Bret Anthony Johnston's new book reimagines Waco
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The compound outside Waco burned to the ground during the 1993 raid. Photo: Greg Smith/Corbis via Getty Images
A Branch-Davidian-like standoff with federal authorities outside Waco makes for an unexpected backdrop to a new, gripping, ingenious novel about star-crossed teenagers.
Why it matters: The crisis in Waco has long horrified and fascinated the public, but it now has been reimagined in the new book by acclaimed Austin writer Bret Anthony Johnston that zeroes in on the everyday lives of a few characters inside and outside the compound.
Driving the news: "We Burn Daylight," which takes its title from a line in Romeo and Juliet, comes out Tuesday.
- Set in 1993, its chief narrators are Roy, the son of the McLennan County Sheriff, and Jaye, whose mother brought her from California to live at the compound of Perry Cullen, aka The Lamb, a stand-in for David Koresh.
- Much of the action takes place in a slow burn before a showdown with authorities. The real-life shootout, standoff and subsequent fire led to the deaths of four federal agents and 76 Branch Davidians.
We spoke with Johnston, who is director of the University of Texas Michener Center for Writers, about the book.
The following has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Tell me about the genesis of the novel.
"I had learned that people who lived at the Branch Davidian compound worked in Waco and the people who worked beside them didn't know what their home life was until after the tragedy happened. That really made an impression on me.
- "I wondered what that would be like, and my imagination led me toward Roy, and I was imagining that there's a new girl in school and he kind of falls for her, and doesn't realize she's being groomed in this religious sect. Ultimately in the book she doesn't even go to his school, they meet at a gun show. But that star-crossed lovers thing actually emerged after countless drafts of the book."
Where were you in 1993?
"I was in Corpus Christi, Texas. Taking classes at Del Mar community college, and watched it play out on my parents' television."
Do you think this is a distinctly Texas story?
"It could only happen in Texas at that time. I mean, the actual events did happen here. I think that has to do with Texas' relationship with religion and to firearms — and there's so much space here, for something like this to happen here."
I saw in the acknowledgments your note about your manuscript getting stolen. What happened?
"It was horrible. My buddy and I were on a skate trip in Houston, probably about 2016, we stopped for lunch, we came out and the car had been busted, and I remember so clearly, walking up to car, and what looked like diamonds were on the ground. And then I looked up and saw the window was broken. They just took the backpack, they didn't take the skateboards.
- "I'm not very good with technology, and I didn't know how to log into the cloud, and I lost all of the novel, and it was completely, completely devastating. But it had a galvanizing effect, about how much this book and these characters meant to me. If I was going to quit on this book, that would have been the time to do it. But I was too curious about their lives."
What's next: Johnston is set to appear at a free event Sept. 9 at Austin's Book People.
- He also has Texas events scheduled for Aug. 1 at Brazos Bookstore in Houston and Aug. 3. at Interbang Books in Dallas in conversation with Ben Fountain.