I do believe we are all haunted in our own way ...
Kathryn Mockler: What is your first memory of being creative (writing, art making, etc.)?Patrick Tarr: When I was about six, I went to a friend’s birthday party. Every kid who went was given a paperback book to take home. My book was The Call of the Wild, by Jack London. Reading it was when I fell in love with reading, and finishing it was the moment I decided I wanted to become a writer. I think I read it five times in a row. It just took me away to a different place, one that was somehow thrilling, infuriating, beautiful, and frightening all at once. I sat down with a blank sheet of paper, determined to write something. I sat there for an hour without a single word, so my first experience of being creative was realizing it’s sometimes not as easy as it looks.
KM: What is your favourite or significant coincidence story to tell?PT: I once wrote an episode of a crime drama in which an adulterous judge was found strangled to death with a piece of lingerie in a hotel room. When we turned in the first draft, we were informed that the character name we’d chosen was the exact same full name as our network executive’s father, who was in fact a judge in real life. Like, what are the odds? I was pretty sure I was going to get fired off the show, but the exec thought it was hilarious. We did change the name though.
KM: Do you have a preferred emotion to experience? What is it and why? Or is there an emotion that you detest having and why?PT: Peace. I spend a lot of time chasing that one, which is probably why it’s so elusive. I could definitely live without jealousy, and am glad to say it really doesn’t come up for me anymore, personally or professionally.
KM: What do you cherish most about this world?PT: Nature. I love our little spot in the city but I’m counting down the days until we can move somewhere closer to it.
KM: What would you like to change about this world?PT: If we could somehow put an end to greed, that would be nice. There are far too few people who look at their lives and think, “This is good. I have enough.”
KM: What advice would you give to your younger self? Your younger self could be you at any age.PT: I waited too long for permission, or some sign that I was worthy of making a living as a writer. I assumed that people who wrote books and screenplays as a job were part of some secret society I’d never belong to. So I’d just tell younger me to quit screwing around and get on with creating things and putting them out there.
KM: Do you believe in ghosts? Why or why not?PT: I believe in ghost stories. I love hearing them and telling them, and I think about them a lot. They've existed around the world for thousands of years. So there is something very deep going on there around the mystery of our existence and what lies beyond it. My novel is a ghost story, but I’ve never had a spectral experience myself. I do believe we are all haunted in our own way - not just by those we’ve lost, but by choices we’ve made, by things we’ve done or didn’t do. But there is certainly more to this world than we understand, so why not ghosts?
Patrick Tarr’s novel, The Guest Children, comes after a long career in film and television. He won a Writers Guild of Canada award for his first produced script before gathering over a decade of experience as a staff writer, creative producer, and showrunner. For his work as head writer and executive producer on the international hit series Cardinal, Patrick was awarded 2021 Canadian Screen Awards for Best Writing in a Dramatic Series and Best Dramatic Series. A graduate of the Canadian Film Centre, he returned as Executive Producer in Residence for the 2022 Prime Time TV program. He lives in Toronto with his family.Check out Patrick’s new book, The Guest Children.
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The Guest Children
by Patrick TarrPenguin Random House CanadaThe search for two missing children goes terribly wrong in this haunting and insidiously creepy ghost story debut by acclaimed showrunner Patrick Tarr.
With terror mounting in 1940 London, thousands of “Guest Children” were evacuated out of England to escape the bombings. Two of those children, Michael and Frances Hawksby, were never seen again.
Randall Sturgess wanted to do his part in the war–but stayed home instead to look after his troubled younger brother. Impoverished, shamed as a coward, and running out of work options as veterans come home, when he’s asked to investigate the disappearance of the Hawksby children, he agrees.
Reluctantly leaving his brother behind, Randall follows the children’s trail to a remote corner of northern Ontario, where he finds an isolated resort. There, he discovers the secretive couple who initially took in the young Hawksbys, along with their collection of strange, seemingly permanent guests. But there’s still no sign of the children.
Plagued by vivid nightmares and a persistent feeling that he’s being watched, Randall searches the imposing woods and lake for any trace of Michael and Frances. Randall’s certain something terrible has happened to them, linked to a spectral presence he senses around the lodge and glimpses out of the corner of his eye. Appearing first in his dreams and then in waking life, strange visions call to Randall, even as his every instinct tells him to stay away–and he’s increasingly convinced that if he ever wants to find the children, he must succumb to the call.
Vividly atmospheric, layered, and twisty, The Guest Children is sure to appeal to fans of Shutter Island and The Others.
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