Lee Matalone’s Literary Fiction Characters Search for Home, Identity and Belonging in “Home Making”
Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:06:25 — 61.0MB)
In this episode 148, we visit with Lee Matalone, author of her debut novel, “Home Making,” published by Harper Perennial. It’s a story of three characters, woven together in a moving, beautiful narrative of home, identity, and belonging.
The New York Times Book Review calls the novel “[A] heady and somber debut” while author Scott McClanahan calls it “the debut novel of the year.”
Lee starts the show with a reading from the opening chapter, “War Child,” where we learn that an unwanted female baby born in Tokyo is signed over to the state and then plucked from the orphanage and adopted by an American officer and his wife.
Link to the publisher Here
Connect With the Author
Website Facebook Twitter Instagram
About the Author:
Lee Matalone teaches literature and creative writing at Clemson University.
Her writing has been featured in many places, including Lit Hub, Electric Literature, The Offing and The Rumpus.
Weike Wang, author of “Chemistry,” calls her debut novel Home Making “an intricate exploration of family and home, of mother and child, of friends, of women and written with both precision and style.”
About the Book
Cybil is a war child — the result of a brief affair between a young Japanese woman and a French soldier — who at a young age is transplanted to Tucson, Arizona, and raised by an American officer and his rigid wife. After a rebellious adolescence, she grows up to become a successful ob-gyn.
Chloe, Cybil’s daughter, is adrift in an empty house in the hills of Virginia. Her marriage has fallen apart, and her estranged husband is dying of cancer. Room by room, Chloe makes her new house into a home, grappling always with the real and imagined boundaries that limit her as a single, childless woman in contemporary America.
Beau, Chloe’s closest friend, is in love with a man he’s only met on the internet, who lives across the country. Shepherding Chloe through her grief, he is often called back to his loud, humid, chaotic childhood in Southwest Louisiana, where he first reckoned with the intricate ties between queerness, loneliness, and place.
Promo Code Deals For Our Listeners:
Use the promo code: Charlottereader (all one word) for the following deals available to Charlotte Readers Podcast listeners.
Deal for Audiobooks:
Libro.fm makes it easy to buy audiobooks and support independent book stores at the same time. Listeners can use the above promo code to get two audiobooks for the price of one upon joining Libro.fm at the $14.99 monthly membership level.
When we use that code and join Libro.fm, we can choose from more than 150,000 audiobooks, including New York Times best sellers and recommendations from booksellers around the country. With Libro.fm you’ll get the same audiobooks, at the same price as the largest audiobook company out there (you know the name), but we’ll be part of a much different story, one that supports community, because we can designate our favorite independent book store when we sign up and the store benefits from every monthly membership charge and every purchase. Kudos to Libro.fm for making it easy for audiobook listeners to support independent book stores. If you’d like to give it a try and feel good about supporting local when you do, plug in the promo code when you sign up at Libro.fm and let us know how you like the service.
Deal for authors who work with SPARK Publications:
SPARK Publications is an award-winning independent publishing firm that helps authors bring their work to life. It has a process of working with authors that uses a strategy session to help the authors meet their goals.
Listeners can use the above promo code to get $100 off of a private Strategy Session with SPARK Publications if used from August through December, 2020.
Deal for new members who join Charlotte Center for Literary Arts:
Charlotte Center for Literary Arts Charlotte Lit is nonprofit arts center whose mission is to celebrate the literary arts by educating and engaging writers and readers through classes, conversations, and community.
Listeners who become new members of Charlotte Lit can use the above promo code to get a discount on their new membership ($25 off for General and Family levels, $50 off for Supporting, and $100 off for McCullers Society), if used from August through December, 2020.
Connect with Charlotte Readers Podcast
One Stop Link Here to listen and connect with the podcast.
Get Free E-Book Here by host Landis Wade when you sign up for the Newsletter
This free e-book is the first book in the Christmas Courtroom trilogy, books that combine the humor of My Cousin Vinnywith the hope of Miracle on 34th Street. The third book in the trilogy won the 12th Annual National Indie Excellence Award in the Holiday Category. Learn more about the books Here.
Explore Our Patreon Page Here and if you help us help authors give voice to their written words on Patreon, we provide exclusive and extra free content with an exclusive podcast feed.
Please Visit and Support Our Lead Sponsors:
Park Road Books is the oldest and only independent book store in Charlotte, conveniently located in Park Road Shopping Center.
Charlotte Mecklenburg Library is a connector of readers, leaders and learners, with 20 locations and a 24 hour online presence.
Please Visit and Support Our Season 7 Episode Sponsors:
SPARK Publications is an award-winning independent publishing firm that helps authors bring their work to life. They work strategically with their authors to help them complete their manuscripts, design their covers and books for marketability, register their ISBNs and Library of Congress numbers, proofread, manage the print options, market and much more!
For 98 years, the Charlotte Writers’ Club has continued to offer a supportive writing environment in the greater Charlotte community. Members benefit from monthly newsletters, monthly meetings with speakers (remotely as appropriate), critique groups, open mics and discounts on writing workshops and writing contest fees.
Charlotte Lit is a nonprofit arts center whose mission is to celebrate the literary arts by educating and engaging writers and readers through classes, conversations, and community. Charlotte Lit is a valued and vital part of the Charlotte arts community and has become a premier creative writing center for the region.
The North Carolina Writers’ Network offers six annual competitions, three annual conferences, online classes, and critiquing and editing services to members. It serves over 1400 members in NC and beyond, in all genres, of all levels of experience. Join them for the Writingest State Online Conference, November 10-14, entirely online with NC poet laureate Jaki Shelton Green as the keynote speaker.
Meet Our Networks:
Queen City Podcast Network is a carefully selected collection of more than two dozen podcasts produced in and centering around Charlotte, North Carolina focused on news, non-profits, entertainment, literature, sports, food, culture, health and wellness, and comedy.
Authors on the Air Global Radio Network is an international digital media corporation comprised of more than two dozen radio talk shows, podcasts, & book reviewers interested in speaking to writers in all genres and other creative people.
Meet Our Team:
Learn About Our Social Media Team – Social Grit Marketing
Learn About Our Publicity Manager – Spellbound Public Relations
Visit Our Recording Studios:
Learn About Our In-Person Recording Studio – Advent Coworking
Learn About Our Remote Recording Studio – Squadcast
Thank you for listening!