Some Room to Breathe
LEESA CROSS-SMITH is the author of Whiskey & Ribbons (Hub City Press, 2018) and Every Kiss a War (Mojave River Press, 2014). She lives in Kentucky.
QUIET books are often misread, misunderstood, or, sadly, missed altogether. If a book is labeled quiet in a review or in literary conversation, an author and her readers will likely see it as an insult—sharp criticism of some deep-rooted flaw in the writer’s storytelling abilities. But for me, someone who leans toward anxiety and is easily overstimulated, startled, and stressed out—especially these days—quiet books offer a calming space, a place of rescue. I’ve been told more than once that my writing is quiet, and I always take it as a high compliment because I know how much I long for moments of rest and reflection in the books I read, the movies I watch, the places I go, and the people I encounter along the way. I suspect I’m not alone.
In my debut novel, Whiskey & Ribbons, a widow and her brother-in-law are snowed in together during a blizzard, forced to deal with the complications of their newish romantic feelings for each other after the sudden loss of someone they both loved ferociously. Throughout the book they circle each other, with their intense grief and their confusing feelings, from the warmth and comfort of their home. A lot happens—loud secrets, loud jealousy, loud emotions, loud sexual tension, loud love—but there is also quiet. It is a quiet book, and that’s just the way I want it.
In a noisy, confusing world where
