Interview with Marlo
about "Veil of Fire"

Added July 3, 2007

In the Library Reviews welcomes Marlo Schalesky.

Joyce: Veil of Fire is an extraordinary book. You captured the historical aspect of this devastating fire while adding a nice touch of fiction. What inspired you to write this story?

Marlo: Infertility. Miscarriage. But wait, you say, the book isn't about those things at all! No, but for me, those have been my particular and personal firestorms. Those are what have created my scars. Below I've talked about the birth of the idea for Veil of Fire, but what truly inspired me to write this story was the journey through my own metaphorical life-fires. And I realized that none of us gets through this life unscathed, unburned. Hard things happen to everyone.

Once, when we were children, we believed in miracles. The impossible was only a prayer away. Fairy tales were real, and dreams were free. And so I had to ask, where did we lose the ability to trust? When did we stop daring to believe? What happened to us?

And the answer came: Life happened. Failure, discouragement, pain, loss. Somewhere, somehow, life burns us all. And we realize that this life we live is not the one we once dreamed. The realities of life scar us. Doubts rise. Fear whispers that hope is gone. And what was once a simple faith can fail in the face of that fear.

In the midst of life's disillusionment, choices appear. Do we retreat? Hide our hurts far from probing eyes? Do we embrace bitterness and cynicism? Do we use deceit to try to obtain our goals? Do we give up, give in, forget that we ever dared to dream?

Or is it possible to reach the high places of faith in the low valleys of life's reality? Can we still live a life of bold faith, of fierce hope, when fairy tales don't come true? How do we live this life that God has given us when it's not the life we dreamed?

These are the questions I wanted to explore in Veil of Fire. These are the questions which underlie each character's journey in the aftermath of the great fire of 1894. And I think they're the questions of us all.

So, for those burned by life, for those who carry scars that cannot be seen, for those who have retreated for fear of more pain, this story is for you, this journey from the hidden places of pain to a new hope in the unhidden truth of Christ's love.

Joyce: I was greatly touched by the idea of a badly burned person hiding in the nearby hills of this town. Do you feel there is some truth to the rumors that there really was such a person?

Marlo: Absolutely. It was the stories of that real person that first drew me to the idea for Veil of Fire and to the historical event of the great fire. I was eating with my family at my favorite Mexican restaurant in the mission town of San Juan Bautista. There I was, nibbling chips and salsa, when a wedding party came by. The bridesmaids were dressed in beautiful turn-of-the-century style gowns. As they passed, my mother-in-law began to tell me of the dresses that her great grandmother, who lived in Hinckley, used to sew for the rich ladies in Minneapolis and St. Paul. From there, came the story of the great Hinckley fire and the rebuilding that this woman, my husband's great-great-grandmother, was a part of. And finally, I heard the tale of the mystery figure in the hills, a person burned beyond recognition. A person never identified, living as a hermit until one day he just disappeared. No one ever knew who that person really was. Rumors abounded. A German immigrant. A man who used to work at the sawmill. A monster. A ghost. But the mystery was never solved.

At that moment, when I heard about the historical hermit, the first inklings of the story that would become Veil of Fire were born in my heart. Who was the hermit in the hills? What happened to him? And how would I solve the mystery if I could? As I pondered those questions, I knew that I had to write the hermit's story. Had to explore what it would be like to lose everything, even your identity. Had to hear the hermit's voice in my mind, and hear the story for myself.

So, the writing of the book became for me a process of discovery, as I hope it will be for my readers. I hope that as the mystery of the hermit drew me, so too it will draw others to this story of how fire can change you, take from you, and in the end, may just set you free.

Joyce: What do you want readers to know about how God works in the midst of tragedy?

Marlo: I hope that readers will come to understand that we cannot measure God's love by our successes and failures, or even by our happiness. Who we are on the inside, how we are being shaped into the likeness of Christ, the character of our lives - the color and beauty of it - are what are important to God. And to create that color and beauty, sorrow is necessary. Hurtful things happen.

And yet, our sorrow still matters to God, our tears are counted by him as precious. He does not leave us alone in our hurt. He touches us, he heals us, he creates beauty from the ashes of our pain. He can transform tragedy into something of wonder and glory. He can use it to set us free.

So, for me, I'm learning to walk through the fires in my own life. And to dig deeper - not to answer the question of why but the question of who - who is God really, who am I, and who is he making me to be? Those are the questions that matter. Those are the things that help me to face my own fires, accept my own scars.

Joyce: One of the characters thought the fire might have been a judgment from God. Yet, your story didn't give assent to that idea. What do you feel is the danger of ascribing every tragedy to a form of divine displeasure?

Marlo: When I think of the great men of faith in the Bible, I find people who were both close to God and also faced tragedy and pain - not for punishment or because of God's displeasure, but because that was part of what God had called them to in their journey with Him. Abraham, the father of faith, faced infertility. David was chased by a crazy king. Peter was hung upside down on a cross. Paul was beaten and thrown again and again into prison before being finally martyred. John, named the disciple Christ loved, was exiled. And those examples don't even include prophets like Hosea, Jeremiah, Habakkuk. And what happened to Christ Himself? He died on a cross. So, these examples and many, many more in the Bible tell me that hardships, tragedies, and pain are often not a sign of God's displeasure or punishment but rather are to be expected in a life lived with God. They also tell me that every tragedy can be transformed. It may still hurt and be oh-so-hard, but it need not be purposeless and futile. When God weaves the tapestry of our lives, some of the colors are those of pain and tragedy, but if we let him do the weaving, the picture can be one of breathtaking beauty.

