Ramona Ausubel's new novel is Sons and Daughters of Ease and Plenty. From her Q & A with Deborah Kalb:Q: How did you come up with the idea for the family you write about in your new novel?Visit Ramona Ausubel's website.
A: I knew I wanted to write about money and to chase the question of what money can get you and what it can’t, so I thought about a family that went from one extreme to another—huge amounts of money and then very little.
I’ve thought about this a lot in my life (I’m betting we all do—money is both central to everything we do and completely beside the point, right? Love is all you need! Except for all the other things.).
Each of the characters in the book has a different relationship to having and not having, to their birthplace in society and the place they might occupy without the riches.
At the same time that the story is serious— about race, class, gender and the American Dream—I also really wanted to seek those issues out by way of a series of adventures.
I wanted the characters to do what I think us humans often do—run away. I wanted the running to help them see who they are when all the trapping are removed, to see what matters to them and what they want, eventually, to...[read on]
--Marshal Zeringue