Compassion and conviction: Letts' latest novel tackles social issue

By Melanie Tucker
of The Daily Times Staff

"You knew my house was flooded last September. It was destroyed," begins the phone conservation last week with New York Times best-selling author Billie Letts. On a four-day respite during a nine-state book tour, the author gave anything but the perfunctory answer to the question of what's been going on in her life.

The book tour just kicked off to promote the author's latest offering "Made in the U.S.A." It's the story of a 15-year-old girl, Lutie and her younger brother, Fate. The siblings from South Dakota steal their father's ex-girlfriend's car after she keels over in a Wal-Mart and embark on a journey to Las Vegas in search of the father who abandoned them. They live in that car, and Lutie makes hard choices as she tries to keep it all together and provide for herself and Fate. They come face to face with Vegas' dark and seedy side before meeting up with the one person who has the heart and determination to turn things around.

Letts is probably best known for her 1998 Oprah Book Club selection "Where the Heart Is," a book that was turned into a movie starring Natalie Portman. Her other books include "The Honk and Holler Opening Soon," "Shoot the Moon" and several screenplays.

Oklahoma floods

"Everything beneath the bi-level washed out the front door," Letts said of her Tulsa, Okla. home as she described the massive rain storms last fall. "I stepped off the bed at three o'clock in the morning into an ankle-deep pool of water. By the time I got to the den, it was up to my knees. By the time we opened the door, it was up to my thighs."

She and husband Dennis were forced to make Embassy Suites hotel their home for seven weeks after that. She did save her typewriter and work on the novel. The city of Tulsa bought the Letts' flooded property and tore down the house.

Then just three days after the flood, Dennis was diagnosed with lung cancer. The couple was scheduled to go to New York right around that same time so Dennis could star on Broadway in their son Tracy's play entitled "August: Osage County." They went despite Dennis' health. He would take chemotherapy treatments during the day and then perform eight shows a week.

"How he did that I will never know," Letts said.

Eventually, Letts moved her husband back to Oklahoma, where he died this past February. She decided to remain in Tulsa where she has purchased a duplex.

Weaving a thread

Readers of Letts' books may notice a common theme surrounding her work. Throw-away children and the irresponsible adults who have failed them stitch their way into Letts' latest and also "Where the Heart Is." And there is also this thing with Wal-Marts. In "Where the Heart Is," a young girl lives inside the department store unnoticed for quite some time. In "Made in the U.S.A.," Wal-Mart is the starting point where everything spins out of control for Lutie and Fate.

"We lived for 30 years in a little town where the Wal-Mart closed at night," Letts explained. It was at the center of town. If you wanted to buy anything you either had to go to Wal-Mart or drive 30 miles to Sherman, Texas. We went to Wal-Mart."

Readers will be introduced to a Billie Letts they may feel they have never met in any of her other books. "Made in the U.S.A." takes a much darker and harder edged path than any of her previous offerings. She thinks she knows why.

"I was going through a dark period of time in my own life," Letts said. "I think it worked its way into my book. I didn't realize it. I didn't realize it until I had finished my book and my agent read it. She said it was so unlike me."

Styling in Vegas

For research and curiosity's sake, Billie and Dennis made many trips to Vegas, seeking out destinations not on any tour guide's must-sees. They rented a car and asked to be taken to the less desirable side of town. She explored the library top to bottom that is a central part of this latest novel's setting.

As the Letts' 50th wedding anniversary approached, Billie said she had the perfect celebration scripted. She was going to wear a prom dress and carry plastic flowers at a really cheesy chapel while Dennis was going to wear a blue tuxedo two sizes too small. Their two sons would be doing the singing.

"One of my sons told me how humiliating that was going to be," Letts said. Her reply: That's the whole point.

That scene never played out because Dennis died before they reached that milestone.

Letts was in this area back in August 2005 when she was invited to speak to a group in Athens. She has established friendships here and said she is looking forward to her Chattanooga visit.

Now 70, Letts said she has a couple of novels "in her head." One of them is a sequel to "Where the Heart Is."

"I will always have a soft spot for that first book," she said. "And you know Americus Nation would be 17 now so I am rather tempted."

Time to heal

Still recovering from losing her home and her soulmate of almost 50 years, Letts said it will definitely take more time to get things upright again. Her son Shawn is traveling with her on the book tour, something she has come to fully appreciate.

"I am stuck in that confusion, losing your mind spot in my recovery," Letts said. "It is going to take a while, a good long while, I believe."

She has lost 30 to 40 pounds off her already thin frame. On this recent afternoon, however, she confessed to rising at 3:30 a.m. and having a huge bowl of ice cream.

There has been some news this author and her family can celebrate. Tracy won both a Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award for his play. Dennis predicted it, and Billie said she knows he was there with them when it happened.

A voice to be heard

Kansas, Missouri, Alabama, Georgia, Texas and Tennessee -- they are all stops Letts will be making in coming weeks. Along with Chicago, home to her beloved Cubs.

"The Cubs are out in front, you know," Letts said, more in the form of a question like she herself has a hard time believing it. "I don't know what to think. But I know they will break my heart again."

There is no doubt there are books waiting to get out of Letts' head. She said she had two main reasons for writing "Made in the U.S.A."

The first was to tell a good story. The second was to get America thinking.

"I wanted people to think about this generation of children and what we are doing to them," she said. "I have strong feelings about throw-away kids."

"Made in the U.S.A.," even now, still tears at her heart.

"This book with the harder edge made me cry while I was writing it," she said. "It makes me cry when I read it in front of an audience. I get choked up and the tears flow. They are just children."