Based On A True Story, Neighbor Yona Zeldis McDonough’s New Novel “You Were Meant for Me” Out Today (Partner)

What happens when a single woman finds a newborn baby girl in a Brooklyn subway station? Read You Were Meant for Me — based on a true story, set in Park Slope and written by Yona Zeldis McDonough, a resident of Park Slope for over 20 years — to find out! To celebrate the launch day, we asked our neighbor a few questions:

Can you tell us a bit about your inspiration for the book?

The idea actually came to from a true story a friend told me about a man who found a baby boy on a subway platform and ended up adopting him. The story stayed with me and I realized I wanted to write about it, but because I am a novelist and not a journalist, I took considerable liberties: I turned the man into a single woman with a biological clock ticking; the baby she finds is a girl. And when she begins the adopting proceedings, the birth father appears, wanting to claim his child. What does it mean to be a mother? Who is the more fit parent and why? These are questions I explore in the novel.

Just like in some of your past work, this one is largely set in Park Slope — what is it about the neighborhood that continues to provide such a vibrant source of material for you?

I have lived in Park Slope for over 20 years and feel very attached to this neighborhood that manages to feel both like a small town and yet also has that cosmopolitan edge. I think it’s because I am so rooted to this place — I grew in Brooklyn, albeit in a different ‘hood, yet was aware of Park Slope early on — that it feels so natural and comfortable for me to set my stories here.

How much of your own experience as a mother influences the ways Miranda takes on the new role?

I have fantasized about that very situation: finding a baby! And because I wanted a third child but did not have one, I was able to give myself in fiction what I did not have in fact. I also remembered the experience of new motherhood very clearly — no one can really prepare you for it — and gave its joys and the struggles to Miranda.

Are there any books you’ve read recently that you would recommend?

Like so many others, I recently read The Goldfinch — masterful and utterly compelling! And I re-read The Great Gatsby, which made a powerful and profound impression the second time around. It’s really such a modern story.

Now that this book is out, are you on to your next project? If so, what’s in the works?

Yes, I am working on another novel, The House on Primrose Pond, for the same publisher (New American Library/Penguin) only this time, my Park Slope protagonist is forced to sell her house and move to New Hampshire. The book also contains a historical component about an event that happened in NH in 1768, and the handling of that event will take the form of a novel-within-a-novel. It’s a stretch for me but I’m very excited about it.

You Were Meant for Me is on sale Octobcet 7, 2014. For more info, go to yonazeldismcdonough.com or Facebook, and save the date for the free book release party at BookCourt (163 Court Street in Cobble Hill) on October 10, with wine, snacks, and the author in conversation Caroline Leavitt.