Although I often read psychological suspense or thrillers, I love films like that. What drew you to writing that type of story? Is it challenging keeping the tension up throughout an entire book?
I believe that one of the challenges of being a writer is finding the best possible form for each story you want to tell, and it was clear to me from the moment I conceived What Jonah Knew that it could only be a psychological thriller. Maintaining tension throughout is essential, but it’s also crucial to provide enough backstory and character development to enrich the story with depth and meaning. In writing the book, I found keeping the tension up while exploring the minds of the characters was a balancing act. If a novel is too plot heavy, it reads like a treatment for a screenplay. If it’s too character driven at the expense of plot, it can become plodding. Finding the balance between the two was key.
In your newest book, WHAT JONAH KNEW, there is a disappearance that is a huge part of the plot. From the book description, I’m reminded of the classic film Don’t Look Now starring Donald Sutherland. It was a thriller based on a Daphne du Maurier short story. The tension builds as the father thinks he keeps seeing flashes of his dead little girl roaming the city, and it preys on his mind. I find stories about people who have mysteriously disappeared fascinating. What makes a disappearance so compelling to write about?
Well, for one thing a disappearance creates instant mystery, instant drama, instant intrigue. People disappear all the time for all sorts of reasons, some nefarious, some not. Then you’ve got to ask: What happened to the person who has gone missing? Was their disappearance voluntary or the result of foul play? If the disappearance was voluntary, what was the person running away from? If it was the result of foul play, who had it in for that character, and why? The questions regarding a disappearance always lead to more questions. In fiction, those questions must be somehow answered. In real life when somebody disappears, there may never be a clear answer as to why.
WHAT JONAH KNEW is described as being “a work of gripping suspense with a supernatural twist”. What made you decide to include a supernatural element? Have you always been interested in the supernatural? Or does it just add another interesting layer to your novel?
You can view the twist in different ways. Some readers may consider it supernatural. Others may view it as paranormal—something that happens, only we can’t explain how. ESP would fit into this category. So would near-death experiences. From the time I was quite young, I’ve sensed that there’s more to existence than can be explained by the physical universe or our five senses or the idea that life—in this respect, consciousness—is bookended by birth and death. What Jonah Knew gave me a great way to explore these threads within the context of a compelling story.
Is your story told from alternating perspectives?
The novel is told from a variety of perspectives, including seven-year-old Jonah’s. But for much of the book the story is relayed predominantly from the points of view of two mothers: Helen, whose 22-year-old son, Henry, has disappeared. And Lucie, Jonah’s mom, who is very worried about her son’s anxiety and strange behavior. I found writing from multiple perspectives allowed me to take a deep dive into the heads of my characters while advancing the story.
One of your main characters, Jonah, is a seven-year-old boy. Is it difficult writing a child character?
Actually, I had a lot of fun writing in Jonah’s voice. As the mother of a son—now, quite grown—the boyish way of talking and looking at the world were easy to access. If I hadn’t raised a child, I imagine that it would have been much harder.
Do you enjoy reading the same type of book that you enjoy writing? Can you share a few favorite books or authors?
I’m a voracious reader in many different genres, including psychological suspense. In this category I like books by Wendy Walker (Don’t Look for Me), Alice Feeney (Rock, Paper, Scissors), JoAnn Tompkins (What Comes After), and I’m a sucker for anything by Louise Penney. In more general fiction, I’m a great fan of Ruth Ozeki, whose novels manage to be funny, profound, and mysterious all at once. The same can be said of books by Anthony Doerr, which I love. And I’ll read anything and everything by George Saunders. These authors are all master storytellers.
What are you currently working on?
I’m in the early stages of a new novel of suspense, which, like What Jonah Knew, features a murder and characters pushed to their very edge by difficult circumstances that force them to make psychological—and spiritual—leaps that previously they never could have imagined.
How can readers learn more about your books?
From my website: www.barbaragrahamauthor.com
A seven-year-old boy inexplicably recalls the memories of a missing 22-year-old musician in this psychological thriller about the fierce love between mothers and sons across lifetimes, a work of gripping suspense with a supernatural twist that will mesmerize fans of Chloe Benjamin and Lisa Jewell.
Helen Bird will stop at nothing to find Henry, her musician son who has mysteriously disappeared in upstate New York. Though the cops believe Henry’s absence is voluntary, Helen knows better.
While she searches for him—joined finally by police—Jonah is born to Lucie and Matt Pressman of Manhattan. Lucie does all she can to be the kind of loving, attentive mother she never had, but can’t stop Jonah’s night terrors or his obsession with the imaginary “other mom and dog” he insists are real.
Whether Jonah’s anxiety is caused by nature or nurture—or something else entirely—is the propulsive mystery at the heart of the novel.
All hell breaks loose when the Pressmans rent a summer cottage in Aurora Falls, where Helen lives. How does Jonah, at seven, know so much about Henry, Helen’s still-missing son? Is it just a bizarre coincidence? An expression of Jung’s collective unconscious? Or could Jonah be the reincarnation of Henry?
Faced with more questions than answers, Helen and Lucie set out to make sense of the insensible, a heart-stopping quest that forces them to redefine not just what it is to be a mother or a human being, but the very nature of life—and death—because of what Jonah knows.
Thriller Psychological [Harper Paperbacks, On Sale: July 5, 2022, Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9780063230187 / eISBN: 9780063230200]
Barbara Graham is an author, essayist, and playwright. Her pieces have appeared in many magazines and websites, including Glamour, O, the Oprah Magazine, National Geographic Traveler, Psychotherapy Networker, Redbook, Self, Time, Utne Reader, Vogue, and npr.org, in addition to being collected in numerous anthologies. She is the author of the New York Times bestseller Eye of My Heart, the national bestseller Women Who Run with the Poodles, and Camp Paradox, a memoir. Her plays have been produced Off-Broadway at the WPA Theatre in New York and at theaters around the country.
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