Skipping a Beat (27 page)

Acknowledgments

The first person I need to thank is Seth Goldman, the “TeaEO” of Honest Tea. Seth graciously welcomed me into his office—twice!—plied me with delicious drinks, and answered my questions about how someone could start a successful beverage company from scratch. Of course, my character is nothing like Seth—and my fictional DrinkUp company isn’t even remotely based on Honest Tea, which, by all accounts, is one of the most honorable businesses around. Remember: my book is pure fiction! And, incidentally, Honest Tea is addictive.

I’m still pinching myself over my good luck: Not only do I get to write novels—a pretty fabulous job in itself—but also I’m surrounded by the smartest, kindest people in publishing. My editor, Greer Hendricks, is the type of woman I’d pick out of a crowded room as the one I’d want to be friends with—and she constantly amazes me with her editorial vision, creativity, and infectious, upbeat energy. My agent, Victoria Sanders, is one of the funniest people I’ve ever met (her e-mails are legendary), and she’s wicked smart. V, thanks for making my dreams come true.

I don’t think I’ll ever be able to adequately express my gratitude to the author Jennifer Weiner for her unprecedented support, which still takes my breath away—but she told me she doesn’t need to be thanked. All she wants is for me to pass along kindnesses to other authors. Yup, she really is that incredible.

Super publicist Marcy Engelman took an interest in my first book and decided to spread the word about it in a very big way—despite the fact that I once sent her a gift that broke en route. Luckily, she has a sense of humor as well as a giant heart and I’m proud to be her newest client. My thanks also to the lovely Dana Gidney Fetaya.

My dad, John Pekkanen, is still my first reader, a first-rate editor, and an even better father. My mother, Lynn, singlehandedly sells my books to all of her neighbors as well as to random strangers at Barnes & Noble. And my brother Robert and his wife, Saadia, generously gave suggestions to help shape my first draft. My brother Ben and his wife, Tammi Hogan, created an incredible trailer for my first book (um, guys? This might not be the right time to ask, but I may need help with another one soon). And my sister-in-law, Carolyn Reynolds Mandell, astutely critiqued my early draft, as did the author Amy Yurk Hatvany and my friends Rachel Baker, Anita Cheng, and Janet Mednick.

My agent’s literary director, Benee Knauer, as always, made this a much better book with her spot-on editorial suggestions and thoughtful, encouraging notes. And my thanks to Chris Kepner in Victoria Sanders’s office.

Several books were invaluable as I researched opera, including Renée Fleming’s wonderful autobiography,
The Inner Voice; Opera Anecdotes
by Ethan Mordden; Arianna Huffington’s
Maria Callas: The Woman Behind the Legend;
and
Opera for Dummies
by David Pogue and Scott Speck. The Kennedy Center also kindly welcomed me to a behind-the-scenes opera workshop. And Mark Hillman patiently answered my questions about the finances of wealthy, made-up people.

My thanks to Chandler Crawford, international agent extraordinaire, and to my foreign publishers. My deep gratitude to everyone at Atria Books/Washington Square Press, including Judith Curr, Chris Lloreda, Rachel Bostic, Lisa Keim, Natalie White, Carole Schwindeller, Anna Dorfman, Yona Deshommes, Paul Olsewski, and the amazing sales team. And to Sarah Cantin, who is a pure pleasure to work with.

My publicists Jessica Purcell and Crystal Patriarche worked magic on
The Opposite of Me
, and I’m so lucky to have them both on my side and ready for round two. My deep thanks also to Susan Coll and Steve Hull of
Bethesda Magazine
for their continued support (and you guys really know how to throw a party!). And to Lindsay Maines, who started a trend with her brilliant idea for “Spike Day.”

Thanks again to the bloggers, who keep spreading the love of books around, and to the readers who have friended me on Facebook, found me on Twitter, and sent me notes through my website. I love chatting with you.

All of my love, as always, to my four boys—my husband, Glenn, and our sons, Jackson, Will, and Dylan.

Skipping a Beat

S
ARAH
P
EKKANEN

A Readers Club Guide

INTRODUCTION

What would you do if your husband suddenly wanted to rewrite the rules of your relationship?

Julia and Michael met as high school students in their small, poverty-stricken West Virginia town. Both products of difficult childhoods—Julia’s father is a compulsive gambler and Michael’s mother abandoned his family when he was a young boy—they find a sense of safety and mutual understanding in each other. Shortly after graduation they flee West Virginia to start afresh.

Now thirtysomethings, they are living a rarefied life in their multimillion-dollar Washington, D.C., home. From the outside it all looks perfect—Julia has become a highly sought-after party planner, while Michael has launched a wildly successful flavored water company worth $70 million.

