An Interview With Edward Sylvan
There is a lot we can learn about this history that is relevant to the present day. For one thing, instead of demonizing people who look, love, or pray differently from us, perhaps we ought to consider whether there is anything we could learn from them.
As a part of my series about “authors who are making an important social impact”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Julia Sullivan.
Julia Sullivan started working on Bone Necklace more than twenty years ago, after visiting the Big Hole Battlefield in Wisdom, Montana. Julia first became interested in the Nez Perce story because of the great injustice that the tribe suffered. What kept her interested was their conduct during the war. While under attack, the Nez Perce won the respect of a society in which prominent members were unapologetic racists. At the end of the war, Canada offered them political asylum.
Julia is a lawyer in the United States and a solicitor in England & Wales. Throughout her career, she has worked to expose and root out injustice.
Julia lives with her husband in Annapolis, Maryland and Hamilton, Montana.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive into the main focus of our interview, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood backstory?
I grew in an Irish Catholic family as the youngest of five children. My father was an Air Force fighter pilot and my mother ran the household. The Air Force moved us approximately every two years, so I was perpetually the new kid in town. It worked out alright. All the boys in my class wanted to meet my older sister and all the girls wanted to meet my older brothers, so everybody liked coming over to my house after school. But finding that one special friend — my “BFF” — took patience, and usually by the time I found them, it was time to move on again. I learned that it was possible to feel lonely in a crowded room. I still feel that way a lot.
When you were younger, was there a book that you read that inspired you to take action or change your life? Can you share a story about that?
My mom was a reader. When I was very young, she devoured Agatha Christie’s mysteries, so I grew up reading those. As I got older, I gravitated toward historical fiction and westerns — books like Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove, Ivan Doig’s Dancing at the Rascal Fair, Wallace Stegner’s Angle of Repose, Norman McLean’s A River Runs Through It, and Cormac McCarthy’s All the Pretty Horses. But if I had to name just one book that inspired me to take action in life, it would probably be Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, which combined a child’s innocence with serious issues of racial injustice.
Later, when I was representing wrongfully convicted prisoners, I often recalled the words of Atticus Finch: “[Real courage] is when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.” Getting a wrongful conviction thrown out is like catching lightning in a bottle. Still, we gave our clients our all, and a few times, sure enough, we won.
Can you share the funniest or most interesting mistake that occurred to you in the course of your career? What lesson or takeaway did you learn from that?
Oh, I’ve made plenty of mistakes. One lesson I learned, through brutal repetition, is that I tend to make spectacularly bad hiring decisions, with consequences ranging from comic to infuriating. Eventually, I learned to hire people I like and teach them whatever they need to know. I once hired a secretary who had no office experience at all. I mean, literally, none. She’d never used email. She didn’t (and still doesn’t) carry a mobile phone. Her filing system was — let’s just say — “idiosyncratic.” But she was, hands down, the best secretary I ever had. I loved her. My clients loved her. And I looked forward to going to work every day. Most days, my office could have inspired a pretty hilarious situational comedy. We didn’t even call it an office; we called it our “clubhouse.” Wow, I miss those days.
Can you describe how you aim to make a significant social impact with your book?
Native American history is too often portrayed as a tragedy — as if some fatal flaw in the character of the Native American race doomed them to a terrible fate. It’s a narrative that places the moral blame for the government’s shameful treatment of Native nations squarely on the victims. Bone Necklace confronts that lie.
Bone Necklace is based on the true story of a small band of Nez Perce warriors who, in the summer of 1877, held off four converging armies for four months while their families escaped to Canada, where they received political asylum. At the time the war began, these were the last Native Americans still living in peace on their own land. No member of the tribe had ever killed a white man. Some of them had learned to read and write, cultivate crops, and operate ferries and mills. Many had been baptized by Christian missionaries. For many years, they had engaged in extensive trade with white settlements, trading fine Appaloosa horses for manufactured goods. They lived, in short, as many white families did. But given the prevailing racial attitudes of the time, there was really nothing they could do to win justice from the government.
There is a lot we can learn about this history that is relevant to the present day. For one thing, instead of demonizing people who look, love, or pray differently from us, perhaps we ought to consider whether there is anything we could learn from them. Here are a few of the things I’ve learned from reading about the historical figures who inspired Bone Necklace:
· Never repeat a lie.
· Never say goodbye.
· Never, ever, ever give up.
Can you share with us the most interesting story that you shared in your book?
I discovered so much remarkable history while researching this book, it’s hard to choose just one story! There’s Chief Joseph, who became known as “the Red Napoleon,” who was more surprised than anybody by his own military genius. He had never been considered a fighter, or even, as far as I can tell, participated in a fight. There was White Bird, who, after four months on the run, escaped to Canada, where he lived out the rest of his life in peace. But here’s another story that you might enjoy.
During the tribe’s 1,100 mile retreat through Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana, the Nez Perce traveled through Yellowstone Park. General William T. Sherman, who was Commanding General of the U.S. Army, happened to be vacationing in the park at the time. Sherman assured other tourists that they would be perfectly safe, then cut his own visit short. Days later, two parties of tourists were attacked. One tourist was forced to act as a guide for the fleeing Nez Perce while his sisters were taken captive. One of the sisters, who thought her husband had been killed, learned when she was released that he had survived the ordeal.
