Press- The Writing University Podcast (2019) - Episode 116: Transforming Life Into Writing - Eric Goodman
- Eleventh Hour Talk - The Power and Place of Place (2016) - Summer Writers Festival, Iowa City, Iowa - Write the Book (2012) Interview with Shelagh Shapiro, Burlington Vermont - Place, Race & History - Writing About Subjects that Terrify Us - (2012) Summer Writers Festival radio interview, Iowa City, Iowa - Faculty Spotlight (2014), Miami University, Miami Ohio - Live from Prairie Lights (2005), Live reading and interview from Child of My Right Hand, Iowa City, Iowa |
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Cuppy & Stew Press
Jaime Cone's Bookshelf
This appeared in the March 2021 issue of the MidWest Book Review.
http://www.midwestbookreview.com/rbw/mar_21.htm#jaimecone
Cuppy and Stew
Eric Goodman
IF SF Publishing
www.ifsfpublishing.com
9781733386418 $20.00 trade paperback, 220 pages
A civilian attack on a commercial aircraft was unheard of back in the mid 20th century, when Jack Gilbert Graham smuggled a bomb onto United Airlines Flight 629 and killed all 44 people on board, including the intended target, his own mother. The concept was so alien that no one knew how to react - not the legal system, the airlines or, least of all, two teenaged girls who were suddenly orphaned after their parents were killed in the bombing.
The lives of those two girls and the complicated life led by their parents before they died is the subject of a new novel by Mecklenburg, New York author Eric Goodman. His wife, Susan Morgan, was the younger of the two girls whose lives were upended when the plane went down over Colorado that day in November 1955.
The first part of the book is a historical novel based on the information Goodman could glean about Suzanne Faulds Kerr and Stewart Morgan, aka Cuppy and Stew. Though he has a rough outline of the events of their life together, he filled in many of the blanks with his own imaginings of what might have happened.
"Many of the events took place before Susan Morgan the person was alive or could remember," Goodman explained. "Some of the major beats for the parents' life we established through research."
What they do know is that the couple moved from Nova Scotia to South Africa in the late 1940s. He was 15 years older than her, and Cuppy was a nickname, short for Cupcake, that Stew bestowed upon her. Susan remembers them being very fond of one another.
Unbeknownst to their children, Stew had a second wife whom he left behind. When word broke out that he was living with another woman, his very well-to-do father disowned him.
The first half of the book is written in third person, alternating between the point of view of the mother and the father, in the voice of the daughter, who is telling their story.
The second half is about Susan and reads much more like a memoir. Some of the story is informed by childhood diaries Susan found in the attic of one of her former homes, of which she had many.
"She survived a terrible adolescence," Goodman said. The bombing threw the lives of her and her sister (who was two years her senior) into utter turmoil; they were shuffled from relative to relative, many of whom were not equipped to suddenly take on the care of two girls.
From a 12-year-old's point of view, the scenario was a nightmare. The bombing made headlines worldwide, not just at the time of the incident but for months and years to come as the perpetrator was identified and his trial progressed. Not one viewed her as a tragic figure at an age when most girls just want to blend in and be normal. Graham was executed about a year and a half after the plane went down for the murder of his mother, though incredibly he was not charged with the killing of other passengers because air travel was so new there was not a law on the books against bombing an aircraft.
A gifted scholar, Susan not only survived but thrived as an adult by repressing many of her most traumatic memories, Goodman said. Relatives viewed her as taking after her very intelligent father, and she went on to earn her PhD from the University of Chicago and a degree from Northwestern as well.
Her sister, who did fine in school but was not seen as extraordinary, was not so lucky. She spent her teen years trying to shield her little sister from the harsh realities of the world and ended up being an auto worker who "limped through life," Goodman said. She was a lesbian who was first married to a man but "had a wonderful partner by her late 70s, so they had a stable life then," Goodman said. She died about 10 years ago.
With her degree, Susan Morgan was a professor at Cornell for a time and continued to work in academics all her life.
Goodman said he wanted to tell his wife's story simply because it is the most compelling story he knows. He and Susan went on a tour of sorts through the characters' pasts so that he could faithfully recreate Vancouver in the 1930s and the homes where his wife lived growing up.
