Press Release

The Capricesby Sabina Murray

• Introduction• About the Author• A Conversation with Sabina Murray about The Caprices

"Reading Sabina Murray, we are drawn into a three-dimensional, prismatically imagined world that feels real, yet poetic; brutal, yet luxuriant. We believe, we live these stories. Along with her characters — inside their skins, their very bones — we learn, sometimes unwillingly, more of the possibilities that arise with being human." — Kate Wheeler

Introduction

Welcome to the world of The Caprices, a world movingly depicted by Sabina Murray, an acclaimed young novelist and screenwriter of Filipino background. Set in Southeast Asia, Australia, and the United States during World War II, these affecting stories bring to life ordinary people who must rely on extraordinary measures of faith and imagination. Indeed, in our own suddenly troubled times, it is a collection of stories like this that will resonate profoundly with readers.

In "Order of Precedence," an Indian officer, starving to death in a prison camp, recalls his former days playing polo. The last days of Amelia Earhart are imagined as the Japanese prepare for war in "Folly." In "Colossus," an American veteran in his eighties recalls the Japanese invasion of the Philippines and the infamous Death March of 1941.

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With inspired prose and intense insight, Murray powerfully captures the horror of war and the consequences of survival.

Jim had to consciously put all the deaths, the hunger, and the fear into the past each morning. This was a difficult task. Sometimes he felt he was living his whole life at once, in one moment, regardless of what was done with and what was left to do. Peggy didn't understand but was kind enough to act as if she did. She went to all Jim's reunions. She danced with his buddies, whose wives were dead, and then she died and no one danced anymore. They were in their eighties. They were all heroes because they didn't die and some were heroes because they did.

Eloquent and wrenching, these tales establish Murray as a passionate voice who acutely understands tragedy and how deeply it hurts and haunts us. She reminds us of the all-encompassing nature of war — how it stretches beyond combat and how there are other battles that are waged.

As she says in the attached interview, "Wars are not only fought between soldiers. Wars are also fought by nations, and everyone is affected — soldiers and civilians, women and children. . . . Think of war as the hostile pebble thrown into the peaceful pond. I'm writing about the ripples."

Now more than ever, as we feel ripples firsthand, it is a voice like Sabina Murray's that we need to hear.

About the Author

Sabina Murray grew up in Australia and the Philippines. A former Michener Fellow at the University of Texas and a Bunting Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute, she is the author of the novel Slow Burn. Her stories have appeared in Ploughshares, Ontatrio Review, New England Review, and other magazines. She has also written a screenplay for the upcoming movie Beautiful Country, starring Nick Nolte. Murray is the Roger Murray Writer in Residence at Phillips Academy, Andover.

A Conversation with Sabina Murray about The Caprices

Q) Why did you start writing fiction?

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A) I've always had the compulsion to make up stories. I started writing in earnest at an early age because I was a mediocre athlete. Being athletic was important during my early years, when I lived in Australia. When I moved to the Philippines at twelve, I found myself a part of a huge extended family. We were together all the time. I told ghost stories out of the perverse need to terrify all my little cousins. Some rogue variety of Stockholm Syndrome made my little cousins love me for it, which led to an important skill: producing stories on demand. I started writing down mini-horror stories in high school. Maybe I still write to scare people, although in The Caprices I've moved on to chronicling war. As an adult, I find war terrifying.

Q) What inspired you to write The Caprices?

A) I wanted to write the book for my mother. I wanted to create something for her that she would value. But in an odd way, the book is very influenced by my father, who is an anthropologist. As a child I was often troubled by the feeling of being on the outside of things, somehow apart from my peers. I owe some of this to being of mixed blood. My father told me to view life from the point of view of the participant-bystander. He made my situation sound not only legitimate, but admirable. I think growing up in this way has given me the confidence to tackle the difficult subject matter in The Caprices.

Q) Why this particular book?

A) The first story I wrote in The Caprices is "Intramuros," which is about my family. I felt compelled to write that because it was a story that no one seemed to know. The Philippines is far away and that might be part of it, but the number of Americans altered by that campaign is enormous. The Pacific Campaign was fought in Asia, but it was an American war, one that has shaped many American families. And the subject matter hits close to home for me. My grandfather and my uncle — a child at the time — were interned in a camp during that conflict. No one knows precisely what happened, other than that they were killed. The occupation of Manila was a time characterized by senseless murder, rape, and destruction. People just didn't know what went on. I felt a certain responsibility to write down what I knew.

Q) But The Caprices is not just about your family, nor solely about the Philippines.

A) As I started writing, I found myself overwhelmed by the desire to try and

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cover as many stories as I could. The Pacific Campaign affected a lot of people. In the book, I'm trying to show the magnitude of what went on. Although personal history was my first inspiration, as I researched, my desire to try and recreate the magnitude and reach of what went on became a more compelling challenge.

Q) Where did you get ideas for the stories?

A) I know some stories from my mother's family. And my mother lived through the occupation, so she's a good source. My husband's grandfather served in Papua, New Guinea — he's been honored with a Purple Heart and Bronze Cross — and although he doesn't talk much about his war years, I found a couple of his anecdotes very moving. The rest comes from research. Many prisoner-of-war accounts are available in some provocative books — Prisoners of the Japanese by Gavin Daws, for one. War With No Mercy by John Dower documents the racism on both Japanese and American sides and was intriguing enough to make me try and articulate this motivation in story form. I have a shelf full of books on this stuff, including some Time-Life photojournalism books.

When it came to writing the actual stories, there was always at least one element that was personal. For example, in "Order of Precedence," the story revolves around Harry Gillen, who is of mixed blood and can pass as white. I'm of mixed blood and can pass as white. In "Walkabout," the story begins with a bunch of Australian consultants. My father worked in an Australia-based consulting firm until his recent retirement. In the end, I can't seem to get out of the story completely.

Q) War stories are most often written by people who serve on active duty.

A) That's true. Soldiers writing about soldiers have also resulted in some very good, moving books. I'm sure there are many more that can and should be written, and that I would like to read. As a young woman, writing on war is perhaps not the easiest choice, particularly given the current definition of authenticity (were you there?) and the proven popularity of the memoir. But wars are not only fought between soldiers. Wars are also fought by nations, and everyone is affected, soldiers and civilians, women and children. I think I have an interesting take. And although I don't like playing into the current notions of what is authentic — in fiction, what is authentic anyway? — my life has been altered by the Japanese occupation of the Philippines. Think of war

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as the hostile pebble thrown into the peaceful pond. I'm writing about the ripples.

Q) Following the events of September 11, do you feel that this is a good time for a book like The Caprices?

A) I hear some people speak to the contrary, but I believe every war has essential elements. I hope readers will find The Caprices relevant in this way. Although I too find ways to escape the worrying, desperate aspects of the time we live in, I feel the need to try and make sense of what's happening. Sometimes it is all too easy to attach one man's face to a nation and characterize it as such. I don't think this is very realistic. Nations are composed of hundreds of thousands of individuals — not terrain, not organizations, not philosophies. Sometimes a book can entertain through being provocative and thoughtful. I hope The Caprices is very timely in this way.

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