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# Based On A True Story, Neighbor Yona Zeldis McDonough’s New Novel “You Were Meant for Me” Out Today (Partner)
- URL: https://bklyner.com/based-on-a-true-story-neighbor-yona-zeldis-new-novel-you-were-meant-for-me-out-today-partner-southslope/
- Published: 2014-10-07T20:25:38.000Z
- Updated: 2014-10-07T20:34:35.000Z
- Author: South Slope News
- Tags: Yona Zeldis McDonough, You Were Meant for ME, #API-Imported

![you_were_meant_for_me](/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/you_were_meant_400-11.jpg)

  
What happens when a single woman finds a newborn baby girl in a Brooklyn subway station? Read *[You Were Meant for Me](http://www.amazon.com/Were-Meant-Yona-Zeldis-McDonough/dp/0451469836/ref=sr%5F1%5F1?as=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1412352024&sr=1-1&keywords=yona+zeldis+mcdonough&ref=bklyner.com) —* based on a true story, set in Park Slope and written by [Yona Zeldis McDonough](http://www.yonazeldismcdonough.com/?ref=bklyner.com), 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](/blog/art-music/writing-park-slope-local-author-yona-mcdonough-channels-home-in-two-of-a-kind), 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](http://www.amazon.com/Were-Meant-Yona-Zeldis-McDonough/dp/0451469836/ref=sr%5F1%5F1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1412352024&sr=1-1&keywords=yona+zeldis+mcdonough&ref=bklyner.com). For more info, go to [yonazeldismcdonough.com](http://www.yonazeldismcdonough.com/?ref=bklyner.com) or [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/yzmcdonough), and save the date for the free [book release party at BookCourt](http://bookcourt.com/events/yona-zeldis-mcdonough-1?ref=bklyner.com) (163 Court Street in Cobble Hill) on October 10, with wine, snacks, and the author in conversation Caroline Leavitt.*