Five Questions for Author Haley Tanner

Vaclav and Lena is the story of two Russian immigrant children who seem destined for each other. Zoomer chats with the debut novelist about her unique narrative voice, magic and the appeal of Houdini.

Athena McKenzie: Where did Vaclav’s and Lena’s voices come from?


Haley Tanner:
When I started writing the novel I was tutoring in Brighton Beach in Brooklyn, which is this amazing Russian Immigrant community, like Little Russia. I was tutoring these kids with incredible Russian accents — these tiny little six and seven-year-olds who had these deep heavy Russian accents. I loved the voice and writing in the voice was so much fun. I think it gave me this freedom to use language in new ways. When English is a little bit broken or compromised, people are inventive with their words to describe how they’re feeling and that gave me freedom to do interesting things.

AM: Did you find it hard to escape this voice when you were done writing?

HT: Yes! I wanted to answer the phone and talk to my friends with the voice and write other things with the voice. It was really hard to get out of. Once you get in the mind of a character like that and into the voice of a character —sort of like when you do a funny voice with your friends — it becomes hard to drop it. It was very hard to leave it behind.

AM: Vaclav is very taken with Houdini. What drew you to the magician?

HT: I’d actually decided that Houdini would be a perfect role model for Vaclav before I knew that there were so many parallels between their lives. Houdini is the grandfather of magic in the United States. He was so physically solid as a human. He really took pride in his physical stature. Vaclav as a little kid, without a lot of power and agency in his own world, would look up to someone who could do anything. Who could escape chains. Who could be in chains underwater and escape. Someone who could do and say anything and draw crowds. There is no other world-famous magician who comes to mind like Houdini. And then I decided that Vaclav would have read children’s books about Houdini, so I bought some. And I learned that Houdini came from Hungary when he was four and came to Brooklyn just like Vaclav did and that they actually had the same story. He was the perfect idol for, not only a little boy striving to be a magician, but for an immigrant striving to be successful and create themselves in a new country.

AM: Lena is also taken with a performer, Heather Holliday. Is she a real person too?

HT: She really exists and she is amazing. Heather Holliday is- honestly, I think if I had made her up, I don’t think I would believe her. She is a sword-swallower and as far as I know is still performing at the Coney Island Sideshow. Her act is incredible and she is a true performance artist. I believe she does travel around and perform with different burlesque acts. Her outfits are incredible – the gold fringed bikini and other such fantastical things. She’s powerful and she’s sexual, but she’s completely in command. She stands on stage with two enormous swords in a skimpy outfit, but it’s not just the spectacle of her swallowing the sword. There is so much more performance going on around it.

AM: Now that you are out touring the book are people saying anything about the book that you are surprised by?

HT: I am surprised by how much people are interested in the magic in the book or even that they feel there is so much magic in the book. I always felt there wasn’t enough or that it took a back seat to the relationship. I was surprised by one bad review, online, and it was my favourite bad review ever. This woman said there was far too much inappropriate language and sexuality, which I thought was stunning. I’m quite raunchy in my private life and I thought the book was really quite tame, so I was thrilled when someone thought it was over the top. It was exciting. It was like someone saying, “your hair just looks far too good and that dress just fits too well.”