Interview With Author Geraldine Glodek

 

 

1. What inspired you to write this book? I don’t recall deciding to write it. I can only say it is a convergence of many things: events that have moved me in some way, my interest in Soviet history, my deep, deep love for my dad, who was a coalminer and a welder, and my concern for people stigmatized because of the outer trappings of their lives—such as poverty, disabilities, race, being a kid from “a broken home”—and then dismissed or targeted based on that superficial assessment of who they are, what they might be up to, what they do or don’t deserve. Stigmatized people sometimes find meaningful or joyful moments that give some relief and dignity and offer strength in later times. That’s what young Annilee learns to count on when the conventional things of her childhood—menacing religious dogma and financial “charity” doled out in miserly portions with a hefty sprinkling of scorn—not only fail to speak to her circumstances in a helpful, uplifting way, but pile on more pain to the losses she’s faced with.

 

How Frugal Is the Chariot spans decades from the starvation of millions in Ukraine as Stalin enforced the collectivization of farms in the early 1930s to the lives of people in the Pennsylvania coal region as more and more industries shut down in the second half of the century. I enjoy doing historical research for fiction and discovering how learning about some event, artifact, or pastime of those years will send the story in a new and surprising direction. I never outline in advance. It would be really boring just to fill in the blanks between the landmark points in a story outline.

 

In the novel, Annilee, seven, befriends “Billy,” who is hiding in the tall grasses outside of a boarded-up house and living there with someone we never get to see. Gone in about two weeks, he is based on a boy I myself discovered in that situation when I was seven. He showed up one day and was gone that quickly. We had a secret friendship that was so joyful that I’ve never forgotten him. I never told anyone about that precious encounter until I wrote this novel decades later.

 

When I was a teenager, I came across lines from a poem by Thomas Ford, “I did but see her passing by/ And yet I love her till I die,” and realized that’s how I felt about the boy I knew so briefly and never saw again. He was American, not Russian like Billy in the novel, to whom I’ve given a whole life story as a stowaway Soviet refugee during the Red Scare of the 1950s. Because I volunteered to work on a Soviet collective farm one summer and returned to Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union to teach English, I have my own personal experience to draw from when I write the Russian scenes.

 

2. What exactly is it about and who is it written for?     Half the town thinks Annilee’s father, a coalminer put out of work by a head injury, has become a deplorable heathen, a madman who should be put away. But she may find that the delightful, unconventional pathways he takes her down during his short time on this Earth will one day be her greatest source of strength.    The novel is written for readers interested in characters who contend with social odds stacked against them; readers who like historical fiction; readers open to the possibility that a meaningful spiritual life doesn't have to be part of a formal religion; readers hoping for a story where disabled people get to speak for themselves and want to be recognized as who they still are even as they face challenges that diminish their ability to express themselves.

 

3. What do you hope readers will get out of reading your book? The satisfaction of having read a good story with something profound to think about.

 

4. How did you decide on your book’s title and cover design? The title is a line from this Emily Dickinson poem:

 

There is no Frigate like a Book

To take us Lands away,

Nor any Coursers like a Page

Of prancing Poetry —

This Traverse may the poorest take

Without oppress of Toll —

How frugal is the Chariot

That bears a Human soul.

 

Striking lines from great literature provide Annilee with wisdom and solace by speaking to the person she truly is and to her life’s challenges in ways that religious dogma and societal prescripts, such as gender roles, do not. Books are metaphorical chariots, but there’s a physical chariot cobbled together from junk discarded along the old coal roads and mining slagpiles.

 

About the cover: Popular advice is to have a cover that makes a book easily identifiable by genre. But How Frugal Is the Chariot is general fiction that includes prominent historical events through a great share of the twentieth century. I wanted the cover to capture a single moment of heartfelt anticipation with high stakes for Annilee and her pop in a very personal way.

 

5. What advice or words of wisdom do you have for fellow writers—other than run!?

Write what you really, really, really want to write. Two of the literary agents who read my manuscript said they’d consider representing me if I re-wrote it as a memoir instead of a novel. This was while Jeannette Walls’ memoir, The Glass Castle, about a family on the fringes, was a huge best-seller. These agents were convinced my novel was already close to being sheer autobiography.

 

While considering their proposals, I recalled attending a reading of a memoir by an Amish author bluntly cut off by her family and community after marrying someone outside of it. The heart of her memoir was about the pain of being cut off and finding her way without the caring or support from the people she had known all her life. But someone in the audience brought up the brief mention in the book of her father looking into her bedroom one night as she was changing into her nightgown. Several people urged her to say more about that, despite the author feeling obviously uncomfortable and not wanting to offer more juicy details. Someone finally said, “I think the author has already said all she wants to say about that incident.”

