Please join us in congratulating Barbara O’Neal, a WU contributor who continues to give succinct advice from the trenches, on the upcoming release of her latest novel, When We Believed In Mermaids.
Barbara O’Neal is the author of twelve novels of women’s fiction, including The Art of Inheriting Secrets, How to Bake a Perfect Life, and The All You Can Dream Buffet. Her award-winning books have been published in more than a dozen countries, including France, England, Poland, Australia, Turkey, Italy, Germany, and Brazil. She lives in the beautiful city of Colorado Springs with her beloved, a British endurance athlete who vows he’ll never lose his accent.
“More than a mystery, Barbara O’Neal’s When We Believed in Mermaids is a story of childhood—and innocence—lost, and the long-hidden secrets, lies, and betrayals two sisters must face in order to make themselves whole as adults. Plunge in and enjoy the intriguing depths of this passionate, lustrous novel, and you just might find yourself believing in mermaids.”
—Juliet Blackwell, New York Times bestselling author of The Lost Carousel of Provence, Letters from Paris, and The Paris Key
Q1: What’s the premise of your new book?
Kit Bianci’s sister has been dead for fifteen years when she sees her on the TV news. The resemblance is unmistakable, and Kit sets out to find the sister she believed died in a terrorist attack on a train.
Q2: What would you like people to know about the story itself?
When We Believed in Mermaids is about the bonds between sisters, about childhood and how it shapes us, and how we can heal ourselves if we’re brave enough. I loved writing these two women, both lost in their own way, and deeply devoted. Virtually all of my books are about how some people survive really terrible things and how others just can’t seem to navigate the pain and stay stuck for the rest of their lives. This takes that idea to a whole new level–how far would you go to reinvent your life?
Q3: What do your characters have to overcome in this story? What challenge do you set before them?
