Behind The Novel
World News from Waverley High
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We are shaped by our time, as much as by those who bring us into the world.
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I came of age in an era when so much felt possible, yet many of the same struggles we face today—racial and economic injustice, political upheaval, citizen protest—were already deeply embedded in the American story. My childhood unfolded against a backdrop of national mourning over the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the civil rights movement, the 1968 killings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Senator Robert Kennedy, the escalating war in Vietnam, the awe-inspiring US moon landing, and the tragedy of the Kent State shootings.
I grew up without the internet. The media landscape was less fragmented—three television networks, daily newspapers, and an array of national magazines—and news was more trusted. We watched the same television images in our living rooms and formed our own conclusions from a shared narrative.
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I wanted to write about that consequential era—when I was in high school—set against the backdrop of Vietnam, racial unrest, the rise of the environmental movement, and Richard Nixon’s presidency. I sought to capture the spirit and soundtrack of the time—when we were keenly aware of a turbulent world while simultaneously wrapped up in the everyday dramas of adolescence.
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I began developing ideas for my novel in the spring of 2023 after reading 1969: The Year Everything Changed by Rob Kirkpatrick. That book convinced me the year was ripe for fictional exploration, given its potent mix of idealism and darkness.
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As I continued reading and researching, I worked to access my own memories and emotions to bring authenticity to the story. I spoke with old high school friends and was struck by the wide range of awareness we’d had during that time. My own recollections were uneven—more vivid around racial tensions than politics. But conversations often sparked long-buried memories.
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I chose to set my novel in an integrated, public high school in Ohio, like the Columbus public school I attended, and during a pivotal school year: 1969–1970. As with my previous novels, this is a coming-of-age story—but this time with a full cast of fictional teenagers navigating their day-to-day world inside Waverley High, even as the world outside presses in. I kept asking myself: What did we feel back then? Were we afraid? Angry? Ready to march? Did the spring of 1970 feel like a normal high school spring—or not?
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While writing, I often revisited how I felt about the external chaos—especially the unrest on Ohio State University’s campus, the national shock following Nixon’s Cambodia invasion, and the tragic deaths at Kent State. My research was extensive, helping me reconstruct even the most modest historical moments. Within my fictional school, I created The Beacon, the student newspaper that served as a narrative device to reflect what students considered news—both inside school walls and beyond them. I also incorporated a class called Current History, where students used a national magazine as their textbook and explored current events through classroom discussions that revealed history as it was unfolding. The characters within this high school began to vividly take shape. While no single student is directly based on my former classmates, as a group they likely reflect all of us.