Yona Zeldis McDonough is the author of novels such as A Wedding in Great Neck and You Were Meant for Me as well as dozens of books for children. She is the editor of and a contributor to The Barbie Chronicles: A Living Doll Turns Forty, as well as All the Available Light: A Marilyn Monroe Reader.McDonough's latest novel is The House on Primrose Pond.
From the author's Q & A with Caroline Leavitt:
Q: Why did you choose New Hampshire as the location for your novel?Learn more about the author and her work at Yona Zeldis McDonough's website.
A: I have set my past six novels in and around New York City. This was less an active decision and more of a default position. Setting in a novel should function almost as a “character”, and to make that “character” come alive, you have to know it well—the sights, sounds and smells of a place. Since I was raised in New York and have lived here for most of my life, writing a New York setting came effortlessly to me. But recently I began to chafe at that very ease and wanted to push my own boundaries. I turned to New Hampshire because it’s a state I have come to love. My husband is from Portsmouth, NH and we have visited and spent time there during the course of our marriage. And for many years, we rented a cottage in an enchanted, lakeside spot and that is where I chose to set The House on Primrose Pond. I knew the place intimately, and so I could write about it with confidence and with passion. I wanted the place to come alive to the reader, and in order to make that happen, it had to be fully, gloriously alive to me.
Q: The story is mainly told from a single point of view, with one exception. Care to comment?
A: The story is mostly Susannah’s: how she copes when she loses her husband in a bicycle accident, how she feels as she attempts to rebuild her life in a new place. But the character of Alice, the elderly neighbor who at first offers friendship but later seems almost a threat, needed some greater explanation and I could only do that if I wrote a couple of chapters from her point of view. Without a glimpse into her heart and soul, Alice’s behavior toward Susannah and more importantly her daughter Calista, could seem questionable, and even malign. I did not...[read on]
Coffee with a Canine: Yona Zeldis McDonough & Willa and Holden.
Writers Read: Yona Zeldis McDonough.
The Page 69 Test: The House on Primrose Pond.
My Book, The Movie: The House on Primrose Pond.
--Marshal Zeringue