b"It also allowed her to be a more-or-less full-time mom. Her youngest wasMMAAKKIINNGGHHAAPPPPYYHHOOMMEESSborn in 2006, and it wasnt until 2020 and Covid that she turned again to herEVEENNHHAAPPPPIIEERREVbook. I really hunkered down, she recalls,concentratingwhenmostof the world could not. Although all the kids were back in the house, she would get up at 5 or 5:30 and write uninter-rupted for two hours. The story had changed, outgrown itsoriginaltimelineandambitions. The mom of In the Orchard still wor-riesaboutmoney,asmanyyoung mothers do, but that worry is contex- City to SuburbsBuyingSelling RelocationsFirst Time Buyerstualized by the knowledge that it plays Eliza Minots latest novel, In the Orchard,a poor second fiddle to time. probes the subject of mothers and moth-erhood. Shesaidshewrotebelievingthat theworkofmotherhoodmakesfor might have, had the book market beeninteresting reading: It is tedious, but more robust. Her agent suggested thatits also not tedious. Its wonderful. Its she draft the book in total and thendreadful, but also wonderful. Susan Blodgett, ABRLuke Blodgett Ginny Spiegel try again. But with the economic situ- Like her protagonist Maisie, MinotBroker / Sales Associate Sales Associate Sales Associateation what it was, she says, and heris mother to two boys and two girls,973-214-4636860-942-2207973-219-8865 Susan.BlodgettLuke.BlodgettVirginia.Spiegel mothering duties at full pitch, she wasthough in slightly different birth order.@cbmoves.com@cbrealty.com @cbmoves.comnot rushing up to the attic to write.And she freely admits she has cribbed a Instead, she started teaching writ- bit from her own life. When she sharedSERVICE KNOWLEDGE EXPERTISE ingatthecollegelevel,enrolledatthe manuscript with her older son, he RutgersNewarkandeventuallygotremarkedthatitwasweirdtoread145 Maplewood AveMaplewood, NJ 973-378-8300her mastersall of which, she is con- about our childhood.vinced, was more than worthwhile. ItHis mother sees it differently. Yes, was awesome. its certainly based on (my life) but its '' FLEXIBLE 3, 4 AND 5 DAY PROGRAMS EXTENDED DAY HOURS 8AM-6PM INNOVATIVE AND PROGRESSIVE CURRICULUMIN A NURTURING AND STIMULATING ENVIRONMENT BRAND NEW STATE OF THE ART FACILITYFRUMIE BOGOMILSKY - DIRECTORMS EARLY CHILDHOOD SP.EDEliza Minots family trip to a pumpkin patch in 2009 likely influenced the setting ofFOR MORE INFORMATION:scenes in In the Orchard. 973-763-7455 | WWW.KINDERGANPRESCHOOL.ORGfeature story /13"