We chat with debut author Sarah Adler about Mrs. Nash’s Ashes, which follows a starry-eyed romantic, a cynical writer, and (the ashes of) an elderly woman take the road trip of a lifetime that just might upend everything they believe about true love.
Hi, Sarah! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hello! Thanks so much for having me. I’m Sarah Adler (she/her), and I’m the author of adult romantic comedies and one poem in fourth grade about a monster in my soup that was so good I got to read it over the morning announcements. I live in Maryland and spend my spare time hanging out with my family, reading (of course), and going on scenic drives that somehow always seem to lead to a bakery.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
In elementary school, one of our yearly assignments was to write a story, which we got to take to the “publishing center” (a spare room full of PTA volunteers who typed the stories up and bound them). It was a pretty fancy operation, actually, with a few binding options depending on the book’s length, donated wallpaper samples to choose from for the covers, and even multiple color options for endpapers. I was constantly writing stories at home, but this felt different. Much more official. Getting to turn my words into a “real” book was the coolest thing I could imagine, and it kind of still is!
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!
The first novel I remember reading on my own outside of school was Sharon Creech’s Walk Two Moons. There’s a twist in it that’s probably super obvious to grown-up readers but blew my mind reading it as a ten year old. Also, a boy kisses the main character on her collarbone, super awkwardly and absolutely out of nowhere, and I was like, oh hmm wow that is very… interesting. That was maybe my romance writer awakening, now that I think about it.
Your debut novel, Mrs. Nash’s Ashes, is out May 23rd! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Zany, witty, hot, sweet, poignant. (Confession: I totally stole these from some of the wonderful blurbs and reviews Mrs. Nash’s Ashes has received.)
What can readers expect?
Mrs. Nash’s Ashes is a road trip romance filled with all of the super fun detours and zippy banter you’d expect from the trope. But it’s also about Mrs. Nash and the woman she never quite got over losing and never stopped loving, which adds an undercurrent of emotional heft to the story. Readers can expect to laugh a lot, possibly tear up a little, and hopefully come out of the experience feeling a bit lighter than when they went in.
Where did the inspiration for Mrs. Nash’s Ashes come from?
While driving and listening to the radio, I heard a snippet of an interview with a musician who talked about how, when his mother passed away, he took her ashes on tour with him to sprinkle on every stage he played. I immediately had so many logistical questions about that, and my brain did not want to let them go. Around the same time, I was thinking about what a modern day version of the 1934 comedy It Happened One Night would look like. Eventually the two ideas converged in my head, and I had the plot of Mrs. Nash’s Ashes.
Were there any favourite moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
I loved writing in Millie’s voice. It was like letting my natural impulses run unchecked, while at the same time she often took me places I wouldn’t have necessarily expected or gone on my own. Also, I wanted her to be a character who is very confident in who she is, someone who’s earnest even when other people might see that as weird or cringy. And I think writing someone doing that on the page helped me learn to do it more myself in real life.
Can you tell us a bit about your journey of getting Mrs. Nash’s Ashes published?
I started writing again after my daughter was born and I unexpectedly became a stay-at-home parent. Writing offered me a sense of identity outside of motherhood that I really needed at the time. My first manuscript was more women’s fiction, and it wasn’t very good, but I learned so much about craft and the market and the publishing process in general. My second manuscript was better, but still no agent offers. So I wrote Mrs. Nash’s Ashes in the thick of the pandemic, often banging out a chapter or two in the driver’s seat of my car, mooching off fast food WiFi in parking lots just for a change of scenery. I was powered by sheer determination after something like two hundred agent rejections. From the first page, it felt really different. Like I’d finally cracked the code and found my voice. And I guess people liked it, because within a week of querying, I had an offer of representation. I wound up with several and wound up signing with Taylor Haggerty at Root. We did a quick round of revisions on the manuscript before we sent it off on submission. Again, it only took a week. We wound up in a six-editor auction and decided to go with Berkley. It was all quite a wonderful whirlwind, especially juxtaposed with having spent the previous two years in the query trenches.
What’s next for you?
My second book is tentatively scheduled for Spring 2024. I can’t say too much about it yet, but it’s an enemies-to-lovers romcom involving a fake spirit medium, a hot farmer, and a ghost. Also, I’ve seen the cover and it’s amazing.
Lastly, are there any 2023 releases our readers should look out for?
So many amazing books coming out this year! But in the interest of space I will narrow it down to a few I’ve read and loved recently: Amy Barry’s Marrying Off Morgan McBride, which is the second in an incredibly fun Montana-set historical romance series; Ava Wilder’s sophomore novel, Will They or Won’t They; Amber Roberts’s delightfully nerdy sex-positive romcom, Text Appeal; Rachel Runya Katz’s wonderful debut, Thank You for Sharing; and Kerry Winfrey’s hilarious holiday romance, Faking Christmas. And then for something completely different: Terrace Story by Hilary Leichter.
