Authors Interviewing Characters: Mary Helen Sheriff, author of Boop and Eve’s Road Trip
Authors Interviewing Characters: Mary Helen Sheriff, author of Boop and Eve’s Road Trip
“…a heartwarming trek through the South as grandmother and granddaughter uncover secrets held for generations as well as confront family issues, all while having a little fun…A touching intergenerational romp…” —Kirkus Reviews
Boop and Eve’s Road Trip by Mary Helen Sheriff is a women’s fiction novel about college freshman Eve Prince and her grandma Boop who go on a road trip through the South looking for a missing relative.
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Mary Helen Sheriff (author): Boop and Eve, thanks so much for coming to chat with me today. I thought it might be fun if you introduced each other.
Boop: I’d be tickled pink. This is my granddaughter Eve Prince. She’s young, nineteen. I can barely remember 19, and she’s as pretty as a peach—
Eve: Boop.
Boop: Well, look at her why don’t you, stunning natural beauty. And she’s smart. Maybe she’ll be a doctor. That’s what her mama thinks anyway. And creative—oooh,wee, she designed this gorgeous jacket I’m wearing. Don’t you just adore it?
Mary: It’s pretty spectacular. Eve, what can you tell me about Boop?
Eve: Her real name is Betty, but only her sister ever calls her that. It makes Boop cringe. See.
Boop: I never.
Eve: If you say so. Anyway, Boop is spunky and funny.
Boop: Funny? I’m not funny.
Eve: Maybe not on purpose.
Boop: I do declare.
Mary: You two are cute. Rumor has that you recently went on a road trip. What can you tell me about that?
Boop: I reckon it was darn near the best vacation of my life.
Eve: Seriously?
Boop: You bet. And I reckon I might live longer ‘cause of it.
Mary: Why is that?
Boop: I took a sip from the Fountain of Youth in St. Augustine, Florida, and I just know it’s gonna work.
Mary: Really?
Eve shakes her head.
Mary: Eve, was it the best vacation ever for you too?
Eve: Well…parts of it were pretty awesome, but parts of it…
Boop: Our lives are forever better for having faced those not-so-pleasant parts.
Eve: True.
Mary: Eve, what sticks out in your mind about the trip?
Eve: Death.
Boop: What? No one died.
Eve: No. But I went to three cemeteries. And then there were all those skeletons.
Mary: Skeletons?
Boop: She don’t mean the horror story kind. She means that ones I had stuffed in closets that kept creeping out.
Mary: Like?
Boop blushes and looks at the ceiling.
Eve shrugs, chews a fingernail and stares down at the floor.
Mary: Nothing? Alright then, what were you like in high school?
Eve: Since that was just a year ago, pretty much the same.
Boop: I don’t know about that. I think you’ve done some real growing up.
Mary: What about you Boop? What were you like in high school?
Boop: I wasn’t much for school. Didn’t like sitting still none. I used to get in all kinds of trouble for chatting during class. I can still feel that dang ruler on my knuckles. I sure can remember wanting to be grown up so bad, but also wanting to be good, you know, make my mama proud. Those two wants went together like two weasels in a bag.
Eve: Weasels?
Boop (ignoring Eve): I’ll tell you one thing. I sure was romantic. I imagined myself Scarlet O’Hara—and my sister Vicky’s boyfriend Tommy was my Ashley. I was so jealous of her.
Eve: Some things never change.
Boop: I’m not jealous of Vicky anymore. I simply don’t like her.
Mary (clears her throat): I think I’ll stay clear of that minefield. What is something you’ve never done, but secretly want to do?
Boop blushes.
Eve: This is gonna be good. C’mon, Boop…
Boop: I would simply love to leave my house without wearing a brassiere.
Eve (laughs): I told she was funny. Why don’t you?
Boop: My mama didn’t raise me like that.
Eve: I thought you grown past all that nonsense.
Boop: Only the silly stuff. And the rule about brassiere wearing. Nuff about me. You go, Eve.
Eve: I’ve always wanted to go to Fashion Week in New York.
Boop: Might could be our next road trip.
Eve: Really?
Boop: Why not?
Mary: I’ll volunteer to drive if you’ll take me along. Imagine this. We’re driving down the road, and the music is blasting. What’s your theme song?
Boop: The House that Built Me by Miranda Lambert
Eve: You know that song?
Boop: I do. I know quite a few songs from this era.
Eve: Huh. I did not know that. How come we only listen to the old stuff then?
Boop: I’m improving your music education.
Eve: Thanks, I guess. My theme song is, Am I not Pretty Enough?
Mary: Those are great songs. Next question: What do you dream about?
Boop: That’s easy Christmas dinner with my family around the table and everybody behaving.
Eve: That’ll never happen.
Boop: Never say never. What about you, Eve?
Eve: My design on the cover of Vogue
Boop: From your lips to God’s ears.
Mary: Given how amazing Boop’s jacket is, I’ll be on the lookout for that. It’s been a pleasure, ladies. Thanks for your time.
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Boop and Eve’s Road Trip
Eve Prince is done with college, with her mom, with guys, and with her dream of fashion design. But when her best friend goes MIA, Eve must gather the broken threads of her life to search for her.
Desperate to visit her sister, Boop, a retiree dripping with Southern charm, hijacks her granddaughter Eve’s road trip.
Along the way, Boop hopes to alleviate Eve’s growing depression—which, she knows from experience, will require more than flirting lessons and a Garlic Festival makeover. Nevertheless, she is frustrated when her feeble efforts yield the same failures that the sulfur-laced sip from the Fountain of Youth wrought on her age.
The one thing that might help is a secret that’s haunted Boop for sixty year. But in revealing it, Boop would risk losing her family and her own hard-won happiness.
Their journey through the heart of Dixie is an unforgettable love story between a grandmother and her granddaughter. Buy HERE.
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Mary Helen Sheriff spent fourteen years in classrooms teaching elementary school, middle school, college, and professionals. During that time, she also had the pleasure of dabbling in writing for children, teenagers, and adults in a variety of forms including fiction, poetry, blogs, and nonfiction. She spent several summers immersed in an MFA program in children’s literature at Hollins University. Currently, she lives and writes in Richmond, Virginia with her two kids, two cats, and husband. Check out her blog and newsletter at https://maryhelensheriff.com/blog/
Category: Contemporary Women Writers, Interviews
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