Interview with Mary O'Connel with Book Line Answers (The Sharp Time Blog Tour)

Today we have Mary O'Connel, author of The Sharp Time, here for an interview with book line answers! That means I interviewed Mary and she had to answer only with lines from The Sharp Time. This post is part of The Teen Book Scene's blog tour for The Sharp Time. You can find out more about the tour here. Make sure to visit all the other stops of the blog tour if you'd like to know more about The Sharp Time!

What was your inspiration to write this novel?

“What can any of us do but try?”

What made you decide to write about such dark topics, such a conflicting character?

“I open my eyes and realize it’s a day with two mornings: the snow-shadowed dawn and right now.”  

How would you describe The Sharp Time's main character, Sandinista?

”Maybe I am just like all those other girls who have come before me with their oily T-zones and random terrible days and bittersweet triumphs, the world billowing out behind them.”

Has writing always been your passion?

“To try not to be just a collection of random floating thoughts, but to own a solid little patch of the universe.” 

What do you like to do when you're not writing?  

“My car knows where to go. It’s as if the Taurus is some Futuristic Ford that can read my mind.” 

The Sharp Time's main character, Sandinista, struggles with authority. Is that something you experienced as well?

“The wild dust is lit by the sun shining between the pulled shade and the window.”

What role does friendship play in this novel?

“Perhaps what they’re giving each other is more than forbidden, starlit romance, perhaps it’s not that at all, but the protection of friendship.” 

What would you like readers to take from your book? 

“I wanted to tell him that his cleverness and imagination would take him far, and that none of his kindness had been wasted.”

Thanks for hosting me on your blog, Hannah!

Thanks for the great interview answers, Mary!


Make sure to check out all the other stops of the blog tour, and keep your eye out for The Sharp Time, which will be released November 8th, 2011.


The Sharp Time by Mary O'Connel
(Amazon / Goodreads)

Sandinista Jones is a high school senior with a punk rock name and a broken heart. The death of her single mother has left Sandinista alone in the world, subject to the random vulnerability of everyday life. When the school system lets her down, her grief and instability intensify, and she ponders a violent act of revenge.
Still, in the midst of her crisis, she gets a job at The Pale Circus, a funky vintage clothing shop, and finds friendship and camaraderie with her coworker, a boy struggling with his own secrets.
Even as Sandinista sees the failures of those with power and authority, she's offered the chance to survive through the redemptive power of friendship. Now she must choose between faith and forgiveness or violence and vengeance.