HOW DID YOU DECIDE ON ETERNAL FERTILITY AND NOT SOMETHING ELSE?
I wanted to write about a drug that would be lucrative, highly desirable at any cost. What would be desirable? More hair would be desirable, a cure for baldness, a cure for obesity — a completely easy, effortless weight loss — and everlasting fertility. My husband's a doctor, and we had a lot of fun evenings sitting around coming up with things about this.
YOUR BOOKS OCCUPY A UNIQUE NICHE. ON THE ONE HAND, THEY'RE EMARKETED TO WOMEN. ON THE OTHER, THEY'RE UNFAILINGLY PERCEIVED AS LITERARY.
I can remember somebody saying, "Boy, you've really managed to not get pegged with the whole Chick Lit group." And I remember thinking, "Oh my God, was that even an option?" I didn't even realize I was in danger of being pegged.
I am definitely packaged for women readers. I've had the experience many times where I'm being interviewed by a man and he'll say, "I've never read you before. I always thought of you as somebody who wrote books for women." My books get out there, they do a great, my publisher does a great job of getting my books into people's hands. Usually the hands of women, but I will not complain about that.
When I was going into this book, I really wanted to write a book in which women are front and center. Run, Bel Canto, and Truth and Beauty were picked for a lot of college reading programs. Without meaning to, I write books that are really clean. Almost nobody has sex in my books and almost nobody swears. I don't have any idea what that's about [pauses]. . . . I did have 12 years of Catholic school.
