CYCLES OF WAITING:
AN INTERVIEW WITH SIOBHAN
FALLON
Siobhan Fallon is a remarkable
writer and mother, who also happens to be a military wife. She survived several
difficult years of living on insulated Army bases while her husband was
deployed. Most recently she capably dealt with a move from the Middle East to
Falls Church, Virginia during Christmas week - while battling a killer sinus
infection, caring for a sick child and looking for a rental house. Her first
novel, You Know When The Men Are Gone (Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam) is a collection of
intelligent, heart-wrenching, unforgettable stories. (MaryAnne
Kolton)
MaryAnne My first question is going to be a compound
one. Who are you? Where did you grow up?
Brothers and sisters? What was your family like? What drew you to
reading as a child? Please let us know a bit about the "you" before
you became the wife of a soldier.
Siobhan I come
from a family of bartenders. My father was born in Ireland and came over to New
York at sixteen, working his way through high school in Queens, doing a stint
in the Army during Vietnam, then settling down when he married my mother. They
chose to live in the small town of Highland Falls, about an hour north of New
York City, because my father fell in love and purchased a bar/restaurant there,
the South Gate Tavern. Part of this particular Irish pub’s charm is that it
stands right outside of the front, or south, gate of the United States Military
Academy at West Point. And in a small town like ours, where everyone has gone
to school with everyone else, the South Gate Tavern has become a large part of
my family’s identity.
