Anna Johnston is the author of the new novel When Lemons Give You Life. She also has written the novel The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife. She lives in Melbourne, Australia.
A: Working in aged care gave me a front-row seat to both the challenges and the extraordinary humanity that exist within those communities. I met remarkable residents, families and caregivers whose resilience, humor, and capacity for love stayed with me long after I left work each day.
While When Lemons Give You Life is entirely fictional, its emotional heart is deeply rooted in those experiences.
One of the most confronting things I witnessed was how easily residents—particularly those living with dementia, including my grandfather—could become invisible. They were often spoken about rather than spoken to, defined by what they had lost instead of everything they still were.
Every resident I met had a lifetime of stories, relationships, triumphs and regrets, and I wanted to write a novel that challenged readers to look beyond the diagnosis and see the person behind it.
I also witnessed just how profoundly something as simple as food could shape a person’s quality of life.
Like music, a thoughtfully prepared meal could spark conversation, awaken memories and bring people together, while poor-quality, joyless food could deepen withdrawal and rob people of one of the few pleasures they still had. That contrast stayed with me and became one of the novel’s central inspirations.
Though one staff member was inspired by someone I worked with, the nursing home in the book is intentionally the most negligent imaginable—an exaggerated fictional outlier.
It doesn’t reflect the countless real homes where attentive, devoted and hardworking staff provide compassionate, dignified care every day. I want to honor their work while exploring what can happen when a system fails the people inside it.
Q: How would you describe the dynamic between your character Griff and his sister, Lisa?
A: Griff and Lisa are connected by love but divided by perspective. They experienced the same childhood through completely different lenses, and long-held family secrets and misunderstandings have shaped the way they see one another.
Much of the novel explores how easily the people we love most can misinterpret our actions when we don’t know the whole story.
On paper they are opposites––Griff is ordered, rough, and closed off, while Lisa is chaotic, emotional, and empathetic. In the present day, Griff is largely unable to communicate, so their relationship unfolds less through conversation than through memory, gesture and the gradual uncovering of the past.
As readers move between the present and the flashbacks, they begin to understand that beneath years of hurt and misunderstanding, Griff and Lisa have always desperately wanted the same thing: to be seen, understood and loved by each other.
Q: Can you say more about why you decided to have food be a major part of the novel?
A: I’m a passionate home cook, food, for me, is among life’s purest joys and one of our oldest languages. When my children were born, I taught myself to make elaborate themed cakes for their birthdays and even went on to make a three-tiered cake covered in handmade sugar flowers for my brother-in-law’s wedding.
I was often told I should turn my cake making into a business, but for me, baking was always about personal connection and love and the joy on someone’s face when they saw my creation. Food tells people they matter.
Q: You’ve spoken about how you developed a cooking program for widowed older men, and the impact it had on them—can you tell us more about that?
A: Flavors unlocked memories—childhood kitchens, family tables, holiday feasts. Many went from barely eating, or relying on Meals on Wheels, to proudly hosting the family Sunday roast dinner.
This remains one of the most joyful measures of success I have ever witnessed. My years working in nursing homes echoed the same quiet truth: thoughtfully prepared meals could gather people together across grief, illness, and time, and return a vital sense of self.
Sadly, the quality of food in many aged care homes falls heartbreakingly short of the ideal, with alarmingly low daily food budget in some facilities, resulting in high rates of malnutrition and meals that are often poor quality and monotonous, deepening withdrawal, dulling appetite, and stripping daily routines of pleasure and agency.
In nursing homes, where so much is controlled and pared back, good food can be transformative—and in this story, it becomes a way back into the world.
It’s not only essential for physical and mental health —it’s a universal vessel of care, and I wanted to celebrate its emotional and sensory power while inviting readers to imagine what dignity really tastes like.
Writing a book about food also provided some wonderful opportunities, like taste testing as many lemon tarts as possible (all in the name of research of course)!
Q: The author Matt Cain called the novel a “gorgeous, moving, life-affirming tale of second chances, redemption and the power of love in its many forms.” What do you think of that description?
A: I was incredibly touched by Matt’s words. He’s an author whose books I really admire, who does great work in queer and neurodivergent spaces, so receiving such generous praise meant a great deal.
What I love most about his description is that it captures the heart of what I hoped to achieve. At its core, the novel is about believing that it’s never too late to change, to forgive, to love, or to find happiness in unexpected places. If readers come away feeling hopeful, then I’ve done what I set out to do.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I’m currently working on my third novel, The Last Milkman, which is set on a dairy farm.
At its core, it’s about the importance of slowing down and returning to a more human pace in a world that’s becoming increasingly fast, digital, and instant. It’s exploring themes of community, purpose, and connection, and asking what we lose when we forget to make time for one another.
I’m having a wonderful time getting to know this new cast of characters, and I can’t wait to share them with readers.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Anna Johnston.
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