I love reading and belonged to several book clubs in the past. But since food allergies entered our lives, I rarely read fiction any more.

But I’m also one who pays attention to signs and signals so when the third allergy mom friend wrote to me about the book Matters of Faith, I decided it was time to get a copy. (See our interview with the author below. You’ll get a kick out of her answer about what surprised her about food allergies!)

I whizzed through this book in every spare moment of free time that I had over three days!

I found it refreshing to see food allergies play such an important part of a mainstream book and was very interested in the effect that having a child with these needs has on marriage and other siblings—something most of us can relate to.

The story unfolds very quickly without a hint of what is to come and I found myself actually peeking at the end, so concerned with the outcome.

I was convinced that Kristy Keirnan, the author, had to have a food allergic niece or nephrew or good friend who had a child with food allergies. I was amazed when I found out that that was not the case! I wanted to invite her to become a member of my family (maybe I could trade someone?) because she really “gets it”

So even if you don’t enjoy reading, Matters of Faith would be the perfect book to help others (friends, relatives) really understand what life is like for us.

I was so curious as to how this all came about that I contacted the author, Kristy Kiernan, and she was kind enough to answer a few questions.

Gina Clowes: Do you have a food allergic child? If not, how do you have this understanding of the “allergy-world” ?

Kristy Kiernan: Not only do I not have a food allergic child, I don’t have children at all, unless you count our troll (dog), Niko (and I do!). Having the understanding of what it’s like to be a mother, and to be a mother to an allergic child, requires a good deal of imagination and the ability to turn that imagined person/situation/world into empathy. All writers have strengths and weaknesses, and I think my most important strength is that I have an abundance of empathy. I was always the kid protecting the underdogs, the picked on kids, because I could very easily imagine what they felt like.

I think that translated into being able to do the same thing as an adult and a writer. Can I really KNOW? Of course not, and I know there are thousands of things you have to go through that I couldn’t even imagine, but, I do know how I would feel in the situations I am able to imagine. Does that makes sense? I suppose it’s one of those things that’s difficult to explain, and one of the things I find so amazing about the writing process.

Gina: Were you afraid that you would alienate the food allergy community by writing about one of our worst fears?

Kristy Kiernan: You know, it didn’t even cross my mind that I would alienate anyone until I was explaining the plot to people. I tend to work things out on my own, I don’t write by committee, and so it was a fully formed story before I sat down to write it. And then I was very surprised that 1) there hadn’t been a novel written about what was clearly a widespread issue, and 2) that people in the situation might NOT want me to write about it.

In that same vein, I also knew that I couldn’t just have Meghan pop up all better from the episode. That, too, would be too facile, and I was afraid that it would reinforce some of the misconceptions out there that these allergies aren’t as serious as some “hysterical” mothers were making them out to be. And THEN, yes, I worried. Once I settled into what the course would be for Meghan, I did worry. But I also felt, hoped, that most readers who dealt with the situation themselves would possibly feel some satisfaction, some vindication by showing what could happen. I sort of envisioned them shoving the book into the hands of someone who clearly doesn’t get it, an in-law, a friend, and saying “Here! THIS is what I’m talking about!”

Gina: Why did you decide that Meghan’s character would have severe food allergies (rather than say, diabetes or other medical condition)

Kristy: I get frustrated with people who seem to be unable to understand that just because they don’t have to deal with something that it is somehow less important or even exists. I was reading and hearing more and more little bits and pieces of food allergy issues, from news stories of a child dying to a neighborhood mother rolling her eyes as she complained about another mother asking that no peanuts be allowed into the day care facility. That sort of deliberate obtuseness and intolerance tends to completely infuriate me whether it directly affects me or not.

Those sorts of things just seemed to be cropping up more often, and if it has me unsettled then I sort of assume other people are noting it and that it’s unsettling them, too. I never sat down and said, hmm, let’s see, I need a medical condition, what shall it be? I just write about things that I find myself thinking about or reacting to emotionally often enough that I feel the NEED to write about them.

