1--What is the title of your latest release?
JANE AND DAN AT THE END OF THE WORLD
2--What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
A couple out to dinner celebrating their 19th wedding anniversary find themselves in the middle of a hostage situation right out of the pages of a novel. Her novel, to be exact.
3--How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I knew I needed to create an isolated restaurant that was off the beaten path, where diners could realistically be taken hostage and there wouldn’t be help for miles. I kept picturing a coastal cliff and liked the idea of the restaurant being frequented by celebrities, so California north of LA made sense to me.
4--Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Absolutely. Although Jane is neurotic as I am at times, so we’d likely get on each other’s nerves.
5--What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Mid-40s, anxious, mom
6--What’s something you learned while writing this book?
That creativity ebbs and flows. And when it ebbs, it’s important to be kind to yourself and find ways back to your creative center. For me, that was taking long walks without music or podcasts, doing yoga, and reading The Creative Act by Rick Rubin.
7--Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
As I draft. Which is definitely not the way all the writing classes tell you to do it, but I’ve always been a little rebellious and it’s what works for me!
8--What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Poutine! French fries, cheese curds and GRAVY all in one dish? It’s a heart attack waiting to happen but oh-so delicious.
9--Describe your writing space/office!
It’s as chaotically messy as my brain.
10--Who is an author you admire?
Anne Tyler
11--Is there a book that changed your life?
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. I’ve re-read multiple times, and I get something different out of it each time, which I think is the very definition of a brilliant and classic work of literature. MY son is reading it for the first time for his freshman high school lit class and I can’t wait to discuss it with him.
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 think I screamed? I was definitely in shock. I was home in my office and my agent called and said Simon & Schuster had put in an offer. After years of writing and rejections, it felt surreal.
13--What’s your favorite genre to read?
Depends on my mood! I love everything from historical fiction to gritty family drama to psychological suspense to rom-com and everything in between.
14--What’s your favorite movie?
This is a hard question because I have so many that I think are absolutely perfect for what they are: Shaun of the Dead, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, 500 Days of Summer, The Family Stone, Life is Beautiful (but I would never ever watch that one again, because it so thoroughly devasted me).
15--What is your favorite season?
Summer! I love to travel and spend lazy days with my kids at the community pool.
16--How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
Dinner with friends and cake with my kids. I’m not huge on birthdays, but I do love an excuse to eat really good food and spend time with people I love.
17--What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
My Old Ass, a coming-of-age drama starring Aubrey Plaza that I think didn’t get as much attention as it should have, likely because of the title and because it’s a frank and honest look at a teenage girl’s life, but I absolutely loved it and cried buckets.
18--What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Italian
19--What do you do when you have free time?
Read. I try to also take a girls trip once a year somewhere peaceful where my friends and I take long walks and get massages and eat good food and revel in a lack of responsibility for a weekend.
20--What can readers expect from you next?
I’m currently working on an epic love story that spans 50 years and I have very fun secret project also in the works that I hope I’ll get to talk about very soon!
Date night goes off the rails in this hilariously insightful take on midlife and marriage when one unhappy couple find themselves at the heart of a crime in progress, from the USA Today bestselling author of The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise.
Jane and Dan have been married for nineteen years, but Jane isn’t sure they’re going to make it to twenty. The mother of two feels unneeded by her teenagers, and her writing career has screeched to an unsuccessful halt. Her one published novel sold under five hundred copies. Worse? She’s pretty sure Dan is cheating on her. When the couple goes to the renowned upscale restaurant La Fin du Monde to celebrate their anniversary, Jane thinks it’s as good a place as any to tell Dan she wants a divorce.
But before they even get to the second course, an underground climate activist group bursts into the dining room. Jane is shocked—and not just because she’s in a hostage situation the likes of which she’s only seen in the movies. Nearly everything the disorganized and bumbling activists say and do is right out of the pages of her failed book. Even Dan (who Jane wasn’t sure even read her book) admits it’s eerily familiar.
Which means Dan and Jane are the only ones who know what’s going to happen next. And they’re the only ones who can stop it. This wasn’t what Jane was thinking of when she said “’til death do us part” all those years ago, but if they can survive this, maybe they can survive anything—even marriage.
Women's Fiction Contemporary | Women's Fiction Friendship [Berkley, On Sale: March 11, 2025, Hardcover / e-Book , ISBN: 9780593200827 / eISBN: 9780593200834]
Colleen Oakley is the USA Today bestselling author of The Invisible Husband of Frick Island, You Were There Too, Close Enough to Touch, and Before I Go. Her books have been translated into more than 20 languages around the world, lauded by numerous magazines including People, Us Weekly, Library Journal, and Real Simple, and won multiple awards including Georgia Author of the Year. Her fifth novel THE MOSTLY TRUE STORY OF TANNER & LOUISE will be published by Berkley/Penguin in March 2023. A former magazine editor for Women's Health & Fitness and Marie Claire, Colleen lives in Atlanta with her husband, four children, and a mutt named Baxter.
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