Laila Ibrahim
Author Interview - Laila Ibrahim
Author of SCARLET CARNATION
In an early twentieth-century America roiling with racial injustice, class divides, and WWI, two women fight for their dreams in a galvanizing novel by the bestselling author of Golden Poppies.
May and Naomi are extended family, their grandmothers’ lives inseparably entwined on a Virginia plantation in the volatile time leading up to the Civil War. For both women, the twentieth century promises social transformation and equal opportunity.
May, a young white woman, is on the brink of achieving the independent life she’s dreamed of since childhood. Naomi, a nurse, mother, and leader of the NAACP, has fulfilled her own dearest desire: buying a home for her family. But they both are about to learn that dreams can be destroyed in an instant. May’s future is upended, and she is forced to rely once again on her mother. Meanwhile, the white-majority neighborhood into which Naomi has moved is organizing against her while her sons are away fighting for their country.
In the tumult of a changing nation, these two women―whose grandmothers survived the Civil War―support each other’s quest for liberation and dignity. Both find the strength to confront injustice and the faith to thrive on their chosen paths.
Author Interview - Laila Ibrahim
Author I draw inspiration from: Judy Blume was my first favorite author because she wrote about real people and social issues. I admire J.K Rowling’s genius at placing elements in an early novel that were used to complete the story years later. Alice Walker taught me that spirituality could be beautifully expressed in fiction.
Author Interview - Laila Ibrahim | Author I Draw Inspiration From
Favorite place to read a book: A hammock on the beach—not that I’ve experienced it so often. Yesterday I hung a hammock in my yard hoping to bring a little more vacation to my home.
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with: I keep thinking of characters who can do magic: Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, Hermione Granger, Matilda. If I have to pick one: Ms. Frizzle from the Magic School Bus by Joanna Cole.
Author Interview - Laila Ibrahim | Book Character I’d Like to be Stuck in an Elevator With
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author: The instant I imagined a scene from YELLOW CROCUS: Mattie breastfeeding Lisbeth.
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook: Paperback
The last book I read: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.
Author Interview - Laila Ibrahim | The Last Book I Read
Pen & paper or computer: Computer for sure!
Book character I think I’d be best friends with: If she’d have me: August Boatwright from the Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
Author Interview - Laila Ibrahim | Book Character I’d be Best Friends With
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a: I’d make large, interactive public art.
Favorite decade in fashion history: 1920’s. I love art deco anything.
Place I’d most like to travel: Around the mediterranean on a comfortable boat.
My signature drink: Hot Chocolate
Favorite artist: If I’m going to go with one: Maya Angelou.
Number one on my bucket list: Go to the Southern Hemisphere. Machu Picchu, here I come.
Anything else you'd like to add: Thank you--for the opportunity to think about such interesting questions and for spreading the word about my new novel.
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Author Bio: Laila Ibrahim is the bestselling author of Golden Poppies, Paper Wife, Mustard Seed, and Yellow Crocus. She spent much of her career as a preschool director, a birth doula, and a religious educator. That work, coupled with her education in developmental psychology and attachment theory, provided ample fodder for her novels.
She’s a devout Unitarian Universalist, determined to do her part to add a little more love and justice to our beautiful and painful world. She lives with her wonderful wife, Rinda, and two other families in a small cohousing community in Berkeley, California. Her young adult children are her pride and joy.
Laila is blessed to be working full-time as a novelist. When she isn’t writing, she likes to take walks with friends, do jigsaw puzzles, play games, work in the garden, travel, cook, and eat all kinds of delicious food. Visit the author at www.lailaibrahim.com.
