Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: The Salt House
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.lisaduffywriter.com/
CITY: Boston
STATE: MA
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: n 2016044770
Descriptive conventions:
rda
LC classification: PS3604.U3784
Personal name heading:
Duffy, Lisa, 1970-
Place of birth: University of Massachusetts Boston
Special note: Not the same as: Duffy, Lisa
Found in: The salt house, 2016: ECIP t.p. (Lisa Duffy) data view
(debut novel)
Lisa Duffy writer website, viewed Aug. 18, 2016: (Lisa
Duffy received her MFA in Creative Writing from The
University of Massachusetts Boston. Her fiction and
nonfiction can be found in the Drum Literary Journal, So
To Speak, The Breakwater Review, Let the Bucket Down and
elsewhere. Lisa is the founding editor of ROAR Magazine,
a literary journal supporting women in the arts. She
currently lives in the Boston area with her husband and
three children)
Email from publisher (Touchstone), Aug. 23, 2016: (full
name: Lisa Carmela Duffy; b. Nov. 30, 1970; no prev.
titles published)
================================================================================
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS AUTHORITIES
Library of Congress
101 Independence Ave., SE
Washington, DC 20540
Questions? Contact: ils@loc.gov
PERSONAL
Born November 30, 1970; married; children: three.
EDUCATION:University of Massachusetts, Boston, M.F.A.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Author. Leads fiction workshop through 24PearlStreet, part of Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown, MA.
AWARDS:Pushcart Prize nomination for short fiction.
WRITINGS
Contributor to periodicals, including Breakwater Review, Drum Literary Journal, Let the Bucket Down, and So to Speak. Founding editor, ROAR.
SIDELIGHTS
Lisa Duffy is the founding editor of the women’s literary journal ROAR. “I created ROAR … in support of every writer that we publish having the ability to pick up a copy of ROAR, turn to a specific page and hand the book to her child or her spouse or her partner or her family or her friend, and say, here, look, this is me. This is what I’ve been doing behind that closed door all those hours,” Duffy told Sheila McMullin in the Review Review. “My goal was to create a physical space where emerging women writers could publish, to protect and nourish the idea that their work has a place in the creative realm.”
Duffy’s debut novel is The Salt House, a story set in her native New England. “The Salt House is the story of the Kelly family; Hope, a writer; her husband Jack, the fisherman; her sixteen year-old daughter Jess, and her eight year-old daughter Kat,” stated Kimmery Martin in her introduction to an interview with the author appearing on her eponymous website Kimmery Martin. “All of them are still reeling a year after the day the youngest child, one year-old Maddie, goes down for a nap and is found dead in her crib a few hours later by her mother. Devastated, the Kellys abandon renovation of their dream home, an ocean-front cottage called the Salt House, too mired in the struggle with grief to regain the ordinary happiness they once took for granted.” “Hope literally hides her unwillingness to move past her grief,” wrote Nanette Donohue in Booklist, “by hiding Maddie’s ashes in her closet.” “From the heavy hollowness in Jack’s chest to the angry loneliness infecting Hope’s heart, she deftly sketches the edges of grief,” declared a Kirkus Reviews contributor. The Salt House is “a poignant story of the power [humans have] … to transcend loss.”
Critics enjoyed The Salt House. Duffy’s “editor who acquired it,” explained the author of a biographical blurb appearing on the Nelson Agency website, “read the novel so quickly that she was on the phone making an offer before a week had passed.” “I think the parts of this book that were the most powerful were when the characters were so honest and raw,” asserted a reviewer for That’s What She Read. “The best book I’ve read this summer. A must-read.” “The family’s journey together,” opined Jennifer Blankfein in BookTrib, “sets an example for how any family member can rescue one another from debilitating hurt and grief, by facing it head on with truth and honesty.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, May 15, 2017, Nanette Donohue, review of The Salt House, p. 17.
Kirkus Reviews, April 1, 2017, review of The Salt House.
