Taylor Hahn: The Story That Needed To Be Told Revealed Itself

Taylor Hahn is the author of the novel The Lifestyle and the novella The Wedding, the Winery, and Will. She is a graduate of Loyola Marymount University and Fordham University School of Law, and lives in Los Angeles with her husband and daughter. Visit her online at TaylorHahn.com and follow her on Instagram.

Taylor Hahn

In this interview, Taylor discusses the sudden loss of her mother helped inspire her to write her new novel, A Home for the Holidays, her hope for readers, and more.

Name: Taylor Hahn
Literary agent: Jamie Carr, The Book Group
Book title: A Home for the Holidays
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf, Penguin Random House
Release date: September 24, 2024
Genre/category: Contemporary Women’s Fiction
Previous titles: The Lifestyle
Elevator pitch: A wedding singer spends the holidays with her recently deceased mother’s estranged best friend, learning about her mother’s hidden past while re-examining her own future, exploring complicated grief, mother-daughter relationships, loving someone with an addiction, and the redemptive power of opening one’s heart to love in all its forms.

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What prompted you to write this book?

This novel is deeply personal. My mom passed away suddenly, and my grief was complicated. I was compelled to write through it, but I was scared of the hard feelings I’d have to face. In the aftermath of that loss, my mom’s best friend would tell me stories of their wild adventures when they were young. It made me think about how many versions of my mom existed. Who she was to me was only one version. In writing this novel, I wanted to explore how little daughters truly know about their mothers, and how beautiful and tragic that is. But the book is fun, too: The main character learns her mom was almost a famous country music star, if only a man hadn’t gotten in the way. And my mom and I both loved the holidays, so setting this book against that backdrop felt right.

How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?

I started asking myself whether I could write this novel soon after my mom’s death in February 2022 and wrote different variations of it for the rest of that year. In some drafts, it had alternating timelines, and in others the main character was pregnant. I was exploring these characters as I wrote, searching for their truth. Then I had my daughter in December 2022, and when I experienced motherhood for myself, everything clicked into place. The story that needed to be told revealed itself, and I finished this version at the end of 2023.

Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?

Yes! I sold this novel on proposal, which was not the case for my debut novel, and that meant I was obligated to write it before I really knew what was going to happen at a deep level. I envisioned the characters sharing a house, full of music and food, set over the holidays in the midst of grief, with a dash of romance. But envisioning a novel and actually writing that novel are two very different things. In trying to execute my vision, I only had roughly 15 panic-induced breakdowns when my deadlines were approaching. But I told myself that if I wrote with honesty and emotional truth, the story would come, and it would resonate with readers.

Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?

I was surprised at how much these characters meant to me by the end. Since I was grieving as I was writing, these characters began to embody my feelings, like I was plucking each painful and beautiful feeling out of my heart and handing it over. So, when I finished the last page and said goodbye to these characters, I found that much of my painful grief went with them. These characters helped me heal.

What do you hope readers will get out of your book?

I hope anyone who has ever longed for their mother or experienced the guilt of complicated grief will feel seen in this novel. I hope readers experience this book with a plate of cookies and a blanket, cozied up for the holidays. And I hope readers laugh, too. This book is fun and warm even though the characters have suffered a huge loss, and I hope it leaves readers will full hearts.

If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?

Write to find out what you are capable of. In other words, write to learn about yourself, write to find out what feelings pour out of you, write to be surprised by what you produce. If you’re writing toward a goal, instead of writing as a gift to yourself, it will never feel satisfying.

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