ABOUT A GIRL is the final book in the Metamorphoses trilogy, and we’re delighted to have Sarah McCarry here to tell us more about it.
Sarah, what book or books would most resonate with readers who love your book–or visa versa?
I love this question! About A Girl is a standalone, but readers who like it will probably also like the first two books, All Our Pretty Songs and Dirty Wings (which are about Tally’s parents and grandparents, respectively). Elizabeth Hand’s novels Illyria and Radiant Days also deal with mythology and art and worlds slightly different from the one we live in. Elana Arnold’s Infandous is a gorgeous, gritty book that incorporates a lot of mythology. Helen Oyeyemi’s Boy, Snow, Bird and Malinda Lo’s Ash are both beautifully written books that put contemporary spins on old stories. Kate Scelsa’s forthcoming novel Fans of the Impossible Life deals with complicated friendships, and Erica Lorraine Scheidt’s Uses for Boys is another fantastic take on female friendship.
What did this book teach you about writing or about yourself?
About A Girl was a difficult book to write in a lot of ways; I really wanted to do Tally’s story justice, and to bring closure to the whole trilogy while writing a book that could be read separately from its prequels. Writing a character who’s extremely knowledgeable about a very specialized field was another moving part in the equation. So tackling that challenge was a good lesson for me as a writer.
What was your inspiration for writing ABOUT A GIRL?
I always knew Tally was going to be an astronomer; I’ve been obsessed with cosmology for a long time, and once I had that piece of the story, she pretty much ran with it. I’ve also always wanted to write about the town she travels to in search of her father–it’s a real place tied up in my own history, and so a lot of that crept in too.
ABOUT THE BOOK
About a Girl
by Sarah McCarry
Hardcover
St. Martin’s Griffin
Released 7/14/2015
Eighteen-year-old Tally is absolutely sure of everything: her genius, the love of her adoptive family, the loyalty of her best friend, Shane, and her future career as a Nobel prize-winning astronomer. There’s no room in her tidy world for heartbreak or uncertainty–or the charismatic, troubled mother who abandoned her soon after she was born. But when a sudden discovery upends her fiercely ordered world, Tally sets out on an unexpected quest to seek out the reclusive musician who may hold the key to her past–and instead finds Maddy, an enigmatic and beautiful girl who will unlock the door to her future. The deeper she falls in love with Maddy, the more Tally begins to realize that the universe is bigger–and more complicated–than she ever imagined. Can Tally face the truth about her family–and find her way home in time to save herself from its consequences?
About a Girl is the powerful and entrancing conclusion to Sarah McCarry’s Metamorphoses trilogy.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I’m Sarah McCarry. The Rejectionist is my blog. I was born in Seattle and live in Brooklyn. I write books and eat a lot of dumplings. I like fomenting insurrection, crushed velvet, and getting in trouble.Have you had a chance to read ABOUT A GIRL yet? Have you read any of the other books in the Metamorphoses trilogy? What are your experiences with writing about a character who’s an expert in a specialized field you must research?
Happy reading,
Jocelyn, Shelly, Martina, Erin, Lisa, Susan, Jen, Sam, Lindsey, Sandra, Kristin, and Anisaa
