Getting to know Susannah Marren...plus a book giveaway

We're excited to have Susannah Marren at CLC today to celebrate the recent publication of her latest novel, A Palm Beach Wife. Thanks to St. Martin's Press, we have FIVE copies to give away! (And isn't the cover gorgeous?!?)

Susannah Marren is the author of Between the Tides and A Palm Beach Wife and a pseudonym for Susan Shapiro Barash, who has written thirteen nonfiction books including Tripping the Prom Queen and Toxic Friends. She lives in New York City and teaches gender studies in the Writing Department at Marymount Manhattan College.

Visit Susannah online:
Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram

Synopsis:
Amid the glamour and galas and parties of Palm Beach, Faith knows that image often counts as much if not more than reality. She glides effortlessly among the highest of the high society so perfectly that you would never suspect she wasn’t born to this. But it wasn’t always so; though she hides it well, Faith has fought hard for the wonderful life she has, for her loving, successful husband, for her daughter’s future.

In this town of secrets and gossip and rumors, Faith has kept a desperate grip on everything she holds so dear, built from so little. And yet even she—the only one who knows just how far she has to fall—never suspects from which direction, or how many directions all at once, betrayal will come. (Courtesy of Amazon.)


What did you learn from writing Between the Tides that you applied to A Palm Beach Wife?
When I wrote Between the Tides, I knew it would be a female driven story, one where I understood the protagonists so well that I could almost conjure them up. I was keenly aware of their hopes and desires from the start. I also knew the ending of Between the Tides when I had only written a few pages. This was applicable to A Palm Beach Wife too – I knew from the start how it would end and I was involved with the characters from the very beginning. And because I have published nonfiction books (under my real name), these topics fueled both Between the Tides and A Palm Beach Wife. The themes include how women truly feel as mothers, wives, daughters, friends, mothers in law and daughters in law, colleagues. What is the price of these roles and what is loyalty to oneself? In both novels, the place becomes almost a character in the story. Palm Beach plays a big part in how this novel unfolds.

I am intrigued with how a woman who is put to the test and faced with great changes in her life will react—a woman in survival mode. This applies to both Between the Tides and A Palm Beach Wife.

What is one piece of advice you'd like to share with aspiring authors?
I would advise aspiring authors to never give up and to write as much as possible. Also as a writer it is important to constantly read a variety of writers and styles. If one is able to find a writing workshop or form a writing group, it is useful and makes one feel less isolated. Any community of writers helps and provides a method of support and encouragement.

If A Palm Beach Wife were made into a movie, who would you cast in the lead roles?
What an interesting question because the characters are so vivid to me. I would cast Amy Adams as Faith and Zoey Deutch as Katherine. I would cast Lily James as Diana and Susan Sarandon as Mrs. A.

Where did you go for your last vacation and what was the most memorable part of it?
My last vacation was in Los Angeles this past Christmas. I was there with family and it was memorable for that alone. The weather was cooler and windier than I had expected, a trip to the Getty Museum was quite extraordinary and since we were by the beach, we walked along the water every day.

What is your go-to breakfast item?
I would always opt for cold cereal with organic whole milk, blueberries and cashew nuts. And a tall glass of ice water. I once read that it is very important to drink a big glass of water as soon as one gets up in the morning. If I had more time, I’d opt for whole wheat pancakes with pecans and rasberries, and at a restaurant I always look for this sort of dish on the breakfast menu.

If you could have lunch with any three celebrities (living or dead), who would you choose?
I would love to be at lunch with Kate Chopin who wrote The Awakening. I would ask her all about Edna Pontellier, her main character, and how she imagined her. I’d ask Daphne Du Maurier to join us to discuss her novels Rebecca and Don’t Look Now and what influenced these gothic works. The third guest would be Louisa May Alcott, to talk about how Little Women, an American classic, has a heroine who resists traditional roles and behaviors of the time.

Thanks to Susannah for visiting with us and St. Martin's Press for sharing her book with our readers.

How to win: Use Rafflecopter to enter the giveaway. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us. If you have trouble using Rafflecopter on our blog, enter the giveaway here. 

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Giveaway ends April 16th at midnight EST.