Jen Michalski is the author of four novels, three short story collections, and two novellas. Her last novel, You'll Be Fine, was a 2021 Buzzfeed "Best Small Press Book," a 2022 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist, and was selected as one of the "Best Books We Read This Year" by the Independent Press Review. Her latest collection of fiction, The Company of Strangers, was a "Best of Baltimore" winner in 2023 and also a top indie press pick at Electric Literature. She's the editor of the weekly online literary weekly jmww and currently lives in Southern California, although she will always be a Baltimore girl by heart.
Visit Jen on Instagram and BlueSky.
Synopsis:
When Lacie Johnson’s husband, Derek, suffers a stroke at forty-seven and falls into a coma, her plans come to a screeching halt—asking Derek for a divorce, going back to school to get her master’s, and starting over as a single woman now that their children have grown up. But what begins as a disaster brings an unexpected blessing in the form of Quinn, a kind stranger whom Lacie meets in the halls of the hospital.
When Lacie Johnson’s husband, Derek, suffers a stroke at forty-seven and falls into a coma, her plans come to a screeching halt—asking Derek for a divorce, going back to school to get her master’s, and starting over as a single woman now that their children have grown up. But what begins as a disaster brings an unexpected blessing in the form of Quinn, a kind stranger whom Lacie meets in the halls of the hospital.
This is just a stop-over for Quinn, who is traveling up to the British Columbia coast to live in a co-op of grief survivors on a remote island after the loss of her young daughter. She's also the former singer of a post-riot grrrl band who fled the group and the public eye more than fifteen years ago for reasons unknown. Lacie thinks she's discovered in Quinn the life and the person she’s always wanted. But Quinn harbors a secret that connects her to Derek. And if Derek wakes up, Quinn must come clean and risk destroying her growing relationship with Lacie.
Told in alternating points of view, All This Can Be True follows Lacie and Quinn as they make the journey to each other—and then grapple with the fallout. (Courtesy of Amazon.)
What is one thing you would tell the debut novelist version of yourself?
Only one thing? (Just kidding.) How about one word? Expectations. Authors have wildly different ideas of how successful our first book will be, but we’ve also prepared ourselves, to some extent, that it might not be successful and how to deal with that disappointment. What I don’t think we prepare for as writers is that sometimes we can do everything right after (and before) but the book isn’t successful anyway. It’s hard to square that a lot of a book’s success (or failure) hinges not on the book itself but other factors—what the market is selling at the time, or whose hands it falls into, if a publisher closes its doors or some other disruption to the supply chain, or any other number of factors over which we cannot control. All we can control is writing the best book we can and being proud of that, regardless of what happens after it’s published. I would tell my debut self that writing is never about the journey of the book after it’s written—it’s the journey of the book that you take when you write it that’s the most important.
Only one thing? (Just kidding.) How about one word? Expectations. Authors have wildly different ideas of how successful our first book will be, but we’ve also prepared ourselves, to some extent, that it might not be successful and how to deal with that disappointment. What I don’t think we prepare for as writers is that sometimes we can do everything right after (and before) but the book isn’t successful anyway. It’s hard to square that a lot of a book’s success (or failure) hinges not on the book itself but other factors—what the market is selling at the time, or whose hands it falls into, if a publisher closes its doors or some other disruption to the supply chain, or any other number of factors over which we cannot control. All we can control is writing the best book we can and being proud of that, regardless of what happens after it’s published. I would tell my debut self that writing is never about the journey of the book after it’s written—it’s the journey of the book that you take when you write it that’s the most important.
What were the biggest rewards and challenges with writing All This Can Be True?
One of the biggest challenges was finding the point of view. In early drafts, it was Lacie’s story, but Quinn felt a richer character in some respects, even if her journey is a little flatter, ie, a lot of her life is told in denouement, after the death of her daughter. Committing to two perspectives felt risky, although the biggest reward is that I feel it worked. Another challenge was exploring characters who make bad choices. There’s the cheating. There’s addiction, there’s impulsive behavior. But since we’re all essentially flawed characters in real life, I always want my characters to be complex—mildly infuriating at times but surprisingly sympathetic and insightful at others.
If All This Can Be True were made into a movie, who would you cast in the leading roles?
I am such a huge Julianne Moore fan—I’ve followed her career since the nineties! I think she could pull off a great Quinn. Ryan Gosling for Derek (or maybe Tony Hawk if he got the acting bug). Lacie has always been a little harder for me. I think I would cast a relatively unknown actress and let her fully embody Lacie based on her reading of her.
What is the last book you read that you would recommend?
Probably The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris. Hard to believe it’s a debut novel! Here’s what’s on my bookshelf: Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano and The Hitchcock Hotel by Stephanie Wrobel.
If your life was a TV series, which celebrity would you want to narrate it?
Ha, this is a fun question! I’ve had a huge improbable crush on Steve Perry since I was nine or ten, and I think I’d love for him to narrate my life in song.
If we were to visit you right now, what are some places you would take us to see?
From the cliff at Swami’s Beach in Encinitas, we would watch the sun set on the Pacific and dozens of surfers surf the point break. From there we could head across the way to the Self-Realization Fellowship Encinitas Hermitage and Meditation Gardens and be mindful along the gardens. It’s a really cool place, and “Swami’s” Beach was named after the founder of center, the Indian yogi Paramahansa Yogananda. It’s the distillation of Southern Californian living for me—the natural beauty and the state of mind.
Thanks to Jen for chatting with us and for sharing her book with our readers.
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5 comments:
Recently, my wife expressed her desire to go back to college. So we are now in the process of doing this.
Something unexpected that happened was my cat passing away. Each day gets a little better.
Celebrating my anniversary with my 2 grandsons which made this memorable and special.
An unexpected visit from a friend
Getting together for dinner with my adopted Chicago family at a new restaurant.
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