Jessica Guerrieri is the author of the new novel Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea. She lives in Northern California.
Q: What inspired you to write Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, and how did you create your character Leah?
A: This novel was born from a deeply personal place. As someone in recovery, I wanted to write a fictionalized account that captured the insidious slope of using alcohol to “take the edge off,” especially within the confines of modern motherhood.
Leah is not me, but she carries echoes of the woman I might have become had I not found sobriety. I created her to explore what happens when someone seeks connection but keeps numbing the very feelings that could lead them there. Her flaws are real, her humor is a shield, and her pain is often mistaken for drama—just like so many women I know.
Q: How was the novel’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?
A: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea is a nod to that no-win space many women find themselves in—caught between who they’re expected to be and who they really are. It reflects the difficult choices women are often forced to make: between motherhood and ambition, perfection and authenticity, survival and surrender.
For Leah, it’s the pull between self-destruction and the pristine life she’s tried to curate. The title evokes both danger and depth, which felt fitting for a story about identity, addiction, and the emotional cost of trying to hold it all together.
Q: The Library Journal review of the book called it a “raw, honest look at the lives we construct and the pieces of ourselves we leave behind.” What do you think of that description?
A: I loved that line. It captures the heart of what I was trying to say—not just about addiction, but about womanhood. We all curate lives, consciously or not, and in doing so, we often abandon the most tender parts of ourselves. This novel is an attempt to reclaim those pieces—to say, this is also part of the story, even when it’s messy.
Q: Did you know how the novel would end before you started writing it, or did you make many changes along the way?
A: I actually had a completely different ending at first. In the original version, Leah and Amy are left holding baby Eve, staring out at the ocean for any sign of Isla—maybe a shadow, maybe a seal—but ultimately, they turn and walk away. There was no struggle, just absence.
But in conversation with my editor, we realized how important it was, symbolically, for both women to try. To fight for Isla in the water, even if the outcome was uncertain.
It mirrored a moment from the AA meeting in the book, where someone says there are only two outcomes to addiction: recovery or death. And yet, no matter how much you love someone, you can’t save them from their demons. Ultimately, the ending I wrote is the ending that belonged.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: My second novel, Both Can Be True, is coming out in April 2026 with Harper Muse. At its core, this novel is about sisterhood—both in the literal bond between Mare and Frankie and in the deep, found connection among the women on their much-needed trip to Mexico. More than an escape, the trip serves as a recalibration, a reminder of who they are beyond motherhood and marriage.
Female friendships become vital lifelines, offering emotional support, intimacy, and understanding that complement and deepen their marriages in ways their partners sometimes cannot.
Both Can Be True explores the raw, often contradictory nature of life—where love and resentment, trust and betrayal, addiction and recovery, and loneliness and a sense of belonging can exist at once.
Brie’s mysterious disappearance, the women's relationships, and Frankie’s relapse force them to confront these dualities, leading to a raw and transformative reckoning with themselves.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea is my debut, but it’s also just the beginning. I’m currently working on my third novel, which explores the complicated line between maternal intuition and projection, as a mother in recovery begins to see signs of addiction in her preteen daughter.
I’m passionate about writing fiction that makes space for emotional nuance and breaks the silence around taboo topics.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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