We chat with author Melody Maysonet about What We Wish For, which is a poignant YA novel that explores one teenager’s coming-of-age as she struggles through homelessness, family feuds, and her mother’s addiction.
Hi, Melody! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Of course! I had kind of a rough childhood—we were poor, and there was abuse in my home—but I found solace through reading books and writing stories. I lost track of how many times I’ve read C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia, and Watership Down, by Richard Adams will always be my all-time favorite book. In college, I was a huge Dungeons & Dragons player, and for any Magic: the Gathering players out there, I was senior editor for Wizards of the Coast’s The Duelist magazine back in the 1990s. In fact, it was through playing Magic that I met my husband, Adam. We taught our son to play (he’s now grown), so I guess you could say we’re a family of nerds.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
I have always been a huge reader, and I’ve been writing stories since I can remember. In high school, I managed to write a trilogy of books that, at the time, I thought were really good, but actually they were pretty terrible, and I’m talking cringe-worthy terrible. But hey, they were a learning experience.
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: Pippi Longstocking
- The one that made you want to become an author: Gosh, so many! I still get inspiration from Watership Down
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: Right now I’m reading Kate Quinn’s The Briar Club, which takes place in the 1950s during the McCarthy era. I’ve read all of Quinn’s books, and they’re all wonderful, but for some reason, I’m in awe of how well she’s drawn her characters in The Briar Club.
Your latest novel, What We Wish For, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Tragic, hopeful, suspenseful, uplifting. That’s only four, but I’ve always been a bit of an outlier.
What can readers expect?
Some insight into the horrors of addiction and maybe a reminder of how hard high school can be. At the same time, there’s a lot of hope in my novel. There’s also the importance of being true to yourself, which will hopefully resonate with everyone who reads it.
Where did the inspiration for What We Wish For come from?
When I was volunteer teaching at a homeless shelter, I was introduced to some new residents: a mom and her teenage son, and I got to wondering about this kid—wondering what his life was like—and so that planted the seed. When I started writing the book, I made the protagonist a girl, and Layla is very much based on me. Like Layla, I was poor growing up, and like her, I was unpopular and very insecure. Layla writes poetry as a way to cope, just as I did as a teen.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
I loved creating the character of Gabriel (another teenage kid who lives in the homeless shelter), who I consider to be the epitome of cool. I mean, if I had met this kid in high school, I would have been in love. I also loved writing Layla’s poetry, much of which was drawn from the poetry I wrote in high school. Each chapter begins with a little poetry epigraph that Layla wrote, and it was fun to search through my own poems and find ones that were relevant to what was going on in the book.
What We Wish For delves into an array of topics from homelessness to parental addiction. How did you approach exploring these topics?
I tried to deal with these topics with as much honesty as I could. It’s why I spent a year volunteer teaching at a homeless shelter. And, as an alcoholic in recovery, I’ve felt the pain of addiction, and I’ve seen how it tears families apart. At the same time, I’ve experienced the joy of recovery, and I wanted to convey all the frustration and heartache and worry that comes with addiction, but also the peace and excitement of recovery.
What do you hope your readers take away from What We Wish For?
Hope. Hold onto hope.
What’s next for you?
I’m working on an adult novel about a waitress who’s being stalked by her ex-boyfriend. Kind of a women’s fiction/thriller with a literary bent.
Lastly, what books have you enjoyed so far this year and are there any that you can’t wait to get your hands on?
I already mentioned The Briar Club by Kate Quinn. I recently discovered The Demon Cycle series of books by Peter V. Brett. Also the Lady Astronaut series by Mary Robinette Kowal, which is an alternate history/sci fi series that is so totally believable. I also love Brandon Sanderson, Jim Butcher, M. R. Carey… The list goes on.
