Interview

Sharon Guskin discusses the real-life research into reincarnation that inspired her first novel, the Forgetting Time

Sharon Guskin's debut novel is The Forgetting Time (Flatiron Books). In addition to writing fiction, she has worked as a writer and producer of documentary films, including Stolen and On Meditation. She's been a fellow at Yaddo, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Blue Mountain Center and Ragdale, and has degrees from Yale University and the Columbia University School of the Arts. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two sons.


How did you get interested in the subject of past lives? Are you a believer?

I became very curious about past and future lives when I worked at a refugee camp in Thailand as a young woman. For many of my Lao and Cambodian students, this wasn't just a concept; it was reality. When we said our goodbyes, they called out, "See you next life," and I remember that phrase really stuck with me at that poignant moment: they weren't (entirely) joking.

Years later, when my children were very young, I was working as a hospice volunteer; the question of what happens when you die was especially pressing to these patients, of course. Around this time I stumbled across a book called Old Souls, which...