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BACKGROUND ON THE WRITING OF
SHATTERING GLASS
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Nancy-Gay Rotstein's Biography
Why the title
"Shattering Glass"?
‘"Shattering Glass" has many meanings in my novel.
• “Firstly, this novel is about shattering the glass ceiling
and all the things we weren't told would happen after we
shatter the glass ceiling.”
• “I believe that we all have our personal glass ceilings
— goals we set for ourselves and strive to achieve. I wanted to
look at how our lives are affected once we reach them.”
• “It is also about shattering the precepts and behavioral
stereotypes society has set for a woman with children.”
• “An aspect of the term that became particularly intriguing as
I researched and developed my characters has to do with how
we evaluate our success. Judy, Dede and Barbara overcome
difficulties and become successful in the eyes of the world but
not in their own. I talked with many women who you and I would
consider successful and often heard them speak about themselves
as failures. It was that common thread in what they were saying
that led me to what I’ve come to identify as the “SHATTERING
GLASS” PHENOMENON: that although we can see our success in
terms of career achievements outside the home, we continue, as
did our mothers and grandmothers before us, to think of
ourselves as failures when we have any difficulties or problems
in our personal lives. This kind of thinking limits us and
sabotages our feelings of success. Women need to shatter
those negative images. I believe that identifying the
inconsistent standards by which we judge ourselves is crucial." |
The
Real Life Research That Went Into SHATTERING GLASS
Nancy-Gay Rotstein’s intensive research approach to writing,
professional training in history and legal expertise, particularly
in the area of child’s rights, richly enhance the poignant
portrayals of the women in SHATTERING GLASS. In addition to
using her own personal experiences and knowledge, Nancy-Gay Rotstein
conducted extensive background research to assure authenticity in
the depiction of her settings, her characters, and their stories.
“I wanted every scene and every
emotion a character expressed to be realistic, and to do this I
stepped into the shoes of each of them.”
• For the authenticity of Judy's
story and her teenage son who gets into trouble with the police, she
went "underground" for her research. With her credentials in
children's rights – she had written a study on the Quality of Legal
Representation for Children – she was able to gain admittance to a
Detention Centre outside of Washington and was allowed into areas
restricted to staff only. “I wanted to experience first-hand the
juvenile penal system as a mother might and to know her thoughts at
seeing her child locked up there,” she says. “But I was not prepared
for what I saw and the emotions I felt.” She was also able to
get inside a half-way house for runaway teenagers. “What I
witnessed and the insights I gained from both experiences form the
basis of a major crisis in Judy's life.”
• She begins the story of Dede, the
Canadian MP’s wife, amid the drama of the Trudeau years, providing a
factually authentic backdrop based on her personal archival
research. Many of the concerns and questions raised by her
characters stem from her own experiences as well as her observations
and conversations with other women.
• From Toronto, Ottawa, New York, Washington, London to Lake Como,
where her final chapters are set, she revisited every street and
every location she wrote about and walked the blocks and streets her
characters walk. In order to have the emotional impact on the reader
that she wanted, Rotstein felt it was important that her
settings, buildings and local color be authentic. As images
of Italy are integral to the end of her story, she returned there to
write the last chapters in order to capture the impact of the sights
and sounds of the land as the three characters face the decisions
that would change their lives forever.
“I Felt Compelled to Write
This Book”
Nancy-Gay Rotstein went back to university to study law after her
children were well along in school (like Judy in the novel). “Although enjoying the challenge, I was constantly thinking that I
should be at home instead. In talking with other women, I realized
my feelings of guilt were not unique.
“I believe this preoccupation
with the dilemma of how to have a successful career and still be a
good parent continues to be the single most pressing and unresolved
issue for women of our time.
“To show the scope of this problem
I let my three
women tell their own stories. Hoping to create a fresh awareness of
these issues and an urgency to deal with them, I put reality into
fiction. Their stories
could and do belong to all of us who have both jobs and children. I
felt this was a book that needed to be written”.
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Nancy-Gay Rotstein's Biography
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