Robinne Lee's new novel is The Idea of You.From her Q&A with Deborah Kalb:
Q: You write that a conversation between you and your husband led to the idea for this book. Can you describe how the book eventually took shape, and how you came up with your characters Solène and Hayes?--Marshal Zeringue
A: A few years ago, my husband was away on business and I was up late surfing music videos on YouTube when I came across the face of a boy I’d never seen in a band I’d never paid attention to, and it was so aesthetically perfect it took me by surprise. It was like…art.
I spent a good hour or so Googling and trying to figure out who this kid was and in doing so I discovered that he often dated older women, and so the seed was planted.
When my husband returned a couple of days later, I joked with him that I’d found the perfect guy and I was leaving him and our two kids, “oh, and by the way, he’s half my age.” My husband laughed, and then a moment later said, “You know, that would make a great book.”
He’d no sooner said it than I just knew. I could see it playing out so clearly in my head. I thought the story was rife with possibility.
Besides the obvious alluring aspects of what it could be like to date someone famous and beautiful and young and exciting, I wanted to fully explore the psychology of that kind of relationship. I wanted to delve into how our culture conditions us to believe that it’s...[read on]