Friday, February 14, 2014

"Year of Mistaken Discoveries"

Eileen Cook spent most of her teen years wishing she were someone else or somewhere else, which is great training for a writer. She is the author of The Almost Truth, Unraveling Isobel, The Education of Hailey Kendrick, Getting Revenge on Lauren Wood, and What Would Emma Do? as well as the Fourth Grade Fairy series. She lives in Vancouver with her husband and dogs.

Cook applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, Year of Mistaken Discoveries, and reported the following:
From page 69:
“I’m not thinking about killing myself.” I tried to ignore the fact that he was implying that my life was so pathetic that it might seem a reasonable to me to end it. “I’m fine. I told my parents I was going to be okay. I got upset at the funeral, but I’m doing better now.”
This scene takes place in the school counselor’s office. Avery’s childhood best friend, Nora, has died. Although they haven’t been close for years, everyone is very concerned with how she’s coping. I think the quote captures a bit of the tragic-comedy aspect of the book. There are a lot of serious issues, but there are also chances to laugh. (Including a few that I hope make you laugh out loud.)

I wanted to write Avery’s story because I’m interested in how we can be so close to some friends at one point in our life and then find ourselves in a different place a few years later where the only thing that connects us to those people is that we used to be friends. Avery was already struggling with her relationship with Nora. Nora was a part of her, she couldn’t imagine her life without her in it, but they almost nothing in common anymore. Now that Nora is gone, Avery is coping with feelings of guilt. She is also trying to figure out who she is in a world without Nora.

The more books I write, the more I realize that I am fascinated with the stage in our lives when she start figuring out who we really are separate from friends or family expectations. Who do we want to be? I hope this page leaves you wanting to know more about what Avery discovers!
Visit Eileen Cook's website, Facebook page, and Twitter perch.

--Marshal Zeringue