Author Article: Drawing on personal experiences...

Drawing on personal experiences is what authors do when crafting stories. This is because what we know is what is easiest to explore. When writing Evenings at the Argentine Club I drew a lot on my background. For as long as I can remember while growing up, my Argentine father would remind the family that we were “going back” to Argentina. He’d never planned to move to America forever, he’d tell us. Then we’d hear the story - A family friend who lived in New York visited my grandmother in Argentina one summer and raved about what a glorious place America was to live. Not that Argentina was a bad place to live in the 1960’s, but compared to New York to my young father it was paradise. From that day forward he made his plans to move to America, work hard then return to his birth country a wealthy, successful man. 

But all through my childhood, that move back never happened. He continued to talk about it all the time. I grew from a kid excited about moving to the country my father spoke of with such fond memories into a teenager who dreaded it ever coming to pass. And eventually into a young college student who had no intension of moving away from my country to return to his, and eventually became estranged from a father I didn’t really understand.

I brought this background to Evenings at the Argentine Club. In crafting my characters, I tried to create dreams for each character that conflicted with dreams of others. Because this happened in my home and I’m sure it happens in many families, I wanted my characters to show the complexities of family relationships. I wanted Evenings at the Argentine Club to capture how love, loyalty, and kindness can sometimes battle with resentment, anger, and refusal to forgive, and end up truly testing relationships. My hope is that readers will be able to relate to these characters and perhaps look at their own relationships with more compassion – and know that everyone ultimately does the best they can.