The Lockhart Women follows the lives of a mother and daughters as they navigate life post divorce. When things start falling apart the family must pull together to persevere. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?

Brenda Lockhart marries a postal worker, has her children early in life and is a stay at home mom. When the novel begins, she feels like she’s put all her eggs in the wrong basket but she doesn’t know how to change anything, until she’s forced to. I wondered what that would have been like. I chose a completely different path for my life. I was single until I was 36 and never had children. When I was in my late thirties (Brenda’s age) women would tell me they wished they’d waited to start a family, that they’d had a career, and had more fun before they settled down. They envied my freedom. Some even admitted they regretted having children. I was always puzzled by that. Everyone makes choices and has regrets.

Were you able to achieve everything you wanted with the characters in the novel?

I found it effective to tell this story from three viewpoints. It allowed me to show these women from different angles. I’m fascinated by how our self perception can be so radically different from how others see us. My characters are not always likable but they are very human. These women can be shallow, self-centered, reckless, foolish, and overly eager to please the wrong people. They keep secrets and they don’t always try to understand each other but they do love each other. They are a family and they eventually realize how important that is.

What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?

One of my favorite reviews called The Lockhart Women “a brilliant exploration of class, race and gender, conceptualized in the time of the OJ Simpson trial.” Women’s agency and lack of agency is a central theme to the novel. Brenda Lockhart believes looks are the key to a woman’s power and she is devastated when her husband leaves her for someone she considers much less attractive. Brenda’s never worked outside the home and now she needs to find a job.

Not unlike today, women in the nineties dealt with inherent workplace sexism. For example, the lead prosecutor in the OJ Simpson trial, Marcia Clark, was constantly criticized for her appearance by the media. Her short skirts, her perm and the worry about who was watching her children was discussed much more than her prosecutorial skills. Addiction to social media is another important theme. Brenda gets hooked on the Simpson trial. TV in the 90’s was changing. Helicopters started following car chases, Breaking News and Must See TV were new concepts. The Simpson trial was also our introduction to the Kardashian family.

Other themes in the book are entitled athletes (Simpson and Allison’s boyfriend) and domestic violence. The importance of family and friends is a central theme of The Lockhart Women. It takes a while for my characters to come around to this realization, but they eventually get there.

What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?

I’m working on a novel set in a more contemporary time period, 2017, in Huntington Beach, California. There are a lot more men in this novel, which is an interesting challenge for me. The publication date as of now is fall of 2023.

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