Last Alive follows an interconnected group of ordinary people whose lives are altered by one devastating accident. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

During a Google search I came across a lot of listings about roadside memorials. Most intriguing to me was that the location where the memorial is placed is called the ‘last alive’ spot, in other words, the last place where the person was alive. I thought this was fascinating. I always thought the memorial marked the place where the person died. Immediately, I had my title for the book—Last Alive. At that point, though, I didn’t have a story to go with it!

How do the different relationships in the novel show the ways people can support one another even when they don’t know exactly what to say or do, and what role does companionship play in helping the characters move through experiences they cannot change?

I was a marriage and gamily therapist before my retirement. I worked with a great many people who were facing loss. These losses were not only of a loved one or friend, but losses such as separation/divorce, loss of a job, losses that we experience at transition points in our lives, such as retirement. In Last Alive I tried to show that losses are best dealt with when there are others to support you. Each person in the story faced a different sort of loss, but all of them had someone to stand with them. The one exception was Calvin, who was an isolate facing loss alone. His life ended because of it.

I think we are more than individuals. We are persons in the context of our relationships. The quality of those relationships often determines how we make it through the most challenges losses and changes in our lives.

Objects and places accumulate emotional meaning throughout the novel. What interested you about using ordinary things as anchors for memory and grief?

I think the ordinariness of our lives often provides us with an anchor, something to count on, a routine that helps us make it through each day. I know that is the case for me. For example, several of my novels use my hometown, Ellwood City, Pa., as the setting. That is because that is where many of my most formative experiences occurred, the ones that shaped who I became as an adult. Often the smallest thing—a baseball field, a bridge, a favorite hang-out—holds within it a depth of meaning and experience that has shaped who we are in later life. These places are sacred space, in a sense, because they have such meaning.

What do you hope readers who have experienced grief, guilt, addiction, or family estrangement recognize in these characters?

I hope readers see characters living lives similar to their own. Lives with similar joys and travails. I hope by following the experiences of these characters, readers may see that grief, though terrible, is an inevitable part of our lives, and that with time and the supportive love of others, they can not only make it through the grieving process, but be strengthened by it, that loss often leads to unexpected healing and new beginnings. 

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