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, Not Perfect, and Pretty Little World, which she co-authored with Melissa DePino. She also wrote the young adult novel The Tragedy Paper, published by Knopf, which has been translated into eleven foreign languages, and The Grandparents Handbook, published by Quirk Books, which has been translated into seven foreign languages.
LaBan's newest novel is Beside Herself.
From her Q&A with Deborah Kalb:
Q: How did you come up with the idea for Beside Herself, and for your character Hannah?Visit Elizabeth LaBan's website.
A: There were a few things that came together to form the basic idea for the novel.
One was the title itself. I often use that phrase, saying that I’m beside myself, or someone else is beside herself, and at one point my husband said, “that would be a great title for your next novel.” So, I had that in the back of my mind.
More than that, though, I am always interested in exploring marriage and family, and how people deal with unexpected bumps, or sometimes huge potholes, in the road. When do people call it, knowing they just can’t stay in a particular situation, and when is it salvageable?
The main plot of Beside Herself came from that question, and then grew from there to include Hannah’s reaction and desperate attempt to figure out what came next.
Hannah is not based on any one person I know, she is someone I got to know as...[read on]
The Page 69 Test: The Restaurant Critic's Wife.
The Page 69 Test: Not Perfect.
Writers Read: Elizabeth LaBan.
The Page 69 Test: Beside Herself.
--Marshal Zeringue
