Hudson Reporter Editor-in-Chief Caren Lissner’s second novel, to be released today, is similar to her first only in that both capture the contemporary social scene. And while both were released by a successful publishing house that focuses on “chick lit” – a genre of writing aimed at women in their 20s and 30s – her writing has broader appeal.
Lissner’s new novel, Starting from Square Two, will be featured at a reading and booksigning in Hoboken at the Symposia Book Store at 510 Washington St. in Hoboken this Friday, March 5 at 7:30 p.m. Lissner’s first novel, Carrie Pilby (Red Dress Ink, 2003), focused on the humorous misadventures of an isolated 19-year-old female genius, and debuted last June. But Starting from Square Two’s protagonist is a more mainstream character.
The protagonist of the new novel, Gert Healy, 29, is forced to re-enter the dating scene because her husband, Marc, had died in a car crash two years earlier. Because Gert had fallen in love and gotten married without the extensive search people in her age group went through, she comes to the dating world without the experiences many other people have, and with certain misconceptions about why her friends are still single.
“She is 29 years old and lives in New York,” Lissner said during an interview last week. “She met her husband in college and got married. She had no real-world dating challenges.”
Gert Healy believes her friends were too picky, and at the same time, her friends, Hallie and Erika, have always been jealous of her. But now they must teach her all they know – even if, in some ways, they know less about men than Gert does. Gert also does not really feel ready to date, but pushes herself out because friends believe that it’s time.
The prestigious Publisher’s Weekly gave the book a positive review last week, saying, “In Lissner’s hands, Gert’s story is poignant, sweet and smart. Lissner’s sturdy prose and sympathetic, detailed evocation … make this a solid entry in the genre.”
But regarding the genre, Lissner says that she is now working on a third novel that will not fall into the “chick lit” category. “I’ve wanted to get to this one for about 10 years,” she said. “The next novel I write will be very, very different from the first two.”
How it started
Lissner, who lives in Hoboken and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1993, began writing Square Two in 2001. She said she had always wondered how someone who loses the love of their life so young could start over. She said the writing flowed quickly because she was curious about how Gert would resolve her challenges.
“I wanted to see what happened to her,” Lissner said.
In an era of national and personal tragedy, people struggle to recover, and part of this volume was an exploration of how that could be accomplished.
Like many of the classic novels of the past, Lissner’s first two novels are about self-discovery. Starting from Square Two deals with the process of healing, and how each person needs to find his or her own pace towards getting over a loss.
“Nobody’s loss is the same as hers,” Lissner said. “So people shouldn’t judge her.”
But on the other hand, Gert had preconceptions of the single world that she needed to overcome, and apparently does. Her friends have experienced their own kinds of loss, kinds that Gert did not understand.
“It is a book about friendship, love, loss, jealousy and moving on,” Lissner said.
While the subject matter is serious, the book also includes many examples of Lissner’s trademark sense of humor. She has published humorous essays in the New York Times and Philadelphia Inquirer.
Getting published
None of this should slight Lissner’s first book, Carrie Pilby, an offbeat character-driven novel that set a record for her publisher in first-week sales. While Lissner said she does not know how many books sold, 55,000 copies were sent to bookstores, and in the first week, her first book sold 2,000 copies – more than any other book’s first week sales by Red Dress Ink. (It helped that it came out in June, a good time for book-buying.) Red Dress Ink had been founded two years earlier.
Carrie Pilby has since been published in England, Australia, and Italy.
The new book is the second in a two-book deal with Red Dress Ink. The story of how it got accepted is as interesting as Lissner’s fiction.
Lissner’s agent had shopped Carrie Pilby around for nine months before Red Dress Ink considered it in 2001.
“Although they really liked it, they felt it was too different from what they were doing,” Lissner said. Red Dress was then delving into the Bridget Jones trend, looking for similar works to market. Lissner kept promoting her book, but soon plunged into her second book. Her agent submitted the first four chapters of the new book to Red Dress, and a Red Dress editor told her that they were reconsidering Carrie Pilby. The publisher had apparently decided it was ready for something different.
As is common in the publishing industry, Red Dress Ink offered her a contract for both books.
Shopping the first book around had allowed Lissner to extensively polish the work before it was accepted. The second book required more revisions after being accepted, she said.
Lissner’s third novel, currently in progress, “will probably take at least another year to finish,” she said. “I’ve been working on it for a long time.”
She has also just finished a comedy screenplay that she has been working on for some time, and is ready to send it out.
Starting from Square Two and Carrie Pilby are available at amazon.com, bn.com, and all local and major bookstores.
For more information or to e-mail Lissner, go to www.carenlissner.com.
Caren Lissner will read from Starting from Square Two this Friday, March 5 at the Symposia Book Store in Hoboken, 510 Washington St., 7:30 p.m. She will also answer questions about getting one’s work published.