Lauren E. Rico is the author of the new novel After the Ocean. Her other books include the novel Familia. Also a classical music broadcaster, she lives outside New York City.
Q: What inspired you to write After the Ocean, and how did you create your character Emilia and her family?
A: After the Ocean was sort of a mash-up of two news stories—the first was a pretty high-profile case that broke back in 2005.
Newlyweds George and Jennifer Smith were on a Mediterranean cruise for their honeymoon when he disappeared from the ship, blood smears found on the railing of their balcony and on the lifeboat hanging below. Jennifer was cleared as a suspect, but George’s family remained deeply suspicious. She recovered a large settlement from the cruise line and remarried a few years later.
After that there was a lot of discussion about the lack of law enforcement oversight on cruise ships. So there was my start—groom goes overboard, bride looks suspicious.
But what happened to him?
That’s when I read a more recent story about a woman named Patricia Kopta who went missing from her home in Pennsylvania. Thirty years later, she was discovered in a nursing home in Puerto Rico.
Apparently, she never spoke about her past until she began developing dementia, and little by little, she started revealing details. The staff pieced together enough information to contact the police, and after some time, they were able to confirm her true identity.
Both of these stories fascinated me for different reasons. They’re such haunting reminders of how easily someone can vanish—how lives can change in an instant, leaving unanswered questions and fractured relationships behind.
Q: The writer Jamie Beck said of the book, “Lauren Rico's absorbing story touches upon social injustices and moral ambiguities, but at its heart, After the Ocean is a poignant reminder that healing cannot begin without truth and forgiveness.” What do you think of that description?
A: I think I adore Jamie Beck! Such high praise from such an amazing author. And she’s right, I love me a good redemption story! In every one of my books there’s someone who grows and changes in an exponential way, usually over the passage of many years.
Because, really, that’s true of all of us, isn’t it? Time goes by, we collect more experience, we grow older and wiser. And, if we’re lucky, we can look back at the people who have come and gone from our lives over the decades with a grace and understanding that we don’t always possess as younger adults.
Maybe these stories are my way of asking for or offering forgiveness by proxy? Maybe I just like a “feel-good” ending?
Whatever the case may be, you’ll always find hope, forgiveness, and redemption in my books.
Q: Did you know how the story would end before you started writing it, or did you make many changes along the way?
A: Generally speaking, I’m ready to start writing when I know how the story begins, how it ends, and I have a few “tentpole” scenes scattered in the space in between.
In this instance, I wrote Paul’s prologue for a writer’s conference a couple of years back. We could submit some first pages to be critiqued by a panel including the fab author Barbara O’Neal and an industry agent. I was thrilled when Barbara called my writing “muscular”! The agent was not as enthusiastic—she didn’t think a women’s fiction book should start off with a man’s POV.
But I can be stubborn like that. I’m totally open to critique…unless I feel strongly about something. Paul was the beginning of the story and the end. I knew it then, and I know it now.
Q: The novel is set primarily in Puerto Rico--how important is setting to you in your writing?
A: My grandmother was born in Puerto Rico and she and my grandfather lived there on and off throughout most of my life so I have a lot of wonderful memories. And when I did my ancestry DNA, I discovered just how firmly rooted my family is to the island, with descendants going back 69 generations to the Taino—the indigenous people of Caribbean!
And, while words can hardly do justice to the beauty of this magical place or the extraordinarily kind and strong people who live there, it was an honor to give it a try.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I’ve just finished a new book called Unidentical, which is was, as with After the Ocean, inspired by two different true crime stories.
One is the so-called “Yoga Twins,” Anastasia and Alexandria Duval. Witnesses in Maui saw the two in a car, fighting as they drove, pulling each other’s hair and clawing at one another until Alexandria, the driver, veered right over a cliff.
Was it an accident? Murder/suicide attempt? Anastasia died and Alexandria was tried for murder but eventually acquitted. It’s a crazy, sordid story, definitely worth a Google!
The second source of inspiration was a documentary called Three Identical Strangers, about triplets who only discover one another when they’re 18—and the twisted story behind their separation.
Unidentical is currently on submission and being considered for publication by several houses. Fingers crossed!
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: If you enjoyed the musical aspects of After the Ocean, you might be interested to know that I’ve had a 35-year-career as a classical music broadcaster! I have a master’s degree in the French horn (yes, that’s a thing).
And, while I don’t play anymore, you can catch me doing the classical music radio DJ thing on-air at radio stations including WQXR in New York City, WSHU in Connecticut, and WDAV outside of Charlotte, North Carolina.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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