Talking with Joshua Henkin

On Monday night, my book club had the honor of chatting with Joshua Henkin, author of Matrimony. If you missed it, click and read my review of Matrimony. The first surprising fact we learned was that it took ten years for Mr. Henkin to write Matrimony. It was in the last year that he felt the book really came together. He wrote the book in chronological order, without an outline, and let the story tell itself. Mr. Henkin told the group that he was just as surprised by the ending as we were.

Mr. Henkin talked about how the death of one character is the pivotal plot point and without it the story might not have found Julien and Mia getting married. When asked who his favorite character was he explained that he felt the author's job was not to favor one character over another. He is currently working on his next novel tentatively titled The World Without You, which tells the story of a family's struggle with grief after the death of a family member in Iraq. Thanks again to Joshua Henkin for taking the time to speak to our book club, we look forward to reading more of his work.