Bindu Suresh on Her Gorgeous Debut Novel, 26 Knots, a Love Letter to Montreal

26 Knots (Invisible Publishing) by Bindu Suresh is one of those debuts that you just can't miss. Full of complicated romantic situations with many more sides than a mere triangle, and set against a backdrop of lushly rendered Montreal, it is the sultry, smart, emotionally complex summer book you need - arriving just as the sunshine does. Claudia Dey called the novel "propulsive, taut... a lightspeed Romeo and Juliet, a billet doux to Montreal."

We are incredibly excited to welcome Bindu to Open Book to tell us about 26 Knots through our Long Story novel interview. She talks about folding her experiences as a journalist in Montreal into her characters' lives, how she wrote the book as a reporter and then, ten years later, edited it as a doctor (and what that changed), and the sweetly romantic story behind the novel's dedication.

Open Book:

Do you remember how you first started this novel or the very first bit of writing you did for it?

Bindu Suresh:

Yes – I started with the first page! I had briefly been a general assignment reporter at the Montreal Gazette, and so many of the stories I sent my journalist-characters to were ones I had covered myself. (The fire where Adrien and Araceli meet on the first page of the novel, for example, is based on my article, ‘Four injured fighting blaze,’ that appeared in the Gazette on June 18, 2003.) At the fire that day, I remember thinking it would make for a great fictional first-meeting scenario!

OB:

How did you choose the setting of your novel? What connection, if any, did you have to the setting when you began writing?

BS:

I very intentionally chose – and showcased, even – Montreal as the setting of the novel. I had just moved to the city, in the summertime at the age of 20 (both ideal conditions in which to fall in love with Montreal!) and immediately adored the place, so I resolved early on that Montreal would figure prominently in the telling of this story.

OB:

Did you find yourself having a "favourite" amongst your characters? If so, who was it and why?

BS:

Yes – Araceli. Her approach to love was very much like mine in my early 20s, when I started writing this book. She’s idealistic, Romantic, and as committed to the idea of love as to the individual she is in love with. I felt a lot of sympathetic nostalgia when creating her character.

OB:

If you had to describe your book in one sentence, what would you say?

BS:

26 Knots is a short novel of episodic, poetic prose that tells the story of four Montrealers who variably succeed and fail at loving one another until larger, older entanglements shockingly intervene.

OB:

Did you do any specific research for this novel? Tell us a bit about that process.

BS:

I did tiny bits of very specific research throughout – as a perfectionist, it was important to me that all of the details be as correct as possible. I contacted a local police station to discuss how the remains of car crash victims are identified (in retrospect, that must have seemed pretty suspicious); I even cold-called a scuba-diving instructor to ensure that the dive parameters used by one of my characters were reasonable. I also inadvertently did a ‘medical edit’ of the novel when I re-read it after ten years of medical training; I had written it as a journalist and edited it as a doctor, and realized that the former’s medical assumptions were mostly incorrect. So, I suppose medical school was also research of a sort!

OB:

What was the strangest or most memorable moment or experience during the writing process for you?

BS:

I took a nearly ten-year hiatus from writing this novel from 2008 to 2018, to go to medical school and then do specialty training in pediatrics. Returning to the manuscript after such a long time was surreal – the voice was still mine, but not; I recognized every line and phrase but had the freshest of eyes for the editorial work that was now ahead of me. It was like opening a perfect ten-year time capsule.

OB:

Who did you dedicate your novel to, and why?

BS:

I dedicated the novel to my husband, Andrew. While I had already written it in its entirety before even meeting him, the editing period for the book coincided with my being home with our 9-month-old infant. He spent countless hours single-parenting her while I sat at the dining room table with noise-cancelling headphones on, working over various drafts. The dedication is a reflection of my gratitude to him.

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A former journalist and current paediatrician, Bindu Suresh is the author of short stories that have appeared in various literary publications. She studied literature at Columbia University and medicine at McGill University. Born in Wales, she grew up in Canada and has spent equal parts of her life in Saskatchewan, Alberta, Ontario, and Quebec. She currently lives in Montreal.