But one day Michael stands up at the head of the table in his company’s boardroom—then silently crashes to the floor. More than four minutes later, a portable defibrillator manages to jump-start his heart. Yet what happened to Michael during those lost minutes forever changes him. Money is meaningless to him now—and he wants to give it all away to charity. A prenuptial agreement that Julia insisted upon back when Michael’s company was still struggling means she has no claim to his fortune, and now she must decide: Should she walk away from the man she once adored, but who truthfully became a stranger to her long before his near-death experience—or should she give in to her husband’s pleas for a second chance and a promise of a poorer but happier life?

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION

1. When a teenaged Julie asks Mike where he sits in class, he responds, “I’m right behind you, Julie. I always have been” (p. 20). Does this statement remain accurate for their entire relationship?

2. Why is Julia so reluctant to hear about Michael’s neardeath experience?

3. “I had no doubt Michael would be successful, but as much as I loved him, as much as I wanted to, I couldn’t bring myself to gamble on him” (p. 70). Why does Julia feel this way? Why does she insist on a prenuptial agreement?

4. When Michael leaves Julia a card telling her that he loves her, she crumples it in her hand and thinks, “I wanted to hurt him. He was ruining everything” (p. 86). Considering how unhappy she is in their marriage, what exactly is Michael ruining?

5. How did her parents’ relationship affect the one she shares with Michael? Does Julia trust anyone?

6. Michael is often described as jittery. Why does he seem to never stay still for very long?

7. Michael senses that he doesn’t have much time left. Does Julia believe him? Why does she have nightmares that she is losing him?

8. Throughout the novel, Julia frequently mentions her favorite operas. Why are they so important to her?

9. What significance do you see in Noah’s restaurant riddle (pp. 153-54)?

10. Michael frequently laments that success changed him for the worse, from taking risks with the exploding glass bottles to the “Let’s see you bastards ignore me now” (p. 204) checks for his family to Scott’s lawsuit and the many other examples of hush money. Do you agree that money changed him? Was he always a good man, or did power truly corrupt him?

11. What do you think the future holds for Isabelle and Beth? Will they stay in touch?

12. “‘I never went with you to visit your mother.’ This was what Michael and I had been heading toward ever since he’d fallen to that conference room floor, I realized” (p. 237). Why is it so important for both of them to visit Julia’s mother?

13. Why does Julia confess her affair to Michael? Why had they never discussed Michael’s assumed affair?

14. What does giving her jewelry to Michael symbolize? Does this decision mean that Julia wants to stay married?

15. At the novel’s end, why does Julia return to her father’s house? Does she forgive him?

16. Discuss how things could have been different if Michael had never collapsed in the conference room. Would he still be married to Julia?

ENHANCE YOUR BOOK CLUB

1. Did Noah’s riddle stump you? Challenge your fellow book club members with your favorite head-scratchers and see who can solve the most!

2. At one point Julia contemplates the fate of Scarlett O’Hara, saying she’s protected herself so she’ll never have to make a dress out of drapes. Discuss which other famous literary characters Julia reminds you of, if any.

3. Michael feels confident that he only has a short time left. Discuss among yourselves what you would do if you knew you only had a few weeks left to live.

4. Julia is an opera enthusiast who frequently draws parallels between her own life and
La Bohème, Arabella
, and others. While discussing
Skipping a Beat
, play some of her favorite arias to discover why they’re so important to Julia.

5. Author Sarah Pekkanen has a significant online presence. Visit her website (
http://www.sarahpekkanen.com
) to read her bio, find out about upcoming events, and more. You can also follow her on Twitter (@sarahpekkanen) and Facebook.

A CONVERSATION WITH SARAH PEKKANEN

Skipping a Beat
has such a unique premise. What inspired the idea?

For me, ideas take shape gradually. I knew I wanted to write about a married couple forced to reexamine their relationship after the husband’s near-death experience, but other pieces of the book—like Noah’s character, the specifics of Michael’s company, and Julia’s love of opera—didn’t snap into place immediately. I think gearing up to write a book is like cooking soup on the back burner of your stove. Soup, like writing, works best if you swirl in a few ingredients and let it simmer for a long time (I’m sort of making this up, because I’m a terrible cook, but I’m pretty sure that’s how they do it on the Food Network). It’s actually more productive for me to open myself up to ideas by reading lots of newspapers and books, chatting with people, and daydreaming. Then I let my subconscious sort through ideas while I do things like grocery shop, do laundry, and walk the dog before sitting down to write.

As the novel unfolds and the reader discovers more of Julia and Michael’s backstory, their perspective on the couple’s marriage might change. Why did you decide to structure
Skipping a Beat
in this manner? How did you decide when to reveal certain aspects of Julia and Michael’s relationship?

As
Skipping a Beat
opens, Julia and Michael are thrust into a crisis, and it’s unclear whether their marriage will survive. In order to move forward, they also need to look back at the decisions and moments, both big and small, that shaped their relationship. So I wove in scenes from their past to show how complicated their life together has become, and to reveal why Julia feels so conflicted. But there are two sides to every story—so even though everything is unfolding from Julia’s point of view, it’s not necessarily the complete picture. She, like the readers, discovers how much more there is to the story of her marriage.