One chapter at the end of the book is the only one that does not fall into chronological order with the rest of the novel. It tells the dramatic story of the bombing itself, giving the reader more insight into what it must have been like for the sisters to be directly connected to the infamous crime; Susan, with the protection of her sister, came out of the experience on a much different trajectory than her sister did.
"It's really about what happens when normalcy gets totally blown up when you're just a kid and you have to try to deal with it," Goodman said. "The second half, I hadn't realized when I started to write it, but it's the tale of two sisters and how divergent their paths were."
Jaime Cone, Reviewer
Ithaca Times
https://www.ithaca.com
Book Life: June 12, 2020:
https://booklife.com/project/cuppy-and-stew-46768
Real People, Real Tragedy — A Story Told the Way it Must Have Happened — Grabs Readers in Eric Goodman’s New Can’t-Put-it-Down Novel, Cuppy and Stew... Over the years, novelist Eric Goodman’s books have been described in many ways – readable, fascinating, raw, honest. He describes his latest work a little differently -- part historical novel, part memoir, part love story. Goodman might be a little too modest when referring to Cuppy and Stew (IF SF Publishing, San Francisco), as this book also deserves such superlatives as riveting, touching, powerful. Cuppy and Stew tells the story of a real-life tragedy, the bombing of United Flight 629, the first example of American air piracy in 1955 that exploded the aircraft twelve minutes after taking off, killing everyone aboard. Knowing what is to come engages the reader totally at the very outset by going back to where and how this incredible couple met and became parents of two daughters, Sherry and Susan, who were so very young when their parents were taken from them on that ill-fated United airplane. The story, narrated by the younger daughter Susan, takes these girls from childhood into young adulthood, through all the very real as well as imagined struggles of youngsters forced to grow up too soon, too fast. Perhaps the most fascinating fact is that Susan, in real life, is married to author Eric Goodman. Cuppy and Stew were her own parents, featured in a work of fiction, yes, but in a story so eloquently told, they will no doubt join the ranks of Goodman’s most unforgettable characters.
Reviews
Creative writing professor Goodman (Twelfth and Race) merges memoir and historical fiction in this engrossing tale of love, tragedy, and perseverance. In Vancouver, during the spring of 1937, Suzanne “Anne” Kerr meets Stewart “Stew” Morgan and flirtation eventually leads to love. Stew’s wife and father refuse to let him leave his unhappy marriage, so Stew moves to South Africa with Anne to live as a couple. Their daughters, Sharon and Susan, are born there. They return to Canada in 1945 only to discover that scandal still hangs over their heads. A move to the U.S proves fortuitous, and the family thrives until the 1955 bombing of United flight 629 kills Anne and Stew, leaving Sharon and Susan at the dubious mercy of their estranged extended family.
Stew and Anne’s younger daughter—whose character is based in part on the diaries of Susan Morgan, the author’s wife—provides an engaging narrative voice for this seamless crossover of memoir and historical fiction. Descriptions of Anne and Stew’s more intimate moments are tasteful, though odd to hear about from their child’s perspective. Although the Great Depression and WWII both affect the narrative, historical events mostly fade into the background of the family’s personal struggles. Social norms of the period play a stronger influence on the story. Minor discrepancies arise during the time spent in South Africa.
An overriding sense of overcoming the odds unites the romance of part one with the more tragic circumstances of part two. Clear descriptions coupled with entertaining internal dialogue and concise, expressive characterization make the pages fly by. A marvelous narrator and eventful plot make for an entertaining and moving tale that’s sure to please readers seeking inspirational narratives about hard times in history.
Takeaway: Goodman’s unconventional blend of fact and fiction will be a hit with historical readers who like stories about overcoming adversity.
Great for fans of Edward Rohs and Judith Estrine’s Raised by the Church, Lindsey Jane Ashford’s Whisper of the Moon Moth.
SF Chronicle Review, June 10, 2020:
https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/books/review-husband-retells-wifes-tragic-family-story-but-novel-is-undermined-by-confused-point-of-view
Highlights of the review include: "Tender book with memorable characters" and "thrilling and romantic can also be used to describe the arc of this book" . There's also a large author photo! Overall, the review is mixed, even a tad schoolmarmish about point-of-view. Still glad to have it.
