It used to be that the big milestones in my friends' lives  revolved around their weddings.  Lately though, I've been disturbed by a new milestone many of them seem to be experiencing: the mid-life crisis (or at least the mid-mid-life crisis).  In Jenny Gardiner's new novel, "Sleeping with Ward Cleaver", her heroine Claire Doolittle wakes up one day and finds herself in the middle of the throes of a full-blown mid-life crisis.

Here's our interview with the lovely Ms. Gardiner:

1) How did you get the idea for your book?
The title came to me one day. I guess I have always been a sideline observer of relationships and we were talking about some couple or something and the guy was so paternalistic, and I said "Well, it'd be like sleeping with Ward Cleaver! Ugh!" And the more I thought of it the more I thought, that's a great title. I like that. Now, to write a book to go along with it!

2) Are you working on something right now?
 I recently finished my WIP, MARY KATE GOES OVER THE FALLS, which my agent will start shopping soon. It's about a woman trapped in an abusive marriage who goes out to pick up her husband's dry cleaning and instead picks up a handsome hitchhiker along the side of the road, the lure of whom reminds her of the lip of Niagara Falls, said to taunt people into wanting to jump into the falls. The two embark on a road trip of self-discover, en route to Niagara Falls, where Mary Kate is determined to leap into the falls, her first ever act of defiance in life.

3) What is something about you that would surprise your readers?
Good question. Maybe that I'm REALLY outgoing. LIke I'm the person who talks up complete strangers in elevators. I know, weird, isn't it?

 

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