Katy asked Janet Fitch:

White Oleander is one of my most beloved books, I read it every spring. It taught me a lot as a human and a baby writer. I love and I hate Ingrid. I'm fascinated by her. I'd love to know more about where she came from, what created such an unlikely and extraordinary person. Other than the tiny titbits offered in the book, is there anything you can share about her family/upbringing?

Janet Fitch Hi Katy!
My apologies at the tardiness of this response. Completing the new book has had me underwater until recently. Thank you for your kind comments on White Oleander. I had a backstory section of Ingrid's but it never fit, anywhere I put it it, it killed the story. But her parents were from Sweden, the mother a very dramatic stage actress, the father the mentally unstable son of a Swedish shipbuilding family. They were sent to America during WWII, the family basically paid him to stay away. They ended up buying a dairy farm in Oregon, their little utopia. Which the father ran like his own little kingdom. The mother was a drunk who drowned in the cow pond when Ingrid was 13. She has a sister, a housewife in florida. Ingrid was the father's favorite, and there was some kind of sexual inappropriateness with the father which was never disclosed.

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