Q&A With Fiza Saeed McLynn 

Last month I finished reading The Midnight Carousel by Fiza Saeed McLynn and I’m very honored and excited about doing this Q&A with her! The Midnight Carousel will be available on January 13^th, 2026! 

Q: Welcome to Book Notions Fiza! For those who haven’t read The Midnight Carousel would you please give a brief description of the novel? Where did the idea come from? 

A: Thanks so much for inviting me! In a nutshell, The Midnight Carousel is about an enchanting carousel that is linked to a series of unfathomable disappearances. It’s part mystery, part love story, set between 1900 Paris and Jazz Age Chicago, with a touch of magical realism, and is perfect for book clubs.

When I worked as therapist, I found that my clients dealt with grief in very different ways. I thought it would be interesting to explore the various coping mechanisms as a story, and I picked a carousel to center my novel around because I’ve always been a big fan of amusement parks. I also love the symbolism of the ride; the movement, the circular motion, and the ups and downs are like life and loss.

Q: In the acknowledgements section you mentioned Lauren Hughes deserving a special mention as the first person to assess your writing. That getting published seemed like such a long shot back in 2021. Is it fair to say that it took you since 2021 to write The Midnight Carousel?  

A: What a great spot by you! I had the idea for the novel way back in 2015, but I was a single mom working two jobs, at the time, so life was incredibly busy, and I didn’t progress any further than drafting a rough outline. When Covid hit in 2020, my jobs were paused, and I found myself with plenty of time to write. I queried around twenty agents in early 2021 and received no response (not a great sign!), which is why I reached out to a professional developmental editor. 

With Lauren’s help, I honed the manuscript over the next eighteen months, and in January 2023, I signed with my wonderful agent. There was more editing before the book sold in October 2023, and three further rounds of edits after that! In short, the novel was signed off as complete in June 2024, which was a little over four years after I wrote the first line, and a decade after I came up with the premise. It’s been a LONG journey!

Q: It’s hard to choose a favorite scene that I read from The Midnight Carousel but if I had to choose, I like Maisie and Laurant’s relationship. Which scenes did you enjoy creating as you wrote The Midnight Carousel? 

A: Thank you! Funnily, I hadn’t planned on a Maisie-Laurent love story, but when they met on the page, I could feel their chemistry sizzle, so I went with the flow! It felt very moving to delve into how and why these two broken souls connected. I also especially loved writing any scene with Laurent because he has a sense of humor bubbling beneath the surface, despite all his heartache and flaws. Oh, and the parts in the Jazz Club and at the dinner party because immersing myself in the glamor of that era was such a treat! 

Q: My favorite quote from the book was from Mrs. Papadopoulos, Where you come from isn’t a place, it’s your heart. It’s seeming like a more beautiful way of saying Home is where the heart is. Is that the meaning by the quote and is that what you hope readers takeaway after they finish reading and closing the book?

A: Yes, exactly. We belong where we feel loved. Also, there is this double meaning; Maisie, the main character, feels like an outsider (which is how many of us view ourselves, I think, for one reason or another), and Mrs. Papadopoulos is telling her that love is a universal force, a common language. My hope is that readers feel this message in their own hearts; that whatever differences we might have, we are all the same.

Q: When/if The Midnight Carousel were to become a series or a movie, who would you want as the dream cast to play the characters you created? My suggestions for Laurent are Benjamin Wainwright from the PBS show Maigret & another is Henry Cavill. Or perhaps giving a new handsome actor a big break. Naomi Scott from the live action Aladdin could portray Maisie. 

A: Wow, you must have read my mind because Naomi Scott was exactly who I pictured as I wrote Maisie! She has the physical appearance and gives off a mix of the strength and vulnerability that underpins Maisie’s character.

Both Benjamin and Henry are great picks for Laurent! They have his brooding seriousness, with a touch of humor. I’d also like to throw Lucas Bravo’s name into the mix. He stars in Emily in Paris, and, as a French actor, he would be a natural in the role.

Q: How do you feel knowing that The Midnight Carousel is being compared to The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern & Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen? For me I think The Midnight Carousel is better than both books! 

A: Ah, you are so kind, thank you. It’s a HUGE honor that my story is spoken in the same breath as those incredible novels. A stack of inspirational books sit on my desk, and both The Night Circus and Water for Elephants are in it. Others include Weyward and Babylonia. I love how all of them blend historical fiction with other genres to tell sweeping, emotional stories. This was always my ambition for The Midnight Carousel, so the comparison means the world to me.

Q: Are you allowed to reveal what book 2 will be about? Have you found writing your second book easier than the first book & did you find any challenges writing your second book compared to your debut? 

A: Like book 1, book 2 is a part mystery, part love story, with a touch of magical realism. But this time, I’ve set the novel predominantly in 1935, on the east coast of the USA during the Great Depression, and the main theme is shame. 

It’s very interesting to compare the book 1 and 2 experiences. There’s this talk about ‘the difficult second novel’ and it is difficult because starting all over again with a blank Word document felt overwhelming. With my first novel, I had no idea how many drafts and years it would take, and the (misguided!) belief that my current draft would be the final draft is probably what kept me going.

On the other hand, I’ve had a ton of help from the beginning this time. Before I wrote a word of the novel, I fine-tuned my ideas with my editor and agent. I’ve also learned a lot about the craft of writing over the past few years, which helped enormously. There are challenges and it is hard work. But I absolutely love creating whole, new worlds in my imagination, with characters that feel real.