CROSSING WASHINGTON SQUARE By Joanne Rendell

We welcome Babe Joanne to BEbabes today to help her celebrate the launch of her second novel into the world. So raise your mimosas this morning and let’s give an atta-babe to Joanne!

Thanks for stopping in to our circle of friends. Kick off your platforms and give us the skinny:

If Oprah invited you on her show to talk about your book, what would the theme of that show be? 

Women are the biggest readers. Women are the biggest selling authors (think Nora Roberts and J.K.Rowling). Yet why are books written by women and for women so often demeaned?

You go, girl! Because, really, when’s the last time Ms. W did a feature on pop fiction? 

Speaking of Oprah, she’s in your book! Tell us about your two protagonists. 

Crossing Washington Square is a story of two very different women and their very different love of books. Rachel Grey and Diana Monroe are both literature professors in the old boys club of Manhattan University. While this should create a kinship between them, they are very much at odds. Rachel is young, emotional, and impulsive. She wrote a book about women’s book groups which got her a slot on Oprah and she uses “chick lit” in her classes. Diana is aloof, icy, and controlled. She’s also a scholar of Sylvia Plath who thinks “beach” fiction is an easy ride for students. But as is often the case, it’s a man that truly divides the two women. Smooth-talking Carson McEvoy, a visiting Harvard professor, has his sights on both Rachel and Diana and gets sparks truly flying. 

Do you have a muse, good luck charm, writing vice? 

I don’t really have a muse or a charm. And my vice? Picking the M&Ms out of trail mix while I write!

Ha. Don’t we all do that? Don’t raisins cause wrinkles. No?

What do you write on (type of computer, or notebook, etc.) and where do you write?

I write on a laptop PC at my desk at the front of our apartment. We live on a very busy street in Manhattan so my writing is “lulled” by taxis honking, firetrucks hooting, and jackhammers pounding. With all this practice, I could probably keep writing through a asteroid shower!

Have you had a “rock star” moment regarding your writing career? If so, what was it?

My first novel was The Professors’ Wives’ Club. A couple of months after its release, a woman contacted me and said she’d read and enjoyed the book. She told me she was a professor’s wife and after a few emails, she revealed that she was the wife of a very distinguished professor of cultural studies whose work I’d read, who I’d seen giving keynotes talks at conferences, and whose work greatly influenced the writing of Crossing Washington Square. Not really a “rock star” moment, but still exciting to know the wives of influential professors (professors I really dig!) read my book.

What do you do to celebrate your writing successes?

Drink margaritas and eat burritos.

A babe after our own heart. 

Describe your personality with five adjectives that would make your 5th grade English teacher proud.

Procrastinatory. Determined. Postmodern. Pragmatic. Feminist. 

Well, we knew we loved you for a reason. Let’s rally BEbabes & buy Crossing Washington Square, stat!

Across Washington Square live two very different women …with their very different love of books.

Some women follow their hearts; others follow their minds. In this “charming, witty, and cerebral” second novel from the acclaimed author of The Professors’ Wives’ Club, we return to Manhattan University, where two strong-willed women are compelled to unite their senses and sensibilities.

Professor Diana Monroe is a highly respected scholar of Sylvia Plath. Serious and aloof, she steadfastly keeps her mind on track. Professor Rachel Grey is young and impulsive, with a penchant for teaching popular women’s fiction like Bridget Jones’ Diary and The Devil Wears Prada, and for wearing her heart on her sleeve.

The two conflicting personalities meet head to heart when Carson McEvoy, a handsome and brilliant professor visiting from Harvard, sets his eyes on both women and creates even more tension between them. Now Diana and Rachel are slated to accompany an undergraduate trip to London, where an almost life-threatening experience with a student celebrity will force them to change their minds and heal their hearts…together.

Advance Praise for CROSSING WASHINGTON SQUARE

“As readers spend time with these bright and engaging women, Rendell offers an interesting debate about the merits of studying popular fiction in an academic setting.” The Romantic Times

“Rendell’s second novel is thoughtful and open, with plenty of interesting academic debate for truly bookish readers.” Booklist

Order it already! 

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