The Belladonna Dozen follows twelve friends whose annual game of anonymous dares becomes deadly, forcing one to question how far loyalty, loneliness, and the need to belong can push ordinary people. What inspired the idea of the Draw, and when did you realize it could serve as the novel’s central game?

My inspiration for the Belladonnas and the Draw came from a White Elephant party I was invited to a few years ago, in a lakefront community where my husband and I had just purchased a home. A couple of the women asked when I was moving in, and when I mentioned that we intended for this home to be for weekends only, I admit there were a few hitched breaths. They didn’t want to hear that. 

I spent a few hours watching these women interact, listening to them share old stories, asking after each other’s family. While they were friendly to me, it was obvious how close they were and how much history they shared. I was the outsider. That gathering was the seed for the Draw and all the possibilities that could come from such a tight-knit group of friends. The Belladonna’s spite and bad behavior is solidly the product of my wild/overactive imagination.

Edie often rationalizes increasingly troubling behavior; how did you approach writing a narrator whose judgment gradually becomes shaped by the group around her?

It’s no secret female friendships can be tricky. There are all sorts of things that glue female relationships together, like similar personalities, hobbies, careers, and even motherhood. Edie comes from a rocky childhood where she had no stable parenting and moved constantly. As a result, she had no consistent friendships and no true understanding for how a close circle of friends operates. On the other hand, I grew up with the dearest of girl friends who I consider like sisters. I had fun turning what I know on its end and putting Edie in the space of someone who has no sense of how to behave among a dynamic group of women. 

When the Belladonnas first come together, their kids are their “social passports,” and other than motherhood, Edie knows she had nothing in common with the others. “Belonging” is everything to her, and the Belladonnas are her lifeline. She is so desperate to keep this connection that she justifies bad behavior on the pretense of “morality” and “following rules.” She has lost her individuality and identifies only as a member of this group.

The Belladonnas’ friendships contain genuine love alongside resentment, rivalry, and manipulation. What interested you most about exploring the darker side of decades-long female friendships?

Women, in general, are programmed to “play nice” when we first enter a group setting. We want to be accepted; we want to conform enough to be liked. When meeting other females for the first time, we’re taught to get along, to smile and applaud, to show interest, to support and agree, or to fake it if we don’t believe it.

But once women feel comfortable around each other, especially after spending three decades together like the Belladonnas, there’s a collective understanding that we can drop the façade—we have the green light to bitch and complain. When pretenses can be swept aside and we feel free to let out our dark side, that can be a bonding experience. It’s fun to gang up and back stab. It strengthens camaraderie. 

Motherhood, aging, and the loss or reinvention of identity are central to the novel. Why did you want to place those experiences at the heart of a psychological thriller?

Actually, the words that define a psychological thriller—guilt, secrets, paranoia, and mind games—are the very same words that plague women as we move from our thirties through our forties and fifties and into our sixties, constantly pivoting and evaluating who we are and how to reckon with new purpose.

Guilt: Am I parenting in the right way? Am I spoiling my kids too much? Am I paying enough attention to my husband? Volunteering for the right organizations? Working too little or too much? 

Secrets/Trust: Can I share my parenting/marital concerns with XYZ friend/group of women? Should I fess up to knowing something that might hurt someone? How can I use a certain bit of information to get ahead in my job or to give my kid a leg up? 

Paranoia: Is my husband still happy with me? Can I trust that my friends will keep my confidence if I share concerns with them? Is XYZ friend talking behind my back? 

Playing mind games: Where do I fit in? Women, whether we like to or not, are always jockeying for position in a group. Whether official or not, someone is the leader, the planner, the advice-giver, or the funny one everyone wants out for Happy Hour.  

Most women readers will relate to the normal themes of aging and reinvention the Belladonna Dozen romanticizes. Then, on top of that, this story evolves and sprinkles in a concept so naïve and wicked, the reader will bear witness to how far women will go—to belong.

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