King County Journal

Mercer Island author awaits the release of her second novel; `Accidental Happiness' by Jean Reynolds Page will hit stores Tuesday

By Lori Varosh
2005-01-23
Journal Reporter

Less than a year after publication of her first novel, Jean Reynolds Page of Mercer Island anxiously awaits the release of her second.

"Accidental Happiness," described by Island Books as "the moving story of ordinary people who refuse to become undone by circumstance," is scheduled for release by Ballantine Books on Tuesday, a week after Page turns 45.

She lounged recently by the pool at a hotel in Phoenix, where her cardiologist husband was attending a conference, and discussed by phone the difficulty of letting go.

The publishing process is still "nerve-wracking," she said. "It's like sending a child off to school for the first time. Suddenly, you've lost control of how he'll be treated."

Though "A Blessed Event" has done well in hardback and earned praise from mainstream reviewers, on-line critics can be harsh.
"I've learned to enjoy other perspectives without being injured," she says.

Favorable reviews help. The Boston Globe praised "A Blessed Event," calling it "a narrative that grows more and more compelling as Page unearths secrets, reveals character and lays -- and layers -- the groundwork for an ending that is moving, believable, and earned."

"Jean Reynolds Page can spin one heck of a tale."

A journalism major who has worked as a New York arts publicist and dance critic, and is raising three children, Page enjoys the relative freedom of her latest career.

Journalism is more structured, Page said. "Fiction is much looser, in terms of how you're going to set up your narrative.

"Fiction is much more of a puzzle," she said. ``You first figure out the story you want to tell, then how you're going to put the pieces together to tell it."

It's a process she enjoys.

"I have a lot of sympathy for all my main characters, even if they don't behave in ways they should. I try to find a kernel of humanity in them."

Page first develops her characters, often while walking the dog, she said. Then she figures out the likely plot twists they'd encounter.

In the case of "Accidental Happiness,'' it became clear during the writing process, Page said, that "the chemistry between the two characters is what really really added spark to the narrative.''

So she told the story from two women's perspectives.

Gina loses her husband in a freak accident, according to Publishers Weekly. She responds by moving onto his boat and drinking too much. She is ``shocked out of her grief when an intruder frightens her one night and she responds instinctively, discovering to her horror that she has shot 7-year-old Angel, who happens to be the daughter of her husband's ex-wife, Reese.''

Island Books calls the characters "appealingly flawed,'' and says Page "weaves a heartfelt and convincing tale of unconventional family relationships."
"A Blessed Event" and "Accidental Happiness'' are considered "upscale women's fiction/literature," Page said.

"They're not as zippy as Chick Lit tends to be," Page said. Her books are marketed as part of the Ballantine Reader's Circle Series, to "women who like to be in book clubs, women who like to discuss books."