So, given that, I see two big dangers in ascribing every tragedy to divine displeasure. First, such a view causes us to focus on ourselves and the question of "why" rather than focus on the "who" of who God is and how He is with us in the midst of our tragedies and pain. And second, the "punishment" view causes us to turn away from the very one who is there to help and strengthen us in the face of tragedy. Instead of looking to God to help us, we look at Him as an adversary, as the One causing the pain. The result is that we become estranged from God just when He is seeking to transform our tragedies into something that will strengthen us and make us new.

In the epilogue of Veil of Fire, the hermit says, "I am . . . loved by God even through fire. Loved too much for him to leave me in my pain. And I know that even though I will always carry the scars, inside I am healed of wounds far more deep, far more ugly than those the fire caused . . . I am made new." And that is what I think is the main goal of God in our hurts, our hardships, our firestorms. He's not looking to punish us; instead He wants to transform us and make us new.

Joyce: Why are scars, both the physical and the spiritual ones, so difficult to reveal to others? How can the Christian community be more accepting of those who bear the marks of life's difficulties?

Marlo: I think we want to hide our scars because we're afraid of rejection. We want to be accepted and loved, and we believe that we must be perfect for that to happen. So we hide our scars and hope no one ever finds out, no one ever sees us for who we really are.

But Christ came for the scarred and the hurting. He came for the adulterous woman, the tax collector, Jairus with his dying daughter, Nicodemus with his doubts.

So the Christian community, too, should be there for those who bear the marks of life's difficulties. And I think that the best way to be more accepting is to remember that we all have scars. Those scars may be different, more hidden or in different places, than the scars of others, but no one gets through life unscathed.

In Chapter 30 of Veil of Fire, the hermit says, "It's not the scars that matter; it's who I am, who He is . . . I have encountered evil and endured it. I have been clothed in pain yet lived to tell. That is what life is. There is sorrow, and injustice, and sin. There are scars that cannot be erased by time. I wear mine on my skin. They wear theirs in their hearts." We all wear our scars. We all need acceptance. We all need love.

And that, truly, is the answer: To love as God loves. To see past people's scars and into their hearts, just as Jesus did. And to love them. My pastor is fond of saying, "You've never looked into the eyes of another person who isn't loved by God." When we focus on how much God loves another person, even with all their scars, it becomes easier to love them too.

Joyce: Even though your novel dealt with devastating loss, there was a thread of hope throughout. Should people still believe and wait for miracles?

Marlo: That's a tough question, because God's intervention so often comes in ways we don't expect and looks like something other than what we think it should. When God stepped into history to redeem mankind, he did it by dying on a cross and raising from the dead. Who would have expected that?!!?

So, does God still do miracles today? Absolutely! Do those miracles usually look the way we expect them to? Not so often.

So what should we do? I'd say we should pray for what we want, submit to what God has for us, and in all things look for the transforming power of God to be present in our lives.

Joyce: Rebuilding the town was a central part of your novel, yet what do you feel is the most important step in starting over? What do you want readers to know about having a new beginning?

Marlo: Hope. New beginnings are born out of a hope that comes from a deepening trust in God. It comes out of grief that we live through, and survive. Out of choosing to trust God in the face of dreams that didn't come true. Out of looking up and moving forward despite the pain.

And what do I want readers to know? That God can transform anything and make it new, make it beautiful. Just like He did with the symbol of the cross. Before Jesus came, the cross was an instrument of execution. It meant horror, shame, pain, death. It was the ugliest thing of its day. But now, we wear the cross as jewelry. It adorns our homes and churches. Why? Because Christ transformed it to a thing a beauty. He took what was ugly and horrific, what meant shame and death and made it into something else entirely. He made it a symbol of salvation, life, love, and reconciliation with God. It is now the symbol of the greatest hope of mankind.

So I am convinced that if God could do that with the cross, He can also do it with my pain and tragedies. And, He can do it with yours.

Joyce: What are you working on now?

Marlo: After Veil of Fire, I'm writing 3 contemporary novels for Waterbrook-Multnomah. All of them are "Love Stories with a Twist!," a new type of story that I think will knock readers' socks off.

The first, Beyond the Night, releases in May 2008. With groovy 70's trivia and a whopper of an ending twist, this one was as fun to write as it will be to read. Here's a blurb about it:

They say love is blind. This time, they're right.

A poignant love story . . .

A shocking twist . . .

Come, experience a love that will not die.

Nicolas Sparks (The Notebook) meets M. Night Shymalan (The Sixth Sense) in this moving story of two people trying to find love in the dark. A woman going blind, a man who loves her but can't tell her so, a car crash, a hospital room, and an ending that has to be experienced to be believed. Watch for it next May!

Also, for more information about my books, a preview of the entire first chapter of Veil of Fire, and discussion questions for groups, please visit www.marloschalesky.com. Special incentives for book groups also available at www.cookministries.com/readthis.

Joyce: Thanks for answering our questions and for writing such a captivating book!

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