Iris Mitlin Lav
Author Interview - Iris Mitlin Lav
Author of A Wife in Bangkok: A Novel
“When Crystal's husband, Brian, suddenly announces that his company is sending him to manage its Bangkok office and that he expects her and their children to come along, she reluctantly acquiesces. She doesn't want to leave the job she loves and everything familiar in their small Oklahoma town; it's 1975, however, and Crystal, a woman with traditional values, feels she has to be a good wife and follow her husband.”
Author Interview - Iris Mitlin Lav
Author I draw inspiration from: The author I draw inspiration from is Amitav Ghosh. When he writes about the tiger-infested Sundarbans of India or Imperial China at the time of the opium trade, the reader feels that he or she is engrossed in those strange environments and participating in the story along with the characters. I love being transported to distant places and times, and I strove to give some of that evocative feeling about Thailand in my book.
Author Interview - Iris Mitlin Lav
Favorite place to read a book: My favorite place to read a book is the reclining chair in my bedroom, with my feet up.
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with: If I had to be trapped in an elevator, I’d like to be with the character Rachel from Dara Horn’s novel, Eternal Life. Rachel has lived for about 2,000 years and has witnessed so many of the important moments in history. If I could get her to talk about the inside story of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans that she personally experienced, for example, I’d be so fascinated that I wouldn’t care how long the elevator was stuck.
Author Interview - Iris Mitlin Lav
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author: When I was 70 years old, I retired from my career in public policy. Up to that point I had written many research and policy papers and book chapters, but my last attempt at fiction was a short story I wrote for a class when I was in high school. Nevertheless, I love reading novels and I felt that I wanted to try to write a novel after retirement. My friends were always interested when I told stories about living in Thailand, so I decided that would be the setting of the book. I just sat down to write, and I wrote A Wife in Bangkok.
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook: I mostly read ebooks and some paperbacks. My husband and I moved three years ago from a large house to an apartment, and had to give away some 1,000 books – despite bringing along enough books to fill five large bookcases. Reading ebooks helps solve the space problem in the apartment.
The last book I read: I just finished reading Maud’s Line by Margaret Verble. It is the story of a young Cherokee woman living in the 1920s on a land allotment that the government had given to Native Americans who managed to survive the Trail of Tears. It is a poignant description of the extreme poverty lacking any modern conveniences in which she lived, offset in-part by the warm and caring extended family in the community that helped and embraced her as she lost immediate family members. The story also gives a glimpse of the encroachment of modernity and the distant glitz of city life on this isolated community.
Author Interview - Iris Mitlin Lav
Pen & paper or computer: I write on the computer, but print and edit on paper and with a red pen.
Book character I think I’d be best friends with: I think I could be best friends with Rina Lazarus from the series written by Faye Kellerman. Rina is a traditional, religious Jewish woman married to a police detective. She manages to combine her traditional life with brilliantly solving problems and crimes, even at some risk to herself. She is both warm and caring and a good listener, and a woman with steely determination to get things done. I’m always drawn to strong women in my friendships, and share many of Rina’s Jewish sensibilities. I think we could get along very well.
Author Interview - Iris Mitlin Lav
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a: If I weren’t an author, I might still be in involved in my previous career, doing public policy research and advocacy. If I were young and starting over, I think I might want to be a rabbi.
Favorite decade in fashion history: I don't care about fashion; I wear what I want and like.
Place I’d most like to travel: My favorite place to visit is Jerusalem. But for places I have never visited, I would love to go on a trip to the Silk Road countries such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Bukhara – to see some of the history there and experience a very different way of life.
My signature drink: Sauvignon Blanc white wine
Favorite artist: Edward Hopper, because his paintings invite the viewer to fill in the story of what is happening.
Number one on my bucket list: Finish organizing and scanning the massive number of photos my husband and I have taken over the years, and creating books of relevant photos for our children and other family members.
Find more from the author:
https://www.facebook.com/iris.lav.14
https://irismitlinlav.com
Author Bio: Iris Mitlin Lav grew up in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. She moved to Washington, DC, with her husband in 1969, where they raised three children. She is retired from a long, award-winning career of policy analysis and management with an emphasis on improving policies for low- and moderate-income families. She has traveled extensively in the US and abroad, and she lived in Thailand for two years in the 1970s. She and her husband now live in Chevy Chase, Maryland, with Mango, their goldendoodle, and with grandchildren nearby. A Wife in Bangkok is her first novel.