 

I declined representation contingent on making my book a memoir. Yes, it depicts a family on the fringes. But not only did I want to retain some privacy, I did not want to put some of the most painful moments of my life and those of people I loved out there like reality-show fodder exposing the heaps stockpiled by “weirdo hoarders” that will make viewers come away feeling smug and glad that—while their own house may not be the tidiest—at least they’re not like those people. How do you know “those people” aren’t special or commendable in some way? All you see is their messy house and conclude that they’re nothing but a mess themselves.

 

I also wanted the opportunities that fiction grants the author to bring out the true heart of a story by completely inventing scenes, character backgrounds, and other details not part of some real memories the fictional work might be based on. Memoirs have to stick to the facts. I have no idea where the real Billy came from, who else was in that house they were hiding in, or what became of him after he was gone. What matters is the profound joy we shared and the devastation of the abrupt loss. As Annilee expresses it, “My heart was crumpled like a sheet of homework that was handed in all wrong.”

 

6. What trends in the book world do you see—and where do you think the book publishing industry is heading? I don’t look into trends much, since they have no significant bearing on what I decide to write.

 

7. Were there experiences in your personal life or career that came in handy when writing this book?           I mentioned a few of them in my answer to the first question.

 

8. How would you describe your writing style? Which writers or books is your writing similar to? I write fiction that aims to go deeply into the inner and outer lives of characters. As for style, I care a lot about cadence and word choice and other riches the language I happen to know offers a writer to draw on, but my writing is for a general audience, not just scholars.

 

Classic literature has been my favorite since being introduced to great writing from around the world in high school. I still have my twelfth-grade textbook with the Dostoevsky story, “An Honest Thief,” that moved me to tears. Emelyanoushka, an unemployed drunkard taken in by a sympathetic tailor of limited means, steals a garment the tailor has been hanging onto to sell at a time he himself might be in dire need. I love how Russian writers don’t look down their noses at wretches that they depict as having undeniable flaws.

 

I have some favorite mystery writers. Now and then I try to write a downright whodunnit, but I mostly enjoy classic fiction written over the centuries, so my writing reflects those interests. I’m happy that one of my stories has just been accepted by The Doric Literary Journal, a Canadian publication whose aim is to publish classically inspired stories as exemplified by writers they list in their submission guidelines. My story, “Out in the Real World,” is a tale originally published in The Pennsylvania Literary Journal. It will appear in The Doric Literary Journal in mid-November, 2026. I have recently published a crime novel, Through Sea Glass, Darkly, set in Atlantic Canada. Alas. I didn’t manage to write a whodunnit. The reader finds out whodunnit in chapter one.

 

9. What challenges did you overcome in the writing of this book? The biggest one was deciding at what point in the story to open the novel. I tried out many openings, including some where Annilee is already an adult. I finally decided to begin when Annilee is in second grade and enjoying the company of her pop, but alarmed by overhearing people trying to talk her mother into having him put away.

 

10. If people can buy or read one book this week or month, why should it be yours? Because my book is interesting and vast in scope, but so are a lot of other books. I’m fine with people reading whatever they feel most drawn to read this month. If it isn’t my novel, I hope they’ll get around to mine soon.

 

About The Author:   Geraldine Glodek received a BA in English at the University of Scranton and an MA in English/Creative Writing from Penn State. Her short stories have appeared in The Northwest Indiana Review, Witcraft (Australia), and other journals. She grew up in a Pennsylvania coal town and now lives in Atlantic Canada. Excerpts from How Frugal Is the Chariot, her third novel, were published in The Arkansas Review, Friends Journal, Appalachian Studies: Stories from the Highlands, and The Galway Review. This novel is available at many outlets as a paperback and e-book. A 50%-off coupon for the e-book can be found online at Smashwords from October 15 to December 31, 2026 at this link: https://www.smashwords.com/books/2049721  For more info, see: https://www.geraldineglodek.com

 

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For the past three decades, Brian Feinblum has helped thousands of authors. He formed his own book publicity firm in 2020. Prior to that, for 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and as the director of publicity at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler.

 

His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent (https://pubspot.ibpa-online.org/article/whats-needed-to-promote-a-book-successfully) and (https://pubspot.ibpa-online.org/article/10-things-my-dog-taught-me-about-marketing-books). He was recently interviewed by the IBPA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0BhO9m8jbs

 

He hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and has spoken at ASJA, three times at BookCAMP, Independent Book Publishers Association, Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, five times at Morgan James Publishing Red Carpet, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. He served as a judge for the 2024 IBPA Book Awards.

 

His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. His first published book was The Florida Homeowner, Condo, & Co-Op Association Handbook.  It was featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.

 

Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog.

 

You can connect with him at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum/ or https://www.facebook.com/brian.feinblum