Interview | Portland Monthly Magazine

Anita Shreve returns to Maine in her latest novel, The Stars Are Fire, hitting shelves this month. Ahead of her New England book tour, the bestselling author takes us deep into her creative process, her rise to success, and her enduring love of Maine..

Where are you right now?

I’m at my home in Newfield, New Hampshire. I wrote most of my latest novel right here at my desk.

You also have ties to Maine, specifically Biddeford Pool.

We used to have a place in Biddeford Pool. I had a writing desk that looked out right across to the Wood Island Light. Then we sold it and bought two tiny cottages on Basket Island. It’s beautiful, but we have five kids, and now they have kids. The island is connected by a sandbar when the tide is low, so it’s not the most practical place to live. You’re too subject to the tide. You get invited to someone’s home for dinner and you have to ask if you can stay overnight! So now we’re building a place in Biddeford Pool again.

Set amid the wildfires that ravaged southern Maine in 1947, The Stars Are Fire tells the story of a young mother [Grace] attempting to rebuild her life and find her independence in the aftermath of disaster. How did you arrive at this idea?

I first learned about the fire after I read a pamphlet on the subject some time ago. Then we had that really hot, dry summer last year and the idea of a story inspired by the 1947 disaster began to catch. I got very excited about the subject.  A lot of Mainers have only a passing knowledge of the fire. They’ll say, “My dad used to talk about that when I was young.” I came to Maine to do research, and I got access to the archives of the Portland Press Herald. Everything was on microfiche, of course! It was fascinating. They had every fact you can imagine, first-person accounts, and a lot of wonderful photos. The description of the post-fire landscape where only the mill’s brick chimneys remain is inspired by one of those pictures…http://www.portlandmonthly.com/portmag/2017/03/bright-spark/