Joyce Maynard: On Finding Forgiveness
Joyce Maynard is the author of 12 previous novels and five books of nonfiction, as well as the syndicated column Domestic Affairs. Her bestselling memoir, At Home in the World, has been translated into 16 languages. Her novels To Die For and Labor Day were both adapted for film. Maynard divides her time between homes in California, New Hampshire, and Lake Atitlan, Guatemala. Find her on Facebook and Instagram.
Joyce Maynard
Photo by Joanna Eldredge Morrissey
In this interview, Joyce discusses what drew her back to her characters in her new literary novel, How the Light Gets In, her hope for readers, and more!
Name: Joyce Maynard
Literary agent: Laurie Fox, Linda Chester Literary Agency
Book title: How the Light Gets In
Publisher: William Morrow
Release date: June 25, 2024
Genre/category: Literary fiction/ domestic fiction/ family saga
Previous titles: Fiction: Count the Ways, The Bird Hotel, Under the Influence, After Her, The Good Daughters, Labor Day, Where Love Goes, To Die For, Baby Love, The Cloud Chamber, The Usual Rules; Memoir: At Home in the World, The Best of Us, Domestic Affairs, Looking Back
Elevator pitch: Sequel to Maynard’s award-winning novel Count the Ways, How the Light Gets In follows the continuing story of Eleanor, mother of three now-adult children, as she deals with the death of her children’s father, her estrangement from an adult daughter, a late-life love affair, and her struggle to reclaim her life and care for her needs, after decades of caring for everyone in her family but herself.
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What prompted you to write this book?
So many readers of Count the Ways wrote to tell me they missed the characters in that book and wanted to know what happened next in their lives. But at a deeper level, I can tell you that I wanted to explore what it is to be a family –flawed, damaged, but never lacking in love—in 21st-century America. I wanted to explore the long-term reverberations of divorce. At the center of the novel is the theme of finding forgiveness.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
I spent a full year THINKING about this story before I wrote the first sentence. Once I did, the story poured out of me in about six months—with many revisions to follow. As with all of my novels, I had no idea of how the story would end (that’s what keeps me getting up at five every morning to write: I want to find out what happens. But I knew I wanted my central character to learn how to let go of trying to protect her children from all pain and loss. And she does.
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?
I knew I wanted the character of the brain-injured son, Toby, to find love, but I could not imagine who the woman might be with whom he could form a meaningful relationship. Toby is a treasure, but not many women would understand this, meeting him. I discovered the one who would.
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
Oh, there are surprises throughout the book. Not only for the reader, but for me. I’ll just name one: Eleanor comes to accept that even the hardest losses she has experienced all contributed to her sense of the beauty in her life.
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
Well, number one—top of my list, with every book I write—is that I want to tell a fabulous story, so gripping it keeps a reader up late because she can’t stop turning the pages. I want to move a reader. (I think this story will make you cry at some points, but in a good way.) And I want it to lift your heart too. In the end, I believe How the Light Gets In is a deeply hopeful story. I want readers to feel hope and connection to my characters. I hope that a reader of my books always feels, reading my stories, that feelings and experiences she thought were only hers are ones other women (and men) go through too. I hope this book makes a reader feel she’s not alone.
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
Write about the hard stuff. Tell the truth.
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