becoming a novelist, she worked as a preschool director, a birth doula, and a religious educator. Drawing from her experience in these positions, along with her education in developmental psychology and attachment theory, she finds rich inspiration for her novels. She’s a devout Unitarian Universalist, determined to do her part to add a little more love and justice to our beautiful and painful world. She lives with her wonderful wife, Rinda, and two other families in a small cohousing community in Berkeley, California. Her children and their families are her pride and joy. When she isn’t writing, she likes to cuddle with her dog Hazel, take walks with friends, study the Enneagram, do jigsaw puzzles, play games, work in the garden, travel, cook, and eat all kinds of delicious food.
Ibrahim applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, Falling Wisteria, and reported the following:
This is the totality of page 69 of Falling Wisteria:Visit Laila Ibrahim's website.regretted showing her the Fujiokas were not next door. Now when she escaped, Hazel searched further and further away, hoping to find her beloved family. Kay Lynn understood. She also ached for the warmth and laughter of the Fujiokas' home, and for the friend she so dearly missed.This incomplete passage is a great representation of the novel. It starts in the middle; there is a lot that came before that you have to fill in for yourself. It also speaks to Kay Lynn's lack of confidence in her own actions--no matter what she does things are wrong. And it shows that she is as emotionally confused as the beings she must care for--in this case her neighbor's beloved dog that they had to leave behind when they were sent to an internment camp during World War 2.
Q&A with Laila Ibrahim.
--Marshal Zeringue
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