Silver Lady follows a luxury houseboat pilot post-Great Collapse as she navigates downriver, her journey turning into something far beyond a delivery job. Where did the idea for this novel come from? 

I’ve often written about characters who are more courageous versions of myself. Like many, the pandemic made me feel claustrophobic and anxious. I thought about where I would go and what I would do, had I the means to escape the confines of my home. For a few years, I’d been thinking about taking a houseboat ride down the Mississippi river. My adult daughter—to this day—never leaves her home unless she’s wearing a mask. I wanted to show her how it would be possible to take a vacation even if society were collapsing at an alarming rate.

Cassie is an older protagonist whose strength comes from observation rather than heroics. What drew you to telling this story through her perspective?

Since Cassie’s world is full of the magical and dreamlike, I thought it important to make her as realistic as possible. Seeing the world she encounters through my eyes was a little easier for me to suspend disbelief than if I’d created a main character from scratch. I kept thinking about what it would be like if I was a houseboat captain and my probable reactions to others, as well as to the ever-shifting world. In many ways, writing this book was like controlled dreaming.

Despite the backdrop of societal collapse, the novel never feels entirely bleak. How important was it for you to leave room for beauty, kindness, and wonder amid the uncertainty?

Through most of my life’s difficulties, I’ve always been an optimist. Seeing beauty and kindness, and feeling a sense of awe or wonder, is as natural for me as breathing. Not always, but most of the time.

If readers finish Silver Lady carrying one idea or emotion with them, what do you hope lingers after they reach the final page? 

Hope! My message for readers is to not give up on life, even when feeling out of control and like the nightmarish aspects of life are getting the upper hand. I’ve just finished writing a sequel about Cassie’s return trip upstream. Its message will be a little different, but Cassie will still be at the helm!

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