An otherwise healthy mother of two had a stomachache and went to the hospital. Twelve days later, she was gone. Cancer had taken her away from her teenaged daughters and her husband. The loss is quietly unbearable for the survivors, with each dealing in a different way, to a different degree.

Such is the start of CURES FOR HEARTBREAK, a book born out of author Margo Rabb's personal experiences and a series of short stories. It is, in essence, a combination of her personal life and her professional life. The story is narrated by fifteen-year-old Mia and is set in 1980s Queens, New York, echoing the author's age, location, and experiences when she lost her mother.

Though Rabb is an experienced writer, CURES FOR HEARTBREAK is her first novel - and what a deeply personal debut. She had published short stories over the years that later became chapters in this novel. It was understandably difficult for her to revisit her memories, fictionalize them, and rework them until they became one continuous novel. Here now are the reasons why she shared her HEARTBREAK with the world.

( Read more... )

Follow Margo's blog tour!

3/19: Colleen Mondor at Chasing Ray
3/20: Lizzie Skurnick at theoldhag
3/21: Jen Robinson at Jen Robinson's Book Page
3/22: Betsy Bird at Fuse #8
3/23: Kelly Herold at Big A Little A
3/26: Liz Burns at A Chair, A Fireplace and a Tea Cozy
3/27: Jackie Parker at Interactive Reader
3/28: Little Willow at Bildungsroman
3/29: Leila Roy at Bookshelves of Doom
3/30: Mindy at Proper Noun

Want a free copy of Cures for Heartbreak? Send an email to contest@margorabb.com now and tell them you read Margo's interview here at Bildungsroman. The publisher will randomly select one lucky winner.

To learn more about Margo Rabb, please her official website and her MySpace page.

In GENTLE'S HOLLER, Kerry Madden introduced young readers to Olivia (better known as Livy Two) Weems, a twelve-year-old with a passion for books and music. Livy has eight siblings of various ages and temperaments, a sweet mama, and a starry-eyed daddy. Money's tight - Daddy's music fills the heart and ears more than it fills the pocketbook - but the Weems make do, and their household is always bursting with family, love, and music.

GENTLE'S HOLLER is the first in The Maggie Valley Trilogy. LOUISIANA'S SONG will be hitting the shelves in May, and it is just as precious as the first book. The author is currently working on revisions for JESSIE'S MOUNTAIN, the final book in the trilogy. (Read more about the books.)

Kerry Madden and I recently discussed the real-life relatives that inspired her novels.

The Weems were influenced by your immediate and extended families. Which character is the most like you? Like your husband?

I think of a few. I was a bossy tyrant to my own younger siblings (two boys and a girl) like Becksie when I babysat them, which was a lot. I made them dress up as orphans from Oliver Twist or Jane Eyre or prairie children. I braided my sister's hair in tight, severe braids. I mixed bowls of gruel to sample - they refused, of course. I also read like Livy Two, and I was as shy as Louise in public and very tall as a kid. And there were times as I was writing GENTLE'S HOLLER when I also felt like Daddy [Weems]: a dreamer, hoping and struggling to have faith that this story would find a home. I worried about making a living for my family, yet I could not stop writing these kids.

My husband, Kiffen, is like Cyrus as a little boy, but he's also very much like Emmett in the way he can skip stones, play the harmonica, whittle, and love his sisters. And he has a great love for our own children - a patience to play with them and work on projects with them - he takes great joy in them like Daddy in the Weems' family.

Take a journey through Kerry's official website, MySpace, and LiveJournal.