We chat with Barbara O’Neal, Amazon Charts bestselling author of When We Believed in Mermaids, about her latest release, This Place of Wonder, which follows four women in the wake of a personal tragedy who face the past, their futures, and each other in a novel of broken ties and healing.
Hi, Barbara! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
I’m an avid hiker, gardener, and traveler, oh, and obsessive reader. I live with my recently wed husband and our menagerie of cats and dogs in Colorado Springs.
How has the first half of 2022 been for you?
One highlight was taking my mother on a trip for her 80th birthday. She loves loves loves travel and my husband and I cooked up a fantastic journey for her—to England via the Queen Mary 2, and touring all around Kent and London. It was great, and it was challenging. We all got Covid, one right after the other, so at any given time, only two of us were touring, and we had an extra two weeks in South Kensington waiting to be able to board a plane, so it was quite interesting. I did fall in love with London this time around. It hasn’t always interested me that much—it felt stuffy and rigid to me when I visited in the past, but this time, I was struck by the vivid diversity in every corner of society. And oh, my stars! The food was so very good.
When did you first discover your love for writing?
I was telling stories to my sisters long before I could read, but I decided to be an author when I was about eleven and realized that the book I was holding was written by somebody, and if writing was a job, why would you do anything else? I started writing novels right then and haven’t stopped.
Quick lightning round! Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, the one that made you want to become an author, and one that you can’t stop thinking about!
A big book of fairy tales
Green Darkness, by Anya Seton
Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus
Your new novel, This Place of Wonder, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Healing, California, self-discovery, triumph, love.
What can readers expect?
A story about women who both love and resent each other, trying to find ways to heal from a loss they all share, but really entering the next phase of their lives. It’s rich and sometimes funny, and any woman with a mother will know some of these conversations.
Where did the inspiration for This Place of Wonder come from?
The relationships between women always interest me, and there’s a great mix of relationships in Wonder—mothers and daughters, sisters, friends, and the wild card of a much younger girlfriend of the now-dead Augustus, who might have been a figure of disdain elsewhere but walked in vulnerable and a bit lost when I met her. I love Norah and her journey, and how she finds her own place in the world, along with the others.
Also, I love the whole world of celebrity cooking, and restaurants, and that kind of big, charming, sometimes infuriating and overwhelming man who sometimes inhabits those kitchens. I’ve known a lot of them. I was so devastated with Anthony Bourdain died that it stuck with me. Augustus isn’t Bourdain, but he gave me a kernel of him.
Can you tell us a bit about the challenges you faced while writing and how you were able to overcome them?
Going in, I knew that I wanted to explore addiction and recovery, but I didn’t want it to overtake the narrative or bring it down. Too often, the narrative around addiction is that addicts inevitably die pr live awful lives, and there is that aspect, but the truth is, recovery is progressive, too.
Were there any favourite moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
I adored Maya, the recovering addict, who has a sense of humor mixed with her struggle. I also loved Augustus, weirdly. I didn’t think I would, but by the end of the book, I knew why all of them loved him, and I loved him, too.
What’s the best and the worst writing advice you have received?
The best: finish what you start.
The worst: happy endings are low-brow
What’s next for you?
I just finished the first draft of a book for 2023, about two long time friends.
Lastly, do you have any 2022 book recommendations for our readers?
Always! I adored This Time Tomorrow, by Emma Straub. A heartfelt story about a daughter’s love for her father. The aforementioned Lessons in Chemistry. And coming toward the end of the year is a book I utterly loved, These Vibrant Years, by Sonali Dev. Three generations of women test a dating app—and discover all manner of things about themselves.
