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March 21, 2003/Adar2 17 5763, Vol. 55, No. 30
Mitchard visits Brandeis
JOBETH JAMISON
Special to Jewish News
Jacquelyn Mitchard
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When asked about the inspiration for her latest novel, award-winning author Jacquelyn Mitchard could cite many a light bulb that went on in her head, but the plot thickened with an illuminating article she saw in Esquire Magazine a couple of years ago. "It was '100 Things You Should Do Before You Die,' " says Mitchard. "Number one was 'Fall in love with an older woman.' "
After exploring the statement with a male friend who divulged that every man secretly wants to marry Susan Sarandon, Mitchard was on a mission. "I wanted to write about that fantasy," she explains.
The result is "Twelve Times Blessed" (Harper Collins, 2003), due to hit shelves April 1. In it, Mitchard deftly paints the alluring essence of the male matron fantasy, but also stipples the painstaking details that cloud the daydream. In short, through her chronologically challenged couple, True Dickinson and Hank Bannister, she reveals the truth about such a relationship. Says Mitchard, "They find out what it's really like to live together if you have two different answers to 'Where were you when John Kennedy died?' "
"Twelve Times Blessed," Mitchard's third novel since her best-selling debut "The Deep End of the Ocean" (Viking, 1996), is set in post-Sept. 11 New England, on the 43rd birthday of leading lady, True. She is an independent widow, a strong and strikingly beautiful single mother and the successful CFO of 'Twelve Times Blessed,' a thriving baby gift business. But while True, like many of Mitchard's former female characters, is a headstrong and outwardly admirable Rock of Gibraltar, inwardly, she is a lonely and increasingly insecure older woman who has neglected her emotional needs for far too long. When the book finds her, she is about to dive headlong into the consequences as the younger man who will change her life (and that of her 10-year-old son) catches her eye.
This dialogue-driven journey of common but complex people aptly addresses a myriad of touchy subjects, ranging from ageism to anorexia, interracial marriages to infidelity, adoption to abortion, and religion to retribution.
"I wanted it all in there," states Mitchard, who prides herself on creating intriguing characters and situations that are not necessarily larger than life but which magnify and mirror real life.
"I'm not ever going to write about people who are extraordinary and I'm not ever going to write any books about people who are famous," she says. "I'm always going to write books about people who are ordinary and who are caught in the headlights."
Mitchard, who also pens a nationally syndicated column titled "The Rest of Us," is no stranger to any of the subjects methodically unearthed by the book. She, like True, was a widow, a struggling single mother, and in 1998 she married a man 12 years her junior who later adopted her children. In "Blessed," Mitchard writes: "It seems with the world careening on its axis that doing imprudent and adventurous things is paradoxically wise." While those words are meant to reflect True Dickinson's code of ethics, the often controversial author agrees that they are words she also lives by. "I'm not she," Mitchard says, "but I'm closer to (True) than I've ever been to any other character I've written about."
Following an appearance on the Today Show, Mitchard will be coming to Phoenix for a Brandeis book event as part of an extensive nationwide tour for "Twelve Times Blessed."
Mitchard began her relationship with Brandeis in Minnesota where she has family. "I feel a connection with it," she says. "The interactions I've had with people from Brandeis have always been wonderful."
The Brandeis event is open to the public and will be held at the Phoenician Resort April 2. Authors Betty Webb, Stephen Dubner, Jane Heller, Catherine Coulter, Linda Fairstein and Jane Leavy are also scheduled to appear. Tickets include a luncheon, author presentations, an author "Meet & Greet" and book signings. Advance reservations are required.
Details
- What: Brandeis Book Event
- When: 9:30 a.m., Wednesday, April 2
- Where: The Phoenician, 6000 E. Camelback Road, Scottsdale
- Cost: $75, includes luncheon, author presentations and author "Meet & Greet"
- Tickets: Sue Karp 480-451-9511 or Roberta Brand 480-483-9739
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