For Those Who Save Us, you became very involved in book groups, appearing at hundreds of them in the Boston area alone. And your current book tour is pretty grueling. Wouldn't you really rather be at home, walking the dog or putting your feet up? What do you get out of these interactions?
I adore meeting readers. It's a great privilege. When you write, you do so in the
desperate hope that somebody, somewhere, somehow will read what you're writing,
and my readers have not only made that prayer come true--they're also kind
enough to want to hear me talk about what I've written! To me, this is unparalleled generosity,
and if readers can take time out of their busy lives to discuss my novels,
well, then, it's my pleasure.
For Those Who Save Us, I spoke to over 800 book clubs in the Boston area and dozens more by phone; I look forward to doing the same with The Stormchasers, this time adding the Skype dimension. I dearly miss my black Lab, Woodrow, when I am on the road. But I have plenty of time to walk him when I'm home and marinating an idea for another novel or a story.
You've already gotten great reviews for this book, partly based on the success of your last one. But Those Who Save Us became a best-seller the hard way. Can you tell us about that?
Yes, reviewers have been generous
with both novels, for which I am grateful. And I am eagerly anticipating more reviews for The Stormchasers. But you're right; Those Who Save Us didn't become a New York Times bestseller by reviews alone. The novel was blessedly well-received
when it came out in hardcover, yet it didn't make the Times list until two years after it came out in paperback--a
phenomenon that startled everyone, most of all me.
Usually, in order to become a Times bestseller, a book has to a) be an Oprah pick; b) be made into a movie; c) have serious publisher muscle behind it--as in, the publisher has decided this book is the breakout book of the decade. Those Who Save Us became a New York Times bestseller because I have really, really great readers. At every book club I went to, I said, "If you like this novel, please keep it alive by passing it on to one other person." And bless my readers, they did. Those Who Save Us is a totally reader-created phenomenon, which is just, I believe, how it should be.
Once you decided on the characters and setting, was the whole plot line figured out in advance or did it unfold of its own accord, surprising you along the way?
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