Today, Feathered Quill reviewer Diane Lunsford is talking with Cynthia J. Bogard, author of Raising Hel.

FQ: I thoroughly enjoyed reading Raising Hel and loved the ragtag cast of characters you developed. There was such a vast difference between the characters Iris and Thorpe, yet they were drawn to each other. Why these two?

BOGARD: One thing that vexed the women’s movement of the ‘70s was straight women’s reluctance to “go too far” in advocating for women’s rights and liberation. Lesbian women — not encumbered by the lure of patriarchal protection — were often the vanguard of the revolution. Iris, the straight woman, desires social change but isn’t willing to risk all for it. Thorpe had more of a stake in women’s liberation. Second wave feminism needed lesbians, straight women, and supportive men to find success. By putting Iris and Thorpe in a situation where they are drawn to one another, yet may have radically different goals, I wanted to emphasize the tension between the gay and straight factions of the women’s movement. Also, the sixties and the second wave both problematized what “straight” and “gay” meant. Many people experimented with sexual identity then, as now. (Please note that I’m purposively using the terms used in the ‘70s for these features of social life.)

FQ: It’s interesting to me that after writing A History of Silence, you redirected your pen to focus on character ‘Hel’s’ life and deposit her into such a diverse moment in history as the end of Viet Nam and the birth of the women’s movement. I struggled with some of the blatant abuse Hel experienced at the hands of her husband’s character and wonder if given the graphic details if there was someone you know in real life that inspired you to develop Hel’s character.

BOGARD: Hel’s situation was quite like the situation I found myself in as a young woman — mired in an abusive relationship that flattened my will and left me without the emotional wherewithal to leave or even realize that I could. A woman of confidence and self-esteem who was my friend helped me through her example, as Thorpe helped Hel by being unwilling to put up with Ed’s violence. I will never forget what she did for me, and I dedicated this novel in part to her.

FQ: In line with my previous question, in your opinion, why do you suppose a woman falls prey to such abuse? Is there a gradual process that happens and when the woman has a moment of reckoning that it’s not right, it’s ‘too late’ to do anything about her situation?

BOGARD: In my work as a sociologist, I interviewed many homeless women. One of the many things I learned from them is that becoming entangled in an abusive relationship often starts with recognition. Something in the way the abuser treats you seems familiar or looks like the way your young self experienced attention or love from the adults in your life. Or a judgmental attitude on the part of your partner validates your lack of self-esteem in a way resembling what you experienced in the past. Almost all the women (and some men) that fall prey to this situation have experienced a lack of love or harsh treatment in their childhood. They grow up to feel they somehow are deserving of abuse because of something they are or are not. Something must change in their lives or self-assessment to get to that moment of reckoning. Since part of many abusive patterns is that the abuser controls the victim’s access to other people, the pattern can persist for a long time. In this case, Ed made the “error” of letting Hel become friends with Thorpe, thus allowing for a change in Hel’s perspective. In my opinion, it is never too late to escape an abusive relationship. But leaving is only the first of many steps – one’s entire character must be reclaimed or revised.

FQ: I recall asking you in our A History of Silence interview about your longtime feminist and environmentalist stance. How have you grown further with your cause from writing about it up to now?

BOGARD: As a scholar and feminist, I continue to learn more about women’s potential and about the forces that keep us down. I learn so much by writing because creating a novel makes me reflect deeply on the subject at hand. In the next book (the last in the Heartland trilogy), I will focus on the HIV/AIDS plague and the courage humanity, especially the gay community, needed to respond to it. Early environmentalism will also be a theme. The links of these movements to the women’s movement are strong and inextricable.

FQ: Without going down a political rabbit hole, what are your views on how the coming administration will address public education? Please give me an example of how you believe it will improve… diminish?

BOGARD: The people coming into power in 2025 don’t believe in public education so it is bound to be degraded further. During this political season, I have often reflected on how crucial civics education and critical thinking skills are to the continuation of democracy. My grandfather only had an eighth-grade education. But because he was a union member at the paper mill where he worked, he was educated in what his rights and duties were in society every Friday at the union meeting. He knew what his class interests were and how to recognize when a politician was not acting in his best interests. We need so much more of that type of education. John Dewey, the philosopher of education I most admire, thought that if we are to retain democracy, schools must be a collective community effort, involving all citizens in discussing and learning about the rights and responsibilities of citizens in a free society. This is not the agenda that will be pursued in the next administration. Without this kind of education, people are much more susceptible to propaganda, which serves anti-democratic interests. The decline of quality democratic education is of huge concern to me.

