This week, in addition to the usual book review, I'm very excited to be hosting author Tish Cohen on the blog tour for her new book, the wonderfully written The Truth About Delilah Blue. The eponymous heroine of Cohen's novel is an aspiring L.A. artist, originally from Toronto. Delilah moved to the States with her father when she was just a child, after being told that her mother no longer wanted to be part of her life. Growing up without a mother is hard for any child, but being told your mother no longer wants you (when of all things in this world a mother's love is supposed to be sacrosanct and unconditional) does something to a young character.
Today Delilah is vulnerable and slightly broken, wanting to be a famous artist to catch her mother's eye, but ripping up every piece of art she produces. To compound Delilah's problems her father has begun to act strange--getting confused and acting forgetful--and also refuses to bankroll art school, forcing her to drop trou (or robe, as the case may be) as a classroom model in hopes of soaking up some knowledge while she poses. When Delilah's mother reappears with an explosive secret the young woman's world gets turned upside down as she struggles to figure out who, if anyone, she can trust.
I understand that the seed for this story came from your father needing care after back surgery, so while it’s clear the plot is not exactly autobiographical did you pull anything from your own childhood to add to the story?
My own father owned a Datsun 240Z, a sporty hatchback with no backseats, when I was young, so that particular car factored into my existence in a big way. There were four kids in my family, so when we went out to dinner and took Dad’s car, our parents sat in front and we lined ourselves up on our backs in the hatch area like little pieces of chalk. The whole way to the restaurant, when we weren’t pinching each other or jostling for more space, we would stare up at the sky and watch the streetlights pass. Punch buggy was more about spying seagulls or red lights than about Volkswagen Beetles.
I thought you did a wonderful job capturing the viewpoint of the young in this book—both with Delilah and Kieran—as well as approaching the central issue of the story from the viewpoints of both parents and Lila herself. How do you get yourself in the frame of mind to be able to write the same story from different perspectives and keep it authentic?
Thanks, Connie. It is always a matter of living through the story within the life of each character. It was important to me to examine how parental abduction alters the non-abducted children in a family, which brought the young stepsister into the story. With Victor, I researched Alzheimer’s and imagined how terrifying it would be to realize your mental faculties are no longer where you left them.
Do you think being a mother yourself changes the way you approach a story of this nature and how you feel about the characters—especially the parents Victor and Elisabeth?
I do. As a parent, having made many mistakes myself, I am very aware that mothers and fathers are mostly doing the best they can with what they have to work with. No parent is wholly good or wholly bad and most lived through a somewhat imperfect childhood themselves, so it was important to me to reflect this in the story.
I always enjoy it when I can see my hometown in print, was including Toronto in the story important for you and how do you choose where to set your stories?
In my work, the book always determines where the story is set. Town House had to be set in a city with history, where four-storey, centuries-old townhomes can be found in abundance: hence, Boston. Inside Out Girl required a property on the side of an eroding property beside a river; I chose the Hudson River Valley. The Truth About Delilah Blue demanded two different countries. Luckily, I’d lived in Toronto and California, so these places felt natural for me to write about.
The movie rights for your first novel, Town House, were purchased by Fox Studios. How is that project coming along and when writing a new novel do you ever wonder how it will translate to the silver screen and does this affect what or how you write?
Town House is on track for filming next February with Zach Galifiniakis and Amy Adams as lead stars. Also, Inside Out Girl is moving forward in terms of film development; our script is polished and ready to go out to actresses. Since Town House sold for film, I definitely think about whether a book will or will not work for film, but I don’t think my writing or my process has changed in that regard. More likely, any suitability for film that my books may have might come from the way I watch a scene unravel the night before I write it.
What can we expect next from Tish Cohen?
I have just finished my next adult book, and am revising a new teen novel that should be out next year!
Thanks Trish for stopping by and taking the time to answer some questions!
Browse Inside The Truth About Delilah Blue
Links to next blog tour spots can be found here
