"Dawnland"

Tess Callahan is the author of the novels April & Oliver and Dawnland. Her essays and stories have appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Writer’s Digest, National Public Radio, Agni, Narrative Magazine, AWP Notebook, Newsday, The Common, the Best American Poetry blog, and elsewhere. Her TEDx talk on creativity is titled, “The Love Affair Between Creativity & Constraint.” Callahan is a graduate of Boston College and Bennington College Writing Seminars. A certified meditation teacher, she offers meditations on Heart Haven Meditations and Insight Timer. She curates Muse-feed.com, a toolbox for aspiring writers. A dual citizen of the United States and Ireland, she lives in Cape Cod and Northern New Jersey with her family and number one life coach, her dog.

Callahan applied the Page 69 Test to Dawnland and reported the following:

Page 69 of Dawnland jettisons us into the middle of a tense moment at the family dinner table. April is frantic with worry as Al finally returns home hours late from a boating adventure with their 15-year-old son Lochlann. The boy flies up the stairs in a rage while Al casually sits at the table. When Al and April argue, Loch’s be pipes up to defend him. At this point in the novel, the reader knows each of these characters intimately. Coming in cold on page 69 might feel like a big bite. Nevertheless, the scene captures the growing friction between husbands and wives, parents and children.

“Did you get lost?” April asks.

“Of course not,” Al says. “I never get lost.”

“Why can’t you ever admit—”

“Why can’t you admit you coddle him? I could get him a job as a ball boy in Citi Field, and instead he’s farting around in the barn. He’s fifteen and hasn’t worked a day—”

“I don’t have a job, either,” Phoebe says. “I’m fifteen.”

Everyone turns to look at her.

“That’s different,” Al says gently. “We all know how responsible you are, Phoebe. You play soccer. You’re a math wizard. You take AP US History.”

“Lochlann took that class, too. He got a four,” Phoebe says. “And he plays the bass better than anyone I know. And by the way, I suck at math.”

Silence envelops the table, Phoebe’s face crimson.

Al turns to April. “I thought he dropped that class.”

She puts her head in her hands.

“He’s taken several AP classes,” Hal says. “Right, April?”

“What’s the point of this?” Beryl says. “Would he be a lesser person if he weren’t in AP? Honestly!”

“Can I remind everyone that the walls are thin in this house?” April says.

Page 69 of Dawnland signals the mounting tension during this family vacation and the inevitability of an explosive outcome. Buckle your seatbelts!

Learn more about the novel and author at Tess Callahan's website.

The Page 69 Test: April and Oliver.

--Marshal Zeringue