ONLINE
BookTrib, https://booktrib.com/ (June 26, 2017), Jennifer Blankfein, “Author Lisa Duffy Hits a Home Run with Debut Novel, The Salt House.“
Kimmery Martin, https://www.kimmerymartin.com/ (June 11, 2017), Kimmery Martin, An Interview with Lisa Duffy, author of The Salt House.“
Lisa Duffy Website, http://www.lisaduffywriter.com (April 11, 2018), author profile.
Nelson Agency Website, http://nelsonagency.com/ (April 11, 2018), author profile.
Review Review, http://www.thereviewreview.net/ (April 11, 2018), Sheila McMullin, author interview.
That’s What She Read, http://thatiswhatsheread.blogspot.com/ (June 15, 2017), review of The Salt House.
Lisa Duffy is the author of The Salt House. She received her MFA in creative writing from the University of Massachusetts Boston. Her short fiction was nominated for a Pushcart Prize and her work can be found or is forthcoming in Writer’s Digest, The Drum Literary Magazine, So to Speak, Breakwater Review, Let the Bucket Down, and elsewhere. Lisa is the founding editor of ROAR, a literary magazine supporting women in the arts. She lives in the Boston area with her husband and three children and currently leads a fiction workshop through 24PearlStreet, the online component of The Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown.
Lisa’s work is represented by Danielle Burby at Nelson Literary Agency.
"We're Looking for Quality Literature by Women. Period." Lisa Duffy on ROAR
Interview with Lisa Duffy—Editor of ROAR Magazine
Lisa Duffy is the founding editor of ROAR. She completed her MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Her short fiction was nominated for a Pushcart Prize and can be found or is forthcoming in the Drum Literary Magazine, So To Speak, The Breakwater Review, Let the Bucket Down and elsewhere. She lives in the Boston area where she recently completed her first novel.
Interview by Sheila McMullin
Would you talk about how you started ROAR, what you felt was lacking in the creative writing publishing world, and how this makes ROAR stand out among the rest?
I was a fiction candidate in an MFA Program, working in Boston as a full-time grad assistant, and living an hour away from campus on the South Shore raising my three children when I took a publishing class taught by the Askold Melnyczuk, the founding editor of AGNI. On a personal level, I was struggling with the time that I had to be creative; my writing time seemed to be shrinking while trying to balance the other roles in my life. Then VIDA came out with the count and the conversation about gender and publishing exploded. I wanted to contribute to the conversation in way that was concrete and positive, tangible, I guess. The idea of ROAR had been bouncing around in my head for several years, but the class gave me an opportunity to pitch it to some editors that were brought in.
My goal was to create a physical space where emerging women writers could publish, to protect and nourish the idea that their work has a place in the creative realm. I remember the first time I saw my fiction in print, and it was sort of a watershed moment. So much of writing takes place behind a closed door in a world you’ve created in your own mind. It’s work that takes a lot of time and patience and determination and then a large dose of courage to try to place it out into the world. But when you put your work out there and someone connects with it and believes in the world you’ve designed, it’s a magical thing. So I created ROAR in support of a that—in support of every writer that we publish having the ability to pick up a copy of ROAR, turn to a specific page and hand the book to her child or her spouse or her partner or her family or her friend, and say, here, look, this is me. This is what I’ve been doing behind that closed door all those hours.
Starting ROAR wasn’t a question of addressing what was lacking in the publishing world so much as a desire to seek out what I knew was out there—a lot of talented women writers who are dedicated to their craft and who are looking for a place to publish. What I see in ROAR’s future is to expand and explore the conversation of how women writers protect the creative aspects of their identity. I hope ROAR can always be part of that conversation.
As far as standing out above the rest, that’s not on our radar or our goal. We strive for quality and to constantly improve how we do things. There are many women’s journals that do fabulous work: So To Speak, Calyx, Minerva Rising, to name a few. We’re happy to be in their company.
Did your name come from the infamous Helen Reddy song line, “I am woman, hear me roar”?
