Authors Interviewing Characters: Jody Holford

Authors Interviewing Characters: Jody Holford

ALL THE OTHER ME

Isabelle Duprees is one of Forbes’ most powerful self-made women and has built a reputation as one of New York’s savviest investors and sharpest advisors. With a penthouse overlooking Central Park, an open invitation to any event she wishes to attend, and a weekly date with a man who won’t ask too much of her, Isabelle’s carefully curated life is exactly what she wants.

Until it isn’t.

After her estranged sister, Elaina, shows up, circumstances—and too much champagne—have Isabelle Googling herself, only to discover three other women her age, with the same name, birthdate, and familiar features.

Too curious not to follow this rabbit hole, Isabelle and her sister embark on a road trip that leads them back to their hometown—and possibly each other. On the way, they seek out all the other Isabelles and find each one of them living a life that could have been hers if she’d made different choices.

Jody Holford interviews Elaina Duprees, sister to Isabelle Duprees

JH: You’ve been estranged from your sister for quite some time. Is there a story behind the rift between the two of you? 

ED: Of course there is. It would be strange if, for absolutely no reason, my sister and I stopped talking and went out of our way to avoid each other, now wouldn’t it? 

JH: Are you able to share the cause of that rift? 

ED: People often get caught up in the reasons for why things happen as if knowing the why can ease the pain you’re feeling. Why doesn’t matter so much as what you do about it. Right now, both of us are getting to know who the other is in the present. Not the person we remember or the one we held grudges against. When you wash all of that away and start fresh, when you really commit to not using the past against each other, you start healing. 

JH: You and your sister, from the outside, seem quite different. She’s a real estate mogul, a trailblazer who has been on many lists as one of the most influential and richest women in the United States. You’re an artist who continues to live in the small town where you both grew up. Why do you think your paths diverged so drastically? 

ED: Mostly because when people ask questions like this, they’re listing, as you just did, what the person has done not who they are. Regardless of how different our paths or lives are, my sister and I are both resilient, hardworking, respected women who were shaped by things that happened to us when we were young. Why do any two paths diverge? People want different things. That doesn’t always tell you who they are. 

JH: I will say, I’ve interviewed your sister and you both give very similar answers in a way that speaks volumes but also shares very little. How are you alike other than that?

ED: We’re stubborn. And when we want something, we’ll give every ounce of blood, sweat, and tears to get it. And to hang onto it. 

JH: Is there something you’re better at than your sister? 

ED: Forgiveness. And volleyball. 

JH: Is there something you’re worse at?

ED: Making money and card games. Isabelle excels in those areas. 

JH: In an interview given earlier this year, Isabelle said that she, and I’m quoting her here: “learned a lot about myself this year, thanks, in part, to a strange period of time I spent with my older sister.” Can you say anything about the time she’s referring to?

ED: I can say that it changed me and made me stronger. It also made me understand my sister better. We go through life only seeing things from our own perspective and we respond with whatever emotion we feel from that specific view point. That period of time that Isabelle and I spent together let us see each others’ perspectives in ways we never had. We didn’t walk in one another’s shoes, so to speak but we came as close as we could. 

JH: You have two words to describe Isabelle and all that she is. What are they? 

ED: My sister.

BUY HERE.

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Jody Holford is a multipublished Canadian author. She writes contemporary romance and cozy mysteries, and she also writes under the pen name Sophie Sullivan. Her book Ten Rules for Faking It received the Canadian Book Club Award for best romance in 2022 and her book A Guide to Being Just Friends won the Canadian Book Club Award for best romance in 2023.

Tags: featured, women writers

Category: On Writing