| Behind the Book |

Wildlands

By Riki Goldstein | September 29, 2020

I’ve heard it said in the name of Rav Shach that our generation doesn’t hear enough stories about kiddush Hashem

Book: Wildlands
Author: M. Kenan
Publisher: Shaar Press, ArtScroll Mesorah Publications

How it all began

I first started writing Wildlands around ten years ago, after I realized that the painful period of the Cantonists, which altered the course of Jewish history, didn’t feature much in adult Jewish literature, only in children’s stories. I thought that such a critical period deserved to be treated more in depth and with greater maturity.

This book was inspired by

I’ve heard it said in the name of Rav Shach that our generation doesn’t hear enough stories about kiddush Hashem. There are stories, of course, but since they’re usually written for children, they lack emotional depth and don’t prepare us to deal with real-life challenges in this area. When I heard this, I felt that I wanted to write a book where a very human hero faces this ultimate challenge, fails, but in the end bravely makes the right decisions.

Why the title “Wildlands”

The name Wildlands refers both to the wild territories the hero traverses in Russia and America and to the wildness of human nature. Our natures need so much work and tending, and are perhaps never fully subdued. We always discover more inside ourselves, and there’s always more wildness to tame.

False Starts

I spent a lot of time doing research. I had to study Russian history. I needed to understand how the army and the Cossacks operated, and what the Jewish community was like.

I perused old documents and papers until I felt ready to create an authentic picture of the time period. Then I researched life in the American South during this time. Then, I finally started to write.

At one point, I sent the partial draft of my manuscript to a historical expert. I didn’t know that this scholar was cynical and sharp-tongued. My document came back riddled with his comments. Although they only pointed out minor corrections, there was so much criticism there that I left the book alone for a while.

If not for a good friend of mine, who took the file, deleted the barbs, and replaced them with dry, factual corrections, I don’t know if I’d have ever re-opened it.

My friend didn’t give up on me and kept pushing me to get back to work on the story. Which is a good thing, because out of all the characters I’ve created in my books, Gedalia ended up being my favorite hero.

My writing space

I like to write in the midst of the ongoing bustle of life, so I don’t need a special space; my laptop and I are happy to work anywhere that we can find ourselves a free spot. Occasionally, I run to the quiet of my husband’s study, put the air conditioning on the coldest setting, and escape there with a sweet glass of tea, so I can spend a few hours far, far, away.

Other Books

The Betrayal, The Outcast, The Dark Secrets.

Advice to my younger writing self

Don’t take criticism too much to heart. Just as some people will love the story, others will not like it, and that’s also legitimate.

That said, maybe this is a good place to mention to readers that writers invest heart and soul into their books, and criticism is usually both painful and pointless. (You wouldn’t walk up to a caterer and tell him that you didn’t like his food at a wedding, or that his food was okay but you like another caterer much better.)

Early writing experience

I remember the silence in the classroom when I read out a long piece of creative writing that I’d done for homework. I realized that I’d passed on a previously private experience to my friends. It was a pivotal moment: a world that up until then I’d only enjoyed in my imagination had now been enjoyed by everyone.

Creating a fictitious world while inhabiting a real one

It’s not easy, but it does have its upside. I can escape from the mess on the dining room table to the mess on the battleground inside the computer. Writing a book is a far more sweeping experience than reading one, so the characters and experiences in the book tend to follow me around during my day.

Part of my writing journey

I have good friends who share my affinity for the written word, and they’re my best critics. I send them each chapter of my magazine serials before they go to print. My husband, meanwhile, serves as the spiritual guide of my heroes, deciding all their halachic dilemmas, which can be pretty serious. My children sometimes have to cope with a mother who is very preoccupied with events that never even happened.

What I’d like my readers to walk away with

I think this book has a pretty unusual voice, that of a hero of great character who deals with a great moral failure. (I don’t want to reveal too much…) I believe the way he deals with this, and the way he builds himself up after that fall, offers a very important message for all of us. None of us is perfect, and failure is part of life. We have to learn how to stand up again and rebuild ourselves.

I spent a long evening on the phone to a doctor who kindly described to me exactly how to carry out an emergency appendectomy, which takes place in the book. Not that I’d recommend you try this at home, but if you take a trip back to the past, or find yourself on a desert island, it could be worth knowing.

Gedalia, the hero, was originally named Dovid. But I came to the conclusion that he needed a more memorable and original name, in keeping with his character.

(Originally featured in Family First, Issue 712)

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