Spotlight on Karen Harrington

Part I of a two-part spotlight on author and Her Circle blogger Karen Harrington about her writing passions, motherhood and the universal truths behind this role.

First, what is Janeology about?
A college professor struggles after his wife, Jane, snaps and drowns their toddler son. Soon, he finds himself in a legal battle, defending charges that he failed to protect his son from his fragile wife. His legal team proposes a radical defense: one that focuses away from him and on Jane’s strained childhood and potential inherited predisposition to violence.

What inspired you to write about this subject?
Two things, actually. First, I have a passion for genealogy, mostly because I never knew any of my grandparents. I had their pictures and many of their belongings. All my life, I looked at these objects and thought, “What if these pictures could talk? What was she thinking when this photograph was taken?” So I wanted to write about a character from the perspective of her genealogy to unearth all those traits – gifts, talents, diseases or curses – that can be inherited.

Curiosity about family photos set Harrington on a genealogical exploration. Pictured here, Harrington’s grandfather, circa 1920

Second, as a new mother, I struggled with post-partum depression for a short-time. This made me wonder how mothers of previous generations handled this issue along with the everyday stresses of caretaking. Now I grant that it might be media influence, but as soon as I had my children, my awareness of grim headlines about maternal filicide were springing up to my left and right. I wrote this book, in part, because it seems to me that this is a recurring issue in American society today. In many ways, Janeology is a cautionary tale about one man achieving an understanding about his wife, despite it being too late to reverse her deeds.

You are a new mother. How did the examination of a mother descending into mental illness impact your writing?
Foremost, I don’t think I could have written it as powerfully if I was not a mother. I began writing it right after my mother died and finished it after the birth of my second child – which has all occurred in the last five years. In unexpected ways, her death shed a lot of insight into her as a person, not just a mother. Anyone who has lost a parent knows this experience from going through their parents’ possessions and letters. So I found myself in that life-altering position where you are standing between two generations – wondering how much of you is from your mother and father; how much of you is inside your own child; and just how much does nurture influence an individual. And because all things inform the writer’s life, my questions soon made their way into the fictionalized story of Jane Nelson.

In writing and researching this book, did you learn anything that surprised you?
It’s important to note that Janeology is not based on any one case. Rather, it’s a compilation of things I’ve read, interpreted and then illustrated into a fictional world. What it did bring into focus for me is this: motherhood is not universally natural and all women do not bond to the mothering role in the same way. Here are some startling facts I learned:

• As of 2007, eleven women were on death row in the United States for killing their children
• According to the American Anthropological Association, more than 200 women kill their children in the United States each year.
Link to American Anthropological Association : http://www.aaanet.org/press/motherskillingchildren.htm
• Reports indicate that 10-20 percent of new mothers experience some sort of depression.
Link to reports: http://www.postpartum.net/mothers-act3.html
• Three to five children a day are killed by their parents.
• Homicide is the leading cause of death for children under four.

There are many mothers who struggle early on in this fog and then emerge extremely maternal. There are those who do not. Society has to quit the idea that motherhood comes natural to ALL women. This personal revelation has led me to become a passionate advocate for programs designed to support women, children and families in need.

To read an excerpt of Janeology, visit www.karenharringtonbooks.com

Come back on April 15 for Part II of our spotlight with Karen where she will share more information on the programs she is following, including the Mother’s Act for Post-Partum mothers and families now being debated in the U.S. Senate and the emergence of crisis nursery centers as a resource for overwhelmed mothers and women.