The story takes place in Northern California in the spring of 2000, when the dot-com boom was at its peak. Elizabeth Reilly-Hayden is a successful executive in her late fifties and a divorced mother of two.  Emotionally armored and living alone, she wants only to maintain the status quo: her long-term significant other, her job, and her trusted friends—five feisty women whose high school friendship has carried them through multiple marriages, dramatic divorces, and maddening menopause. Yet in a matter of days, the three anchors that have kept her moored are ripped away.

The group of lifelong pals gathers at Lake Tahoe to attend to the funeral arrangements of their beloved friend, and tries to unravel the mystery of her death. Through their shared tragedy, Liz learns how disappointment and grief can bloom into healing and hope.

What genre is it?
Women’s Fiction

What kind of readers will it appeal to?
Baby Boomer women.

Women of the same demographic as the characters? Maybe you’d better tell us a bit more about Elizabeth and her circle of friends.
Elizabeth Reilly-Hayden married her high-school sweetheart, Ricky Hayden, and they had two children.  Shortly after his fortieth birthday, Ricky left her. Despite having a twenty-year relationship with a wonderful man, the pain of her divorce has never fully relegated itself to the past.  As the result, Elizabeth is emotionally armored and living alone.  Her life is consumed by her hard-earned executive position at a high-tech firm. 

Karen Christensen is a woman as rudderless as she is beautiful, whose darkest fear is to live and die alone.

Virginia Ann Peterson, a bawdy broad who shoots from the lip.

Rose Marie Reyes, a stalwart wife and mother who believes in happy endings.

Arlene Shoren, a fading femme fatale who follows her instincts high and low.

JoAnn Silva, a strong survivor whose abusive past wounded by never scarred her.

If you had to pick one thing that this book is about, what would it be? How would you like readers to feel?
I’d like them to feel the power of enduring female friendship.

Is there any book out there that is similar to this one?
If you like The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, you’ll love my book.

That book was made into a very successful movie. We hear you’ve got some news in that respect.
The book has been optioned for the big screen and I’m waiting to receive the script.

That’s great news. Any expectations?
I’d love for the story in the movie to stay as close to the book as possible, but as we all know, it could all be changed.

Have you written any other books that we should read next?
Not yet.

Tell us a bit about yourself.
I’m a human resources consultant who quit my job in corporate American to write women’s fiction.  I’ve been writing for thirteen years and continue to hone my craft through workshops and seminars.

Do you have a website where we can keep up with your work?
http://judithmarshall.net/.

How can we follow you on Twitter and/or Facebook?
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Husbands-May-Come-and-Go-but-Friends-are-Forever/176758273094?ref=hl

@whipsandjingles