We chat with Alicia Elliott about And Then She Fell, which is a mind-bending, razor-sharp look at motherhood and mental health that follows a young Indigenous woman who discovers the picture-perfect life she always hoped for may have horrifying consequences
Hi, Alicia! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
I’m a white-passing Mohawk woman and oldest daughter of five whose paternal family is from Six Nations of the Grand River territory. Currently, I live in Brantford, Ontario with my husband, son and dog. I love all things horror and professional wrestling, though I’m beginning to suspect my yorkie Sam dislikes both of those things.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
I loved stories from the first time my father read The Hobbit to me when I was four. He used different voices for all the characters; his Gollum voice was particularly creepy. I didn’t try writing stories myself until I was in grade six. I wrote very aspirational young adult fare back then, by which I mean I wrote about pretty rich girls with names like Paige and Deidra, who wore all the coolest clothes and who all the boys wanted to date. My 11-year-old self would be quite horrified by the types of stories I write now.
Quick lightning round! Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, the one that made you want to become an author, and one that you can’t stop thinking about!
- The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. Even though I technically had it read to me and didn’t read it myself, I think it still counts!
- Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice. Love my gothic vampires!
- If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English by Noor Naga. She is brilliant, and I am obsessed with this weird, wonderful book!
Your debut novel, And Then She Fell, is out September 26th! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Dark, funny, surreal, engrossing, unpredictable
What can readers expect?
It feels wrong to give readers any expectations after using the word “unpredictable” to describe the book in the last question! But I’ll give it a go and try to keep it spoiler-free. Readers can expect to meet a very relatable, if flawed, protagonist named Alice, who is trying her hardest to keep herself together and perform the new roles of “wife” and “mother” perfectly in light of her own mother’s recent death. Behind the carefully constructed image she tries to maintain, however, Alice is struggling: to connect with her freshly born daughter; to be the supportive wife to an academic husband who studies her people; to carry out the dream of her late father, who always wanted to write modernized versions of their people’s stories one day. Clearly, she puts a lot of pressure on herself – and that pressure starts to create cracks in not only the perfect image she desperately tries to maintain, but also in her understanding of and grasp on reality. From there, you can throw your expectations out the window and just enjoy the ride.
Where did the inspiration for And Then She Fell come from?
The inspiration came from two very personal and transformative (if traumatizing) experiences: accidentally becoming pregnant with my son at 17, and losing my mind at 33. When I experienced each of those things, I found that everything I’d been led to believe about them was utterly wrong. They didn’t feel the way they were supposed to; they didn’t manifest in my life the way I’d been told they would. My experiences made it clear that people didn’t respect either mothers or mad folks, and the carefully constructed images I’d been fed were actually hidden warnings: if you must be one of these things, you must do it like this exactly, or face our wrath. I wanted to be able to explore these topics in ways that really examined how profound they were, but also how devastating they were.
And, obviously, because I’m Mohawk, I wanted to brag about how awesome our culture, philosophy, history, language and traditions are. This is a bit complicated, though – by necessity. You can’t talk about those things without really engaging with the fact that the country you live in intentionally tried to destroy – and almost succeeded in destroying – those very things. So all of these different inspirations sort of went in the pot, and I got to cooking.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
I absolutely loved getting to know Alice. All of the scenes I wrote with her and her cousins and aunt were my favourites. There’s nothing better than a bunch of Native women getting together and laughing. I also really loved writing Pete, who I can’t say more about without spoiling anything. If you know, you know!
This is your debut novel! Can you tell us what the road to becoming a published author was like for you?
It definitely wasn’t easy. I got rejected from every MFA program I applied for years back – but I think that made me not only more resilient, but also more focused and independent. I had to teach myself all the things I imagined the students in those programs were being taught, so I did. It made me much more attuned to how to use writing to create particular effects in readers, how to use form and voice and structure to turn my thoughts into something compelling enough to keep readers’ interest.
I also took a bit of a genre detour, as I fell head-over-heels for the essay form, which I became very good at, and which helped me get agents and a deal for my first book, an essay collection called A Mind Spread Out On The Ground. After that, coming back to fiction was a bit like rekindling a relationship with an old friend; I was eager to bring back everything I had learned in my time away.
What’s next for you?
I’m slowly researching and plotting out a book about a toxic female friendship and the ways that it reverberates across time. Oh, and witches and demons and the early internet.
Lastly, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?
I’m obsessed with everything Mona Awad, Heather O’Neill and Eden Robinson write, so really anything by them. I also loved Bad Cree by Jessica Johns and VenCo by Cherie Dimaline, and am eagerly anticipating Moon of the Turning Leaves by Waubgeshig Rice.
