Holbrook, Flynn shifted private correspondence into public testimony

Christina Holbrook, right, graduated with a BA from Wellesley College and spent most of her career in New York City involved in the printing and publishing of art and photography books. She now lives in Breckenridge, Colorado, with her husband, Alan. “All the Flowers of the Mountain,” her first novel, received the 2023 Colorado Book Award for Romance, the 2023 IPPY Bronze Medal for Romance and the 2025 IPPY Silver Medal for Fiction Audiobook.

Jane Flynn received her BA from Wellesley College and her JD from Harvard Law School. In 1990, she left the U.S. for Athens, Greece, where she learned Greek, cofounded an autism advocacy nonprofit and served on the board of the Mediterranean Garden Society. She returned to New York in late 2020 following the death of her younger son by suicide. “Antiphon” is her first published work.

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SunLit: This book has a complicated and painful backstory. How and why did you decide to write it?

Christina: Jane and I had reconnected in 2018, restarted our friendship after many years, and I was witness to both Jane’s excitement at spending more time in New York after 30 years of living in Greece, and then to the crushing tragedy of her son’s death in 2020. We were in touch more and more, and I knew how desolate her life had become. In 2022 I was diagnosed with a glioblastoma and had my first surgery in April of that year. Several months later, after the rushed publication of my first novel, I fell into a deep depression. I could not write, an activity that helps me order and make sense of the world and to feel less isolated. When friends would offer the tentative suggestion: You should write about your experience, I would snarl: I am not writing about f—ing brain tumors! 

Finally, I asked Jane if she would be willing to consider replying to me if I started by writing something to her.

Jane: Chris and I had been “Facebook friends” due to our common high school and college experiences, reconnecting at several reunions. We became closer after she and Alan came to Greece for their honeymoon and spent part of it at my beach house on the western Peloponnese.

Chris was very supportive when I moved back to the U.S. abruptly after my son’s death in late 2020, a very tumultuous time, mid-pandemic. We stayed in frequent contact that increased after her devastating diagnosis and saw each other over the summer of 2022 after her first novel was published.

We are both letter writers, even in this era when “letters” are emails, and we corresponded as a way of following each other’s progress and pitfalls in dealing with the fairly awful circumstances in which we now found ourselves. Chris suggested that we make this practice more intentional, a literary exercise, and the idea appealed to me. The title of the email containing my first response to Chris’s first letter was “walking antiphon,” and that idea of call and response became the guiding spirit of the intentional correspondence.

SunLit: Place the excerpt you selected in context. How does it fit into the book as a whole and why did you select it?

Jane: It’s a difficult book to describe in one sentence — it’s a memoir, but more than that — and the Preface really informs the reader of why we decided to turn our private correspondence into public testimony on the power of deliberate conversation in friendship. Our first letters reveal where we stood, mentally, emotionally, at the beginning of our conversation, and reveal our shared affinity for walking and observing in nature.

Christina: Those first letters show us as we were when we began: I am raw and frightened and filled with wild grief; Jane is numb and unable to connect to the world around her or even to her own feelings. Her entry ends with a scene that will break your heart. That is who we were in November of 2022. Then slowly, slowly we each experience some measure of healing. As the weeks and months go by, who we are becoming starts to emerge.

SunLit: What did you find to be the common threads of your individual experiences that lent themselves to the kind of back-and-forth of your correspondence?

Christina: We are both New Yorkers, and as kids lived in the same town and went to the same competitive high school.We also attended the same women’s college outside of Boston — Wellesley College — where intellectual curiosity was encouraged and women’s friendships were highly valued.

Jane: We came of age in a time when our college commencement speaker, Susan Sontag, exhorted us to “Be Bold!” and we believed that our potential was limited only by our daring. I found it wonderful to learn how the very different lives that we lived were underpinned by the same sense of adventure, curiosity and boundless confidence in our capacity to embrace challenge and act boldly.

SunLit: Was there a particular moment when you realized, or even began to think, that these letters might have a broader purpose?

Jane: I think it was after our reunion in St. John that we really began to consider the idea that the comfort and support we had offered each other over the preceding year could resonate with other people. I belong to several support groups of parents who have lost children to suicide, and a key feature of these groups is that we help each other without any expertise other than the willingness to share our grief honestly and to support one another in our very personal loss. Sharing some of our hardest moments had brought comfort to the two of us, and the idea that this could help others dealing with loss was hopeful.

