Barbara, a medical resident, lost her husband when his plane was shot down by enemy fire in Afghanistan. She wonders if she will ever love again, feel warm again. She freezes out Chris, a fellow resident at the hospital who also has a difficult past. But Chris isn't easily deterred. As a second loss tears at Barbara's heart, will Chris be the one to break down the barrier?

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A. I think we're all fascinated by the people who don't quite fit in to the normal cone of expected human behavior. These are the people who were outcasts in high school, and who maybe were in college, too. They might have had a friend or two, but they struggled to say the right thing, and it showed. They were socially awkward. They were the geek girls. Maybe you wondered, What goes on inside their heads? In Entanglement, with Greta, I get to show you.

A. Entanglement is a plot-driven story that begins with a crime that you must unravel as you read-like a mystery-yet it focuses on the close relationship between two women-which means it's a love story. The main character, Greta, for all that she is a misfit, is very funny. Part of her humor stems from her intelligence, and part of it stems from her unique way of seeing the world. She finds most people wildly irrational, and she isn't afraid to say so.

A. Many great books have been set in L.A. My favorite is Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion. I needed to find a way to tell an L.A. story that didn't replay old themes, or a way that would at least bend those themes into new, unpredictable shapes. No one in this coming of age novel wants to be a movie star, for example. In fact, they heap scorn on those who do, even if they do enjoy the L.A. night life.

A. Everything about the girls' familial relationships was broken. These two had no one else until they met each other. It's hard to imagine a friendship like that. I had a friendship like that once, but it's gone now. I wanted to write about how that intensity can keep you alive when it seems like nothing else will, and what it's like to lose it. The betrayal of trust, what's it like to feel betrayed.

A. I will read any book except ones where the female characters are afterthoughts or non-existent. I love historical romance, urban fantasies, Booker Prize winners, SF (especially by women, and I wish there were more), Tana French (she's her own category), P.D. James (so is she), and of course that great big category called Women's Fiction.