What can you tell us about your new release, Sugar and Spice and All Those Lies?
I thought about writing the book as I was leaving a French “deli” we’ve been to a few times. The French chef/owner sells ready-to-eat gourmet meals in vacuum-sealed bags you heat in a pot of boiling water. The area I live in is famous for its Gourmet Ghetto.
But I wasn’t interested in food fiction that focuses on food and how to make them. The sensibility that drives this story is the film Babette’s Feast. So, it’s more about the life-affirming, grace-giving properties of both cooking and eating a great meal. I don’t offer recipes and that has disappointed many readers. The thing is the internet can give you almost any recipe you want. I also happen to be an adventurous foodie—a taste as you go, use what you have kind of cook. Except for cakes, I don’t often use recipes or stick to one I’m given or read about.
What’s the last book you read?
Nineteenth-century French writer Emile Zola’s L’Œuvre (The Masterpiece). I bought his series of 20 books called The Rougon-Macquart cycle and I want too read as many of them as I can. I’ve only read two so far.
What or who inspired you to become an author?
I wanted to study journalism but my parents, who paid for my education, said I wouldn’t make money being a writer. So we compromised and I studied psychology. Psych grad school and my subsequent jobs involved a lot of writing so that worked out pretty well. From authoring research papers in psychology to writing fiction wasn’t too big a leap.
You’re hosting a literary dinner party. Which three writers are invited?
Jane Austen, for sure. Fyodor Dostoevsky who saw me through the existential crisis of my teen years, and Anthony Doerr, author of All The Light We Cannot See.
What’s your favorite thing about writing?
When I was working as a Social Science Researcher, writing helped me sort out the many and sometimes conflicting facts and findings I had to sort through. Writing clarifies my thoughts and thinking helps me write. When it comes to fiction, the writer gets much, if not total control, in creating a world and its characters. I can also get away from the dry objective language of research.
If you had an extra hour each day, how would you spend it?
Doing art while listening to music.
What scene in Sugar and Spice and All Those Lies was your favorite to write?
The chapter before the Epilogue when the ultimate betrayal occurs. Also the very short Prologue.
Do you have a motto, quote or philosophy you live by?
First, be kind. Second, this quote from Marcus Aurelius: Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul.
Evy Journey is the author of the new book Sugar and Spice and All Those Lies.
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