Following an intense nursing career that included positions both in surgery and in psychiatric settings, Joanne Kukanza Easley, who had always wanted to write, began… and she hasn’t come up for air since. Her first novel wowed both readers and critics and won a number of awards. Her second novel is just out. Her third is on its way, and there’s more to come after that. We had the great pleasure of catching up with her here at Occhi.
Please describe the plot of your new novel, Just One Look.
In 1965 Chicago, Dani falls in love at age thirteen, struck boy-blind by a tall, handsome fifteen-year-old Tennessee transplant named John. She floats on a cloud of happiness and plans their future for six blissful years, but John doesn’t return from the Vietnam war.
Rather than processing her loss, Dani goes off the rails, wreaking revenge on the male population of Chicago in the singles’ bars on Rush Street. Her life is bereft of self-examination, and she marries a man she doesn’t love, planning to use him for college tuition, then leave him.
An unplanned pregnancy, after a night Dani would rather forget, derails her ambitions. Dani achieves her freedom in an unexpected way, and at the age of twenty-four, she’s left with a baby, a small fortune, and two ghosts.
At last, Dani turns a critical eye on how she’s conducted her life since John’s death. Her hard heart cracked open at the birth of her daughter, then flowers when she meets John’s boyhood friend Noah, who served with him in the Army and has worshipped her from afar.
Even with this second chance at love, Dani doesn’t make it easy. You’ll have to read the book to find out if she lays her ghosts to rest.
Just One Look takes place in the 60s and 70s. How different would the plot have to be to support the same characters in present times?
Just One Look would need a major rewrite if set in present times. Technology is so different today. I like to write in the time before computers, cell phones, and instant communication. For example, Dani’s only means of communication with John while he was deployed in Vietnam were infrequent and much-anticipated letters. Today, deployed servicemen and women can Facetime and Skype with loved ones. Also, the music, historical events, cars, and fashion would require updating.
Tell us about your previous novel, Sweet Jane.
In 1957 Odessa, Texas, precocious six-year-old Janie knows vodka makes Mama mean and killed her grandma. She observes the adult world at her grandma’s funeral, and while she doesn’t mean any disrespect, knows she doesn’t want to grow up to be like Mama.
Jane’s comfortable life in 1984 Austin is upended when she learns of Mama’s death. While she looks good on paper—married, graduate school, coin-carrying member of AA—she hasn’t stopped running since she fled Odessa, beginning with hitchhiking to California at age sixteen, right on time for the Summer of Love. The sight of Mama swilling vodka in baby doll pajamas and gigantic pink fuzzy slippers, and the unforgivable words Mama hurled at her one night, are etched in Jane’s memory.
Leaving her husband Joshua at home in Austin and in the dark about her past, Jane returns to Odessa for Mama’s funeral. While there, past and present collide, leading to shocking revelations and a decision about her future.
Sweet Jane won several literary awards, quite an achievement for a debut novel. What do you think readers/judges find most enticing about the story?
I think readers identify with Jane as she struggles to find her place in the world, overcomes her unhappy upbringing, bad decisions, and eventually faces her past. My novels feature complicated, twentieth-century women who ultimately work through their difficulties, something many people can relate to.
You have had several careers along the way. Which of them best prepared you for the writing you’re doing now?
That’s an interesting question. My teaching career gave me insight into the diverse ways people process information, which helps me organize and outline. As a nurse, my work in the operating room required attention to detail, and psychiatric nursing taught me a lot about human behavior and emotions. Those two careers were influential on my writing, and I think studying psychology was also helpful. The human condition and how we move through life fascinates me.
Sweet Jane was published in 2020 and Just One Look is just out (June 2021). And you’re already working on a third novel. Is it a surprise to you to find yourself so thoroughly hooked in the writing world?
Not at all. I wanted to be a writer since I was a kid when I devoured every available book from Beverly Cleary and Carolyn Keene. In my twenties, I continued my reading obsession and began taking writing classes and attending writing groups. Life got in the way and took me down many roads, so I didn’t pursue publication then, but once I retired, the time to get serious about my writing career arrived. A novel I wrote in the nineties needs a rewrite, and several others I started during NaNoWriMo are waiting to be finished. All told, I have five novels in the pipeline.
What will your third novel be about? Does it have a title yet?
Yes. It’s titled with the name of a song, as all my books are. I’ll Be Seeing You is the story of Lauren Eaton, Sweet Jane’s AA sponsor, who was quite secretive about her past in the previous book. I decided to tell her story, which begins in 1940 in Mineral Wells, Texas with stops in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, Dallas, and ends in 1985 Austin. This one requires a lot of historical research, particularly around World War II. I’m only halfway done, but now that Just One Look has launched, I’m excited to return to the story.
Which of your novels would make the best movie and why?
So glad you asked. Both of my novels would make excellent movies. I’m a very visual writer, and as I create my characters’ stories, I can picture every detail of the scene. Vivid descriptions, realistic dialogue, and relatable characters with high stakes are vital. I guess you could say that I write cinematically.
Please tell our readers where they can find out more about you.
I’m active on social media.
- Facebook author page https://joanneeasleyauthor.com/
- Twitter https://twitter.com/jeasleytx
- Instagram https://www.instagram.com/joanneeasleywriter/
- Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19740201.Joanne_Kukanza_Easley
About Author
Thanks so much for the great interview!