Six Questions for Monica West, Author of Revival Season — Our June Discover Pick

1. Revival Season is centered around a religious Black family in the South. We see a lot of stories about white evangelical communities. Why was it important to tell the story around a southern Black evangelical family?
Although a majority of Black people in the U.S. would identify as religious generally and Christian specifically, there hasn’t been much literature focused on them and their experiences. Thus, I wanted Revival Season to close that gap by illuminating a rich tradition that has provided meaning to a large segment of the population. I also wanted to center a member of a Black evangelical family who is not a blind adherent to her faith but rather questions some of its teachings. Through this family, I want readers to see the strong community that church creates for people but also the issues that can arise within churches.

2. We love Miriam’s coming-of-age story; how did her character come to you and how did her discovering her ability as a healer influence her thinking about family, faith, and her place in the world?

Miriam’s character came to me over time: when I started writing the novel, I knew that I wanted her to be observant, loyal, and inquisitive. Other parts of her personality evolved during the revision process, especially her pride that is so reminiscent of her father’s. When she discovers her abilities as a healer, she imagines possibilities for her life that her father and her religion never allowed her to conceptualize. Along with seeing these possibilities, she also questions systems that she never critiqued: systems that are the foundation for her faith in God and her father. Healing enables her to step outside of what she has known and visualize a place for herself in the world where she has agency and power.

3. Through Miriam and her mother we see the issues of gender equality in an evangelical community; how important was that part of the story for you?

That plot element was probably the most important part of the story for me. I have struggled with the idea of gender inequality in evangelical communities, about how the church gives women and girls messages that they are powerless or that their power only comes in domestic spheres that aren’t recognized as valuable. I also wanted to contrast Joanne and Miriam; Joanne highlights what happens when you are the victim of oppressive structures designed to make women subservient. At the beginning of the book, Miriam believes that Joanne’s life is the one that she’s destined to have: she’s supposed to be a mother and a wife and blindly follow a religion that tells her she’s not powerful on her own. As the book progresses, Miriam questions the gender inequalities that have suddenly become visible to her. By the end of the book, she has to decide what to do with her new understanding.

4. Tell us about your research process for the book. Did you learn a lot about the history of revivals in the South? How did you approach writing about faith and community in the South? What kind of research did you do on the places the Horton family traveled: Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, Tennessee?

During my research, I studied the history of revivals, particularly how they are conducted in different Protestant denominations from Baptist to Charismatic to Methodist to Pentecostal. Revivals were popular a long time ago, so I wanted the revivals in this book to feel like a throwback to another era. I’ve also attended a few revivals, so I used my experiences in those services to inform the revival sections as well.
In terms of writing about faith and community in the South, I had to set the book in the South because religion is an unquestioned assumption there that exists as the shorthand of many conversations. There needed to be a space where the notion of faith healing wouldn’t be met with widespread skepticism. I also wanted to be responsible to the setting, so I didn’t denigrate worship practices, Southern cities, or revivals as I wrote about them. Instead, I wanted to illuminate what these experiences feel like to readers who may have never attended them.
In terms of research about location, I’ve visited and/or lived in Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, and Tennessee, among other Southern states. I used much of that personal experience of being in these places, combined with research about demographics, geography, and climate, to hopefully make these revivals feel realistic to where they are in the country.

5. What do you hope readers take away from Revival Season?

I hope readers think about the bigger questions I’m tackling in the book: gender inequality in faith communities, unquestioned patriarchal structures, belief, doubt, and power. Even though Miriam is fictional, her concerns are real; I want readers to interrogate any teachings that make them feel subservient. I also want Miriam’s story to feel universal to readers, even if don’t believe the way the Horton family does. I hope that people can see themselves in this story about navigating what you believe in, even if it contradicts what you’ve been taught. Mostly, though, I hope that girls and women who find themselves in Miriam and Joanne’s shoes recognize the power that is innately in them and take steps to actualize that power.

6. We love to ask, what are you reading and recommending right now?

I’m reading Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie because I’ve heard people say that Revival Season reminds them of it. Even though I’ve read many of Adichie’s other novels and short stories, I’ve never read Purple Hibiscus, and I’m definitely noticing the connections between our novels.
Lately, I’ve been recommending Luster by Raven Leilani, The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett, and The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw.