Q&A with Shauna Robinson

 

 

 

Shauna Robinson is the author of the new novel The Banned Bookshop of Maggie Banks. She also has written the novel Must Love Books. She lives in Virginia.

 

Q: What inspired you to write The Banned Bookshop of Maggie Banks, and how did you create your character Maggie?

 

A: I love reading books set in bookstores, and I’ve always wanted to read about a bookstore that’s bound by a bizarre set of rules. As I started thinking about the sorts of shenanigans they might get into—from hosting underground events to selling forbidden books while trying not to get caught—I had to start writing!

 

As for Maggie, I gave her some traits that I couldn’t at all relate to myself, but I thought they might make for a fun character. Maggie is an extrovert, and she doesn’t really like reading. When Maggie finds herself in a temp job at Cobblestone Books while her best friend goes on maternity leave, it’s not long before she starts scheming ways to bring more people to the bookshop.

 

Q: This is your second novel about books--how would you compare Maggie's attitude toward books and reading with that of your character Nora in Must Love Books?

 

A: Unlike Nora in Must Love Books, who adores books so much she started working in the publishing industry, Maggie is not much of a reader when we first meet her. It was fun to explore a character with a different relationship to books and see how that relationship changes throughout the novel.

 

I myself don’t have many memories of falling in love with reading because I’ve been a booklover for as long as I can remember. Through Maggie, we get to see what it’s like for someone to discover the wonders of reading as an adult.

 

Q: The writer Abby Jimenez called the book “A sparkling bookish story about rules just begging to be broken.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: I’m honored that Abby Jimenez would call my book anything, let alone use a word as lovely as “sparkling”! Her description gets to the heart of the book in such a wonderful way. The rules Maggie has to follow at Cobblestone Books—namely, that they can sell only literary classics from decades and centuries past—are indeed begging to be broken.

 

While tourists flock to Bell River to see the bookstore where a famous author once wrote a literary classic, Bell River locals have no interest in buying books from a shop that doesn’t sell anything they actually want to read. When Maggie realizes this, she naturally decides to make a few changes…even if it means breaking some rules along the way.

 

Q: How did you create the book's setting, the town of Bell River? Is it based on an actual town?

 

A: I’ve always loved reading about small towns, and I knew I wanted Bell River to be a small town as well, full of characters who might have differing opinions about the changes Maggie starts making when she takes over the bookshop. Bell River is entirely fictional, but I do love visiting cities that have anything to do with famous authors. I’m a sucker for a museum or a site dedicated to an author!

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: My third book isn’t yet final by any means, but it centers on a character who crashes an estranged relative’s funeral in an attempt to get to know her family. It involves quite a lot of food as well, which I loved writing about—I love food just about as much as I love books!

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Shauna Robinson.