No, but we don’t mind the association. I have an old t-shirt with an image of a girl on the front with the word ROAR underneath. I stumbled across it in a consignment shop in my early twenties and I thought: Who would ever give this up? The image is awesome. The girl is fearless and wild. Her mouth open in what you would imagine is a fierce battle cry. It was the image that we used on our website for our first issue, but we couldn’t obtain the rights to it, so we made the decision to not use her going forward. But she personifies ROAR, without a doubt.
My goal was to create a physical space where emerging women writers could publish...
In your mission statement you write “don’t worry if your work isn’t specific to feminist issues. If you’re a gal, we just want your point of view.” Why was stating a distinction between feminism and women’s points of view important for you and for the genesis of ROAR? What is this distinction? And do you feel like it ultimately serves a feminist mission?
We’re feminist in that we support women, but we’re not feminist in content. I think it’s an important distinction. We don’t want simplify the scope of what we’re looking for to issues that are feminist in nature. The writing does not have to speak to feminist issues, be about women, or written from a female point of view. We’re looking for quality literature by women. Period. This also means if you self-identify as a woman we welcome your submissions. Trans women, please consider sending us your work.
Talk about your commitment to emerging and developing writers.
Our commitment to emerging writers is probably one of the aspects of ROAR that I’m most proud of. We don’t solicit—every writer that we publish is selected from our open call for submissions. If we come back to the original idea of ROAR, which was to create a physical space to protect and nourish the creative identity of the writer, then it only makes sense to focus on emerging talent. Our goal is to keep our eyes trained on the work of women who are still in the process of solidifying and honoring that identity.
How could someone, say, someone potentially reading this interview right now support ROAR?
By supporting ROAR, you’re actually supporting all the women we publish, both now and in the future. Visit our webpage. We sell all of our issues online and offer subscription packages. A show of support can be something as simple as liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter. Also, we’re always looking for dedicated people to join our growing team, and we love feedback, so feel free to get in touch with us at editor@roarmagazine.org
How They Came to Us
Lisa is the happy story of a slush pile discovery. She sent her query letter and Danielle liked the idea of her novel and requested pages. Several months later, Danielle was a little behind in reviewing her requested materials and was trying to make a dent in her inbox. But then she started reading THE SALT HOUSE (at the time it was called TIDEWATER BLUE) and was spellbound from the very first page. She didn’t end up clearing out her inbox that day! Instead, she made a phone call and she and Lisa have been working together ever since. Several editors were interested in THE SALT HOUSE, though some were afraid to touch the theme of a family grieving the loss of a child. In the end, the editor who acquired it read the novel so quickly that she was on the phone making an offer before a week had passed.
Bio
Lisa Duffy received her MFA in creative writing from the University of Massachusetts Boston. Her short fiction was nominated for a Pushcart Prize and can be found in The Drum Literary Magazine, So to Speak, Breakwater Review, Let the Bucket Down, and elsewhere. Lisa is the founding editor of ROAR, a literary magazine supporting women in the arts. She lives in the Boston area with her husband and three children. The Salt House is her debut novel.
