 |
| Credit: Kate Stafford Weaver |
Andrew Forrester is a writer and former English teacher whose work has appeared in McSweeney’s Internet Tendency and Parents magazine. He holds a PhD in nineteenth-century British literature and lives in Austin, Texas with his family. Visit Andrew at his website and on Instagram.
In this heartwarming, bookish debut, a young widower of a famous children’s fantasy author teams up with a down-on-her-luck MFA dropout to write the final book in his late wife’s series...and find their own perfect ending along the way.
Whit Longacre has a monumental task and a looming deadline. After his wife, Helen, died of cancer, she left him with their grieving eight-year-old daughter and a surprise in her will: the small task of writing the final book in her mega-popular children’s fantasy series for her legions of waiting fans.
Whit is the author of moderately successful (but well-received!) literary mysteries. He doesn’t have the first idea of how to complete Helen’s beloved series, and his enigmatic wife seems to have left no clues behind on how the story is supposed to end. Writer’s block is one thing, but to fail in fulfilling his wife’s last wish? Whit is guilt-ridden and dodging calls in the school pick-up line from Helen’s publisher and agent as the deadline fast approaches.
Then Whit meets Merritt Pryor, who works at the local bookstore in their small New England town. Merritt has moved back home after a disastrous affair led to her dropping out of her prestigious MFA program. When Whit realizes that Merritt is a superfan of the Greenwood Castle series, they come up with a plan to tackle the book together. For the first time in years, Merritt finds herself falling back in love with writing…and perhaps with the coauthor offering her the opportunity of a lifetime.
But when Whit uncovers a buried secret about Helen’s final wishes, he questions everything about what he and Merritt have created together, endangering the tender, electrifying partnership that has transformed their lives.
Can Whit and Merritt come up with an ending that feels right…for both a beloved series and for their battered hearts?
- Ashley Winstead, USA Today bestselling author of In My Dreams I Hold a Knife
"Brimming with charm, heart, and humor! Reading How the Story Goes is like stepping into your favorite Nora Ephron film. It is a salve for the world-weary soul.”
- Alex Kiester, #1 New York Times bestselling co-author of The Missing Half
“Set in a dreamily charming New England town, How the Story Goes is about smart, empathetic humans wondering how you carry on when your life story has gone awry. I loved losing myself in the novel's world of bookstores and libraries, lingering over tea by roaring fires, rediscovering alongside Forrester's rich characters the pleasure of creating art and the solace of love.”
- Amanda Eyre Ward, New York Times bestselling author of The Jetsetters
The road to publishing was long and slow, but it was also filled with helpful people, lucky coincidences, and real joys!
How is Whit similar to or different from you?
Whit and I share some of the same neuroses and an occasional internal curmudgeonliness that we mask with politeness. We're also both dads of third graders! But I would say that Whit is a little more weighed down by the burdens that come with authorship than I am: I actually love the process of drafting, and while I do get stuck, I don't think I've ever despaired that I might never write again. Also his house is nicer than mine.
If How the Story Goes was made into a movie, who would you cast in the leading roles?
Friends have asked me this enough that I have now gone and done research: Hailee Steinfeld (whom I love) is the perfect age for Merritt. The sort of harried but determined air she gives off in Edge of Seventeen would work wonders here! And then I think Penn Badgley can pull off the bedraggled and grumpy but loveable and handsome thing that Whit needs. Netflix, call me.
I just finished Portia Elan's Homeland, another debut novel that was also published on May 5th. It's beautiful, impressive, and a really great read for anyone who enjoyed Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, Cloud Cuckoo Land, or The Sea of Tranquility. I loved it.
I would love for David Tennant to narrate my life like he does in the excellent BBC series, Twenty Twelve, W1A, and the new (as of yet unwatched for me) Twenty Twenty Six. Either that or the Muses from Disney's 1997 classic, Hercules.
If we were to visit you right now, what are some places you would take us to see?
I live in Austin, and I'd love to show you Barton Springs, the Blanton Museum of Art, Radio (my favorite coffee shop), the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center, and probably, for dinner, Loro. But if you're reading this anytime after early May, I might suggest holding off until, like November. The heat is brutal, and you have been warned!
Enjoyed this post? Never miss out on future posts by following us.
Listen to this book on Speechify!
No comments:
Post a Comment