The best-selling Christian author talks about the newest additions to the Baxter Family—and their upcoming TV series.
There’s always something new to talk about with Karen Kingsbury! With more than twenty-five million copies of her award-winning books in print—several of which have or will be adapted for the screen—she’s lauded by many as America’s favorite inspirational storyteller. Her latest projects include the brand-new novel When We Were Young with Howard Books, an upcoming Baxter Family children’s series with Paula Wiseman Books, and the impending Baxter Family television series with Roma Downey’s company Lightworkers Media. In this interview, Karen shares updates on all of these—and reveals the best thing readers can do to support their favorite authors…
WHEN WE WERE YOUNG: A NOVEL
Karen, what inspired the story for When We Were Young? (In particular that twist, and how it impacts the story?)
My son, Tyler, showed me a new John Mayer song, “Never on the Day You Leave.” The message was haunting. My takeaway was this: What if you could know today what would happen if you really walked out that door tomorrow?
Growing up, my favorite Christmas movie was Scrooge, the musical, starring Albert Finney. Our family still makes a point of gathering to watch that old classic. I always cry over the fact that Scrooge is changed in a single night.
So—between the song and the movie, I wanted to find a way for Noah to see his future play out the same way—all in a twenty-four hour period.
This is part of the Baxter Family series, but sort of adjacent. How does it fit into the bigger picture of your popular series?
When We Were Young is a stand-alone book, honestly. It involves Kari Baxter Blake and her husband, Ryan, as the friends of my main characters. But otherwise it is not a piece to the overall Baxter saga. I want readers to feel comfortable jumping in with this book, even if they’ve never heard of the Baxters.
The plot of When We Were Young seems like it would be perfect to adapt into a movie. Since more than one of your books has been adapted, does that possibility impact how you write one of your novels?
At this point, yes, absolutely. The stories God gives me always come to me like a movie in my head. I laugh and cry and get lost to the world while I’m writing.
But lately, with so much film interest, I do write with an eye on the screen adaptation process. I completely believe that When We Were Young will be on the big screen one day soon!
Click through to find out about the upcoming Baxter Children books–and for an update on the Baxter TV series!