Foodie Lit
Nancy McCabe. Vaulting Through Time
Author of 9 previously published books, Nancy McCabe is a mother of an adopted daughter who is a gymnast. First-hand knowledge gives Nancy an edge in her development of characters who are gymnasts and adopted daughters. She also poignantly presents the deep love of mothers for their children, whether they are birth or adopting mothers.
Nancy told me, “Becoming a parent is so transformative, and before I became a mom, in my case through adoption, I knew that on an intellectual level. But I think many of us are surprised at how unpredictably parenthood transforms us on a visceral level. I knew that I would feel the same whether I gave birth to a child or adopted her, but like most parents I was taken by surprise at just how staggeringly powerful that love is…. As for the birth mothers, I've read a lot of narratives by mothers who chose to or were forced to relinquish children and there is often a much greater sense of attachment and loss than we have typically recognized. I wanted to honor those complex feelings as well.”
Nancy originally began writing this novel as a realistic contemporary story about a gymnast. Setting the novel aside, when she returned to its writing, she decided to incorporate the story of gymnasts in a time-travel framework. Her main character, adoptive daughter Elizabeth Arlington an aspiring gymnast, searches for her birth mother, an Olympic level gymnast to understand the circumstances under which she was adopted. This search takes Elizabeth back to 1929 and to many Olympic games where she watches gymnasts competing while chasing clues about her birth and adoption.
Time travel allows for humor, a modern view of time’s past and the development of the characters themselves. Vaulting Through Time is a story which flows along the narration of gymnastics and time travel; at the same time, the story develops definitions of motherhood: who is a mother, who can be a mother and the importance of motherhood to the mother herself and to her child.
Nancy explores the changing roles of women from 1929 until today. She told me, “I wanted to explore those changing roles of women throughout the story—something we also see in the changing expectations toward female gymnasts--and the tensions we still navigate between love and work, parenthood and our other dreams.” Especially in years past, motherhood both lifted and restricted women. Nancy shows this through time-travel as her female characters travel to 1929. She delighted in having her women be creative at the same time as being mothers. Her women were those “whose talents have been suppressed in service of being wives and mothers, and I had fun finding ways for both of them to break out of that at least in subtle ways and find fulfillment in both their families and their other talents.”
Unplanned pregnancy and single motherhood occur to several characters in Vaulting Through Time. I asked Nancy how social views have changed towards single mothers over the decades.
“In writing about unplanned pregnancies and single motherhood, I was powerfully aware of the contrast between me and a female relative who gave birth out of wedlock sixty years before I became a parent. I don't know the whole story; it was kept a secret by the family and to this day it is not directly acknowledged or discussed…. When I brought home my daughter with absolutely no social stigma about me being a single mom and this [same] relative showered us with gifts, I felt that there was an unspoken relief about how much the world had changed.”
Complex family ties, tension about changing history and humor through surprises for time-traveler Elizabeth in clothing, daily language and food. Although gymnasts are encouraged to eat lean, comfort food always had and has a place on the table.
Elizabeth enjoys pancakes for breakfast with her family in the 1920’s. I love pancakes for dinner as well. Here is a small yield and bulk recipe for pancakes. A bulk recipe with dry ingredients saves time for busy families and put into Ball Jars, make a fabulous gift for family and friends.