Sara Brunsvold creates stories that speak hope, truth, and life. Influenced by humble women of God who find his fingerprints in the everyday, she does the same in her life and her storytelling. Sara’s recognitions include the 2020 ACFW Genesis Award for Contemporary Fiction. She lives with her family near Kansas City, Missouri, where she can often be spotted writing at a park or library. Learn more at www.sarabrunsvold.com.
FF: Jess Becker starts the novel completely alone, with just minimal furniture, two houseplants, and a newfound faith. What drew you to beginning her story at such a stripped-down, vulnerable point?
In so many ways, Jess is a blank slate. She is rebuilding her life piece by piece, figuratively, spiritually, and literally. While she is filled with excitement about the future, she recognizes this new start is tenuous and susceptible. That tension helps drive the story.
FF: The friendship with her fourteen-year-old neighbor, Kyla, is what first pulls Jess into community. What made a teenager the right catalyst for her transformation?
Jess’s life changed dramatically the first time when she herself was a young teenager. That tragic event led her into a kind of living from which she is now trying to unravel. She sees two versions of her younger self in friendless Kyla: the version that actually was, meaning a lonely, hurting girl, and the version she wishes could have been, meaning a girl who did not choose the destructive path, which Kyla seems to be.
FF: Reva and Austie each bring something different to the sisterhood that forms around Jess. How did you approach building out this circle of women?
I wanted the women in the circle to have deep wounds of some kind and be at different points in their healing process. Reva is the furthest along, while Austie is still trying to disentangle herself from the temptations and habits that keep drawing her back into her old life. Jess, meanwhile, is somewhere in between.
FF: Jess is someone used to giving help but who struggles to receive it. Why did you want to explore that particular kind of vulnerability?
The question that shaped this book the most was, Why is it so hard to open ourselves up to receiving the love and help we need? The tendency toward self-protection is instinctual, and we so often mislabel it “strength.” While we don’t need to share every little burden we have with others, it is common for us to struggle with knowing when to let others in – and how. I wanted to write a story that spoke to this tendency with honesty, but also showed what can happen when we truly trust that grace and love will prevail.
FF: After a lifetime of poor choices, Jess is determined to finally get it right. What do you hope readers who feel similarly determined to start over will take from her journey?
I hope readers who are on their own fresh-start journey will see what Jess could not: God is our source of all we need, but His people are often the means through which He delivers.
FF: Pizza nights become a recurring image of community in the book. Was there a real- life ritual or gathering that inspired that detail?
When my girls were little, we had a tradition that every Friday night was pizza and movie night. No matter how busy or crammed our weeks were, we knew that we had this time set aside where we could be together and find refreshment. I wanted to evoke that kind of coming-home image in the story.
FF: Faith and church community shape Jess’s new life in significant ways. How did you want to portray that community differently from how it’s sometimes shown in fiction?
Church community can sometimes be portrayed as a backdrop or, worse, the source of hurt. I wanted church community to be the forefront, full of positive main character energy, so to speak. God’s intention for His church, specifically the local church, is to be a group of imperfect people committed to helping each other mature in faith and live out that faith with abundant grace for one other. For people like Jess, who is not only starting over after so many mistakes but is also a new Christian, a strong church community can be the difference between flourishing and languishing. It’s rare to see that fact portrayed in fiction.
FF: Without giving too much away, Jess eventually has to decide whether to accept the very help she’s been trying to give others. What was it like writing that turning point?
It felt a lot like turning the spotlight on my own life.
FF: You’ve talked about wanting to connect with readers first through your books, then through meaningful conversation. What conversations do you hope this novel sparks?
I hope more people will talk about how they benefit from and are intentional about nurturing healthy Christian community, especially when things aren’t easy or pretty. There is so much transformative power in such stories.
FF: Kansas City becomes the backdrop for Jess’s new start. What made it the right setting for this particular story?
Anyone who has lived in Kansas City (like I do) can attest that Kansas City feels like a hometown feel wrapped in a metro. Its Midwestern mentality of community centeredness made it a perfect choice for Jess’s new home. Plus, Kansas City appears frequently in my books, which means The Sisterhood of Unlikely Friends has a familiar comfort for my readers. A couple of side characters from my previous books make appearances again in this story, and I look forward to seeing readers’ reaction to that.
