releases Let It Destroy You by Harriet Alida Lye and The Revenge List by Hannah Mary McKinnon, visit our friendly Epic Books of Hamilton.
This blog post was written by our wonderful guest blogger Teanne Teeft, thanks Teanne!
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