Historian Elliot West described the grimly comic reunion of the kidnapped woman and her grievously wounded husband:
Once the couple was reunited, exactly a month after she had last seen him, shot in the head and presumably dead, they quickly set off for medical treatment in Bozeman. On the way, the wagon flipped over a precipice, tossing [Mr.] Cowan and the others onto the road. In town, he was taken to a hotel, where, as a friend worked on his wounds, his bed collapsed with a great crash. This ‘nearly finished him,’ [Mrs. Cowan] recalled. [Mr.] Cowan reportedly called for an artillery strike to end his misery, but he was seemingly indestructible, and after some recuperation, the couple made their way home to Radersburg. Thus ended what was surely the worst vacation in American history.
What was the “aha moment” or series of events that made you decide to bring your message to the greater world? Can you share a story about that?
I started working on Bone Necklace after visiting the Big Hole Battlefield in Wisdom, Montana. I became interested in the Nez Perce story because of the great injustice that the tribe suffered. But what inspired the book was their conduct during the war. While under attack, the Nez Perce won the respect of a society in which prominent members were unapologetic racists. At the end of the war, Canada offered them political asylum.
The Big Hole Battlefield is, for me, a haunting place. The Nez Perce were attacked there at the crack of dawn on August 9, 1877. Heavy casualties were inflicted by both sides, but most of the Nez Perce casualties were women and children. In one lodge, two women were killed, and a newborn baby’s head was smashed on his mother’s breast. In another lodge, five children were shot at point-blank range. In another, a whole family was burned alive. A little girl had her teeth knocked out with the stock of a rifle. Some of the Nez Perce women, seeing their husbands and children killed, joined the fight.
The battlefield is now part of the Nez Perce National Historic Park, administered by the National Park Service. A footpath leads down to the Big Hole River, which is lined with tee-pee poles marking the places where the Nez Perce families were camped at the time of the attack. It is considered very sacred ground by the Nez Perce whose ancestors died and were buried there. I can’t really describe it except to say that, from the moment I first stood there, I have not been able to let this story go.
Without sharing specific names, can you tell us a story about a particular individual who was impacted or helped by your cause?
I once had the privilege of working alongside my husband for a client named Federico, who had been wrongfully convicted of a double homicide. While sitting on death row, Federico was diagnosed with both cancer and AIDS. At that point, even his family gave up on him. But we got his conviction reversed and Federico beat cancer. It turned out the AIDS diagnosis was a mistake. After Federico was released from prison, he lived with us for a while. I remember watching him ride a bicycle down a pretty country road in Virginia one day, and it just struck me how improbable it was, him being there, healthy and free and enjoying the sunshine. I will always remember that moment.
Are there three things the community/society/politicians can do to help you address the root of the problem you are trying to solve?
Be kind.
Be kind.
Be kind.
How do you define “Leadership”? Can you explain what you mean or give an example?
Leadership is about creating an environment in which each individual can achieve their best potential, then inspiring them to do it. My brother Jeff was one of the best leaders I ever met. He could talk anybody into anything. He somehow talked me into scuba diving, for example, which I still find so utterly terrifying that I sometimes cannot empty my lungs enough to sink. No problem though — Jeff gave me some weights, which I cheerfully put around my waist.
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why? Please share a story or example for each.
Only five? When I decided to write Bone Necklace, I didn’t know anything about being a writer. I loved the idea of it, but I struggled with the reality of it. I could write a whole book about all the things I did wrong. Maybe, someday, I will! In the meanwhile, here are a few of the things I wish I’d known:
1. I wish I’d had the comfort of knowing that I would, indeed, finish this novel. I gave up on it many times, sometimes for years at a time. Every time I gave up, it felt like a huge failure. But, in retrospect, those pauses turned out to be a critical part of the creative process. They allowed me to come back to the work with fresh eyes and new ideas. My process was, admittedly, extremely inefficient. From start to finish, Bone Necklace took me twenty-two years. Nevertheless, here we are!
2. Leaving a global law firm to write your debut novel doesn’t make much financial sense. I suppose I knew that, but I thought I’d only need six months. Hah!
3. I wish I’d known how lonely a writer’s life could be, and how important it was to connect with other writers. While we were filming the video trailer for Bone Necklace, I had the pleasure of meeting a young actor who is also an aspiring writer. He talked about books the way I think about books — plot, character arc, language, themes. He quoted Cormac McCarthy. He reminded me that, while writing can be a solitary task, there is a community out there, waiting to be found and nurtured.
4. I wish someone had said, “when you get critical feedback, don’t get depressed; get to work.” I received some lacerating comments on my early drafts. The most maddening thing was that the comments were, for the most part, spot on. I’d put the manuscript aside for a while. When I was ready, I’d start again, slowly, steadily making improvements.
5. The best way to overcome writer’s block? Go for a run. Seriously, it works! When I found myself really struggling with a scene, I’d put on my running shoes and keep going until I’d worked it out. (Needless to say, I wore out more than a few pairs of shoes).
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
I often say, when I’m about to try something I’m totally unqualified to do, “how hard can it be?” The answer, usually, is that it’s much, much harder than it looks. But I like to push myself beyond my comfort zone. It keeps life interesting, and I love the journey.
Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them.
That’s easy. Andy Borowitz. I just love him.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Please visit my website at www.juliasullivanauthor.com. Click on “About the Author” for links to my social media. Thanks!
This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success on your great work!
Social Impact Authors: How & Why Julia Sullivan of ‘Bone Necklace’ Is Helping To Change Our World was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.