Songs My Mother Taught Me follows three generations of a family navigating life’s challenges and transformations, offering readers an intimate glimpse into their lives. What was the inspiration for the set-up of your story?

This book has the same protagonist as my first novel, “Seven Blackbirds,” which can now be considered somewhat of a prequel; with “Songs,” I wanted to carry our heroine beyond the young adult finding-her-voice-and-coming-into-her-own stage, and into the afterward of established marriage and family life. I’ve accumulated so many heartbreaking stories of challenge and tragedy that hit families absolutely out of the blue in middle life, and I wanted to grapple with that painful, perennial question, “Why?” I wanted to create a story where heartbreak is resolved, and resolved even if you don’t figure out the “why.” 

What things do you find interesting about the human condition that make for great fiction?

In childhood, adversity shapes you, but in later life, you shapeit—you are in charge of how you receive, perceive, and respond to it. And that, in turn, is shaped by your childhood. So it goes full-circle, which is sometimes a negative thing and sometimes a positive one; and, if it’s negative, some people can break that pattern, and some can’t.

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

The different but equal ways women navigate life balance in the 21st century. The importance of extended family support despite our very American desire to be independent and geographically mobile. How we deal with grief when our loss leaves questions that can never be answered. That healing takes courage but pays dividends. That the wisdom of our elders and the songs of the earth are always there and it behooves us to listen.

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

My next book is about the teenage daughter in “Songs My Mother Taught Me,” who builds a career as an opera singer. It begins in late childhood so it overlaps somewhat in time with the previous book, because I thought that would be fun, like turning a kaleidoscope and seeing things from a different perspective. I write very slowly, and we’re just in the larval stage here, so eager readers will have to content themselves with the audiobook of “Songs,” which should come out in the Fall, and with my non-fiction humor collection “Eat Pray Drive,” actual pub date tbd but I surmise by the end of the year. You can take a peek at the fun cover on my website.

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