| July 29, 2010 Volume 51 Edition No. 30 |
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| Local novelist lets The Madwoman of Bethlehem speak | |||
| by Cheryl Hardcastle |
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 With August laid out before us, chances are you’re determined to get in a good read before summer’s end. For something different and enlightening and hard-to-put-down, The Madwoman of Bethlehem is recommended. Retired teacher Rosine Nimeh-Mailloux taught Writer’s Craft at Belle River High School. She says she always knew that one day she’d use the skills uncovered and explored in the classroom for her own book. “I knew that I’d weave fact and imagination … and the story of my aunt haunted me, it inspired The Madwoman of Bethlehem,” says Rosine, a Lakeshore resident who lives in the Puce area. The book uses the setting of Rosine’s homeland, Palestine, for this tale of an abused woman who finds refuge in a mental institution. The setting is masterfully used as a character itself. Rosine carefully shows us a microcosm of the middle east, bringing in all kinds of cultural attitudes, behavior and speech. She herself grew up in Bethlehem and Jerusalem and went on to teach in Hebron before heading to Arizona State University on a scholarship. Rosine taught high school with the former Essex County Public School Board for 28 years. She and husband Luc Mailloux raised two sons and now enjoy their grandchildren. Though her life is vastly different than it was growing up, it isn’t hard to conjure up scenes from the past and set them on paper. Shortly after retiring, in 2001 she self-published a collection of short stories, Mustard and Vinegar, about her homeland. “These details were easily available to me, they are vivid. It was difficult to have much of that aspect of the book edited out.” The Madwoman of Bethlehem is the product of five years of disciplined days spent at the computer. A sixth year was spent editing the book with publisher Second Story Press. It was released in October of 2008 and is currently available through Chapters and Indigo Books. Writing is not for the faint of heart,” Rosine chuckles, recollecting the editing process that reduced the original manuscript by a third. “Neither is the writing style I chose,” she adds. The Madwoman of Bethlehem used two different voices, that of the main character, Amal, and the author’s narrative. These alternate throughout the book with Amal speaking in the present while the past is revealed in the narrative voice. The method is effective in moving the story forward, letting it unfold naturally as the reader absorbs details of Amal’s life and cultural surroundings. “One voice the book would be dull in this case. I think this style made the book more informative and exciting in its own way,” Rosine notes. “This may be the story of one woman, but it’s the story of all women, taking place anywhere.” It explores the attitudes that exist about women being responsible -it’s the woman’s fault.” Within the tale of injustice, acceptance and forgiveness, there is another tone – comic relief– that sustains the reader in that world. “I present personal feelings, honesty about ideas that should or shouldn’t be in practise. Readers get it because of the story.” The painful yet beautifully detailed story of The Madwoman of Bethlehem give us a more intimate glimpse into the middle east, celebrates the unassuming power of the sisterhood and explores acceptance and forgiveness for those who make choices to stay weak. “I didn’t think of the reader, but rather telling a compelling story. Each day I would sit and reread what I had written the day before and then, I knew what would come next. I could hear conversations and see actions and I set about describing them… I became so disconnected from my surroundings that I didn’t even notice when my husband vacuumed the carpet around me,” Rosine says. It’s one of those books that makes you feel you’ve taken a journey and have come back wiser for it. 
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