Topic of the Week: Finding the Fountain of Youth in Fiction July 20, 2009

The youngest boomers are entering their fifties now, the oldest are retiring and trying to reinvent themselves. If there ever was a fountain of youth, it can be found in fiction. We’re not talking about the urban fantasy of an aging Indiana Jones discovering Ponce de Leon’s legendary fountain of youth somewhere in Miami. The fountain of youth bubbles within the covers of smart, savvy, and sincere fiction from boomers taking on a new career as author of fiction.

Maggie Dana

Joining us on Friday, July 24th is Maggie Dana, whose first novel, BEACHCOMING, has just been published in London by Macmillan. When asked what inspired her to write Beachcombing, Maggie says it grew out of a challenge. She’d been complaining to a good friend that there weren’t enough novels about feisty, middle-aged women who tackled life head on, and was promptly told to quit whinging and write one of her own.

So she did, but it took half-a-dozen years and even more false starts to produce Beachcombing, which another friend described as, “A coming-of-middle-age story about girlfriends when you’re no longer a girl, about growing up when you’re already grown up, and the price you’re willing to pay for the love of your life.” Maggie’s editor liked this so much, he put it on the back cover.

In her misspent youth, Maggie was a cartographer, flight attendant, PA at Pinewood Film Studios, and script reader for commercial TV in London. Then came motherhood (her favorite career) followed by children’s author and, for the past 30 odd years, book designer and typesetter.

Born and rasied in England, Maggie now lives on the Connecticut shoreline where much of her novel is set. In addition to writing, Maggie enjoys gardening, quilting, horses, and hanging out at the beach with her five grandchildren. She is now working on her next novel, Not Mine to Keep, about a birthmother who searches for the child she was forced to give up almost 40 years earlier.

Because Beachcombing has been published in England, it’s only available in the U.S. via online booksellers, including The Book Depository which offers free shipping to the U.S.

You can visit Maggie at her web site: www.maggiedana.com. Follow Maggie on Twitter at: @MaggieDana.