Joan Dempsey
THIS IS HOW IT BEGINS started out as a solely political novel starring a powerful Massachusetts senator. Only trouble is, his 85-year old mother kept muscling her way into the narrative. I finally caved in to her pushiness, and now it's her story (Ludka Zeilonka)—still political, only now it's also so much more.
One of the origins, though, came from living next door to a religious community that was dubbed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as one of the top dozen hate groups in the country. A land-dispute pitted liberal townspeople against the more conservative religious community, and bigotry began to blossom on both sides of the divide. How bigotry can begin in each of us is at the heart of THIS IS HOW IT BEGINS. It was that question, about how we are each capable of hatred, that became the seed of the novel.
One of the origins, though, came from living next door to a religious community that was dubbed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as one of the top dozen hate groups in the country. A land-dispute pitted liberal townspeople against the more conservative religious community, and bigotry began to blossom on both sides of the divide. How bigotry can begin in each of us is at the heart of THIS IS HOW IT BEGINS. It was that question, about how we are each capable of hatred, that became the seed of the novel.
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