Q&A With Meg Donohue

USA Today Bestselling Author Meg Donohue responded back to my email a few weeks ago agreeing to be my next guest for this interview! What a great way to start off 2026! Some of Meg’s books are How to Eat a Cupcake, All The Summer Girls, Dog Crazy, Every Wild Heart, You, Me and the Sea, & coming out on March 25^th of this year, The Memory Gardener.

Q: Welcome to Book Notions Meg! I’m very excited about interviewing you! Would you please give a brief description of your books, starting with The Memory Gardener? The title is rather magical and it hooks me in already!

A: The Memory Gardener is a cozy story about the power of memory and the nourishing magic of gardens that will appeal to fans of The Secret Garden, Garden Spells, and Chocolat.

Lucy Barnes has an uncanny ability to know exactly which scent among the flowers she grows will return a person to a long-forgotten memory, a key from their past that has the potential to change their future. When she takes a position as the gardener at a somber, colorless assisted-living home, the evocatively scented flowers that she grows awaken not only the home’s gardens, but the entire community, stirring new pleasures and unearthing long-buried secrets within all who venture through the gardens’ gates.

Q: Do you start each morning with a cup of coffee and a brisk walk before you begin to plot, write and edit your work? 

A: I definitely require coffee to start my day, but then I have three kids to get off to school before I sit down at my desk to write!

Q: How many hours a day do you spend writing? How long does it take you to write a novel? 

A: I spend 3-4 hours a day writing and editing and reading. It usually takes me about a year to write a full draft of a novel.

Q: What are lessons and reminders you hope readers learn and remember after they finish reading your books? How do you hope readers feel?

A: I’d love for my readers to feel a sense of comfort as they close my book, a sense of having been transported away from the troubles of the world for a spell. I want them to feel as though they’ve been enveloped in a warm hug.

Q: Does Hollywood have the rights to your work yet? Whether they do or not, who would your dream cast be for the characters you created within your novels?

A: Not yet but a girl can dream! It’s so hard for me to imagine actors as my characters, but for The Memory Gardener I think Felicity Jones could bring Lucy to life, and Harrison Ford might make a great Fitz. 

Q: Are you currently writing your next novel? If its not too early, can you reveal any details? 

A: I’m in the early stages of writing my next novel, which will be another magical realism story involving flowers!