Terroir (French pronunciation: [tɛʁwaʁ] from terre, "land") is the special
characteristics that the geography, geology and climate of a certain place bestow
upon a particular product. It can be very loosely translated as "a sense
of place," which is embodied in certain characteristic qualities, the sum
of the effects that the local environment has had on the product.
My
debut novel, The Angels’ Share, takes place entirely in Northern California. From the
craggy, wild coast of Marin, to the grand old money homes of Hillsborough to
the wine country of Sonoma’s Dry Creek Valley, the settings of The Angels’
Share have inseparable
influence over the story.
This
puts me in great company. So many timeless stories cannot be separated from
place. New Orleans is a character in Confederacy of Dunces, ditto the Mississippi River in Tom
Sawyer and Huckleberry
Finn. James
Joyce without Dublin would lose something in translation. As an author, I
examine my writing to make sure all of the settings contribute to the richness
of the story. If a setting isn’t absolutely vital to moving the novel along—building
the character or creating resonance—I cut it. For example, here are the three
main settings of The Angels’ Share and how I think they influence my debut novel.
San Francisco
& Hillsborough
Small,
but meaningful sections of the novel take place in a grand hotel atop San
Francisco’s Nob Hill and at a formal, lonely Hillsborough mansion. The grandeur
of Nob Hill gives us a sense of our heroine’s past, no matter how gritty her
present may be. That she spends time in Hillsborough, a repository for much of
San Francisco’s old money families helps color in the lines of her family and
therefore her character. These settings represent the backstory of the novel: a
grand age and a family in decay. The hotel, refurbished and reopened at the end
of the novel is a metaphor for my main character—a phoenix reborn to live a
better life: the ultimate California girl.
Western
Marin & Sonoma Counties
The
Angels’ Share
started its life as a few chapters I wrote while staying at a charming, vintage
Inverness farmhouse. Inverness and Bolinas are West Marin coastal towns: small,
rustic with a fierce independent spirit. Early settlers there were cut off from
the comforts of San Francisco and had to thrive in isolated circumstances. This
quirky influence that has survived to modern day West Marin is palpable in The
Angels’ Share.
The gritty and rugged beauty of this Land’s End is the backdrop of novel’s
opening scenes and sets the stage for the poignant and rocky struggle the main character
will face until the resolution of the novel.
Dry
Creek Valley, Sonoma County Wine Country
I
borrowed details from many different Dry Creek Valley wineries when I dreamed
up Trove Vineyards and the fictional wine caves where important scenes in the
book take place. The process of winemaking and the history of this immigrant-settled
region help provide plot and a series of complex metaphors that create depth to
the novel.
At the
turn of the 20th century, Dry Creek Valley was one of California's most
prominent producers of Zinfandel, America’s grape. Prohibition created ghost wineries and decimated the vintners in
this area for several decades. Much like the heroine of my novel, the fictional
winery in The Angels’ Share had to be entirely rehabilitated. Brought back to life,
both the winery and the girl prosper.
The
Angels’ Share
is the story of California, the story of the old money gone wrong, and the
indefatigability of the wild west spirit that still can be found in pockets of
the Golden State. It’s the story of healing and recovery, the story of the wine
county, the story of a girl, a little bit of a mystery, a whole lot of love
story and the ability of California’s land and people to reinvent themselves.
Novels must be rich and resonate to be successful. As an author terroir is one of your tools to achieve
these goals—make sure you use it.
Born in San Francisco, Rayme Waters grew up in Northern California and
the city of Linköping, Sweden. She has been nominated for a Pushcart
Prize and a Dzanc Best of the Web Award. Most recently, her work has
appeared in The Summerset Review, The Rumpus and The Meadowland Review. The Angels’ Share is Rayme’s debut novel.