Duffy, Lisa: THE SALT HOUSE
Kirkus Reviews. (Apr. 1, 2017):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Duffy, Lisa THE SALT HOUSE Touchstone/Simon & Schuster (Adult Fiction) $16.00 6, 13 ISBN: 978-1-5011-5655-7
It's been a year since little Maddie Kelly did not wake up from her afternoon nap, yet Hope cannot stop mourning her youngest daughter.Hope's husband, Jack, a Maine lobsterman, has buried himself in his work, unable to face his faltering marriage. He can barely pay the bills, and finishing the renovations on the Salt House, their dream house, seems impossible. Meanwhile, their older daughters, Jess and Kat, have been tiptoeing around the powder keg of emotions. But a dinner party for Hope's friend Peggy sets into motion a series of dramatic collisions. It all begins with Peggy's new husband, Ryland Finn, who shares a dark past with Jack. Finn's drunken threats to take over some of Jack's fishing territory anger Jack, but he walks away. Finn isn't through with Jack, though, and soon Jack is risking his own health to safeguard his territory, tamping down his grief, and keeping the door securely locked against the secret he has hidden from Hope. Meanwhile, Jess heads out to confront the boy who's been bullying Kat. She gets more than she bargained for, including a tumble off her bike, a sprained ankle, and an uncomfortable encounter with Finn, who turns out to be the bully's new stepfather. He's also stepfather to Alex, the young man who patches up Jess' ankle, drives her home, and begins to fall in love with her. Kat has her own troubles trying to puzzle out why Maddie's ashes still live in her mother's closet. Shifting perspective with each chapter, Duffy's debut novel replicates the isolation of sorrow by letting each character struggle alone to make sense of a world without Maddie. From the heavy hollowness in Jack's chest to the angry loneliness infecting Hope's heart, she deftly sketches the edges of grief. A poignant story of the power of faith, hope, and love to transcend loss.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Duffy, Lisa: THE SALT HOUSE." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Apr. 2017. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A487668738/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=0657b32e. Accessed 26 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A487668738
The Salt House
Nanette Donohue
Booklist. 113.18 (May 15, 2017): p17.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Full Text:
The Salt House. By Lisa Duffy. June 2017.304p. Touchstone, paper, $16 (9781501156557).
The Kelly family's lives are torn apart by grief when one-year-old Maddie dies as the result of a tragic accident. Each family member copes with his or her emotions differently-Hope literally hides her unwillingness to move past her grief by hiding Maddie's ashes in her closet; Jack pours all of his energy into work, ignoring both his physical and emotional pain; and teenage Jess keeps what she knows about the accident a secret from her younger sister, Kat. As the first anniversary of Maddie's death approaches, the appearance of Ryland Finn, who shares a complex and tense past with Jack Kelly, forces the Kellys to confront their relationships with one another as well as with their beloved community. Duffy tells the story through alternating viewpoints, giving readers a glimpse into each character's emotional life as well as what they hide from the people they love. The coastal Maine setting is common in women's fiction, but instead of summer vacationers, the Kellys are locals whose lives mirror the rugged but beautiful landscape that surrounds them. This insightful, emotionally potent debut is ideal for fans of Amy Hatvany.--Nanette Donohue
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Donohue, Nanette. "The Salt House." Booklist, 15 May 2017, p. 17. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A496084732/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=4f840c98. Accessed 26 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A496084732
Author Lisa Duffy Hits a Home Run with Debut Novel, ‘The Salt House’
By
Jennifer Blankfein -
June 26, 2017
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the salt house book review
In The Salt House, author Lisa Duffy masterfully takes us deep into the layers of emotions of the Kelly family as they work through feelings of guilt, responsibility and pain following a tragic family loss. The story is set in a small coastal fishing town in Maine where the Kelly’s are struggling. After losing their baby, Hope is paralyzed with grief; she is having trouble the salt house lisa duffymoving forward and is unable to return to work. She refuses to scatter the ashes and has been reluctant to continue with the renovation of the Salt House, the home the family loves and plans to move in to. Jack, a lobster fisherman, throws himself into his work on the boat, is rarely home with his wife and daughters and is neglecting his health.
Overcome with guilt, combined with the sorrow of losing a child, and the stress it put on the marriage, the Kelly family’s world starts to cave in. The daughters, Jess and Kat, are living and dealing with the loss of their baby sister in their own ways while baring the brunt of parental stress and disagreements — all while trying to grow up. The book is so well written from each character’s point of view, the storylines dig deep to expose their pain, past and current, and the family’s journey together sets an example for how any family member can rescue one another from debilitating hurt and grief, by facing it head on with truth and honesty.
I felt emotionally overwhelmed and shed many tears while I read The Salt House; a sign of a great book that really touched me. When I finished it I had feelings of renewal and hope for the future. At under 300 pages, this is a great book to pick up this summer…I loved it!
Book Review: The Salt House by Lisa Duffy
Thursday, June 15, 2017
Book Review: The Salt House by Lisa Duffy
When a family loses their youngest daughter in an unthinkable accident, how do they rebuild?
