I don’t know that I would’ve made the same choices as Paige, but I definitely respect her process. She (finally!) went with her own gut decision, which was a big deal for her. Her upbringing was a real mix of being overly coddled and also exposed to some pretty heavy stuff—and she desperately needed to make this decision by and for herself.
I purposely didn’t give Paige and Dave any shared burdens or distractions (dependents, financial stresses, bad health). I wanted the book to take place while they’re still in a honeymoon period so that, on the surface, at least, they’re two happy people with everything going for them.
There’s this romantic ideal about two people going off into the sunset on a horse (or in a carriage or a flying convertible like in Grease). But you know once they’ve been on that horse for a while, someone will get thirsty while the other will want to keep going until they reach the destination. Someone will want to help that guy on the side of the road, and the other will think he’s a serial killer. Everyone makes bargains in their relationships. Everyone lets their principles slide or evolve at some point to make things work—it’s just a question of knowing where your lines are at any given moment.
4. It was so interesting how Paige, a marriage counselor, helped couples find their way back to each other as she grappled with issues in her own marriage. At one point she says to Percy, “I’m not like my clients.” Did you make her a marriage counselor to provide that contrast?
This is an especially funny question because Paige did a lot of floundering in the early drafts, before she became a marriage counselor. She tutored a bit for standardized tests. She dabbled in grad school (medical, dental), and she spent a lot of time and effort beautifying and mixing up health shakes filled with things like flaxseed and kale protein powder. (I don’t know if there is such as thing as kale protein powder, actually. But it does sound healthy, and it would have totally been up Paige’s alley.)
None of that felt one hundred percent right, though. Paige had to be a woman of opinions, someone who thought she’d figured out all the answers for relating.
Paige’s job change felt very natural. It made a lot in the story click and, really, she was much happier and stronger as soon as we gave her that job. (My editor and I both breathed a little sigh of relief.) Frankly, it was nice to anchor her a bit, because she gets a lot thrown at her, including that being a marriage counselor doesn’t give you an automatic answer guide to your own relationships.
5. I really enjoyed Giovanni. Whenever he showed up in the book, I laughed. Was that a deliberate choice to make him light?
I’m so glad! Giovanni made me laugh too. He was probably the most fun to write. (Although Vanessa was a close second.)
I’ve known (and envied) people like Giovanni, who just don’t seem to get in their own way. Initially Paige underestimates him because of the games and the jokes, but he’s very good at distilling things to their core simplicity and talking about them.
And, yes, Giovanni provides some much-needed contrast to the Reinhardt women. He’s reductive where Paige is alternatively oblivious and hyperaware. He’s sunny where Sloane is moody, and he’s an open book, in stark contrast to Vanessa. I think he and Sloane will be just fine.
6. What surprised you the most in writing the book?
I love this question because being surprised while writing a novel is unavoidable, as well as one of the best parts of the process.
Aside from how very many drafts it took, I’d say the biggest surprise was the evolution of certain characters. A lot shifts as I write, but one constant here on the journey from idea to completed manuscript was the substance of Dave’s “lie” and how it impacts Paige and Dave’s marriage. I was not expecting to become as fond of Dave as I did, or that there would be such genuine compatibility between him and Paige. I’m so glad I stuck it out with him, because it complicated Paige’s choice and forced her to explore her personal belief system: what makes one transgression forgivable and another not? I’m very curious how readers felt about Dave throughout the book, so please—shoot me an e-mail. I’d love to hear!
Vanessa surprised me too. She’s tricky: she builds massive walls but is also incredibly, piercingly honest, especially in her journals. I loved writing those entries. I think a lot of people tap into something different with respect to voice when they write, and that was a very liberating way to explore her thought processes.
Obviously this is primarily Paige’s story, but Vanessa helped The Never Never Sisters come together. She mines a lot of the themes in the novel—how the struggle to find your own truth dovetails with the struggle of those closest to you, how one’s own narrative and identity impact parenting style and experience and the role of familial expectation in all of it.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. Before Paige sees Sloane, she thinks of her as “apart,” not a member of her family. By the end of the book, how do you think Paige would redefine her family unit?
2. How are Paige and Sloane similar and/or different? Whom did you relate to more at the beginning of the book? At the end?
3. At what point do you think Paige starts to trust Sloane? What are some of Paige’s obstacles to forgiving her sister for the long absence, and ultimately how does she get over them?
4. At what point did your opinion of Dave change (if it did at all)? Was it because of something he did or Paige’s growing awareness?
5. How do you think the dynamics of Paige and Vanessa’s relationship affected Paige in the years before the month during which the book takes place?
6. What do you think of Vanessa’s strengths and weaknesses as a parent? How much do you think her parenting style affected her daughters’ personalities?
7. At the end of the book, what, if anything, did you think was left unsaid between any of the characters? What do you like to think will happen to each of them in the years ahead? Do you think the Reinhardt family is stronger as a whole at the book’s end?
8. In several different instances throughout the book, the way two characters relate to each other is tied into the actions of a third character. What are some examples of this?
9. Of all the characters in the book, whom do you relate to the most and why?
10. In your opinion, who is the most honest character in the book? The least honest? Why?
11. Did you agree with Paige’s conflicting feelings about Dave’s betrayals (real and perceived) as she was experiencing them? What about Paige’s betrayals of Dave?
12. Did you consider Paige’s flirting with Percy harmless or meaningful? Did your feelings about it change at the end of the book?
13. Did you feel that Paige’s professional training helped or hindered her ability to express her own emotions? Can you name examples of moments when her desire to understand other people gets in the way of self-comprehension?
14. Percy and Paige discuss the difference between facts and perception. What are some other moments in the book where the same facts mean different things to different people? What are the effects?
15. What is the role of “silence” in the book? Were there situations in which shared knowledge might have altered how things unfolded in the story? If you were Vanessa or Paige, what might you have done differently?
16. In your life, have you ever been in a situation where you’ve learned something surprising about someone close to you? What have you relied on in figuring out your next steps?
17. At one point, Paige notes that Dave’s greatest strength (ambition) is also his greatest weakness. Are there examples of other instances in the book where a character’s strength is also—in extremis—his or her greatest weakness? Have you seen any examples of this in your own life?
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