Sarah C. Johns is the author of the new novel The Sirens of Soleil City. She lives in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Q: What inspired you to write The Sirens of Soleil City, and how did you create your cast of characters?
A: I was inspired by the relationship between my mother’s mother and her stepmother. My mother’s mother was very unconventional – an artist, married six times, didn’t stay in one place very long – and her stepmother was the consistent maternal presence in her life. As a result of these different approaches to motherhood, the mothers were always at odds.
However, at the end of their lives, they ended up living only a few miles from each other in West Palm Beach, Florida, and after the death of the husband they shared, became friendly-ish. Their dynamic always fascinated me.
In terms of the other women who lived in Soleil City, the senior apartment complex at the heart of the book, I got to just have fun and create a group of women who were not afraid to speak their minds because they've lived a little.
I have a sister and a best friend I've known for 40 years, so I know that bickering with those you're closest to can be another way of showing love. (And these women can bicker!)
Q: The novel is set in South Florida--can you say more about why you chose this location, and how important is setting to you in your writing?
A: I chose South Florida because of my family’s connection to the area. But I also can’t really imagine setting this book anywhere else.
The West Palm Beach area of 1999 (the year the book is set) was very different than the WPB area of today. Then, it was a place where someone who might not have planned very well for retirement could still spend their last years in a decent apartment building with a nice pool. But the city was about to change and price out people like the women of Soleil City.
So, while the women in the book are working to save their senior apartment complex from falling to new development, they also know that the world around them is changing at a pace they won’t always be able to match.
Q: The writer Deepa Varadarajan called the book a “witty, touching story of resilience, forgiveness, complicated family dynamics, and second chances.” What do you think of that description?
A: I’m thrilled by it! The women in the book all have different relationships with motherhood.
Dale, the artist mother, didn’t think she could do it so she walked away. Marlys, the stepmother, sacrificed her own dreams for the role. Cherie, their daughter, thought that being a good mother demanded absolute perfection, which, of course, she couldn’t achieve. Laura, who is about to become a mother, wants to reach some kind of balance between motherhood and womanhood.
Within that context, there are definitely some complicated dynamics and a measure of forgiveness – not just toward others, but toward themselves as well. Motherhood is hard; there isn’t right or wrong, there’s just trying to get it right.
Q: What do you hope readers take away from the story?
A: I hope that they get a sense of joy from the story. Between the intergenerational family relationships and the relationships between these later-in-life friends, there is just so much love and appreciation for each other shared in a way that only women can.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I’m working on a new novel that also has three generations of women at its core. This time, there is more of a focus on the relationship between grandmother and adult granddaughter. It’s a fascinating dynamic that I’m excited to explore.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: While Sirens is a great read for anyone, I think this book would work wonderfully for book clubs. There is so much in the book to explore together!
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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