Twelfth & Race Press
- Live reading and interview on Live from Prairie Lights on radio WSUI, Iowa City, Iowa (2012)
- Review in the The Philadelphia Inquirer (2012)
- Review in the Deseret News (2012)
- Review and interview in Cincinnati Enquirer (2012)
Jaime Cone's Bookshelf
This appeared in the March 2021 issue of the MidWest Book Review.
http://www.midwestbookreview.com/rbw/mar_21.htm#jaimecone
Cuppy and Stew
Eric Goodman
IF SF Publishing
www.ifsfpublishing.com
9781733386418 $20.00 trade paperback, 220 pages
A civilian attack on a commercial aircraft was unheard of back in the mid 20th century, when Jack Gilbert Graham smuggled a bomb onto United Airlines Flight 629 and killed all 44 people on board, including the intended target, his own mother. The concept was so alien that no one knew how to react - not the legal system, the airlines or, least of all, two teenaged girls who were suddenly orphaned after their parents were killed in the bombing.
The lives of those two girls and the complicated life led by their parents before they died is the subject of a new novel by Mecklenburg, New York author Eric Goodman. His wife, Susan Morgan, was the younger of the two girls whose lives were upended when the plane went down over Colorado that day in November 1955.
The first part of the book is a historical novel based on the information Goodman could glean about Suzanne Faulds Kerr and Stewart Morgan, aka Cuppy and Stew. Though he has a rough outline of the events of their life together, he filled in many of the blanks with his own imaginings of what might have happened.
"Many of the events took place before Susan Morgan the person was alive or could remember," Goodman explained. "Some of the major beats for the parents' life we established through research."
What they do know is that the couple moved from Nova Scotia to South Africa in the late 1940s. He was 15 years older than her, and Cuppy was a nickname, short for Cupcake, that Stew bestowed upon her. Susan remembers them being very fond of one another.
Unbeknownst to their children, Stew had a second wife whom he left behind. When word broke out that he was living with another woman, his very well-to-do father disowned him.
The first half of the book is written in third person, alternating between the point of view of the mother and the father, in the voice of the daughter, who is telling their story.
The second half is about Susan and reads much more like a memoir. Some of the story is informed by childhood diaries Susan found in the attic of one of her former homes, of which she had many.
"She survived a terrible adolescence," Goodman said. The bombing threw the lives of her and her sister (who was two years her senior) into utter turmoil; they were shuffled from relative to relative, many of whom were not equipped to suddenly take on the care of two girls.
From a 12-year-old's point of view, the scenario was a nightmare. The bombing made headlines worldwide, not just at the time of the incident but for months and years to come as the perpetrator was identified and his trial progressed. Not one viewed her as a tragic figure at an age when most girls just want to blend in and be normal. Graham was executed about a year and a half after the plane went down for the murder of his mother, though incredibly he was not charged with the killing of other passengers because air travel was so new there was not a law on the books against bombing an aircraft.
A gifted scholar, Susan not only survived but thrived as an adult by repressing many of her most traumatic memories, Goodman said. Relatives viewed her as taking after her very intelligent father, and she went on to earn her PhD from the University of Chicago and a degree from Northwestern as well.
Her sister, who did fine in school but was not seen as extraordinary, was not so lucky. She spent her teen years trying to shield her little sister from the harsh realities of the world and ended up being an auto worker who "limped through life," Goodman said. She was a lesbian who was first married to a man but "had a wonderful partner by her late 70s, so they had a stable life then," Goodman said. She died about 10 years ago.
With her degree, Susan Morgan was a professor at Cornell for a time and continued to work in academics all her life.
Goodman said he wanted to tell his wife's story simply because it is the most compelling story he knows. He and Susan went on a tour of sorts through the characters' pasts so that he could faithfully recreate Vancouver in the 1930s and the homes where his wife lived growing up.
One chapter at the end of the book is the only one that does not fall into chronological order with the rest of the novel. It tells the dramatic story of the bombing itself, giving the reader more insight into what it must have been like for the sisters to be directly connected to the infamous crime; Susan, with the protection of her sister, came out of the experience on a much different trajectory than her sister did.
