A mother-daughter feud crosses continents in Irene Keliherยs soon-to-be-released novel What Secret Borders. After adopting Sophia in Guatemala as a baby, her mother brings her to Boston. “She’s a teenager now, so she’s dealing with things like displacement and curiosity about her heritage,” says Keliher. Her mother Ingrid has her own set of struggles – marital issues, along with concealing the secrets of Sophia’s adoption and real family. When Sophia decides to discover those secrets for herself, it affects everyone involved. The narration switches from mother to daughter as they both travel to Guatemala. “The second part [of the novel], you’re following both their journeys back to each other,” says Keliher. The recent graduate of the University of Houston’s Creative Writing Program says the novel really found its stride when she scaled back the weight of the secret and focused more on the characters. “That was one thing I was most interested in, and the other stuff was more window dressing,” she says. “I think I was throwing too much plot in there.” Keliher will read today as part of the Poison Pen Reading Series with fiction writer Giuseppe Taurino and poet Becca Wadlinger. 8:30 p.m. Poison Girl, 1641 Westheimer. For information, call 713-527-9929 or visit www.poisonpenreadingseries.com. Free.
Fri., July 30, 2010
This article appears in Jul 29 – Aug 4, 2010.