Oh, parting is such sweet sorrow.
I am excited, however, that Sara Donati has taken time out of her day to speak with MBB about her life with the Bonners and what memories she came away with at the end.
Please welcome Sara Donati, the author of The Wilderness Series!
With six books in the series, it has been an incredible journey for the Bonner family, and for you I presume. What has been the most rewarding and most challenging experience for you? How do you feel to see it end?
It's hard to pinpoint one specific experience. The section of
Fire Along the Sky 
that took place in Manhattan was a big challenge. There was so little information available and it took a great deal of digging, but the end product was very rewarding.
I don't feel sad or unhappy about the last book. I've been working on the Wilderness series a long time, and I'm afraid that if I had pushed any farther the quality of the storytelling would have suffered. I wanted to close the door on a high point.
Of the 6 books in the series, which one was your favorite?
I have favorite sections of all the novels, but my two favorites are
Lake in the Clouds
and
Queen of Swords
.
Both of those books were my personal favorites! My favorite character was Hannah, so her story was the one I waited for in anticipation. And you definitely didn't disappoint.
Which characters and moments left imprints on your heart?
It's hard to let bad things happen to good characters, but that's the lot of stoytellers. I felt sorrow at various points - a number of them with Selah Voyager, and with Gabriel Oak and a number of other characters.
I love happy endings so the epilogue was a bit of a mixed bag for me. What prompted you to write the epilogue?
Closure. I knew some readers wouldn't be happy with it, but it was important to me to bring Elizabeth and Nathaniel to a close. It was also important to me to establish some basic facts about the next generation.
What’s next for you? Do you think you’ll write another series?
At the moment I'm not writing fiction. Or I'm writing very, very little fiction. I don't know yet if this is just a long sabbatical or if I'm done. I hope I will have the time and opportunity to write some of the stories that are still active in my mind, but right now I have to address different priorities.
Thank you so much Sara, for taking the time to speak with My Book Buddies. And THANK YOU so much for the gift of the Bonner family. I certainly hope we haven't seen the last of you! Reading your novels has been like traveling to a far distant place. Many members of the MBB community enjoyed reading and discussing your novels in our forum. I hope we see more from you again in the future. Best of luck to you and your endeavors!
To learn more about Sara Donati, visit the following sites:
To purchase her Wilderness books, visit our
MBB Bookstore. And be sure to check out the
MBB review of
The Endless Forest
.
If you like the series, you may also be interested in her other novels:
Please remember that purchases made from our bookstore help keep this site up and running. We function only through your generosity and the efforts of the MBB Community to provide reviews and commentary for this site. So we thank you profusely for shopping with us!
Posts
My all-time favorite book is Anne of Green Gables
by L.M Montgomery. A few years ago, when visiting a friend in Atlanta, I came across a leather-bound vintage copy of this heartwarming novel in a used bookstore. It is, by far, one of my absolute prized possessions. 
For Valentine's Day, my husband got me the highly coveted tickets to the production of Wicked
. I've waited years to watch this show and was thrilled to hear that the production made its way to the Orpheum theater in San Francisco.
When I first picked up Into the Wilderness
by Sara Donati, I didn't realize that I would be taken on a journey with the Bonner family spanning over several years. Now, with the series coming to its conclusion with The Endless Forest
If you didn't know, MBB started off as an online book discussion group. In fact, our first book discussion was on Jane Eyre
. I added the blog element to it to share my own reviews, meet other book bloggers and create more interaction with authors and publishers. Now, approaching that one year anniversary, I'm a little in awe at what MBB has become. It certainly isn't easy, but it still continues to be a joy.
