YA author Jenny B Jones shares about
There You’ll Find Me (Thomas Nelson): In a small cottage house in rural Ireland, Finley is forced to face a past she can’t outrun.
Q: WHAT INSPIRED THERE YOU’LL FIND ME?
My Winter 2011 release Save the Date, a women’s romance,
was about Alex and Lucy. Alex was reeling from the loss of his brother, and we
see Alex’s teenage sister dealing with some grief on her own in a few scenes. I
decided she needed her own book. Throw in my newly acquired love for Ireland,
and a book was born.
Q: ALTHOUGH YOUR BOOK IS FICTION, WHAT ARE SOME ELEMENTS IN THE BOOK THAT CAME FROM REAL LIFE?
I traveled to Ireland a few years ago and knew I had to
set a book there.
Other than that, I wanted to write about that point in
adolescent life when a kid suffers their first loss of a family member and
realize the fragility of life, that things won’t always be the same.
Q: FACT VS. FICTION — WHERE IN YOUR NOVEL DID YOU TAKE SOME LIBERTIES WITH THE FACTS?
The town in There You’ll Find Me, Abbeyglen, is based off
of a little place in Ireland called Doolin. The major tourist sites in the book
are real though. The cemetery that’s so significant to the finale is real as
well.
Q: WHAT DO YOU WANT READERS TO TAKE AWAY FROM YOUR BOOK?
I hope they have fun, have some laughs, and come away
with hope and something to think about.
Q: HOW DO YOU CHOOSE WHICH STORY TO WRITE?
God gives me one idea — and only fragments of that. I’d
love to be one of those authors whose brain is just overflowing with ideas.
Sadly, I’m one of those authors whose brain is overflowing with sugary
lightning bolts from all the M&Ms I’ve eaten.