Author, Reem Kashat stopped by to tell us a little about her new release, Forgive and Remember.
Title: Forgive and Remember: A Family Bonds Generational Saga
Author: Reem Kashat
Release date: June 18, 2024
What was the most challenging and rewarding aspects of writing Forgive and Remember?
The most challenging part of writing Forgive and Remember was writing the parts with
grief. Getting into the headspace of losing someone you love can be quite draining on
your emotions. I cried multiple times while writing those scenes. The story deals with all
aspects of grief – the impact of a parent losing a child, the loss of a sibling, friends coping after the death of a friend, but the hardest part was writing the moments with children dealing with the sorrow of losing their parents.
Composing the children’s sadness and experiencing the ways each young child dealt with the loss cut my chest wide open, and I’m not ashamed to say that I still cry whenever I reread those scenes.
The most rewarding aspect of writing Forgive and Remember was writing a story centered in a big and sometimes messy family in honor of my own family. I loved incorporating how families rally and support one another even when they aren’t thrilled with their choices. I grew up in a small household. It was just my parents, me, and my brother, but we never felt small because we had two very large extended families. I have 33 first cousins that are still very much a part of my life.
Could you recount an instance from your own life that served as the inspiration for a scene or character in your book?
Asher and Mariam’s epic love story was inspired by a letter I received from a boy in high school. We were friends and classmates, but because of my inexperience with boys, I never considered he would be interested in me. Like Asher, this young man gave me a letter written in Arabic and I agreed to have my aunt (who was young and super cool) read it to me. Although I speak the language fluently, I never learned to read and write it.
During the time he gave me the letter, I had issues at home and somehow misplaced it. To be honest, I had forgotten about the letter entirely until he asked me about it. When I
confessed that I lost the letter, it was the first time I noted the hurt in his eyes. I’ve always wondered what could have been between us. I shared this story with fellow authors one night over drinks, and the idea for Forgive and Remember was born. The lost letter was the only factual thing in this story, yet what was inside that letter will forever be a mystery. Other parts of this story were inspired by conversations with other women from my community who found themselves single after forty. We compared and contrasted dating in today’s Chaldean cultures verses our generation and our mothers before us. It was important to me that I highlighted the beauty of respecting culture and family traditions while showing the courage it takes to go against social norms.
Are there any characters that you relate to on a personal level?
I relate to different characters in the story for various reasons. Each character has a little
piece of me. I share a love of books and magical realms with Mariam, Tamara, and
Zaynab, and I hope to own a bookstore one day. I had very strict parents like Farrah, and
I’ve had to omit the truth from my parents at different times in my life, even as an adult.
Little Bella and I share pink as a favorite color. I relate to Little Alex’s temper, and I’m a
people pleaser much like Mikey.
Are there any specific cultural influences that shaped the world or characters in Forgive and Remember?
The story was influenced by my own cultural heritage. I am a first-generation Chaldean-
American, born to immigrant parents from Iraq. The importance of family, the presences
of the Catholic faith, preservation of the language and traditions is very important to my
community, and I wanted the story to reflect it in the world of Bloomington Hills,
Michigan.
What do you hope readers take away from your book?
I’m hoping the reader takeaway is that it’s never too late to find or rekindle love, discover
a new passion, and renew old ones. Life is a series of moments and chances – and every
morning on this earth is another opportunity to pursue something the fuels your soul.
Sum up Forgive and Remember in one sentence.
Love endures when souls find a way to trust in their hearts, forgive the past and have
faith in the people they love most in the world.
Give us three words that describe your book.
My author tagline was inspired by Forgive and Remember: Cry. Laugh. Swoon.
Blurb for Forgive and Remember
Secrets, lies, and discoveries. . .three generations…love endures.
Asher George joined the Navy after his father arranged the marriage of Mariam, the girl he loved, to his cousin in Iraq. Angry and heartbroken, he had no intention of ever calling Bloomington Hills home again, but when a tragic car crash kills his brother and sister-in-law, he becomes a guardian of three grief-stricken children. He quickly discovers that raising children is harder than it seems, and despite not wanting anything to do with Mariam, she quickly becomes his sounding board.
Mariam Shammas survived a strict Chaldean Catholic upbringing, a forced marriage, a sick husband, and the responsibility of raising a daughter virtually on her own. As her daughter Tamara’s college graduation approaches, she is finally free to create her own path. Yet, when tragedy brings home the only man she has ever loved, Mariam learns that their one indiscretion as teenagers has profound, pervasive consequences.
Tamara George has been in love with the boy next door for most of her life, but when they finally take the next step in their secret relationship, a twist of fate quickly exposes her fears of commitment. When Tamara’s genetics class assignment drops the veil on her family tree, her mother, Mariam, must disclose the intimate details of her past and hope it’s enough to salvage her relationships with the people she loves most in the world.
Nuha Shammas allowed the Chaldean culture and her husband of fifty-five years, Manni, to control her family for their entire marriage. When misfortune strikes so close to home, threatening to tear her family apart, she’s forced to face the broken dynamics of her marriage and heavy guilt of ruining her daughter, Mariam’s life.
As secrets are revealed and missteps uncovered, can these tattered souls find a way to trust in their hearts and risk it all for love?
Author BIO: Reem has a bachelor’s degree in English and Creative Writing and co-manages a YouTube channel called Book Harlots. She is a first-generation Chaldean-American with a unique perspective on storytelling steeped in the cultural traditions of her upbringing. Growing up in a home with immigrant parents and navigating a strict Catholic and cultural background of a small Indigenous group from Iraq, her narrative voice is rich and unique. She speaks both Arabic and Chaldean in addition to English. She is a foodie with a huge extended family and loves highlighting those aspects in her work. She tends to describe herself as the perfect archetype for a heroine of a romcom – quirky, a little clumsy. and looking for the love of her life inside of a romance novel. Reem is a Potter-head, Supernatural fanatic, BDB Harlot, a Fashionista, and a believer in love at first sight.
You can find other stories by Reem under her other Pen name, Sage Spelling.
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