Interview w/Jane
Green
ABOUT JANE;
Jane Green writes a
daily blog and contributes to various publications including Huffington Post, The Sunday Times, Wowowow, and Self. A foodie and
passionate cook, most weekends see her cooking for guests in her home in
Westport, Connecticut, where she lives with her husband and their six children.
What people
are saying about Family Pictures;
Kirkus Reviews-"Riddled with coincidences and unlikely secrets, Green's latest still manages to explore complex family dynamics with warmth. An inverted fairy tale in which the happily-ever-after occurs without the prince."
Kirkus Reviews-"Riddled with coincidences and unlikely secrets, Green's latest still manages to explore complex family dynamics with warmth. An inverted fairy tale in which the happily-ever-after occurs without the prince."
Library Journal-"This gripping story is ultimately one of redemption. Green's many fans won't be disappointed, and this would an excellent choice for readers who enjoy the fiction of Jennifer Weiner or Marian Keyes"
Jane, welcome to my blog.
Tell us about Family
Pictures.
Family Pictures is about Maggie and Sylvie. Perfect strangers, they are two very different women, living very different lives on opposite coasts. But they share more in common than they could ever imagine.
Both women have beautiful children on the verge of flying the nest, the home they worked hard to build and always longed for, and a handsome and devoted husband they can't believe belongs to them. Both women think their lives are seamlessly secure, but they couldn't be more wrong . .
For each is about to discover a secret that will shake their world to the very core, throwing into doubt everything they ever thought they knew, and bringing Maggie and Sylvie together in the most unexpected way.
Family Pictures is about Maggie and Sylvie. Perfect strangers, they are two very different women, living very different lives on opposite coasts. But they share more in common than they could ever imagine.
Both women have beautiful children on the verge of flying the nest, the home they worked hard to build and always longed for, and a handsome and devoted husband they can't believe belongs to them. Both women think their lives are seamlessly secure, but they couldn't be more wrong . .
For each is about to discover a secret that will shake their world to the very core, throwing into doubt everything they ever thought they knew, and bringing Maggie and Sylvie together in the most unexpected way.
Your bio seems to say that your novels have matured along
with you.
Is this true?
And if so how?
I started writing books when I was twenty seven years old, living in a big city, and single. My earlier books reflected where I was and what I was going through. As I’ve matured and experienced more of the ups and downs of life, the books have continued to reflect that. I have always drawn from my life for inspiration, the lives of my friends, the people around me, so today’s books are very different from those earlier, single-girl-in-the-city books. The older I get, the more fascinated I am by why we do what we do, and the unexpected twists and turns life takes.
Is this true?
And if so how?
I started writing books when I was twenty seven years old, living in a big city, and single. My earlier books reflected where I was and what I was going through. As I’ve matured and experienced more of the ups and downs of life, the books have continued to reflect that. I have always drawn from my life for inspiration, the lives of my friends, the people around me, so today’s books are very different from those earlier, single-girl-in-the-city books. The older I get, the more fascinated I am by why we do what we do, and the unexpected twists and turns life takes.
It also states on your bio that your write women’s fiction.
Does being put in a genre slot bother you?
The problem with being labeled is that it can tend to be somewhat limiting. I was thrilled to have been part of the movement that came to be called chick lit, and at the time – in my twenties, writing books that primarily dealt with young women’s relationships – it was entirely appropriate. However, it is very hard to ‘unlabel’ yourself, and now, in my forties, writing for women my age and older, there is a huge audience out there that think that because I’m a ‘chick lit’ writer, I am therefore writing for their daughters. I can’t tell you how many times women in their fifties and sixties have come up to me at book readings saying they’d only just picked up one of my books, and they had no idea I was writing for them.
Does being put in a genre slot bother you?
The problem with being labeled is that it can tend to be somewhat limiting. I was thrilled to have been part of the movement that came to be called chick lit, and at the time – in my twenties, writing books that primarily dealt with young women’s relationships – it was entirely appropriate. However, it is very hard to ‘unlabel’ yourself, and now, in my forties, writing for women my age and older, there is a huge audience out there that think that because I’m a ‘chick lit’ writer, I am therefore writing for their daughters. I can’t tell you how many times women in their fifties and sixties have come up to me at book readings saying they’d only just picked up one of my books, and they had no idea I was writing for them.
As a transplant from the UK. What was the hardest thing to
get used to when you moved to the US?
