Category: Interviews

Turning Toward Eden
by Cate Touryan

I am happy to welcome Cate Touryan to Escape With Dollycas today!

Hi Cate.

Please tell us a little bit about yourself.

After 12 moves in 12 years, my parents finally settled us down in San Luis Obispo, California, only for my husband to whisk me away to Sacramento 12 years later (something about that number!). A long 30 years later, after my husband retired, we returned to SLO, where we’ve now lived for—you guessed it—12 years. Actually, let’s make that 13 this July. Thankfully, my now 90-year-old mother still lives in my childhood home, which is a mile walk from us.

During those 30 years in Sacramento, I developed a career as an English instructor and editor, teaching composition for the community college district, technical writing for Cal Poly, SLO, forensic writing for UC Davis, and grammar for UC Berkeley. I also held writing workshops for dozens of California state departments and taught homeschooled children around my dining room table. I continue to teach for the California Criminalistics Institute through the Department of Justice, offering technical writing classes for the state crime labs.

What are three things most people don’t know about you?

1. I gave birth to my first daughter shortly after swimming my usual one mile at the YMCA—powered through 72 laps in the morning, went into labor in the evening. Although two weeks early, she meant business, coming out so fast that the doctor barely made it to the hospital room in time.
2. Although I’ve taught hundreds of classes through my four-decade career, I struggle with stage fright every time I have to walk out in front of a group. In fact, I can’t even sleep the night before that first day. The irony is that as much as I love teaching, I’ve never conquered the classroom jitters. I may seem at ease, a natural extrovert, but at heart I’m an introvert, loving nothing better than solitary time writing.
3. My husband and I have been married almost 45 years despite two separations (a year and a year-and-a-half), very different upbringings and natures, and a lot of heartache and regrets. When we married, we designed our wedding ring to entwine three grapevines, illustrating the biblical concept in Ecclesiastes 4:12 that “a cord of three strands is not easily broken.” I’m forever grateful the Lord held fast even when we broke and that he forged us into a stronger union, both despite and because of our difficult years. What we have now is hard-won, irreplaceable, and a testament to what commitment to each other and God can do.

What books/authors have most inspired you?

When I enrolled at Cal Poly as an undergraduate, I declared my major as Bio-Science, figuring I’d go into medicine as did my mother and grandmother. After five quarters, I received a letter from the dean, alerting me to the fact that I had taken all of one science class and something like 15 literature classes. There was no denying reality. I was really an English major.

With both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in English, I’ve been most inspired by the classics and contemporary literary novelists—Dickens, Dostoevsky, Hemingway, and Strout. But I also enjoy YA fiction, cozy mysteries, and certain types of fantasy. I’m a sucker for craft, for language used with skill, for artistry in both thought and expression.

What kind of research do you do, and how long do you spend researching before beginning a book?

Much of my research thus far has been to double-check my memory. Since my writing often plumbs my own experiences and encounters, especially from childhood, I can confirm events with my sisters, friends, and husband.

When it comes to details about the physical world or about practical matters (the sun does rise over there, doesn’t it?), my husband is my go-to. I can’t tell one car make from another, one type of tree from another. Cars are sporty, trees are leafy, motorcycles all sound the same. For my husband, cars are a 1953 Chevy, trees are deciduous Western sycamores, and “No, can’t have that intro for the audiobook. A Suzuki motorcycle engine sounds nothing like a Harley.” I observe inner landscapes; he observes outer ones. I live in imagination; he lives in the tangible. See, our very different natures are perfectly suited to one another!

Do you ever suffer from Writer’s Block?

Rarely, if I do. Rather, I suffer from “middle-of-the-book, now-what?” block, meaning the ferociously delicious gust of autumnal wind that launched the story has died out, leaving me in a winter frost—or maybe a blizzard—with only an impenetrable white glare ahead of me. I often have to hunker down in an igloo until the snow thaws and I can see where I am and where I might want to go.

What advice do you have for someone who would like to become a published writer?

Know the foremost reason you want to write—which may be different from the foremost reason you want to be published—and then set that as your “north.” You’ll need to refer to your compass often during your writing and publishing journey to withstand the magnetic pull of other forces. Ask the Lord to set the needle for you.

