Julia MacDonnell Biography, Books, and Similar Authors

Interview

Family secrets and stories scrapped together form the basis for Julia MacDonnell's Mimi Malloy, At Last!. Here MacDonnell discusses the search for the truth in all her stories.

It's been 20 years between books. Why such a large gap?
Believe me, it wasn't a gap I ever planned for or wanted! The reception of my first novel was a heartbreaking experience. At the time, my publisher was in the midst of a huge transition. My editor left, and my novel ultimately became something of an "orphaned book." In the end, it fell through the cracks. It wasn't championed as I had hoped, and it was a crushing experience. But I never stopped writing, never stopped longing to be published, and never stopped believing that I would, sooner or later, be published again. During those years, I wrote about 15 short stories, eight of which have been published. My story "Dancing with Ned" was recently published in the spring issue of Alaska Quarterly Review. I also have two other novels in various states of completion.

How did Mimi Malloy, at Last! germinate? What was the inspiration?
I recently found journal notes dated 1992 that I wrote right after my mother's death. I'm the second oldest in a brood of eight children. My mother and I had an enduringly contentious relationship, though we squeezed in a few happy years after my kids were born. But once she'd passed—unexpectedly from a stroke at the age of 64—I ...