02-26-2023 Harford Magazine - Flipbook - Page 17
“CobRa,” a woman suffering a midlife crisis becomes obsessed
with the consultant Marie Kondo’s decluttering principles, to
her family’s dismay.
The latter story begins: “William had begun to worry that
he no longer sparked joy in his wife and that she would give
him to Goodwill.”
Beneath the stories’ light and comic surface, they have
surprising depths — not unlike the novelist herself.
Heiny and her husband, Ian McCredie, moved to their former summer home in Havre de Grace full time in 2019 after
having lived abroad for years with their two sons. A career
spy for British intelligence agency MI6, McCredie was posted
in New York, London and the Netherlands with his family. In
the late 1990s, when his identity was exposed by a disgruntled
employee, the family moved to Bethesda.
A spy and a writer might seem an unlikely match. The former’s life depends on keeping secrets, while writers often have
a compulsion to spill all.
“We don’t make a lot of sense as a couple on paper,” Heiny
acknowledged. “But Ian is still my favorite person to spend
time with. He’s very funny and he helps me work out plot
problems.”
Compromises must occasionally be made, of course.
“Ian won’t let me have Alexa or Siri in the house,” she said.
But at their core, both are professional snoops. Heiny says
she gets her best ideas from random snatches of conversation
overheard while taking her son for his driving test or walking
the family pet.
“Just before the pandemic,” Heiny said, “I was at the dog
park and I overheard another man give his dog a 10-minute
warning before it was time to go home. It was said without the
slightest trace of playfulness or irony.
“That made me so happy I couldn’t wait to get back to my
desk and start writing.”
“Games and
Rituals,” a book by
Katherine Heiny,
will be released
this spring.
Live local.
Bank local.
“Community is our Strength”
Visit a branch near you
for personal or business
banking. Find us in:
Aberdeen, Abingdon,
Bel Air, Elkton, Havre de
Grace, Hickory, Jarrettsville
and Joppa.
HarfordBank.com | 410-272-5000
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#growingupbygivingback
harfordmagazine.com | Spring 2023 |
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