About Arlene Graham
Author of To Walk Among the Stones

Dear Reader:
Do you remember your high-school days, where you were forced to attend English Literature classes? It was supposed to be the time when your young mind was introduced to the Literary Greats.

A tree in a poem, what did it mean?

An author's account of an elevator ride, up numerous hospital floors, while describing the blandness of the elevator's interior, what did it mean?

Frankly, I never knew the answer.
I still don't.

After high school, I went to college, majoring in History. History is one long, great, fascinating story, punctuated by facts. Facts I understand. Symbolism I don't.

It wasn't until post-college and well into adulthood that I read such great works as The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath and Wuthering Heights by Emile Bronte.

In the back of my mind, I heard my high-school English Literature teacher repeat the words "symbolism" over and over...but, still I read on....because I enjoyed it.

After writing To Walk Among The Stones, I had the wonderful opportunity of appearing on a college radio show. Sick with the flu a week before, and on too much over-the-counter flu/cold medication, I sat down at the computer to write an email to a writer-friend.

I found myself going down the "symbolism" path regarding my own writing. Below is an account of that journey, and I hope an insight into the novel and a writer's (very medicated) mind.

Enjoy,
Arlene

+ + +

Think about it. What is more truthful, more raw, more emotional than death? In the novel, Sydney Green runs to the cemetery for solice, for safety when she is troubled. (see pg 48) "As always, the twin angels greeted her...."

It is the cemetery where John Harper learns the truth about Sydney's life. John is a man who kills for a living, and feels no remorse, yet he is deeply troubled that he can not see what has gone on in the house next to his family home. (see pg 49) "John sat back against the headstone, without releasing her. How long had his family been living next door to the Green's? How could they not have known?"

The love story is affected by the cemetery as well. Sydney has loved John completely, only to decide she must not love him, because he is the wrong man for her. (He had assumed she would give up the life she created to come running back to him after they were reunited.) Pg 232.

By leaving John again (John a man who kills for a living) she destroys him... pg, 233 "She had managed to do what no amount of violence could do. What no bullet had done. She had killed his soul." . It is this action, combined with John accidently killing a homeless woman later on in the book, that sends John down his own path of redemption...

Anyways, back to the cemetery. At the end of the book, Sydney knows what and who John is. She loves him still, but leaves him. See pg 253, one of my favorite pages

"John is here"
She heard the words, stood and stepped back into Mark's comforting embrace. John, standing a few yards away, saw the embrace and understood its meaning....

Jennifer resurfaces in the novel here as well. The three main characters are together again, each facing their past, each their future, each their demons.

Home : About the Book : Book Excerpt : Reviews : Buy the Book : About the Author
Author Signings : Press Area : Contact the Author : Upcoming Books : Name a Character!