Elizabeth LaBan

Elizabeth LaBan lives in Philadelphia with her restaurant critic husband and two children. She is the author of The Restaurant Critic’s Wife, the young adult novel The Tragedy Paper, which has been translated into eleven foreign languages, and The Grandparents Handbook, which has been translated into seven foreign languages, and Pretty Little World, which she co-authored with Melissa DePino.

LaBan's new novel is Not Perfect.

From her Q&A with Deborah Kalb:

Q: How did you come up with the idea for Not Perfect, and for your main character, Tabitha?

A: The true initial kernel of the idea came from a song we used to sing at my kids’ elementary and middle school about accepting that it is impossible to be perfect. It’s a funny song to sing at a school, but also very catchy and true.

At first I thought the book would be about a family that gets in too deep financially – partially because they love their kids’ expensive school so much that they can’t let it go even when they can’t afford it anymore – and so they begin to steal to keep up with their lifestyle.

But that didn’t really work. They didn’t need the things they wanted, and they ended up coming off as spoiled, selfish people. So I began to wonder what it would take for someone who seems to have everything to have to steal, and I thought of Tabitha.

Once I could picture her standing in...[read on]

Visit Elizabeth LaBan's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Restaurant Critic's Wife.

Writers Read: Elizabeth LaBan (January 2016).

The Page 69 Test: Not Perfect.

--Marshal Zeringue