Introduction by Melissa Amster
We're pleased to have Susan Meissner back at CLC today, to celebrate the publication of her latest historical fiction novel,
A Map to Paradise! I have been a fan of Susan's writing for quite some time and I enjoyed this story. I will be reviewing it soon, but you can see my initial thoughts at my
Bookstagram. This interview was a lot of fun and I enjoyed Susan's answers to my questions. She mentioned a song that I used in my Bookstagram post (which you can hear on the app). We also have similar taste in TV shows, as evidenced by her answer to my last question. I hope you will enjoy getting to know her better!
Susan Meissner is the critically-acclaimed author of 27 novels for adults and two children’s books. Her engaging novels feature memorable characters facing unique and complex circumstances, often against a backdrop of historical significance. A multi-award-winning author, her books have earned starred reviews in Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and Booklist. More than a million of her books are in the hands of readers worldwide.
She was born and raised in San Diego, California, but spent some of her adult life living in Minnesota as well as in England and Germany, before returning home to southern California in 2007. Susan attended Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego.
Prior to her writing career, she was a managing editor of a weekly newspaper in southwestern Minnesota. She enjoys teaching workshops on writing, spending time with her family, reading great books and traveling. Susan now makes her home in the Pacific Northwest with her husband Bob (a retired chaplain in the Air Force Reserves) and their yellow lab, Winston. (Bio courtesy of Susan's website.)
1956, Malibu, California: Something is not right on Paradise Circle.
With her name on the Hollywood blacklist and her life on hold, starlet Melanie Cole has little choice in company. There is her next-door neighbor, Elwood, but the screenwriter’s agoraphobia allows for just short chats through open windows. He’s her sole confidante, though, as she and her housekeeper, Eva, an immigrant from war-torn Europe, rarely make conversation.
Then one early morning Melanie and Eva spot Elwood’s sister-in-law and caretaker, June, digging in his beloved rose garden. After that they don’t see Elwood at all anymore. Where could a man who never leaves the house possibly have gone?
As they try to find out if something has happened to him, unexpected secrets are revealed among all three women, leading to an alliance that seems the only way for any of them to hold on to what they can still call their own. But it’s a fragile pact and one little spark could send it all up in smoke… (Courtesy of Penguin Random House.)
“A beautiful journey that explores the price of choices made in the heat of the moment, the importance of second chances, and the power of finding a place to belong.”
– Lisa Wingate, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Lost Friends
" A tale both tender and touching, about three complex and damaged women who despite their outward differences are all searching for that elusive thing called a home."
– Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Briar Club
What is one thing you would tell the debut novelist version of yourself?
Don't be alarmed if it gets harder to write the book rather than easier the longer you stay with this gig. Some pursuits do get easier the more effort you put in to them, like a swimmer who can't swim a mile when they first start out trying will eventually be able to crush that mile with no trouble at all if they keep at it. But whether it’s your first book or your twentieth, you’re still going to begin with the same blank page and a whole lot of nothing after it. You're going to raise the bar every time you begin a new book which means you will expect more from yourself than you did the last time. So it only makes sense that you will find it more difficult to pull off the next novel you write. That's OK. You're not losing your groove or your edge. You’re becoming a better writer and, to quote The Mandalorian—which is a Star Wars TV series that isn’t out yet, 2004 me—this is the way.
What is something you learned from writing your previous novels that you applied to A Map to Paradise?
I do a ton of research before I begin to write and while I’m writing but I have learned over the course of writing fifteen works of historical fiction that I won’t use it all and I shouldn’t expect to use it all. Some of the facts I learn are just to give me breadth of context so that I can write the story but that doesn't mean all those details need to show up on the page. It's a balancing act to know what historical detail to put in and what to leave out. Most readers hate an info dump; I know I do. I also know that I’m not always sure what will end up on the page as I’m researching, so I shop for it all. I fill my virtual store of knowledge with everything that seems relevant and then as I'm writing I only take from the shelves in that virtual store what I truly need to write the book. There will be things left off on the shelves when I am done.
If A Map to Paradise was made into a movie, what songs would be on the soundtrack?
This book is set in Malibu in 1956, so the perfect songs would be all the chart-toppers that Southern Californians were all listening to on their radios and Hi-Fi’s then. Songs like these: “Love Me Tender” and “Don’t Be Cruel” by Elvis Presley, “The Great Pretender” and “My Prayer” by The Platters, “Why Do Fools Fall in Love?” by Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers, “Blue Suede Shoes” by Carl Perkins, and “In the Still of the Night” by The Five Satins
What is your favorite film from the era during which this novel takes place?
Three films that I LOVE that were released 1956 (and also went on to be nominated for Oscars in 1957) were The King and I (“etcetera, etcetera, etcetera!”), Oklahoma! and Giant. I’m a sucker for musicals so both The King and I and Oklahoma! are right up there, but Giant is probably tops from the era that my book is set. Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, and James Dean are hard to beat. This was also James Dean’s final role before his tragic death. It’s the story of a wealthy Texas ranching family and what happens when an oil well transforms their cattle empire—and pretty much everything else. There is also a love triangle to keep it interesting!
If your life was a TV series, which celebrity would you want to narrate it?
What a fun question. I would say Helen Hunt. I’ve always liked her easy style and her voice is kind of like mine. I loved her in Cast Away and As Good As It Gets and the TV series Mad About You.
What is something you had a good laugh about recently?
My husband and I started streaming Resident Alien a few months ago, laughed our way through seasons one and two and started season three last night. We were crying-laughing on the couch. Our dog was actually worried for us. It’s good to laugh, though, isn’t it? It’s a hard world and sometimes a scf-fi comedy is just what you need to lighten the load.
Thanks to Susan for chatting with us and to Berkley for coordinating the interview. Enter to win a copy of A Map to Paradise by this Friday (along with three other books)! US only.
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