Just One Thing with Audrey Jiggetts

Audrey Jiggetts’s story “Mère Supérieure” holds up vengeance and love to the winter light of a French beach town. Here, she shares just one thing about the piece: 

I took French for six years, jumping between Quebecois French in middle school to France French for high school and a bit of college. It’s sadly been about two years since I dabbled, but for a while I dreamed of being a French major. I’d still like to go to France, or at least somewhere where I can see French on signs. I nearly squealed at the Ireland airport. Did you know French is one of the most common languages learned in school there?

I think what it all comes down to, for me, is communication with others. That’s what I’m trying to get at, through learning other languages or studying English in school or writing odd fiction like this. I want to connect with others and understand why healthy connections cannot always be forged, and sometimes the best way to do that is writing a story where there are language barriers, both literally and metaphorically. 

Don’t take me too seriously though. This is all retroactive thinking of why I do what I do. The real truth is that I thought of a little opening line about a sexist guy murdering a nun and got itchy to use my French, and then I got my computer out and had a lot of fun.