Anbara Salam’s new novel Belladonna follows two young women, Bridget and Isabella, as they come of age during the mid-late 1950s. Set in both the United States and Italy, this story explores friendship and belonging, first love, and the overall growth and exploration of self that accompanies young women through adolescence.
Read on as Salam shares the only writing advice that ever helped her, why she was compelled to set this novel in the mid-century, and much more!
Hi Anbara! Thank you so much for taking the time to answer a few questions for The Nerd Daily! To start, tell our readers a little bit about yourself and your new novel, Belladonna.
Hello! I grew up in London, UK, as the eldest of a rowdy, large family (I have four siblings). After a PhD in Theology I settled in Oxford where I live in a tiny flat that overlooks the river. My novel, Belladonna, is set in the 1950s, and follows a young woman called Bridget, and her obsession with her unpredictable and glamorous best friend, Isabella. When both girls win coveted scholarships to an elite Italian art academy, Bridget is convinced this will be her opportunity to monopolise Isabella’s attention; but as the year goes on, their intimacy is put to the test.
What made you interested in writing a coming-of-age story?
Initially, I wanted to write about longing, and the anguish and entitlement of unrequited love. It then felt completely natural to write a coming-of-age story, as those years of early adulthood when we love, and feel, so intensely, was the ideal way to explore the joys and torments of longing.
Were there particular influences that led you to select the time period of the 1950s or the setting of Italy to frame this story?
I’ve always been strangely compelled by the 1950s. I think because we culturally tend to locate the nascence of ‘modernity’ in the 1950s, as a moment when social change was simmering. I wanted to write about young women in the 1950s who lead protected lives, archaic lives, that wouldn’t be possible in the same way a decade later. There was something really appealing about the idea that we, as readers, know that their lives could become radically different in the 1960s, but the characters themselves don’t know that. For me, it added a layer of poignancy onto the story that we tend to feel when reflecting on our own adolescence – all the possibilities we didn’t yet know were possible.
One of the most compelling aspects of Belladonna, in my opinion, is the way you are able to convey Bridget’s feelings for Isabella. As a reader I really felt connected to the characters and could feel the strong emotions of a first love, as well as the conflicting feelings Bridget has as she realizes she loves another female. Could you talk a bit about how you were able to capture this so well on the page?
First love is so hypnotising and compelling, and I wanted to channel the hyper vigilance that comes with first love, the exhausting heightened awareness of the other that is so specific to obsession. Although the novel is set in the 1950s, it was important to me that Bridget’s sexuality is never part of her identity crisis; that her desire for Isabella uncompromisingly focuses her actions.
You also explore the significant themes of socioeconomic status and class, race and culture, throughout this story. Bridget’s family does not have the wealth that most of her peers in the novel have and she is also very self conscious of how others view her because her father is white and her mother is Egyptian. Why are these important components of the story you wanted to tell in Belladonna?
Although Bridget feels like an outsider, she takes her privileges for granted, and later in the novel, weaponises her white-passing in a way that isn’t accessible to other characters. It was important to me to represent Bridget’s self-victimisation, and the projection of her insecurity in a way that is ultimately quite unfair.
There is a notable secondary story arc in your novel with Bridget’s sister, Rhona. Rhona has eating disorder and this has significantly impacted her relationship with Bridget, as well as the family as a whole. Could you talk a bit more about how this idea came about and how you wanted this to complement the main storyline?
I’ve always found myself interested in ‘sidekicks’ – not the characters with the most dynamic or noble journeys, but the people who get sort of tugged along in their wake. Rhona is a complex character who genuinely struggles in the novel, and I wanted to explore how the petty, insecure sister of an interesting young woman would react to that struggle.
Who is your “favorite” character in Belladonna and why?
I sort of love to hate Isabella – but in terms of who I would want to spend time with, absolutely Sister Teresa.
What did your writing process look like for this novel? How long did it take to complete, from start to finish?
I wrote the first draft in six weeks, and then spent two years in the edit-trenches!
What did you learn from writing Belladonna? Are there any particular insights or writing tips you would like to share with aspiring writers?
The only piece of writing advice that ever really helped for me is ‘write drunk, edit sober’. As in, just smash the words on the page unselfconsciously. Editing is where real writing starts, and it can be brutal. Related to that, when you do receive feedback from an editor or reader, never ever, reply straight away. Take at least three days to let your defensiveness ebb before you go back to the comments.
Let’s Get Nerdy: Behind the Writer with 9 Quick Questions
- First book that made you fall in love with reading: Anne of Green Gables
- 3 books you would take on a desert island: Beloved, The Hunger Games, The Night Watch
- Movie that you know by heart: Jurassic Park
- Song that makes you want to get up and dance: Grown Woman by Beyonce
- Place that everyone should see in their lifetime: The pyramids at Giza
- Introvert or extrovert: Extrovert!
- Coffee, tea, or neither: Tea
- First job: Babysitter
- Person you admire most and why: My grandmother, for persevering with joy through life’s hardships.
