Question: Who is the intended audience?
Answer: It’s suitable for any audience, but I think mostly women will find it appealing.

Q: What is the book about?
A: In 1927 Virginia, Grace Langdon is a bright, intelligent sixteen year old with a head full of dreams and a longing for love. She is also trapped by the customs of her time and place, and when her domineering father tries to force her hand in marriage, she flees. Finding her beloved older brother and his wife, who had left Virginia years before to live in Chicago, she begins a new life and finds romance with a handsome neighbor. But the past comes back to haunt her when the man she rejected returns to claim her as his own.

Q: Why are you the best person to write this book?
A: I’m from a big southern family who still cling to many of the customs of the old days. I’m also a lover of books, especially romantic ones, and I love creating stories that appeal to the heart. I’ve been writing off and on since I was young.

Q: How is this book different from other books on this topic?
A: I’ve tried to be a little unpredictable in my writing, taking it in a direction that the reader might not expect, to keep the story interesting. I’ve also tried to create unique characters who are flawed but worthy of devotion by readers.

Q: Is there anything else we should know about this book?
A: My main hero, Henry, was inspired by UK actor Richard Armitage, whom I first discovered in the BBC mini-series North and South, adapted from the novel by Elizabeth Gaskell. His mannerisms, his way of speaking, and especially his looks, have given him a devoted following of female viewers. I’m one of them, and I would greatly recommend discovering his work.

Question: Who is the intended audience?
Answer: Readers who love psychological thrillers that illuminate the domino effect of secrets within all families will be swept up by this story. Anyone with an interest in genealogy will enjoy the way in which the many branches of one family tree are introduced in their specific era and environment, from the present to 1800s England.

Q: What is the book about?
A: Tom Nelson is struggling after the death of his son at the hands of his wife Jane. While Jane sits in a Texas mental hospital for her part in the crime, prosecutors turn their focus to Tom, believing he knew Jane was in decline, and charge him with “failure to protect.” Enter attorney, Dave Frontella, who employs a radical defense strategy – one that lays the blame at the feet of Jane’s nature and nurture. To gather evidence about Jane’s forbears, Frontella hires a woman with the power of retrocognition – the ability to use a person’s belongings to re-create their past.

Q: Why are you the best person to write this book?
A: I passionately wanted to understand the days and moments leading up to a woman deciding to take the life of her child. My quest for answers and months of research helped me develop an understanding that the pivotal moment is not, in fact, a moment or a sudden snap, but a series of events and breakdowns leading up to this moment. I am also a mother. I don’t think I could have written this without the full understanding of the challenges of parenthood.

Q: How is this book different from other books on this topic?
A: If I met your grandfather, what would that tell me about your personality? If I observed a day in the life of your childhood, what would that tell me about how you make choices today? Jane, the character who committed this terrible crime in Janeology, is drawn from the perspective of her genealogy. To know her, we must also know her parents, her grandparents and her great-grandparents. And we also meet her on one critical day of her childhood. While there are wonderful non-fiction treatments of nature and nurture and genetic inheritance, Janeology is a unique fictional account exploring one family and its legacy of secrets.

Q: Is there anything else we should know about this book?
A: Janeology explores the idea that genes passed down through the generations impact who we are in countless ways; that nature and nurture are illuminated by the other. The reader is introduced to four generations of Jane’s family on both her maternal and paternal sides – from her English-born great-grandmother to her rough and tumble west Texas father. All the while, we watch as her husband – a man torn apart by still loving a woman he can no longer understand – grapples with putting the pieces of his life back together.

To read an excerpt or view the heart-stopping trailer, please visit www.karenharringtonbooks.com