I can't even begin to imagine. Lisa Duffy helps you understand how this family, the Kellys, can possibly live another day without their precious little girl, Maddie. Their other daughters are just as effected by the tragedy and in this book, you get to read from everyone's perspectives about how life is now that Maddie is gone.
Jack and Hope Kelly had a lot of dreams: Jack's lobster business would grow, Hope would continue writing for women's magazines, they would rebuild their dream home in Maine with their 3 girls. When their future suddenly looks very differently, every one reacts different. Hope slips into a depression that no one can bring her out of. Jack slips further away from everyone and starts to lose his grip on the mounting responsibilities of his business and providing for his family.
I think the parts of this book that were the most powerful were when the characters were so honest and raw. The author really laid it all out there for you. I felt pride at some points on their behalves, but also shame, sadness, frustration and hope... it was quite the roller coaster.
The best book I've read this summer. A must-read.
Praise for The Salt House includes:
“…Duffy eloquently displays the emotional complexities of a family going through the healing process. Readers of Elin Hilderbrand or Luanne Rice will enjoy.”
-Library Journal
“[Duffy] deftly sketches the edges of grief. A poignant story of the power of faith, hope, and love to transcend loss.”
-Kirkus
“This insightful, emotionally potent debut is ideal for fans of Amy Hatvany.”
-Booklist
“… a compelling examination of grief and the way loss threatens the lives of every family member. Though all thecharacters are vivid and memorable, I am especially drawn to the younger voices as they maneuver in theuncharted wake of their parents, attempting normal lives under conditions that are anything but.”
-Jill McCorkle, NYT Bestselling author of Life After Life
-I received a copy of The Salt House from Touchstone Publishing in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.
Posted by Jen @ That's What She Read at 6/15/2017
Kimmery Martin, Writer, Reviewer, Professional Book Nerd
An Interview With Lisa Duffy, author of The Salt House
June 11, 2017
One of the things I love most about reading fiction is the opportunity to inhabit a consciousness completely alien to my own. Recently I’ve been an astronaut fleeing a post-apocalyptic earth; a WWII-era British soldier; a 1980s New York financier; and now…a grieving, conflicted Maine lobsterman. Strangely, this last one is the most foreign to me; before reading this book, I’d have been hard-pressed to think of even one paragraph from the perspective of a coastal Maine man in an industry I know nothing about. What would such a man think about? How would he spend his days, and how would he react to the collapse of his world?
Well, now I can answer those questions, thanks to this beautifully written family drama. The Salt House is the story of the Kelly family; Hope, a writer; her husband Jack, the fisherman; her sixteen year-old daughter Jess, and her eight year-old daughter Kat. All of them are still reeling a year after the day the youngest child, one year-old Maddie, goes down for a nap and is found dead in her crib a few hours later by her mother. Devastated, the Kellys abandon renovation of their dream home, an ocean-front cottage called the Salt House, too mired in the struggle with grief to regain the ordinary happiness they once took for granted. In addition, their finances are now precarious; Hope cannot bring herself to write and Jack’s lobster business is barely afloat, a preachment made worse by the startling return of his oldest rival, a troubled man named Ryland Finn. Hope and Jack, each concealing something from the other, find their marriage crumbling as their bewildered daughters try to cope with the loss of their baby sister.
It could have been grim, but this book is actually enchanting. Each of the Kellys—four very different people—is utterly believable and utterly lovable, their voices ringing with such authenticity that you’ll be pulling for them from the first sentence. It doesn't matter whether you are a lifelong coastal Maine resident yourself, or a Southern belle, or a Wyoming cowboy, or a Hollywood megastar: we’ve all—every one of us—contemplated the unspeakable plight of the Kellys. Who among us hasn't winced from the lancing blows of our worst fear—that someone we love will perish unexpectedly? It crosses the mind of every mother, every father, sometimes daily: What if he doesn't come home? What if she doesn't wake up? We banish these thoughts, but they occur to us all, worming back into our awareness with a little wriggle of terror. For the Kellys, there is no escape from the nightmare of this loss, but, as the book progresses, you’ll find yourself engrossed in the unexpected turns their lives take in the second year after Maddie’s death. A lovely, atmospheric, heart-wrenching book.
