NOVEMBER 2012
WWW.TOMIMAGAZINE.COM
36
INDIE-PENDENT
A NEW COURSE
OF ACTION
D
EBORAH
HENRY
Research can put a whole new perspective on
an idea.
The excitement of starting a new pro-
ject can supersede, well, just about anything
going on your life. It takes total control over
your mind. You can’t wait to start. You think of
the benefits earned when you finish. It is all so
new, fresh and wonderful that you find your-
self diving right in. And then you hit your head
against a rock. Hard. You realize you didn’t
expect the unexpected. It was just a simple
idea. Who knew such ‘things’ could come
about? “I never realized in my lifetime that
marrying somebody out of your faith would
create so much tension. There is still an un-
dercurrent of social injustice and intolerance
for other faiths, other marriages, you know?
So, that’s where I started” - says Deborah
Henry, author of ‘The Whipping Club’. A story
about a Catholic girl who gave up her half-
Jewish child for adoption and the trials and
suffering both endured. “My father was Jewish
and my mother’s Irish Catholic. Being a child
of an interfaith marriage made me feel isolat-
ed a lot. I thought. What would it look like in
Dublin? How I write it, I start reading non-
fiction to really get a feel for the truth. What I
unraveled outraged me. My grandmother who
was close to me was from North of Ireland.
She painted this picture of overgrown trees
and pony’s she rode. I was shocked to find out
that during the 60s and way before there was
this underbelly going on. This hidden atrocity
of people. Of women and children particularly
who, if you were out of wedlock, were really
whisked away. There was so much unchecked
power by the church. And the state would
work with the church’s. The nuns, the priests
and the brothers would hide these women
away. And the people I interviewed… the
shame and the secrets. The guilt that they
lived with. Their children really ripped out of
their arms. It makes my book look like a fair-
ytale.”
The challenge of any task is to stay on
course. To not fray from the goal no matter
how hard you are distracted. But there are
just some things that you can’t push to the
side. Even if it has been said before some sto-
ry’s are worth a second mention. “It was very
challenging to take all of this information and
turn it into a novel. I feel like it is not enough
storytelling. So, I thought, writing a novel I
could try to make into a film, would reach a
different audience.”
A new course of action brings an un-
comfortable, but familiar ‘writing’ ground. For
the author this means having to visually relive
as well as adapt the story to play out on the
silver screen. “The highest calling is for-
giveness” - shares Deborah. “My biggest thing
is forgiveness. Not just indictment of the
church. I honestly think it was a huge dark
period. We all have dark sides even as human
beings. I think if we acknowledge the monster
that is the dark side and sort of look it in the
eye, that to me is the only way to begin the
journey towards moving on.”
An amazingly, true-to-life book trailer
starring Eric Roberts as Brother Ryder and Luc
Austin as Adrian Ellis, gives a realistic view
into this chilling story. “I’m trying to under-
stand through the writing that sometimes peo-
ple ask me when they’ve read my book and
say ‘This is what happens when good people
remain silent’.” -
Tonisha L. Johnson
Deborah Henry
Author, The Whipping Club
WWW.DEBORAHHENRYAUTHOR.COM
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