I wrote this introduction for the Junior Library Guild:

After I wrote Empress of the World, I knew that Battle Hall Davies needed her own voice. In Empress, we only see her through her girlfriend’s eyes – beautiful, compelling, ultimately inexplicable. But of course, that’s not how Battle sees herself.

I also knew that Battle’s brother meant a lot to her. I wanted to see how he compared to the vision of him she built up in his absence from her life.

I grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and I was always fascinated by college students. I’d go to old movies on campus sponsored by the Student Film Society, and watch the audience as much as the screen. I eavesdropped on their conversations, I read their buttons and T-shirt slogans, and I tried to project myself forward in time.

At fourteen, I got my wish. I started hanging out with college students, and with people who were even older. Working for a summer theater festival gave me a multigenerational peer group. When I started writing The Rules for Hearts, I remembered how I felt then, like what I was really auditioning for was the role of myself, grown up.

CAST (IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE)

Battle Hall Davies: 18-year-old high school graduate, accepted to Reed College
Meryl Davenport: swimming instructor, 22, resident of Forest House
Aurora Kneedler: 46, owner of Forest House and artistic director of Theater Borealis.
Nicholas Davies: Battle’s older brother, 22, a cab driver, resident of Forest House.
Robert Cracknell: 50, resident of Forest House, set designer & builder, Aurora’s partner
Charles Fahey: 27, gardener, bike messenger, designer, resident of Forest House
Henry O’Brian: 55, donor to and actor in Theater Borealis
Damian J. Wolff: 28, actor in Theater Borealis
Annalisa Tannahill: 34, actor in Theater Borealis
The Minions: Assorted genders, ages, Robert’s helpers in the Theater Borealis scene shop
Lucky: 3, a dog