KM: What was the genesis of The Salt House? Which came first to you, the idea of the characters—this specific family—or the plot?
LD: The Salt House started with Kat’s voice and that first sentence—The night Mom threw Dad out we had a dinner party at our house. I had that sentence in my mind long before I sat down and wrote the first chapter. But the story unfolded from there, and I knew early on that it was going to be a novel told in alternating perspectives from each member of the family.
KM: I had an easy time relating to Hope, the mother, and Jess, the oldest daughter (who is navigating her first romantic interest in the midst of all her family’s turmoil.) And the voice of Kat, the younger daughter, is so vivid and appealing. But I was most interested in Jack’s world. How much research into the fishing industry did you have to do? Did you grow up around boats?
LD: I grew up in the middle apartment of a triple decker twelve miles outside of Boston. But my father loved to sail, and my mother loved the ocean, so we spent a lot of time by the water. I love the New England coastline—how it’s so beautiful, yet utilitarian. Jack’s occupation as a fisherman and co-owner of Down East Lobster required a lot of research. The Lobster Gangs of Maine by James Echeson was an invaluable resource, as were a few folks directly connected to the fishing industry in Mid Coast Maine who were patient with my questions. My husband also spent a number of years in the Merchant Marine and worked as a deckhand on a lobster boat, so he was able to help me with the nautical terminology.
KM: The Salt House is centered around a tragedy, the death of baby Maddie, and the very different reactions and coping mechanisms of the four surviving members of her family. Was it difficult to envision four such separate perspectives? Did you relate to one of the characters more than the others? Which was the hardest character to write?
LD: It actually wasn’t difficult at all to imagine the different reactions and coping mechanisms because in a lot of ways I had a front row seat to a similar situation in my own family. My father passed away unexpectedly while I was writing The Salt House, and for a while, it truly did feel like life imitating art. Grief is universal—we all experience the feeling, but it’s also deeply personal. There’s no wrong or right to it. I didn’t relate more to one character or find one harder to write, but Kat was by far the most fun to write. She’s young and doesn’t have a full understanding of the events of her sister’s death. But she is aware, as most kids are, that she’s not in the know, so to speak. And her response to this is reactionary…she’s constantly pushing back and acting out. She’s not constrained by an idea of how she should act, so I had some freedom with her character, which was fun.
KM: Did you always have a clear view of how the story would end?
LD: Not at all. But I did have a sense, from the earliest pages, that this family would survive this tragedy. In my mind, it was always a story about resilience and the bonds of family and love transcending despair.
KM: What is your writing process like? What are you working on now?
LD: First drafts for me are tough. I’ll write a lot and then step away from it when I’m stuck, and focus on research or just catch up on other work that needs to be done, but I’m always thinking about what I’m working on, so when I’m ready to dive back in, it doesn’t feel like I’ve been out of touch.
Starting something new reminds me of redecorating when the kids were little. The house we lived in when they were young was a fixer upper, and there was always a room that needed to be painted. With three kids only four years apart, forget about free time, so I’d tape trim when they were playing on the floor next to me, or paint a windowsill when they were napping, and just leave the paintbrush in a plastic container for the day, submerged in paint, so I could just pick up whenever I had ten minutes. Then when it came time to roll the walls, the smaller stuff was done and it wasn’t this overwhelming project. I approach first drafts like that—just something every day until it’s done. When I’m revising, and the story is all there, I’ll work for as long of a stretch of time as my day will allow.
I’m working on book two now—a multigenerational story set in a working-class town just north of Boston.
KM: Finally: what are a few of your favorite reads?
LD: That’s a tough question…there are so many! But these titles will always stay at the top of my list.
Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
The Essential Rumi translated by Coleman Barks
Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed
Two or Three Things I Know for Sure by Dorothy Allison
Another Bullshit Night in Suck City by Nick Flynn
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
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