Victoria Redel is the author of three books of poetry and five books of fiction. Her latest novel is Before Everything.From Redel's Q&A with Deborah Kalb:
Q: How did you come up with the idea for Before Everything, and for your five main characters?Visit Victoria Redel's website.
A: Deborah, I had been working on another novel when my best friend since I was seven passed away. After a period of deep silence, it became clear I wanted to write about friendship, about how a community of friends through life manage each other's life changes-- death being that most final change.
The characters emerged as I began writing. I knew I wanted a gang of childhood friends with all the sweetness and complication of people knowing one another through many phases and life events. And the rest of the characters--new friends, ex-husbands, the hospice nurse--all...[read on]
The Page 69 Test: Before Everything.
--Marshal Zeringue