Estelle Laure, the author of This Raging Light and But Then I Came Back believes in love, magic, and the power of facing hard truths.
She has a BA in Theatre Arts and an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts in Writing for Children and Young Adults, and she lives in Taos, New Mexico, with her family. Her work is translated widely around the world.
MAYHEM by Estelle Laure; On-sale: July 14th, 2020
The Lost Boys meets Wilder Girls in this supernatural feminist YA novel. Synopsis: It's 1987 and unfortunately it's not all Madonna and cherry lip balm. Mayhem Brayburn has always known there was something off about her and her mother, Roxy. Maybe it has to do with Roxy's constant physical pain, or maybe with Mayhem's own irresistible pull to water. Either way, she knows they aren't like everyone else. But when May's stepfather finally goes too far, Roxy and Mayhem flee to Santa Maria, California, the coastal beach town that holds the answers to all of Mayhem's questions about who her mother is, her estranged family, and the mysteries of her own self. There she meets the kids who live with her aunt, and it opens the door to the magic that runs through the female lineage in her family, the very magic Mayhem is next in line to inherit and which will change her life for good. But when she gets wrapped up in the search for the man who has been kidnapping girls from the beach, her life takes another dangerous turn and she is forced to face the price of vigilante justice and to ask herself whether revenge is worth the cost. From the acclaimed author of This Raging Light and But Then I Came Back, Estelle Laure offers a riveting and complex story with magical elements about a family of women contending with what appears to be an irreversible destiny, taking control and saying when enough is enough.
☆★☆ Interview with Estelle Laure ☆★☆
If you had to describe Mayhem Brayburn in three words, what would they be?
Furious, curious, perceptive. Which scene or chapter in the book is your favorite and why? I honestly have a lot of favorites and many of them are toward the end and would require spoilers, but let’s just say THE ONE WITH THE BIRDS is my very favorite. Earlier on I love when Mayhem first finds her friends, the dynamics and the wildness of the boardwalk and how certain they are that they’re just the coolest. If you’re lucky enough to really bond with a group of people it’s as good as falling in love and just as seductive. I could feel that feeling again as I was writing and it felt wickedly good. Are there certain characters you would like to go back to, or is there a theme or idea you’d love to work with? I would LOVE to do a second book about Mayhem and her friends and family. I think there’s a huge amount of potential in them all, and they were a thrill to spend time with. What would you hope readers might take away with them upon reading Mayhem? I hope they’ll feel invincible and empowered, mostly, but I also hope they’ll feel seen for some essential and possibly hidden piece of themselves. Mostly, I hope they have a really good time reading it. What books, articles, or authors influenced you the most or made you think differently? In life in general? Tons. I think overall Stephen King, James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, John Steinbeck, Shirley Jackson, Alice Hoffman, Isabel Allende, Sylvia Plath, and a whole slew of poets have had the most effect. In particular Anne Sexton, Sylvia Plath (again), and Gwendolyn Brooks. I could write a book just about all the ways in which they’ve influenced me as a person and are responsible for my education. Oh, and I would be remiss if I did not also mention Stephenie Meyer. If there had not been Twilight I don’t know that I ever would have started writing in earnest.
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