Martha Burns
Author Interview - Martha Burns
Author of Across the Narrows
In 1924, at Brooklyn’s Kings County Hospital, Ruby del Palacio delivers a blue baby weeks early. The baby girl dies for want of oxygen. Within a year, Ruby delivers another baby girl
named Alice.
Gradually realizing that her sole role in the del Palacio household is to conceive, deliver, and nurse babies, trapped by societal expectations in a time of limited women’s rights and rampant injustices, Ruby summons the courage to sue for a legal separation from her Colombian husband, Juan. Her efforts are met with a counter lawsuit, resulting in Juan being granted custody of their six children. Months later, he flees the state with the children, leaving Ruby abandoned and bereft.
Decades later, Alice embarks on a journey to find her long-lost mother. It is only when a dear friend imparts a profound revelation to Alice, explaining that forgiveness necessitates relinquishing all hope for a different past, that Alice finds the strength to accept her history.
Author Interview - Martha Burns
Author I draw inspiration from:
William Maxwell, Ann Patchett, Wallace Stegner, William Faulkner
Author Interview - Martha Burns | Author I Draw Inspiration From
Favorite place to read a book:
Coffee shop
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with:
Any one from Angle of Repose
Author Interview - Martha Burns | Book Character I’d Like to be Stuck in an Elevator With
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author:
When I read So Long, See You Tomorrow by Maxwell
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook:
Hardback first, Audio book for a second visit to book
The last book I read:
Tom Lake - Ann Patchett. Lovely sentences but no match for The Dutch House
Author Interview - Martha Burns | The Last Book I Read
Pen & paper or computer:
Notebook and pen for starters... hits computer weeks later
Book character I think I’d be best friends with:
I don't really think that way---don't really look for friendship that way
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a:
I would have liked to be a dancer but those days are over
Favorite decade in fashion history:
Varies with what I am writing
Place I’d most like to travel:
Africa
My signature drink:
Mt. Gay Rum
Favorite artist:
Elton John
Number one on my bucket list:
Writing my next novel
Find more from the author:
MarthaBurnswriter (Instagram & Facebook)
About Martha Burns:
A finalist for the 2023 Spur Award for contemporary fiction for her debut novel, Blind Eye, Martha Burns earned a Doctor of Letters with distinction from Drew University and won the Faulkner-Wisdom Gold Medal for short story. After having lived and worked in Hawaii, New Jersey, California, and Switzerland, Martha and her husband returned to live in their home state of New Mexico. MarthaBurnsWriter.com.