Christina: It occurred to us that there was a certain narrative arc to these letters written over the course of a year that might make an engaging read. But who would want to read them, I wondered? And yet as we each began to move from a place of despair to a place of hope we came to believe that our conversation might possibly help others experiencing the same trauma. There is no sugar-coating suicide or cancer. We know that and others in our position know it, too. But the communal act of honest conversation between friends can be transformative. With this book we offer that conversation to whomever it might help.

SunLit: What were the biggest challenges you faced in writing this book?

Christina: Showing the writing to my husband. Because he has had to live, every day, with the reality that his wife has a terminal illness.

Jane: For me, it was the idea of turning our personal story into a public one. The writing was a joy, but a private conversation; the idea of exposing the vulnerability of deep grief and pain was intimidating.

SunLit: What do you want readers to take from this book? 

Christina: I think it is important we begin much sooner in our lives to consider the fact of our mortality. That we and everyone we love will one day die. We deal with our fear either by being incredibly flippant: “Hey, you don’t know if you are going to be hit by a bus tomorrow, so why waste time thinking about dying?” Or by fooling ourselves that somehow through exercise routines, diet, or superior intellectual qualities we and our loved ones can evade illness and death. 

The diagnosis of a glioblastoma that came with a 14-22-month life expectancy has forced me to face head-on fears and resentments that had accumulated over a lifetime and to begin to accept and often to forgive. And to consider with a seriousness that I would not have been able to access previously that today is what matters so make that a priority. Be present, do what is important, let the people who matter know you love them. Contemplating the reality of death makes this life now come powerfully into focus: How immensely fortunate I am to be married to the man who is my husband, to live in a beautiful place, to have had access to excellent medical care, to be surrounded by kind neighbors and have friends and family who love me. 

And though all of us have different lives, we each have things to be grateful for.

Jane: The responses of our early readers have validated my reasons for publishing this book — there seems to be a quiet consensus that each life is individual and universal, that there is beauty in life even after shattering loss, that, knowing what we do now about the cost of decisions we made, most of us would make most of them the same way again if given the choice. That paying attention to the small things matters. 

SunLit: How did you feel when you’d finished this project? Did it feel complete or do you feel that you’ll continue the written conversation?

Christina: Our conversation covered a particular period of time during which we each, I think, arrived at a certain place of growth and enlightenment. So, in that way there is a sense of completeness. But I guess the conversation between friends is never really complete, and so we keep talking, and sharing writing with each other. The launching of this book seems like a further part of the story, in which perhaps the conversation just expands to include others.

Jane: The conversation continues, not as deliberate in writing, but as immediate, I think. The process of deciding to publish, editing and refining the work, weaving the work into the ongoing business of leading our lives. This project has added a dimension to my identity; that being said, I don’t think that there will be a further collection of published letters.

SunLit: How did a 13-million-pound Aspen grove become a topic of conversation between the two of you?

Christina: I introduced the topic of Pando, an 80,000-year-old aspen grove in Utah that is the largest and heaviest living creature on earth. For me, Pando is a kind of hopeful metaphor: Many generations of trees are connected, with new saplings containing the nutrients and genetic wisdom of the previous generation and passing these on to the next. In this way, the aspen grove becomes a way to look at death as not such a definitive “end.” Pando is an invitation to consider one’s sustaining connections and one’s own responsibility in this life: What have I taken from the past? What do I want to contribute to the present, the future? What will keep my own aspen grove of connections healthy and thriving?

Jane picked up the thread to consider a network of long friendships that have sustained her in happy times and through grief. I considered making positive choices about what family traits and behaviors to pass on to my nieces and nephews.

SunLit: Was this a difficult type of book project to pitch to publishers? How did the practical matter of getting it before readers play out?

Christina: Our manuscript was accepted by an agent almost immediately and he was incredibly committed to getting this project published. He shared with us numerous rejection emails from publishers who were moved by our story, praised the writing, and were so apologetic for not being able to take on “such difficult subjects.” One mused, “if only you were celebrities, we might be able to consider it.” Another marketing executive even sent the project to her contacts at other publishing houses who might have more leeway.

Last spring, “Antiphon” was acquired by a small U.K. publisher and a small U.S. publisher. Then the owner of the U.S. company had health issues and decided to withdraw; the U.K. publisher was worried about how they would promote the project and the deal fell through.

We felt a sense of urgency, and in the end we formed our own company. We hired a team of professions — creative editor, line editor, copy editor, designer, proofreader. We commissioned our own cover art. As of this interview “Antiphon” is available through your local bookstore and on Amazon, and also in eBook format.

SunLit: Did revisiting your letters in the editing and compilation of the book add to your own understanding and processing of the experiences you share with readers?

