By Laura Paine
Mary McAvoy was raised in North Andover, but some of her most vivid anecdotes and earliest childhood memories take place in Haverhill, where she spent time with her grandparents in their Lakeview Avenue home during the birth of her siblings.
"I was perhaps 4 to 6 years old. Each time I stayed with them, my grandmother would take me to a department store in downtown Haverhill (Mitchell's), and with the help of the saleswomen, would completely outfit me with lovely new clothes. New white gloves were part of the ensemble, as well as shiny patent-leather Mary-Jane shoes, which, much to my disappointment, my grandmother would have me scuff the soles of — on the garage floor — as soon as we returned home to her house. I would slide across their kitchen floor all the way to the garage, getting as much fun out of the slippery soles as I could," McAvoy recalled.
The reminiscense shows a natural gift for story-telling, which McAvoy, now a Westford resident, called upon to write "Love's Compass," a novella about Liv, a middle-aged woman who finds her husband drifting from her after 25 years of marriage.
In her loneliness, she meets and falls in love with Orin — an artist struggling to recapture his talent.
McAvoy will renew her acquaintance with Haverhill during a visit to promote her book at the Haverhill Public Library on Saturday, April 17, at 1:30 p.m.
"Ultimately, the book questions, at what cost to self-actualization should a person remain in a marriage? The story is very much about Liv letting her husband go to what is pulling him away from her — his need for fulfillment in this life. And, as she does so, she finds fulfillment herself," McAvoy said. "I consider 'Love's Compass' to be a social commentary as much as a novel. It is a provocative work."
McAvoy is able to express thought and feeling with such intimacy that the reader cannot help but become lost in Liv's life, empathizing with her character and walking beside her through the personal journey to her true self.
She said that most of the novella was written whilst in a trance-like state, scenes and thoughts flowing onto her computer screen without any sense of knowing what would come next, or even having any sort of story structure. What may strike readers even more is the notion that "Love's Compass" was, in a way, the foreshadowing of the end of her own 25-year marriage.
"My story is not coincidentally a reflection of my life. I am certain that I saw my future over the horizon, in my subconscious, as I wrote. Almost nothing in the storyline is a true representation of my marriage," McAvoy said. "But the thoughts and feelings that Liv experiences are somewhat like mine have been since we made the decision to divorce. There have been times in the last year when I've stopped to think, 'What did Liv think about this? What was it I wrote about this?'"
Although she had gone through the battles with Liv, it did not remove the sense of sadness and hurt when she finally came to accept her own divorce, but it did allow her think more deeply about what she was searching for in "Love's Compass" — "a better way, a higher ground, a more open acceptance of a person's need to move out, and to move on."
"I hope that 'Love's Compass' will incite conversation about, and an examination of, the expectation of lifelong partnering — which we have built into our culture, our laws, and our religions. There is enormous pressure on us to 'succeed' in marriage. And the truth is, many marriages do not last till the end of time on earth," McAvoy said. "My book challenges us to consider a better way to end marriages that are over. It asks us to acknowledge and accept that sometimes, despite best efforts, a marriage is over before the death of either partner."
McAvoy said the novella suggests that marriage can actually interfere with a person fully becoming who he or she is meant to be. It asks questions such as:
Should couples maintain marriages that do not work for them because they were raised to do so?
Why struggle in that aspect of life when something can be done about it?
Why shouldn't a marriage end amicably, especially when life has a tendency to throw bigger curve-balls?
McAvoy's next book, set in Lawrence, is a love story that takes place over a single day as an elderly woman attends the funeral and burial of her husband. Her mind blends real time with memories of their past life while portraying the relationship between her and her daughter, who stays by her side throughout the "intimate portrait of real people and real life."
To learn more about McAvoy or Love's Compass, visit www.lovescompass.com. The novella can be purchased online at amazon.com or barnesandnoble.com.
