Q&A with Marilyn Simon Rothstein

 

 

 

Marilyn Simon Rothstein is the author of the new novel Who Loves You Best. Her other novels include Crazy to Leave You. She lives in Connecticut.

 

Q: What inspired you to write Who Loves You Best, and how did you create your cast of characters?

 

A: Who Loves You Best is the story of a woman who gives up everything to spend more time with her grandchild – only to discover new truths about herself. I was inspired by my relationship with my two daughters and three grandchildren. I’d tell you more about them, but I don’t think you have that much time.

 

I knew I could have a fun time writing as soon as I plotted a story in which three grandmas vie for the attention of one grandchild. Her name is Macallan, and she is named after the Scotch her parents were drinking the evening she was conceived.

 

Q: The writer Jennifer Belle said of the novel, “Marilyn Simon Rothstein is a comic genius whose warmth and wisdom can also bring tears to my eyes.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: What’s to argue? And xoxoxo Jennifer Belle.

Q: How would you describe the dynamic among your characters Jodi, Di, Annie, and Lisa?

 

A: The dynamic is built on their differences. Jodi is a give-it-your-all grandma who comes from Boca Raton to watch Macallan in the Berkshires. She’d do anything for her family, but you are left to wonder: What would she do for herself?

 

Jodi assumes the other grandmas on the job—to her chagrin--will be similar. But Di, Lisa’s mother-in-law, is a hard-nosed realtor with little interest in shlepping around a kid. Grannie Annie is the 27-year-old live-in girlfriend of Di’s ex-husband. It’s difficult to see the good in each other until Jodi’s restaurateur daughter Lisa reveals a secret that rocks the roof.

 

Q: How was the book’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?

 

A: My working title was Battles of the Bubbies. One person asked if the book was about boobies—since my debut novel, Lift and Separate, concerned a woman whose husband was the bra czar. When he left, she had to pick herself up by her own lacy straps.

 

The title Who Loves You Best warms my heart. Also, my daughters really liked it.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: Right now, I’m trying to decide where to go for a blow dry as I have a book launch party tonight. I’m on tour for Who Loves You Best because I love getting to know readers in person.

 

I was speaking on stage at an event in Miami. The large room was packed, and my husband stood way in the back. When it was time to ask me, the author, questions, a woman raised her hand and said, “I have a question. But it’s for Marilyn’s husband.” She turns to the rear and says, “Alan, can you tell us what it’s like to live with Marilyn?” And Alan said, “Who’s Marilyn?”

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I blend my novels with humor and serious hopefully heart-rendering moments. But I’ll leave you with this story:

 

“I wasn’t feeling well so I came home early middle of a school day, from my office. I walked into my family room and found my 14-year-old daughter with a boy. They were on the couch in the front of the fireplace, wearing matching outfits—they both had nothing on. His name was Mother’s Hell.”

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Marilyn Simon Rothstein.