Literary Fiction
Date Published: 01-13-2025
In a school/reformatory, a teacher fights his own loss of faith in the power of education and the twin assaults of drug cartels, their hired assassins among his students. and the blind idealism of his principal.
Interview with Jan Notzon
What is your favorite part of the book?
I love (and love reading for an audience) the scenes between Justin and Mimi, the one student in the school/reformatory where he teaches who has true genius.
Does your book have a lesson? Moral?
It does, but I hate to spell out what I think it is, I want the reader to have h/her own unbiased experience with it and tell me what the story is about.
Are your characters based off real people or did they all come entirely from your imagination?
It’s a mixture for me. When I’m composing a story set in history, they tend to be from imagination. To Sing Like a Mockingbird definitely has both, with the preponderance based on people I know.
Of all the characters you have created, which is your favorite and why?
I guess I’d have to say Míriam de los Ángeles, the student in this story. She is completely imaginary although I think absolutely believable. Again, I don’t want to prejudice the reader, so that is all I will say.
What character in your book are you least likely to get along with?
Well, I think the reader will be able to tell quite clearly. Though I have great sympathy for Charlestine Hopewell, I have to confess that there would be a personality conflict.
What would the main character in your book have to say about you?
Oh Lord, just about everything! He might just say, “Hey Jan, grow up!”
Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book?
Well, while I think they all have questions of philosophy in common, they, at least in my mind, are very different. I just want to tell a good story, one that might stimulate people to think about this enigmatic thing called “life” we share.
About the Author
Jan Notzon is a novelist and playwright in Charlotte, NC.
His first novel, The Dogs Barking, is a coming-of-age story set in a sleepy backwater Texas border town in the 1950s. And Ye Shall Be As Gods, recounts a brother’s fight to rescue his sister from the clutches of despair and his lost love from catatonia. The Id Paradox, is the story of three friends, assumed betrayal, rescue and healing from the horrors of spiritual annihilation. Song for The Forsaken chronicles the tale of two sisters and the loss of faith that tests the bond between them. Suffer Not the Mole People, is the story of a family's travails as they make their way from Poland to the United States in 1866. ONLY THE DEAD tells the personal stories of three families, one Anglo and two Mexican as they participate in the establishment of the Mexican and Texas Republics. His seventh novel To Sing Like a Mockingbird is now available on Amazon.
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1 comments:
Question for author-What message or theme do you want readers to take away from this book?
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