When Julia is recalling her favorite parties, she remembers the affinity she felt for a woman who said, “How can I be eighty years old when I’m still a girl?” (p. 164). Of course you’re a safe distance from eighty, but do you ever relate to her statement of still being a little girl?

Absolutely! I do feel young at heart and hope I always will. I saw a quote on one of those refrigerator magnets recently that said something like, “How old would you be if you didn’t know your age?” My age would probably be nine or ten.

If you believed you only had three weeks to live, how would you spend your remaining time?

I didn’t have to think about this one for longer than a second—the answer is, with my family. I’d take photographs and film some moments, but mostly it would be cuddling and talking and storing up as much love as possible.

You used to work as a journalist covering Capitol Hill. Do you have a favorite story from that era of your life?

Probably the most memorable moment would be the time an elderly senator’s thumb and index finger made contact with my rear end as I got out of an elevator and he got into it. I’ve since learned I’m not the only one he pinched, but I laughed it off. He was a frail old guy, and if I’d exhaled vigorously, I could’ve blown him over.

I’m proudest of my yearlong investigation into the tangled, highly illegal activities of a U.S. congresswoman from Detroit. I uncovered evidence that she set up a college scholarship fund for poor kids from her district, then used the donated money to go shopping. Not only did she get voted out of office, the Justice Department, House Ethics Committee, and Federal Election Commission launched simultaneous investigations as well.

I’m so lucky that I get to dust off my old reporting skills as a fiction writer. For example, for
Skipping a Beat
, I interviewed the founder of the Honest Tea company to learn how my main character could invent a successful beverage company from scratch. Of course, as the head of my fictional company, Michael did some underhanded things—which is not at all the case for the very reputable Honest Tea company. Those scenes were purely imaginary, but I loved learning about the origins of the company and weaving realistic details into my book.

How much of your own personality do you imbue in your heroines? Do you also celebrate your successes with chocolates and margaritas?

I’ve heard that a writer’s “voice” is similar to her personality, and for me, that’s true. I love to laugh, so I try to inject humor into my novels, but I’m also sentimental. I cry easily, and sometimes I laugh so hard that I cry (causing my husband great confusion and the desire to go do something simple and manly, usually involving power tools).

And no celebration would be complete without margaritas and chocolate! Even minor triumphs—like successfully navigating the pickup line at my kids’ school every day, or writing a line of dialogue—should be rewarded with chocolate. Lots of chocolate.

Did you learn something about your own marriage while writing
Skipping a Beat?

I tend to take on the emotions of the scenes I’m writing, so I learned I had to be careful not to snap at my husband when Julia was annoyed with Michael! I think marriages are so fascinating; no one really knows what goes on inside of them except for the two people involved. It seems like many marriages contain mini-marriages—times when the relationship goes through a high, then a low, emotional cycle. My own father says it best: When asked how long he and my mother have been married, he often replies, “Forty-five wonderful years. And three not-so-good ones. And two really bad ones.” They’re about to celebrate their fiftieth wedding anniversary, and they’ve never been happier.

Julia notes that “Sometimes following the path that looked the safest was what led to the most hurt” (p. 284). Do you feel the same way?

Sure; if you don’t follow your heart, for example, but only do what others expect of you, that’s a powerful recipe for unhappiness. I think the things we regret most in life are the things we don’t do—the challenges we shy away from. For me personally, writing a book was a huge gamble. I knew I could make a decent salary and have some success as a freelance writer, but I couldn’t stop dreaming about writing a novel, even though there was no guarantee it would ever be published.

On your website you list “writers [you] love,” such as Jennifer Weiner, Lisa Tucker, Emily Griffin, Jodi Picoult, and Marian Keyes. What have you learned from these women?

So much! Especially Jennifer’s books. After I read them for pleasure, I go through them again to marvel at how she puts together scenes and develops characters. My husband once asked me if it took away from my reading enjoyment when I scrutinized books I love to uncover plotting secrets and the author’s use of elements like tension and character development. I said it actually increased my enjoyment—it’s like being an art history major and going to the Louvre. You just look at things differently.

Have you ever met someone who claims to have had a near-death experience? Did it change them? How? What do you imagine happens to someone during that time?

Yes, my maternal grandmother. During a near-death experience, she said she traveled through a tunnel, then was greeted by a sister who had died years earlier. My grandmother said the experience was wonderful, and not at all scary (and, incidentally, my grandmother, who was quite vain, said one of the best parts was how young and beautiful she felt). I wish my grandmother were still alive so I could ask her more about the experience. She told my mother about it right after it happened, and I’ve never forgotten it. I find it so comforting.

What message about marriage do you hope readers will take away from
Skipping a Beat?

I hope it doesn’t sound sappy, but the message is that love is the most important thing in this world. At a time when there are so many competing demands for our attention, and so many external stressors in life, it’s easy to lose sight of that.