Christina: Yes. I could see how we had evolved and how we had helped one another. It was also interesting to notice how certain issues and raw emotions that came up in early letters found their way to some kind of resolution.

Jane: There were definitely moments when the re-reading was painful, but it was hopeful and encouraging to see the arc of the exchange and to realize how much we had helped one another process the unfathomable.

A few more quick items

Currently on your nightstand for recreational reading:

Christina: “Aflame” by Pico Iyer. These are essays written during the writer’s many years of visiting a monastery in California. I am inspired by his experience of stillness, grace, and joy set against the backdrop of California wildfires. Peace in the mist of chaos and turmoil. There is something to learn from this.

Jane: “The Idiot” by Dostoevsky. It was on my mental list of books I want to understand, and reading it now, without the academic pressure of doing so for an assignment, is a quiet joy.

First book you remember really making an impression on you as a kid:

Christina: “Make Way for Ducklings” by Robert McCloskey was a favorite as well as “Charlotte’s Web” by E.B. White. As an aside, “Charlotte’s Web” has been removed from some school libraries because of the talking animals. I’d like to suggest that this is such an important work because, through the use of these vivid, imaginary, animal friendships, children begin to learn in a way that is gentle and not too frightening about loss, resilience and continuity.

Jane:“The Jungle Book” by Rudyard Kipling. I was enthralled by a world so different, so threatening and so vivid.

Best writing advice you’ve ever received:  

Christina: Do not get hung up with the idea of getting it right on the first draft! (or many, many subsequent drafts).

Jane: I consider myself an accidental writer, so I would have to say that the only writing advice I’ve ever gotten was from Chris, when she suggested this project — “just write.”

Favorite fictional literary character: 

Christina: Currently I’d have to say Charles Ryder from “Brideshead Revisited” by Evelyn Waugh.  I love the languid, sensual, melancholy nature of the character who is also an outsider in the world he describes. His confusion and romantic miscalculations also ring true to me. Right now, I’m in this very nostalgic place when it comes to reading or writing fiction.

Jane: Penelope, the wife of Odysseus. We know her only through the descriptions of her actions, and her few conversations with her son Telemachus and finally, towards the end of “The Odyssey,” in her exchanges with the mysterious stranger who claims to be her husband. This scant picture allows me to imagine her character, her strength and her resourcefulness in a punishingly restrictive environment.

Literary guilty pleasure (title or genre): 

Christina: I have just discovered, on Audible, the novels of William Boyd. Most, like “Any Human Heart,” center around some sort of international espionage that takes place during the two World Wars. Famous personalities make an appearance: Ian Fleming, the Duke of Windsor and Wallace Simpson, Pablo Picasso. There is a lot of sex. Mostly I find myself moved by the personal and emotional journeys many of Boyd’s main characters make over the course of each story, which sometimes covers the character’s lifetime.

Jane: Murder mysteries, particularly British detective fiction 

Digital, print or audio – favorite medium to consume literature: 

Christina: My eyesight has been affected by the initial tumor and subsequent surgeries, so audiobooks are a favorite. And if they are read by a wonderful narrator that’s a real treat. But if the language really enchants me, I’ll also buy the book so I can experience the words in print, too. 

Jane: I love the immediacy and portability of an e-book, but find that I retain the information better with a physical volume. I still haven’t discovered the appeal of audiobooks. 

One book you’ve read multiple times: 

Christina: “This is Happiness,” Niall Williams. The novel takes place in a small Irish town in the 1950s when electricity is just being introduced. Against this backdrop, a young man who has been kicked out of seminary and gone to live with his grandparents begins a friendship with an older man who is a boarder in his grandparent’s home.  Both a coming-of-age story and a story of redemption. I was struck by the many wonderful and unexpected ways the author uses language — his words are at times lavish and at other times hilarious. His opening description of rain is pure poetry. 

Jane: I would have to say the collected poems of Constantine Cavafy. Spare, eloquent, evocative and heartbreaking. 

Other than writing utensils, one thing you must have within reach when you write: 

Christina: Coffee

Jane: In cold weather, strong Irish tea. In the summer, a Greek frappe coffee.

Best antidote for writer’s block: 

Christina: I like to get up really early while I am still in “dream time” and before I’ve had a chance to think of all the other things I should be doing or any other excuses for why I can’t write. 

Jane: Walking, or imagining the person to whom I’m telling the story

Most valuable beta reader: 

Christina: I have several, and each of these generous individuals reads in a different way: One is attuned to narrative structure while another how likeable the characters are, and still another about details of place, time, or word usage.

Jane: My mother

Type of Story: Q&A

An interview to provide a relevant perspective, edited for clarity and not fully fact-checked.