Rufi Thorpe Stranded on a Desert Island

Please welcome Rufi Thorpe, author of The Girls from Corona Del Mar, as she tackles our Desert Island Interview!

About Rufi:


RUFI THORPE received her MFA from the University of Virginia in 2009. Currently, she lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband and son. The Girls from Corona del Mar is her first novel.

Connect with Rufi:

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Rufi Thorpe Stranded on a Desert Island

1. If you could only have one book with you, what would it be?

The Complete Poetry and Prose of William Blake. You've got to choose a compendium, right? A novel would get old. A complete Shakespeare would be good too.

2. What one luxury item would you want to be stranded with?

A laptop with a magically limitless battery and good weather proofing.

3. What is the one practical item you would want to have with you to use?

A machete. Obviously.

4. Would you enjoy the solitude, even briefly, or would it drive you crazy?

I enjoy being alone very much, but after years spent alone I am sure I would get pretty weird.

5. If you could be stranded with one other person, who would you want it to be?

If I knew my son was safe and happy at his grandmother's house or something, then I would not wish him the hardship of being stranded on an island, no matter how much I would miss him. So I would have to bring my husband, not only because he is the best and I am in love with him, but because I am pretty sure he could recite most of every episode of It's Always Sunny in Philodelphia. And also, he could finally teach me calculus.

6. What modern technology would you miss the most?

The connectedness to family and the world via phones/internet.

7. What food or beverage would you miss the most?

Coffee.

8. How many days do you think you would cope without rescue?

It depends on how badly I've cut myself with the machete. 

9. What is the first thing you would do when rescued?

Find my son. Take a shower. Ask for a beer.

10. What would be your first Tweet or Facebook update upon your return?

“You know when they show someone on TV washing their hair under a waterfall? That’s f***in’ b****hit, man. Because that thing would knock you on your a**.” – Mitch Hedberg

The Last Boat Home

Mia and Lorrie Ann are lifelong friends: hard-hearted Mia and untouchably beautiful, kind Lorrie Ann. While Mia struggles with a mother who drinks, a pregnancy at fifteen, and younger brothers she loves but can't quite be good to, Lorrie Ann is luminous, surrounded by her close-knit family, immune to the mistakes that mar her best friend's life. Until a sudden loss catapults Lorrie Ann into tragedy: things fall apart, and then fall apart further – and there is nothing Mia can do to help. And as good, kind, brave Lorrie Ann stops being so good, Mia begins to question just who this woman is and what that question means about them both. 

A staggeringly arresting, honest novel of love, motherhood, loyalty, and the myth of the perfect friendship that moves us to ask ourselves just how well we know those we love, what we owe our children, and who we are without our friends.

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