1–What is the title of your latest release?
2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
What happens when a relationship written about thousands of years ago is retold in a contemporary setting? Better yet, what happens when that retelling is from the perspective of the once-voiceless female? The answer is a novel that explores the timeless nature of the human struggle as well as the individual powers possessed by women.
3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I always envisioned the story of this unorthodox relationship being set on Wall Street. I saw the King David character as one that translated well to a “Master of the Universe” and the Bathsheba character being his young, beautiful, whip-smart protege.
4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
The main character in Daughter of a Promise is Betsabe Ruiz. She is young, cool, sassy, and determined. I would definitely hang out with her. The question is whether she would hang out with me!!
5–What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Intelligent, loyal, a dreamer
6–What’s something you learned while writing this book?
My character possessed everything she needed to succeed before graduating from college and before starting her prestigious first job at the Investment Bank. The problem was that she didn’t trust what she already knew. She listened to a world that claimed it had a lot to teach her. Writing about Betsabé’s breaking open and charting her authentic course was a good reminder to let go of fear in my life.
7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I try to write the first draft without self-editing, but the truth is I am editing all the time. Writing is editing. Even when the book first feels done, there are still so many revisions.
8–What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
A combo of cheddar cheese popcorn and peanut M&M’s is what I indulge in when I’m long drives. Popcorn also fuels a lot of my late-night writing.
9–Describe your writing space/office!
I have a writing desk in my bedroom that faces a window so that I have a view of the beautiful mountains in which we live.
10–Who is an author you admire?
Barbara Kingsolver. Even before Demon Copperhead, I was astounded by the Poisonwood Bible and most recently read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle which was really cool because we were in the first season of growing on our farm.
11–Is there a book that changed your life?
The Liar’s Club by Mary Karr – reading this memoir lead to the revelation that all subject matter is fair game, that writing takes bravery, and reading could be an act healing.
12–Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
I was excited for Daughter of a Promise to join my first two novels in the world. Together, the three of them are somewhat of a trilogy, sharing some characters as well as some setting. After I finished the fellowship in which I was polishing the novel, and after receiving great feedback, I knew it was ready to be out in the world. I had great experiences with She Writes Press, and when Brooke Warner expressed enthusiasm about my novel, I was convinced I was on the right path.
13–What’s your favorite genre to read?
Literary Fiction
14–What’s your favorite movie?
Pulp Fiction
15–What is your favorite season?
Winter – I love our perch in the mountains, and I love snow.
16–How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
Hiking with my dog and my husband.
17–What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
Fleischman is in Trouble
18–What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
We grow veggies on our farm in Wisconsin, so I would have to say anything involving lots of greens. Tomatoes off the vine tossed with fresh herbs taste like summertime.
19–What do you do when you have free time?
After a morning at the desk, I like to move my body. I am an avid skier and hiker. I also like to hike and swim.
20–What can readers expect from you next?
I am working on a bigger piece of nonfiction portraying our venture into farming that weaves in my dysfunctional history with food.
DAUGHTER OF A PROMISE by Jeanne McWilliams Blasberg
Women’s Fiction [She Writes Press, On Sale: April 2, 2024, Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9781647426088 / ]
Days after graduation, Betsabé Ruiz’s life in New York is turning out to be nothing less than cinematic. Although her first job at a white-shoe, Wall Street investment bank is the opportunity of a lifetime, she is not prepared for the magnitude of wealth swirling about her, the long hours and close quarters that infuse her professional relationships with intimacy, nor an unexpected attraction to her boss. And like all great films, Betsabé’s New York dream comes with a twist that challenges her to find a balance between where she came from and where she’s going.
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About Jeanne McWilliams Blasberg
Jeanne Blasberg is an award-winning and bestselling author and essayist. Her most recent book, The Nine (She Writes Press 2019) was honored with the 2019 Foreword Indies Gold Award in Thriller & Suspense, and the Gold Medal and Juror’s Choice in the 2019 National Indie Excellence Awards, among others. Her debut novel, Eden (She Writes Press 2017), won the Benjamin Franklin Silver Award for Best New Voice in Fiction and was a finalist for the Sarton Women’s Book Award for Historical Fiction. Blasberg founded the Westerly Writer’s Workshop and sits on the boards of the Boston Book Festival and GrubStreet, one of the country’s preeminent creative writing centers. Her essays have been featured in Zibby Owen’s Moms Don’t Have Time To, as well as in The Huffington Post, Indagare, Grown and Flown, diyMFA, The Jewish Book Council, and many others. Blasberg also reviews contemporary fiction for the New York Journal of Books and is a 2021-22 Southampton Arts Bookends Fellow. She and her husband have three grown children and split time between New England and the American West.
She loves to hear from readers and is happy to participate in book group discussions.
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