Gina: In your mind, did the state of Chloe and Cal’s marriage in the beginning have anything to do with their having a child with a life-threatening condition?

Kristy: To an extent, absolutely. Plenty of marriages wind up at that heartbreaking stage in which the daily kindnesses have disappeared, but to add the stress of dealing with a child with a medical condition must make it so much more difficult. All the attention needs to be on the child’s needs, and with work and the ins and outs of taking care of daily life I think that some relationships must naturally get put on the back burner…and sometimes it’s too late to rescue them. I wanted to explore that exact tipping point in a marriage, when it can still be saved, but maybe they’re not sure they want to bother putting the energy into it, and then further stress them with an emergency.

Gina: How did writing this book change the way you think and feel about families dealing with food allergies?

Kristy: It didn’t change the way I FEEL about them, it did make me more educated. Now, when I meet someone with food allergies, I can speak more intelligently about it instead of having to ask a million questions. Again, it’s that empathy thing. I already had the empathy, I just didn’t have the information. Now I do.

Gina: What type of research did you do?

Kristy: I tend to research very heavily. Even if the source- be it books, movies, documentaries, interviews with people- doesn’t seem as though it would be helpful with the specifics of my story, I still explore it. Every single thing I learned can’t go in the book, of course, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to learn about it. I tend to feel that real knowledge, not just surface knowledge, infuses the whole story with believability and an authentic sense of living that life, and that’s tough to achieve if you’re just hunting around for a few facts to weave in.

People don’t want someone basically eavesdropping on their most desperate concerns and using them, or at least I wouldn’t. I don’t know, it just feels CREEPY somehow! So I kept that to a real minimum, and even now I do go onto a couple of boards that have discussed the book in order to answer questions, but I don’t become a member, and I don’t try to contribute to other threads besides the one my book is on. I wrote a book, I’m not living the life, and I don’t want people to feel that I’m somehow insinuating myself into their world. I suppose it’s respect more than anything else.

Gina: What did you learn about food allergies that surprised you?

Kristy: How stupid people are. Ahem. Sorry. But really, how unconcerned some people can be about a life threatening illness! I ran across instance after instance of ADULTS refusing to acknowledge the severity of food allergies.

See? Thinking about it even now makes me crazy! I think part of it is the very word “allergy.” Frankly, I’d like to see another word used for it. I think most people hear “allergy” and think about hayfever and sneezing and commercials with women in floaty skirts, hair streaming behind them as they run through fields with a smile and Zyrtec.

Gina: What has the reaction been from the non-allergy community?

Kristy: Well, everyone tends to bring their own idea about what the book is about to the table. People dealing with food allergies see it as a book about food allergies. Other people might see it as a book about religion, or faith, or marriage, or the mother/son, father/son, mother/daughter, father/daughter bond, one guy couldn’t stop talking about the fishing. It’s always interesting to me to hear what people have decided my book is really about!

The non-allergy people who discuss the allergy part tend to be split into two groups: people who are interested and horrified to realize how serious it can be and people who believe I’ve absurdly fictionalized how serious it can be. I’ve had people directly challenge the medical information in the book, people who’ve very confidently pointed out how the situation in the book could never happen, either someone giving an allergic child food they knew they were allergic to, or the parents’ reactions, or the legal aspects. And, as I don’t have to tell you, I can point to real life instances of all of them and they’re only becoming more prevalent. I will say that a lot of the opposition comes from older generations, so I hope that’s a sign that times are changing and people are becoming more aware.


Gina: I really enjoyed it. And the ending was very satisfying to me. Sometimes they’re tied up too neatly with a happily-ever-after bow. But I felt that your story was very realistic and even though the ending was a million times better than it could have been, it was not perfect. That made it more real to me.

Kristy: And thank you again! I try to write realistic stories, and there aren’t any neat little tie-ups in life. Or there haven’t been many in my life anyway! Nothing REALLY ends, nothing is ever perfect, right? So I try to end my books without a sappy ending, but with hope, and I’m glad that was satisfying to you.

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