Last week, we featured a podcast episode with Dianna Rostad, author of You Belong Here Now, in conversation with her editor. This week, we are so excited to feature a guest blog post from Dianna on the day of publication! You Belong Here Now tells a story of three orphans as they journey westward from New York City to the Big Sky Country of Montana, hoping for a better life where beautiful wild horses roam free.
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My earliest remembrance of the library was at seven. I had been given my special library time and found a book: James and The Giant Peach. I sat down right there and leaned against the shelves reading that fantastical book, letting it draw me into a totally different world. I come from the Pacific Northwest where Jack London is a fixture, so I read books like White Fang and Call of the Wild, and from there, Judy Blume’s books like Blubber. As a teenager, I worked in my school library. I enjoyed the quiet, the order of the Dewey Decimal System and all its mysterious little drawers. Libraries are dependable things, like family.
You Belong Here Now is a story deeply rooted in my family’s lore. The passion for the story began when my father came to Christmas one year and brought with him all these amazing old pictures from my grandfather’s time of the ranch houses and life in Montana. On the backs of these photos were all these anecdotes. It broke open a whole big world where I could see my characters and their lives. So, it seemed pretty natural to base many of the characters on family members. The voices you hear are echoes of my father and his father. People I love and have lost.
When I told my father I wanted to set my new book in Montana, we went to the library straight away to research. Later on, he gave me a list of recommendations for books by writers from Montana like Larry Watson and Ivan Doig. These stories helped me frame the mindset and everyday lives of people living in this quiet, rural place.
As the manuscript began to take shape, he would often read for me. One time, he came back with the advice to cut the man fight out of the book, as he didn’t think guys would really believe it. I told him I needed it, and could he help me make it better. We argued about whether butane was available in 1925. Throughout the process of bringing this book into the world, my father was there, giving me advice on rifles vs. shotguns, how they were loaded, cocked, etc. He and my Uncle Jim gave me lots of good feedback on old cars from that era, which they both own and restore. My Aunt Dee Dee dug up old pictures from the family archives, which you’ll see here of my grandfather. He sang and played the guitar, all the songs in the book were his or songs that were sung in Montana in the early 20th century. My Aunt Marilyn found old reels of music or just remembered the lines from grandpa’s old songs. My eldest daughter Jessica read for me many times over, and she helped me greatly with the ending. Jessica is the basis for Nara in my story. You Belong Here Now has been a family project and always, always, we’ll go to the library.
My grandfather’s cousins
My grandfather in boots with chickens
My grandfather’s old ranch house with a windmill he put on top of the roof to power a light bulb
My grandfather and his brother after church or school
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Listen to the podcast episode with Dianna here:
Thanks so much and Happy Book Birthday, Dianna! You can get a copy of You Belong Here Now here.
-Lainey