Jamie Brenner is the author of The Wedding Sisters. She fell in love with books reading Judy Blume while growing up in suburban Philadelphia. After college at The George Washington University, she spent over a dozen years in book publishing as a publicist, scout, and agent before finally getting up the nerve to write her first novel. Her debut, the historical The Gin Lovers, was named by Fresh Fiction as one of the Top Thirteen Books to read in 2013. She lives in New York with her husband and two daughters.From a Q&A at the author's website:
What inspired this story of three sisters and a triple wedding?Visit Jamie Brenner's website.
The idea for The Wedding Sisters came after my second marriage at age 40. Marrying in your forties is very different than marrying in your 20s. You realize that a wedding isn’t all about you, but is really about family. It isn’t about that day, it’s about the past and the future. At my second wedding, I thought more about my daughters’ happiness than my own. And I missed my grandparents, who were not around to see it. I realize how that at my first wedding, they understood worlds more than I did about what I was entering into with a wedding ceremony. The things I came to understand between my first and second weddings are what I explore with The Wedding Sisters.
Weddings are defining moments not only for couples, but also for families. The Wedding Sisters captures this complexity from all sides by considering multiple points of view, from mother-of-the-bride Meryl to her three daughters. How has the experience of crafting so many perspectives changed how you feel about weddings in general? What advice would you give a bride-to-be?
Going into this novel, I was thinking first about the stress on the mother of the bride. There is the desire to give your daughter her dream wedding, but at the same time, there is always the pitfall of letting your own wedding fantasy get in the way -- consciously or unconsciously. In the beginning of the book, Meryl’s husband reminds her, “This is not about you.” I realized writing the book that the same applies to the bride herself. I think the conventional wisdom for the bride is, “this...[read on]
Writers Read: Jamie Brenner.
--Marshal Zeringue