Badstubner finds hope among grief and ghosts

Houses have a way of holding on to memories. The laughter that once filled a kitchen, the conversations behind closed doors and the lives that unfolded within their walls can make a place feel like much more than wood and brick.

For author Tara Badstubner, that idea is at the heart of her debut novel, “Every Room Remembers,” a story of grief, complicated love and the possibility of beginning again, set against the historic charm of Beaufort.

The novel follows S.J., an interior designer struggling with the death of her husband, Wyatt, and the unfinished business of their marriage. Their relationship was filled with love, but also disappointments, conflicting dreams and things left unsaid.

Rather than romanticize their marriage after Wyatt’s death, Badstubner allows readers to see both its tenderness and its imperfections.

“I don’t think we do a real service to the dead when we decide to gloss them over in this sort of like perfect memory of them,” she said.

For Badstubner, remembering someone honestly, including their flaws, is a more meaningful tribute than turning them into an idealized version of themselves.

As S.J. navigates her grief, Osprey House, a historic Beaufort property, becomes central to her journey. The house carries its own history and mysteries, offering a parallel between restoring an old home and rebuilding a life that no longer looks the way it once did.

And in “Every Room Remembers,” the past isn’t always content to remain quietly in the past.

The novel blends the emotional realities of loss with a ghost story, weaving moments of mystery and unease into S.J.’s attempts to find her footing.

The supernatural elements were inspired, in part, by Badstubner’s own unusual experience during a writers’ retreat in upstate New York.

While staying in an old mansion with a small group of women, she recalled hearing heavy footsteps overhead, followed by what sounded like furniture being dragged across a room.

The unexplained noises sparked her imagination.

But the novel’s exploration of grief came from a more personal place.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Badstubner found herself struggling with anxiety over the widespread loss and devastation. Her writing mentor, author Kate Moses, encouraged her to channel those feelings into fiction.

Writing through a fictional character allowed Badstubner to explore difficult emotions from a safer distance.

“I wanted to take as close to an unflinching look at it as I could,” she said.

That honesty gives the novel much of its emotional weight. S.J.’s grief doesn’t disappear because she finds something to laugh about or enjoys an afternoon with friends. Instead, small pleasures and moments of connection gradually find their way back into her life alongside the sadness.

“Laughter and grief happen simultaneously,” Badstubner said.

Beaufort provides more than a picturesque setting for that journey.

Badstubner’s parents live in the city, and she has long been drawn to its historic homes, architecture and rich cultural history. She was particularly interested in the idea that houses can absorb something of the people who have lived in them.

“I feel like home can be a real refuge,” she said.

That fascination helps give Osprey House a presence of its own, a place where the physical work of restoration reflects S.J.’s struggle to make peace with her past.

Badstubner, who describes herself as a late bloomer in publishing, spent years writing privately before finding her way to her first published novel. She has another manuscript in progress.

With “Every Room Remembers,” she has created a story that doesn’t promise grief can be neatly resolved or that moving forward requires leaving everything behind.

Instead, the novel makes room for the possibility that love, sorrow, laughter and hope can all inhabit the same space.