Lipton’s tea. Don’t get me started. (I now import PG tips!) I struggled for a long time with how different the sensibilities are here. I thought I understood America, and its people – how could I not, having grown up on a diet of US popular culture – and yet I realized very quickly how wrong I was. People in the US take themselves far more seriously, and are far more conservative than I expected. I can make a joke on Facebook and suddenly have a ton of comments from US readers who are horrified, with my readers in the UK laughing uproariously. I have to keep reminding myself that the humor doesn’t always cross the pond.
Lipton’s tea. Don’t get me started. (I now import PG tips!) I struggled for a long time with how different the sensibilities are here. I thought I understood America, and its people – how could I not, having grown up on a diet of US popular culture – and yet I realized very quickly how wrong I was. People in the US take themselves far more seriously, and are far more conservative than I expected. I can make a joke on Facebook and suddenly have a ton of comments from US readers who are horrified, with my readers in the UK laughing uproariously. I have to keep reminding myself that the humor doesn’t always cross the pond.
You have had multiple books on the New York Times Best
Seller List for multiple weeks.
What would be the ultimate compliment to you as an author?
A movie would be nice. I still get a huge thrill seeing anyone actually reading one of my books, and a couple of celebrities have been snapped with my books, which is lovely. I’m terribly competitive, but only with myself – I’m determined each book go higher on the list, but honestly, the one thing to truly make my day now would be a movie.
What would be the ultimate compliment to you as an author?
A movie would be nice. I still get a huge thrill seeing anyone actually reading one of my books, and a couple of celebrities have been snapped with my books, which is lovely. I’m terribly competitive, but only with myself – I’m determined each book go higher on the list, but honestly, the one thing to truly make my day now would be a movie.
Who are your favorite authors?
I love Jonathan Tropper, and everything he has ever written. Other than that I have a horrible memory and can only think of books I have read recently and loved. Amongst those is May We Be Forgiven by A.M. Homes, Still Missing by Chevy Stevens, The Good House by Ann Leary and Hell or High Water by Joy Castro. I have also recently discovered Elizabeth Haynes, an English thriller writer whose books are unputdownable.
I love Jonathan Tropper, and everything he has ever written. Other than that I have a horrible memory and can only think of books I have read recently and loved. Amongst those is May We Be Forgiven by A.M. Homes, Still Missing by Chevy Stevens, The Good House by Ann Leary and Hell or High Water by Joy Castro. I have also recently discovered Elizabeth Haynes, an English thriller writer whose books are unputdownable.
You say you’re quite a foodie and it stems from having six children.
Do food and cooking show up in your novels?
It only stems from having so many children because no-one ever invites you over for dinner, and going out costs just slightly less than the national debt… Even if you didn’t know I was a cook you’d be able to tell from the descriptions of food in my novels, most of which are written as I’m salivating all over the keyboard. I put my favorite recipes – collected and passed down over the years – in Promises to Keep, then went off and did the chef’s training at the French Culinary Institute, and immediately wished I could rewrite all the recipes and make them a bit more fancy. In truth, they all work so well because they aren’t fancy – home-cooking that’s pretty much idiot-proof.
Do food and cooking show up in your novels?
It only stems from having so many children because no-one ever invites you over for dinner, and going out costs just slightly less than the national debt… Even if you didn’t know I was a cook you’d be able to tell from the descriptions of food in my novels, most of which are written as I’m salivating all over the keyboard. I put my favorite recipes – collected and passed down over the years – in Promises to Keep, then went off and did the chef’s training at the French Culinary Institute, and immediately wished I could rewrite all the recipes and make them a bit more fancy. In truth, they all work so well because they aren’t fancy – home-cooking that’s pretty much idiot-proof.
Jane, thanks for taking the time to answer my questions.
Good luck on the new novel.
Connect with the Author: her website- facebook-twitter- her blog
Check out her contest A "Family" picture is worth a thousand words Here
Check out her contest A "Family" picture is worth a thousand words Here
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| Photo credit Ian Warburg |
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete*Ha! Trying this again with correct spelling this time!!*
DeleteDeb and Jane,
What a wonderful interview!
I loved reading a little bit about this book -- Family Pictures is on my TBR list :). And LOL about the difference in American vs. British sense of humor. So true!!
Marilyn, thanks. I had fun doing this interview. I'm still chuckling about the Lipton Tea, but I know many people from "over there" that believe that the US has no idea what a proper cup of tea is.
Deletethanks for your comment. Hope you enjoy the novel :)
xoxo
deb