We chat with author Janice Lynn Mather about Where Was Goodbye?, which follows a teen girl who searches for closure after her brother dies by suicide.
Hi, Janice! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
I’m a lifelong lover of books and stories. I like to sit cross legged on the floor or bed while I write. Being read to is my love language. My stories are almost always set in The Bahamas because that’s where I was born and grew up, and where my heart lives. Where Was Goodbye? is my third teen novel, and my fourth book.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
As a child, surrounded by books. I had the benefit of three much older siblings, so I got to hear chapter books read aloud while I was still learning to read beginner books myself.
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: Pigs Might Fly, by Dick King-Smith. I know I read other things before, but it’s one of the first books I remember really inhabiting—reading again and again, toting around the house, mercilessly subjecting it to sticky fingers at lunchtime and wet countertops as I brushed my teeth. It was one of the first books I irreparably wrinkled by reading in the bath. Thank you, old copy of Pigs Might Fly, for your loving sacrifice.
- The one that made you want to become an author: The BFG, by Roald Dahl. Our whole family enjoyed it when we read chapters aloud to each other on Saturday nights. Even my extremely quiet and usually sombre Granny would come bustling to listen in on the story.
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: The Temple of My Familiar, by Alice Walker. I first read it at 16 or 17, and I come back to it often. My copy is open on the end of my bed right now.
Your latest novel, Where Was Goodbye?, is out April 30th! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Love, loss, changed, transcend, forever
What can readers expect?
To walk beside Karmen as she fumbles through the early days after her brother’s sudden death, looking for explanations that she may or may not find. It’s a story of trying to understand the incomprehensible, peppered with moments of unexpected joy.
Where did the inspiration for Where Was Goodbye come from?
I wanted to explore what happens when we try to find answers to something that’s inexplicable.
Karmen knows where and how her brother died, but she’s reeling with not realizing that he was struggling, and fears that she missed something that could have led to a reality where Julian is still alive.
I think Karmen’s struggle overlaps with that search for understanding many of us live at different times—why loss? Why pain? Why sickness? Why death?
I unexpectedly lost my first son fairly early on in writing the novel. The circumstances were entirely different, but the sense of unanswered questions, the feeling of something having been missed, were what Karmen is grappling with. I poured my own early stage grief into the story.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
Pru is one of my favourite characters. She disregards school’s dress code, she paints her nails in the counselor’s office, she skateboards indoors—she breaks rules hard. In this story, life’s most important rules and contracts have been broken too—Karmen’s brother, who she was close to, and who she assumed would always be there, has died and she can’t understand why. When the world falls apart, there’s something fitting in discarding regulations that feel irrelevant.
What do you hope readers might take away from Where Was Goodbye?
That if you’re struggling to understand incomprehensible tragedy, there are others of us who feel the same way, and are on the same emotional journey.
What’s next for you?
I move between writing for teens and writing for adults. Right now I’m working on a novel that blends history and dreams, but I’m also excited to try my hand at picture books.
Lastly, are there any book releases that you’re looking forward to picking up this year?
Not a new release, but I’m planning a deep dive into Guadaloupean author (and one of my literary heros) Maryse Conde. She passed away at 90 earlier this month, and was still very much an active, working writer (her last book, The Gospel According to the New World, was shortlisted for the 2023 International Booker Prize). I find her books are carried less frequently than they should be, so I’m looking forward to seeking out a few I haven’t read, and immersing myself.
