By Bobby Tanzilo Senior Editor/Writer Published Sep 20, 2006 at 5:26 AM
Jane Hamilton isn’t a pop culture novelist who churns out the goods for the hungry masses. No, Jane Hamilton, who has lived in a Racine County farmhouse for a long time now, has written five novels in 17 years, but every one of them has been hard-hitting and has been well-reviewed and her fans are lovers of serious fiction.

Hamilton -- who is friendly, personable and charming, making us wonder where the novels’ dark sides come from -- takes her time and it pays off.

Her new book, “When Madeline Was Young,” is the story of a newly married woman who suffers brain damage in a bike accident and has the mental capacity of a 7-year-old. How will this nascent family deal with such a tragedy and how will it reverberate?

The book has gotten a coveted starred review in Booklist and raves from other literary magazines, too. But it didn’t come easily, as we found out when we asked Hamilton to submit to a few questions.

OMC: It's been a long, long time since your previous novel, but I hear you didn't spend it watching TV. Can you tell us a bit about the novel that you started writing before this one?

JH: that poor old thing was a disaster. It was about a girl, a librarian and an old lady. In a small town. It was about mental illness, adultery and old age!!!! Nothing happened!!! They were dull!!!!!!!!  But I made it the best failure I could.

OMC: Did anything survive from that one? Are there traces of it in "When Madeline Was Young"?

JH: No trace, none, zero.

OMC: Was there a period of exhaustion between to two books or did you dive right into this one?

JH: writing a terrible book is so exhausting  -- getting to the new one was invigorating, pure joy.

OMC: Was there external pressures to get something done?

JH: on the whole there was internal pressure.  Doubleday has always been patient.

OMC: How did the idea for "Madeline" germinate. It's not the kind of story one hears about regularly. Is it strictly a result of your imagination or was there a real-life story that sparked it?

JH: I went to see “The Light in the Piazza” in Chicago, a musical based on the Elizabeth Spencer novella.  In it a mother and daughter travel to Italy.  It's 1950, or so.  The daughter is brain damaged from an accident.  She falls in love with an Italian.  Because of the language barrier the family doesn't realize she's impaired.  The mother, in the end, manipulates the situation so that her daughter marries Fabrizio.  It's a glorious novella, with that cockeyed wedding as the finale. I wondered, what happens next?  You know it's not going to be good. So, although my characters are not Spencer's, I used that situation as a springboard into my novel.

OMC: Are you into another novel yet or taking a breath?

JH: thinking about it, and breathing.

OMC: Wisconsin has figured in a number of your works. Is that solely because you live here?

JH: I occasionally venture forth from Wisconsin into Illinois, Vermont and New York City.  But Wisconsin seems inexhaustable.

OMC: Do you get up to Milwaukee much? Do you have a favorite spot here?

JH: not as much as i'd like as my family takes me to Chicago. But favorite spots -- the lake! Brady Street, the Third Ward, or starters.

Jane Hamilton visits Schwartz Bookshop, 17145 W. Bluemound Rd., in Brookfield, Thursday, Sept. 21 at 7 p.m. to read from and sign copies of “When Madeline Was Young.” Admission is free.
Bobby Tanzilo Senior Editor/Writer

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.

He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.

With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.

He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.

In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.

He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.