BREAKING THE BANK: PREVIEW, INTERVIEW & GIVEAWAY

GIVEAWAY ENDED
BREAKING THE BANK
BY YONA MCDONOUGH

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Mia Saul is down on her luck. Dumped by her husband, jettisoned from her job and estranged from her adored older brother, she and her young daughter Eden have had had to make a downscale move to a crummy apartment where their neighbors include a tough young drug dealer and a widower who lets his dogs use the hallways as their own personal litter box. Juggling a series of temporary jobs, wrangling with her ex-husband over child support and trying to keep pace with Eden’s increasingly erratic behavior have left Mia weary and worn out.

Then one evening a routine stop at her local bank’s ATM yields a surprise. The machine begins producing bills—quite a lot of them in fact—that are neither recorded nor debited from her account. At first Mia attributes the excess cash to a stroke of much needed luck. But when the machine continues to give her unaccounted for money and actually begins communicating with her, her life gets turned around in ways she never thought possible. An up-to-the minute urban story that has just a whiff of magic, Breaking The Bank is a wholly original, engaging work of contemporary fiction.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Yona Zeldis McDonough is the author of the novels THE FOUR TEMPERAMENTS and IN DAHLIA'S WAKE. She is also the editor of the essay collections THE BARBIE CHRONICLES: A LIVING DOLL TURNS FORTY and ALL THE AVAILABLE LIGHT: A MARILYN MONROE READER. Her short fiction, articles, and essays have been published in anthologies as well as in numerous national magazines, and newspapers. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

AUTHOR INTERVIEW:

Yona McDonough was kind enough to grant me an interview. I asked Yona if she had any personal information she would like to share with us and this is what she told me.

I live in Brooklyn, NY with my husband and our two children. My website is www.yonazeldismcdonough.com; please visit!

What is the current or next book you are working on?

I am working on a new novel about a former ballet dancer who is content with her solitary, circumscribed life until she is called upon to step in when her younger sister dies suddenly, leaving three small children.

What have you just finished reading?

I recently read THE BIRD CATCHER by Laura Jacobs and REPEAT AFTER ME by Rachel DeWoskin; I loved both of these books and recommend them highly.

What books would you say have made the biggest impression on you, especially starting out?

Perhaps the books I read—and re-read, multiple times—in childhood: A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN, ANNE OF GREEN GABLES, A LITTLE PRINCESS.

What gets you started on a new book? A character or story idea or….?

For me, it’s always a voice, speaking urgently into my ear, telling me something important. When the writing is going well, I feel less like I am creating something of my own, and more like I am transcribing the words of the character who is talking to me.

What is something about you that you would want people to know about you that we probably don’t know?

I collect dolls and have more dolls than any adult should admit to!

What is your best advice to anyone, including young people, who want to be writers?

Read! Read like your life depended it; in fact, your life as a writer does depend on it.

What is something you would like to share with us about writing your favorite genre in general?

I write novels but I am perhaps more attached to short stories, their ability to pierce and invade the soul. I like the compression of them, and were there a better market for stories, I would probably still be writing them.

Many thanks to Yona for her interview. She is an amazing woman and was king to do this. I hope you all will read her book and check out the website. Thank you, Yona!

THE GIVEAWAY
THANKS TO SARAH AT SIMON & SCHUSTER,
I HAVE TWO BRAND NEW COPIES OF
THIS WONDROUS BOOK TO GIVE AWAY.

SO HERE ARE THE RULES:

--U.S. RESIDENTS ONLY
--NO P. O. BOXES, PLEASE
--PLEASE INCLUDE AN EMAIL
ADDRESS IN YOUR ENTRY
--ALL COMMENTS MUST BE SEPARATE
TO COUNT AS MORE THAN ONE

+1 ENTRY: COMMENT ON SOMETHING YOU FOUND INTERESTING ABOUT MY INTERVIEW WITH YONA MCDONOUGH

+1 MORE ENTRY: COMMENT IF YOU ARE A GOOGLE FRIEND CONNECT FOLLOWER OVER ON MY LEFT HAND COLUMN. IF NOT, JOIN AND EARN THE EXTRA ENTRY. (TRYING TO GET TO 500, SORRY OTHER FOLLOWERS)

+1 MORE ENTRY: COMMENT IF YOU ARE ANY KIND OF FOLLOWER AND WHAT KIND (I KNOW FOR GOOGLE FRIEND CONNECT THIS IS LIKE A BONUS BUT IT IS STILL A SEPARATE COMMENT)

+1 MORE ENTRY: GO TO YONA'S WEBSITE BY CLICKING HERE AND HAVE FUN LOOKING AROUND. COME BACK AND TELL ME THE NAME OF ANY OTHER BOOK SHE HAS WRITTEN

+1 BONUS ENTRY: HONESTLY, IF YOU HAVE READ ANOTHER BOOK OF YONA'S, TELL ME WHICH ONE IT IS ( I WILL KNOW IF YOU AREN'T TELLIN' THE TRUTH AS I HAVE MY FIERCE GUARD DOG/BOOK BUDDY WATCHING)

THAT'S IT!
ALL ENTRIES DUE BY
6 PM, EST, OCTOBER 21

GOOD LUCK!