Many of your novels are set in the Main Line area of Philadelphia, which you have said you find endlessly fascinating. Do you think Not My Boy could have been set in another place?
The desire of close-knit sisters to raise their children together is pretty universal, so I think there are many towns in America where this could work. But the other elements—one sister’s house much bigger than her sister’s next door, neighbors who seem friendly but aren’t, the history of the estate, the hilly topography with a creek running through it—all made it seem right to be set in Pennsylvania. I guess I could have found a neighborhood in Pittsburgh, but I was too lazy, haha! (Although I love Pittsburgh and lived there for a few years.) There were lots of neighborhoods nearby that I used as a roadmap.
You have three daughters. Was it a challenge to base a novel around a young boy?
Yes, in a way, because there was not as much personal history to draw from. But Hannah was a woman with no brothers, raised by a single mother. Her experience was a girl-centric household, and she was not innately in tune with the world of boys. So I related to that aspect of her and channeled it in writing.
Not My Boy is your sixth novel. In what ways do you think your work is different from when you started out?
Stylistically, sentence for sentence, I think all my work is pretty much of a piece. But I think I’ve grown better at crafting well-rounded male characters, better at tempering anger, better at offering hope within the darkness. I’m all about the hope.
You’ve written novels in first person, in third person, and with multiple points of view. Do you prefer one over the other?
I feel most comfortable writing in first person. I just love the intimacy and creating a singular voice. But it’s so limiting, especially when writing about crimes and secrets (which I always do!). So I’ve grown to enjoy and embrace all the flexibility of third person, too.
What’s up next for you?
I’m plotting out a book about three sisters who commit a crime in high school and hide it from their mother, who stumbles onto clues ten years later. My daughters are not particularly happy about this!