What Patti Callahan Henry Wants You to Know About Novel Writing
With a new (fab!) book out today, she dishes on the toughest moment in her 20+ year career.
When I read Patti Callahan Henry’s novel The Secret Book of Flora Lea, I remember closing the book and thinking: That was one of the most special stories I’ve read in a long time. I feel the same about her latest novel The Story She Left Behind.
I read the dual timeline novel over a few days, and the literary mystery whisked me away. The premise is simple: A little girl’s life is transformed in 1928 when her mother, a renowned author, goes missing. Fast forward to 1952, the girl, Clara, is all grown up with a daughter of her own; she’s contacted by someone in England who claims to have a book containing the handwritten dictionary of her mother’s lost language. The real heart of the novel is Clara uncovering her mother’s story, and grappling with the past. It’s so good!
I adore talking to Patti and we had a nice chat about her new novel. Her books are so full of heart and so is she. She’s also chock full of writing advice and insight about the difficult path of publishing.
So great to see you, Patti! Congrats on the new novel. Where did the idea for The Story She Left Behind come from?
I’m so thrilled to be talking to you about this new novel! I had originally set out to write about Beatrix Potter when I discovered that Beatrix once created a coded language so her mother couldn’t read her journals. This sent me down the rabbit hole of “writers who created languages.” And therein I found Barbara Newhall Follett. It was as if electricity ran through me. There’s always a moment when a story takes hold of you, when it whispers in your ear and won’t let go. For this novel, that moment came when I first read about Barbara Newhall Follett—the brilliant young writer who vanished without a trace. Her story felt like something out of a novel itself, filled with longing, escape, and the irresistible pull of mystery. I couldn’t stop thinking about her—about the ways we are shaped by the stories we tell and the ones we leave behind. From that moment, I knew I wanted to write about a woman who disappears but leaves behind something more than just unanswered questions.
Did the book change as you were writing it? How did it evolve?
Absolutely it changed! Books always change as I write them—if they didn’t, I think I’d be worried. The Story She Left Behind started as novel about Barbara, her real life and mystery. But after nearly a year of writing (OMG!), I realized that I wanted to fictionalize her story. I wanted Barbara to be the inspiration but not the subject. This required me starting over, something that is always hard as a writer. But I do believe that nothing is wasted. Not the time I spent in research or the words I wrote! The novel turned into something even richer, even more layered than I originally imagined. It became more about the people left behind—the ones who try to piece together the past, the ones who carry its weight forward. It became about memory and myth, about how truth isn’t always fixed but shaped by those who tell it. It was about language and how we use it to shape our world.
I love that. I remember when you traveled to the Lake district to research this book. Why did you feel as though you needed to go and what did it add to the writing/story specifically?
There’s only so much research you can do from a desk before you have to step into the world of your story. I knew the Lake District was important to The Story She Left Behind, and I needed to feel it for myself—the air, the mist, the way the light shifts over the water. It’s one thing to read about a place, but it’s another to stand where your characters would have stood, to walk the same paths, to breathe the same air. Being there changed everything. It added a sense of atmosphere I couldn’t have captured otherwise.
There’s a kind of magic in the Lake District, a feeling that the past lingers in the stones and trees, and that seeped into the novel. It helped me understand my characters better, especially the ones searching for something lost. And, of course, there was the simple joy of discovery—of wandering into a path down a side street, of finding a tucked-away bench overlooking the hills, of listening to the wind move through the fells and knowing that sound would be in my story.
You've written 18 novels now, as well as short stories, an Audible original and essays in anthologies. Does writing ever get easier?
You’d think it would, right? But the truth is, every book is like learning to tell a story alll over again. Some parts get easier—I know my rhythms, I trust my instincts more—but other parts remain just as hard. The blank page is always daunting. Doubt still creeps in. Almost every time I get halfway through a story and think I see something shiny (another story) out of the corner of my eye. I still have those moments where I think, “what if this is the book I can’t untangle?” What does get easier is knowing that those moments will pass. I’ve learned that the messiness of writing is part of the process, that doubt means I’m pushing myself, that the best stories are the ones that challenge me. And, of course, I’ve learned that the only way out of a tough writing day is through it—one word, one sentence, one scene at a time.
They say that writers are good eavesdroppers. Have you ever heard a piece of dialogue and then used it in one of your books? (I have!) If so, where were you, what did you hear and how did you use it?
Yes! Writer’s are listeners! I’m not sure if I’ve ever used an exact line, but I do know I have listened to the emotions and wondered, “What is up with that?” And then it shows up in a novel.
What was your toughest day in publishing so far?
Honestly, there have been so many. I’m over twenty years into my career (I wrote a substack about it HERE), and so many lessons learned. My toughest day in publishing was the day I had to leave one agent to go to another. Without betraying confidence, let me just say I was powerfully hurt. This is a business, but it is also personal. Our stories are our lifeblood and our business associates are deep in our lives. How did I get over it? I had to do one of the hardest things for me: Be comfortable in being uncomfortable in letting people down or making them upset. It’s almost a spiritual practice to sit in that uncomfortable place and not react, but it is necessary.
If you could relive one day in your life, what would it be and why?
Oh my goodness, so many. I could not pick one; I’d have to roll the dice between my daughter’s wedding and my son’s wedding. Both of those were pure bliss seeing their happiness and having family together. Wonderful book news (like hitting the NYT list or a new contract) are huge celebrations, but it is family that wins my heart every time.
What were a few of your favorite books you read last year?
The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon. Small Things Like These by Clare Keegan. First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. The Shadowed Land by Signe Pike. I could go on and on — we are so lucky at