FQ: I was inspired by how you developed Thorpe’s character and didn’t focus on the fact she was a lesbian. Rather, you developed a layered description of her strength, wisdom, etc. Can you shed some light on why it seems in today’s culture there is a perception that one must change one’s views and accept rather than acknowledge and respect each other for who or what they are? What I mean by this is why does it seem we have to be force-fed a concept until we submit?

BOGARD: A good novel has three-dimensional central characters, and I am devoted to making sure mine are as human as my writing can make them. With Thorpe, I intended to show that her upbringing gave her confidence, that her woman-centeredness gave her freedom to craft her life as she would but that she was still vulnerable to the vagaries of love, friendship, and circumstance as we all are. We humans are each such mixtures of qualities. It would make for a fine world if were better able to recognize the potential and individuality of each person instead of reducing them to stereotypical categories. While we are mired in this reductionist phase of human existence though, I aim to focus on women’s equality because if half the world is equal to the other half, all humanity’s potential will be able to blossom.

FQ: On a similar vein as my previous question, in your experience as a Professor of Sociology and Women’s studies, how have your views evolved in the past handful of years when reflecting on today’s climate and culture?

BOGARD: As are many feminists, I am feeling bleak about the future these days. We’ve already lost our right to bodily autonomy with the fall of Roe v. Wade, and we may be only at the beginning of the retrenchment of women’s rights (and other people’s, too). We’ve gotten slapped back in our quest for equality, as my character Maddie notes in the epilogue to Raising Hel. I suppose the profound and rapid success of second wave feminism has made me impatient. Suffragists fought for the right to vote for women for at least 65 years! And it was 100 years from the time Black men were given the right to vote in the Constitution at the end of the civil war to when the majority of them could finally make good on that right with the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The majority of Americans have only recently been able to have some semblance of access to the range of professions, to education, housing, credit, and to marrying the person we love, in addition to voting and some representation in the halls of power. I so don’t want to see all we’ve gained through so much struggle be retracted by those who want to force us back into the shadows of society. I am in some sense perplexed as to why people would want to go backwards. It takes so much effort to keep people down and brings so much of all that is good in society if we lift everyone up. It’s hard for an idealist like me to keep hope alive. But there is no alternative but to keep working for better days. Our very planet is depending on us.

FQ: What do you think the future holds for a nation who is clearly divided? What would be your words of encouragement?

BOGARD: Right now, I sometimes think the best we can hope for is that states’ rights prevail – the blue states can keep their progressive policies while the red states retrench ever further. That is no way for a nation to go on. But then I recall that 89 million eligible voters didn’t bother to show up to vote – nearly 36% of all voters stayed home in 2024. If only we were able to reach and mobilize enough voters to recognize their interests and vote accordingly (like my grandfather did his entire life), we could overcome this patch. If we also worked at ending voter suppression and if we were able to reinvigorate the nation’s governing institutions so people thought their vote would matter, we could find better days. But it’s a tall order.

FQ: I want to thank you for your time today. I thoroughly enjoyed the rich development of each character in Raising Hel. Do you have a new project you’re working on and when can we expect its delivery? If not now, when?

BOGARD: I’m beginning two new novels. First, is the final book in my Heartland Trilogy. Raising Hel is the prequel to the trilogy and books one and two have already been published. (A History of Silence, 2023 and Beach of the Dead, 2024, both by Atmosphere Press). The last book in the trilogy will be titled Longing for Winter and it picks up where Beach of the Dead left off. Thorpe, Maddie, Roz, Alex and other characters from the earlier books return for new adventures. I’m also beginning a murder mystery set a couple of years in the future when the federal agencies (like the FBI and FEMA) that once served us no longer can be counted on. I also want to make sure that, unlike in many serial killer books, women, both as case solvers and victims, have maximum agency. It’s the first of my novels to be set in my now home state of Vermont. Both involve tough subjects (Longing for Winter will take up the AIDS crisis of the 1980s) and I figure if the going gets rough for me emotionally in one project, I can switch for a time to the other one. I’m excited to embark on these new adventures. As to when they will be completed, that’s somewhat up to the characters and how complicated they make my life!

Thanks so much for this opportunity to reflect on my life and work.

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