Joyce: Welcome to HEA, Deb! Please tell us a bit about your new release, What’s Become of Her.
Deb: What’s Become of Her begins when the charismatic, brooding Henry North steps out of a seaplane and meets the kind and compassionate Isabelle Austin. Isabelle’s difficult, intense mother has recently died, and Isabelle has just returned to Parrish Island to take over the family’s small airline business. After Henry arrives, though, she’s swept up into an intense romance, one that grows increasingly disturbing after she discovers that Henry has two missing women in his past. But when Isabelle begins to receive eerie packages from Professor M. Weary, crow researcher and Henry stalker, who lives on an island on the other side of the world, the danger ramps up, and so does the question: Who is the predator and who is the prey? What’s Become of Her is about coming to grips with the weight of the past, and summoning the power of our own anger. It’s is a dark and twisty page-turner with a surprise ending, set in both the windswept Northwest, and in the jungles of New Caledonia.
Joyce: What inspires your book ideas?
Deb: Every time I begin a book, I ask myself what is on my mind, what is bothering me, what I might want to think more about or understand better. I believe that if you don’t make a personal and deep connection to what you’re writing, your readers won’t either. And what was on my mind prior to What’s Become of Her was anger — my own relationship to it. Like Isabelle in the book, I’d had adults in my childhood whose anger had been large, and like Isabelle, I had grown into someone who stepped carefully around others’ aggression and my own. Anger is scary! I didn’t understand it at all, and yet it seemed like it could be a helpful and beautiful thing, too. How could I, or Isabelle, make sense of anger, and wield it? How could we embrace it as a part of the self-protective arsenal given to all humans and animals? These were the questions that inspired the book. And let me tell you, writing about anger and fury and wrath felt AWESOME.
My own setting also inspired this book. I’d recently moved from a busy Seattle neighborhood to a quiet one next to Lake Washington. We live in a house that is nearly all glass in the front (like Henry’s in the novel), which faces out to the lake and the big sky. And just like in the opening scene of the book, every morning at sunrise and every evening at sunset, a massive, massive wave of crows passes by. Sometimes they are down low near the lake, and sometimes right overhead, and sometimes they make a racket, and sometimes there is only the quiet puff of wings. And, just like in the book, too, they coincide with the arrivals and departures of the seaplanes. I wanted to learn more about those crows. I wanted to know about their lives, and to think more about flight in general. I wanted to share with my readers the mystery and awe of their mass commute. It’s such a creepy but majestic sight.
Joyce: Is there anything strange or interesting that’s happened to you while doing research for a book?
Deb: I love doing research for a book, because it’s always a great excuse to just learn about a lot of fascinating stuff. And something strange or interesting always happens, I swear. Usually, I find some bit of information that fits a story perfectly, or provides the solution to the writing tangle I’m in.
The research I did for
What’s Become of Her was all incredibly interesting. After learning so much about the crows — how smart they are, and how they can hold a grudge for years, remembering your face and passing on information about you to their offspring — I was much friendlier to crows than I’d been before. My neighbors might have been witness to some embarrassing and nervous kissing-up I did when I’d see the resident crows hanging out on the electrical wires. But the most fun and interesting thing I did regarding the research for this book was the seaplane trip I took, thanks to my son. I hadn’t been on a seaplane in years, but given that they feature so prominently in the book, and given the fact that we see the planes every morning and night, Nick decided it was time for me to go again, and he arranged for an excursion. I had a blast! And I learned a lot about my characters. It rivaled the time I took a terrifying but glorious leap off a mountain in a paraglider for my book
Honey, Baby, Sweetheart. (You can
read about that here.)
Joyce: What do you do when you get stuck?
Deb: I walk around, pour another cup of coffee, eat a brownie. Sometimes, the knot in your mind just needs loosening, and music can loosen it, and so can a shower or exercise or sleep. Then, the solution appears like a little present.
Joyce: Would you like to share a favorite moment from your writing career?
Deb: After 15 books, I’ve had so many favorite moments. Being a finalist for the National Book Awards was one, being a judge for the same awards was another. Seeing my book in a library for the first time — ah! But most of my most cherished moments have come from the letters and e-mails readers have sent. I’ve received some incredible ones recently from readers of He’s Gone, from women who’ve experienced many of the same events in the book. One woman told me that the book allowed her to finally put into perspective and set down the guilt of those events in her life from 40 years ago. These messages mean so much to me.
Joyce: What’s your favorite snack and/or beverage while you’re writing?
Deb: Easy! Walker’s shortbread cookies and a strong cup of coffee.
Joyce: What’s your ideal scenery while you’re writing?
Deb: The scenery right outside my windows. It is an ever-changing show out there, from storm clouds and lightning, to eagles and blue-blue-blue and boats of every kind. The moody Northwest is on perpetual display out my windows — fog and windstorms and the sherbet colors of sunset. I never fail to feel the wonder.
Joyce: What do you do in your spare time?
Deb: I read, hike, go to the beach or the nearest dock to get my head straight. I swim, run and annoy my kids and my husband. I don’t have time to paint anymore, so now I take photos for my non-work creative fun. I love science and nature shows; also — documentaries, stand-up comedy and true crime. I listen to music and hunt around for great new stuff to listen to, and I troll the aisles of the library and my closest bookstore, gathering beautiful stacks of books to feast on. I read, read, read. Basically — I feed my endless curiosity.
Joyce: What are you working on now?
Deb: I’m finishing up my Young Adult novel for 2018, still untitled. It’s about a young woman who survives the aftermath of a violent act by running across the country. Supported by her “team” — her superstitious but devoted Italian family, her science-loving little brother, her two best friends and a dreadlocked boy and his hippie grandma — she faces the guilt and trauma of the tragedy and, in the process, rises into the unexpected role of activist.