Margaret Hay Van Damm is an established author. She has written books, plays, and articles. She had a unique childhood with a creative, visionary father, George Hay, who founded the Grand Ole Opry. She graduated from Vanderbuilt University, wrote briefly for the Nashville Tennessean and was a college professor in Virginia. She now makes her home in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she enjoys friends, some of the best of them her pet dogs. The River Love, a novel set in Mississippi, is her first publication with Mayhaven.

The River Love is a most unusual novel. What inspired you to write it?

The age group of the two sisters reflects the growing trend of women after a marriage has ended and the children have left home; May and Anne Joy are two examples, alone and needing companionship. This is relationship full of interesting complexities.

There is a certain ease about this book. Do you think that’s because of the setting?

I must admit that the book wrote itself. Once I had decided upon the characters, May and Anne Joy, Their world developed easily.

I know your father conducted business there, but did you grow up in Tennessee?

I was born in Memphis and grew up in Nashville, TN, attending Ward-Belmont and Vanderbilt. My father's struggle to nurture the "Opry" against a tide of criticism was a part of my education. I later lived in New York, Boston and Norfolk before retiring to New Mexico.

Do you think the characters in The River Love reflect your upbringing?

The characters do not reflect my upbringing. With the changing needs of single women, I am more aware of problems revealed in The River Love.

Or your life now?

No. Not my present life. I am single and used to living alone.

You chose to form the story around two sisters. Why?

I was interested in the relationship of two sisters deciding to live together after living separate lives, until they became widows. Living together produces many questions. Do we really know our sister, her motives, her desires? Do we make assumptions that are not based on fact? At what point does the deeper self of our companion assert itself? May and Anne Joy managed to answer some of the complex questions in their relationship.

You, of course, do not present the sisters in stereotypical fashion. They are presented in full. How did you manage that?

The two sisters were complex people, hiding from themselves their motives and needs. There is an ancient saying: the heart knows more than the brains. So with May and Anne Joy.

You did manage it, because I have had response from women of varying ages who say they like the book very much.

The animals in this story are important characters in the story. Why did you decide to build much of the story around them?

I love animals and see them as necessary to our lives, also necessary for the plot. Anne Joy's character was developed because of her for the dogs, Mildred and Alistair. I hope they are still together.

How did you determine the human characters that would enter and exit the sister’s lives?

I have known people like the secondary characters partly because I visited my mother's birthplace in Mississippi a number of times. Yes, people in small towns are different. They know alot about each other, gossip, the mail and the small town wind which blows secrets about

You also chose the Carolina mountains for a secondary setting. Is that familiar terrain for you?

When I taught at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, I would visit the mountains in North Carolina near Blowing Rock, a lovely place and cool in the summers, unlike Virginia Beach.

Did anything about the writing surprise you?

I like the end result of the publication. Mayhaven did a fine job.

A manuscript is transformed in the editing and layout process. What surprised you about that?

Nothing surprised me except the ending. I like it.

Is there something you want to convey in this book that might not be obvious?

I wanted to convey the humorous elements about our contradictory human nature. I hope that I did.