What is the title of your latest release?
STORYBOOK ENDING
What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
Short version: It’s a romantic triangle that no member of the trio realizes they’re in. Slightly longer version: STORYBOOK ENDING is a contemporary comedy of manners in which a lonely remote worker, intrigued by the handsome staffer at her neighborhood bookstore, decides to leave him a note in a book inviting him to correspond. However, the wrong person finds it . . .
How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
The idea came to me during one of my many visits to my neighborhood bookstore (Ravenna Third Place Books, in Seattle), so clearly the novel needed to take place in a fictional version of the store.
Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?
There are two of them, but yes, absolutely! I kind of feel like I did hang out with them; while I was writing the book, it was as if they walked around with me, suggesting what I should wear and what I should read.
What are three words that describe your hero?
Introverted, bookish, distracted
What’s something you learned while writing this book?
When writing fiction, keep track of what day it is in the world you’re creating, otherwise you will find yourself, at the end of the process, horrified to learn that somehow every day in the book is a Thursday for some reason.
Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
Multiple drafts, multiple edits!
What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Not much of a foodie, but I never say no to fancy French fries.
Describe your writing space/office!
An IKEA desk tucked into in the corner of my spare bedroom, where my laptop sits surrounded by a forest of books, notebooks, tchotchkes (my favorite: a tiny Belle figurine from “Beauty and the Beast,” which I love because she’s reading), and Diet Coke cans, most of which are empty.
Who is an author you admire?
So many! But I’ll say Bonnie Garmus, author of the wonderful LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY, who like me became a published author in her 60s and has been a true inspiration.
Is there a book that changed your life?
Every book that had a sentence so beautiful or so funny that it stopped me short and made me think, wow, how did the author do that?
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.
My book sold at auction in September 2023, two days after my 61st birthday and less than three weeks after it was sent out to editors. This was not how I thought life would unfold, in any way! My agent forwarded the offers to me, we discussed and I made a decision, and then my husband and I went out for celebratory Shake Shack (because I’m on the west coast, things wrapped up before lunchtime). I just kept saying, “Is this even happening????”
What’s your favorite genre to read?
Literary fiction, mysteries, biographies, and any book that’s funny.
What’s your favorite movie?
I’m a film critic, so I can’t answer just one: “The Thin Man,” “The Red Shoes,” and “Vertigo.” I have also watched “Ocean’s Eight” way more times than I should admit to, mainly for the outfits.
What is your favorite season?
Fall
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
Pasta, wine and cake! Oh, and a book deal doesn’t hurt either.
What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
I just rewatched “Mad Men” and I have to say, it’s every bit as great as I remembered.
What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Italian
What do you do when you have free time?
Read obsessively, dream about travel, hang out at my neighborhood bookstore, and try not to think about the unfortunate fact that my house does not clean itself.
What can readers expect from you next?
Something unexpected!
A Novel
A charming story about friendship, community, and the magic that happens in bookstores—when an anonymous note left in a book finds the wrong recipient.
April, a smart and lonely tech worker, worries work from home has gotten out of hand: She’s left an anonymous note in a book for Westley, the clerk at her Seattle neighborhood bookstore who has a gentle smile and looks great in flannel. But thanks to fate, Laura—a busy single mom who had given up on love—buys the book, finds the note, and thinks Westley has left it for her. A handsome man who loves books seems like just the plot twist she has been looking for.
Meanwhile, Westley—not the most perceptive—is too distracted by the movie filming at the store and the ambition it’s unlocked in him to notice either of the two women. But as April and Laura’s anonymous correspondence continues back and forth, their mundane routines are challenged, sparking a glimmer of hope. Is a happy ending in the cards for them?
A heartwarming web of mistaken identities and serendipitous encounters, Storybook Ending is a playful tribute to friendship, love stories of all kinds, and to the objects—from a forgotten slip of paper to someone’s heart—left between the pages of books we loved.
Women's Fiction Friendship [ Penguin, On Sale: March 31, 2026, Trade Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9780593851319 / ]
Moira Macdonald is the longtime arts critic for The Seattle Times. Storybook Ending is her first novel.
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