When you are not writing, what do you like to do?

Read, of course, lounge on the wooden swing in my garden beneath a warm sun, preferably with a book. Take long walks. Go out for morning coffee with my husband or other friends, preferably by the beach.

If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?

Both my daughters relocated to Europe after marrying European men, so my husband and I try to visit them as often as we can. Both live in cold climates, though. If they lived in Portugal or Italy, our visits would undoubtedly double!

What is next on the horizon for you?

That’s exactly what I’m asking the Lord! I have a few ideas up my sleeve as well as a work-in-progress. I hope to write a middle-grade book loved by adults (kind of like how Turning Toward Eden is a YA book read mostly by adults), another historical novel (set in the 1960s), and more creative nonfiction essays (many are freely available on my website).

Thank you, Cate, for visiting today. 

Keep reading for more information about Cate and Turning Toward Eden!

About Turning Toward Eden

Turning Toward Eden
Young Adult Mystery/General Fiction: Coming of Age, Historical Mystery, Literary
Setting – California 1971
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Winged Publications
Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 6, 2025
Print length ‏ : ‎ 350 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1965352766
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1965352762
Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0DRRGK3W5
AUDIOBOOK COMING SOON!

“Chasing the truth, huh? Sure you’re not running from it?” Hollis might be her only friend, a lanky boy Mama calls her “beau,” but Eden Lewis has no time for his hogwash. She’s got a mystery to crack. For most fourteen-year-olds, California summers in the early 1970s mean sun and surf, despite the Cold War chill. Not for Eden. Her AWOL father has sent her life into a tailspin, landing her in a shabby beach town, stuck caring for her severely disabled brother. Caught in her parents’ own cold war, Eden ditches Dex at every chance—pier fishing with Hollis, playing poker with the grizzled card sharks, and caterwaulin’ in the church choir, laying plain to the Almighty that singing terms ain’t the same as speaking terms, what with the hand he’s dealt her.

Then Raven arrives mid-ninth grade—an elusive Soviet girl rumored to rain black-winged curses over the fearful town. When a rash of petty crimes escalates to bloodshed on the beach, suspicion falls on the “commie”—and then Eden. Desperate to prove herself innocent, and Raven guilty, she embarks on a reckless game of chase. But for the truth to set her free, she must risk Dex’s life. Will she go all in, no matter the cost?

An evocative story laced with mystery, Turning Toward Eden weaves nostalgia with grit, sorrow with humor, and despair with faith, offering hope to anyone who has sought to belong in a world that rarely plays fair.

“This is storytelling at its most atmospheric—brimming with quirky, well-drawn characters, razor-sharp prose, and the kind of setting you can almost smell. The writing is lyrical, grounded, and often laugh-out-loud funny—even in the midst of deeply poignant moments. With a cast of endearing misfits and a tone reminiscent of Southern Gothic charm, this story lures you in from the very first line and doesn’t let go. Cate Touryan has a truly original voice, a rare gift for language, and a special ability to render a world so vivid you feel baptized in it.” — Zena Dell Lowe, Screenwriter, Story Coach, and Founder of The Storyteller’s Mission

Audiobook Coming Soon!
The audiobook edition of Turning Toward Eden is in production and on its way to Audible, iTunes, and beyond. Stay tuned for a richly narrated experience, perfect for readers who love stories on the go.

Great Escapes Praise for Turning Toward Eden
by Cate Touryan

5-STARS
Turning Toward Eden is a lyrical, thoughtful, gripping, and emotionally charged read that will stay with readers for a long time.
~Novels Alive

More About Cate Touryan

Cate Touryan writes fiction and creative nonfiction that reach for the story beyond the story and the beginning beyond “The End.” Her complex, realistic narratives often touch on themes of faith. While she avoids gratuitous violence and profanity, keeping any romance clean, she does not shy away from portraying the grit and beauty of real life, instead writing the truest story she can, infused with heart and humor. Her fiction will delight young adults and adults still young.

Cate invites you to journey with her into lives both real and imagined, wherein might lie glimpses of your own story beyond the story and an ending redeemed.

Author Links
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