Marissa Higgins’s Sweetener Is Proof That the Sapphic Novel Has Never Been Messier—Or More Compelling

Tell me about the significance of the name Rebecca. Does it feel like—for lack of a better word—a queer name to you?

This is so embarrassing. I think Rebecca could be, or maybe is, a queer name, but it’s actually because of a book I read in high school, Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. I also had a huge crush on the lead in the 1940 adaptation of the book [Joan Fontaine]. I would come home from high school and watch this really old movie that’s in black and white, and I was also totally in love with with the Rebecca in the book—the mysterious, off-the-page character you never really get to see, who’s haunting the story.

What draws you to writing about unorthodox family arrangements and queer open relationships, specifically?

When I was a kid, I had this really weird idea that I was actually a vampire, and that my vampire family was going to come get me as soon as I was old enough. I think some of what I’m writing about stems from this idea of me experiencing something unconventional and [needing] to write about it. I made bad choices when I tried to live that, so it’s going to go into the art. I think I would write my weird books the same way, even if they never sold.

How did you decide to make Charlotte a scholar of Louise Bourgeois?

Oh my God, well, she’s my favorite artist. I saw one of her big spiders at Dia Beacon and that amazed me. I loved it. I had taken this weird online art history and sculpture class in college and we talked about her in that class, too, and I was just hooked. I wanted Charlotte to be a student of art history, and Louise felt like a good artist for her to just be consumed with.

Do you have other favorite books about queer family-making that helped you write this one?

There’s another Soft Skull book by Krys Malcolm Belc called The Natural Mother of the Child that was super cool and kind of used mixed media to include birth certificates and stuff; I interviewed Krys a while ago and thought he was super cool, and the book was so cool as well. Then there’s Detransition, Baby, of course.