Interview with Ilsa Mayr: The Widow - Repost

This interview appeared shortly after the publication of Ilsa Mayr's novel, The Widow, a book about one woman's experience of illegal immigration. 

November 23, 2011

Good morning, Ilsa. Thank you for agreeing to this interview. I’d like to start with the inspiration for The Widow. You have chosen a controversial idea for your relationship. How did that occur to you?

The inspiration for THE WIDOW came from a most prosaic incident. I was sitting in my dentist's reception room, waiting to have my teeth cleaned. I picked up a magazine that featured a long article on illegal border crossings in Texas. From that evolved the plot of the novel. I can't remember the name of the magazine, but the article was obviously impressive.

Did you have any second thoughts or misgivings about a marriage of convenience for these two characters?

I am a sucker for the marriage of convenience plot. Since we know that a happy ending is guaranteed in a romance, one of the thornier problems is to come up with a conflict strong enough to keep the hero and heroine apart for some fifty to seventy thousand words. In a marriage of convenience plot, tension and conflict are naturally built in.