"It's really about what happens when normalcy gets totally blown up when you're just a kid and you have to try to deal with it," Goodman said. "The second half, I hadn't realized when I started to write it, but it's the tale of two sisters and how divergent their paths were."
Jaime Cone, Reviewer
Ithaca Times
https://www.ithaca.com
Book Life: June 12, 2020:
https://booklife.com/project/cuppy-and-stew-46768
Real People, Real Tragedy — A Story Told the Way it Must Have Happened — Grabs Readers in Eric Goodman’s New Can’t-Put-it-Down Novel, Cuppy and Stew... Over the years, novelist Eric Goodman’s books have been described in many ways – readable, fascinating, raw, honest. He describes his latest work a little differently -- part historical novel, part memoir, part love story. Goodman might be a little too modest when referring to Cuppy and Stew (IF SF Publishing, San Francisco), as this book also deserves such superlatives as riveting, touching, powerful. Cuppy and Stew tells the story of a real-life tragedy, the bombing of United Flight 629, the first example of American air piracy in 1955 that exploded the aircraft twelve minutes after taking off, killing everyone aboard. Knowing what is to come engages the reader totally at the very outset by going back to where and how this incredible couple met and became parents of two daughters, Sherry and Susan, who were so very young when their parents were taken from them on that ill-fated United airplane. The story, narrated by the younger daughter Susan, takes these girls from childhood into young adulthood, through all the very real as well as imagined struggles of youngsters forced to grow up too soon, too fast. Perhaps the most fascinating fact is that Susan, in real life, is married to author Eric Goodman. Cuppy and Stew were her own parents, featured in a work of fiction, yes, but in a story so eloquently told, they will no doubt join the ranks of Goodman’s most unforgettable characters.
Reviews
Creative writing professor Goodman (Twelfth and Race) merges memoir and historical fiction in this engrossing tale of love, tragedy, and perseverance. In Vancouver, during the spring of 1937, Suzanne “Anne” Kerr meets Stewart “Stew” Morgan and flirtation eventually leads to love. Stew’s wife and father refuse to let him leave his unhappy marriage, so Stew moves to South Africa with Anne to live as a couple. Their daughters, Sharon and Susan, are born there. They return to Canada in 1945 only to discover that scandal still hangs over their heads. A move to the U.S proves fortuitous, and the family thrives until the 1955 bombing of United flight 629 kills Anne and Stew, leaving Sharon and Susan at the dubious mercy of their estranged extended family.
Stew and Anne’s younger daughter—whose character is based in part on the diaries of Susan Morgan, the author’s wife—provides an engaging narrative voice for this seamless crossover of memoir and historical fiction. Descriptions of Anne and Stew’s more intimate moments are tasteful, though odd to hear about from their child’s perspective. Although the Great Depression and WWII both affect the narrative, historical events mostly fade into the background of the family’s personal struggles. Social norms of the period play a stronger influence on the story. Minor discrepancies arise during the time spent in South Africa.
An overriding sense of overcoming the odds unites the romance of part one with the more tragic circumstances of part two. Clear descriptions coupled with entertaining internal dialogue and concise, expressive characterization make the pages fly by. A marvelous narrator and eventful plot make for an entertaining and moving tale that’s sure to please readers seeking inspirational narratives about hard times in history.
Takeaway: Goodman’s unconventional blend of fact and fiction will be a hit with historical readers who like stories about overcoming adversity.
Great for fans of Edward Rohs and Judith Estrine’s Raised by the Church, Lindsey Jane Ashford’s Whisper of the Moon Moth.
SF Chronicle Review, June 10, 2020:
https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/books/review-husband-retells-wifes-tragic-family-story-but-novel-is-undermined-by-confused-point-of-view
Highlights of the review include: "Tender book with memorable characters" and "thrilling and romantic can also be used to describe the arc of this book" . There's also a large author photo! Overall, the review is mixed, even a tad schoolmarmish about point-of-view. Still glad to have it.
Twelfth & Race Press
- Live reading and interview on Live from Prairie Lights on radio WSUI, Iowa City, Iowa (2012)
- Review in the The Philadelphia Inquirer (2012)
- Review in the Deseret News (2012)
- Review and interview in Cincinnati Enquirer (2012)
Upcoming Events
Contact Eric about scheduling book tour events at goodmaek@miamioh.edu