The Flower of Grass
by James E. Robinson
List Price: $13.99
Pages: 256
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780825462863
Publisher: Kregel Publications
James E. Robinson is an award-winning singer/songwriter whose songs have been recorded by many country, Christian, and rock musicians. He has written one previous book, Prodigal Song, and also works as a professional recovery counselor in Nashville, Tennessee. He and his wife, Teresa, have two children.
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Q: What inspired you to write this book? Is any of it true to life?
A: There’s a good deal of my life experience that inspired the novel, reflective of the land, people, and psychological/family dynamics from my own past. But once the story began, everyone took on lives of their own. I used my small hometown as a sort of visual and emotional model, but as the story progressed Tranquility became a very separate place from the one in which I grew up.
Q: What role does faith play in your book? How did your own faith influence your writing in The Flower of Grass?
A: My hope was to delve into deeper themes hidden within a simple love story…themes of faith and commitment, the wounds inflicted by—and the healing that can occur within—the delicate nature of relationships. The book is also about our longing for youth, and the rekindling of innocent dreams. I think lessons about God’s love always come through more powerfully when told within the framework of realistic stories about how we humans love one another.
Q: Who are your favorite authors and how have they influenced your writing?
A: There’s a wide range here…I like so many different types of work, from many different periods, and I’ve no doubt been influenced by everything I’ve ever read that I liked. I’m a classics buff, but I really like some of the modern authors I’ve discovered lately, like Tart and Enger. I’ll just throw out a few names: Cather, Miller, Shakespeare, Glasgow, Buechner, Dickens, Bradbury, Marquez, Welty, Fowles…oh, good grief, this is a hopeless task!
Q: What is the one message you want readers to get from your book?
A: I tried to tell an old-fashioned love story that’s ultimately more than a love story,
weaving in themes of mortality and rebirth, the brevity of passing time, the essential yet complex beauty of human relationships…the tragic yet sacred state of being both flesh and spirit. If there’s one message, I suppose I would want readers to know how vital faith and family can be to anyone who wishes to live life fully, rather than run from it.
© Copyright 2012 by James E. Robinson. Reprinted with permission by Kregel Publications. All rights reserved.
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