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THE EX FILES
Face to face with your worst nightmare
BY NINA WILLDORF

Local favorite chick-lit author Laura Zigman has tackled bad boyfriend choices, break-ups, and baby yearnings in her previous novels, Animal Husbandry and Dating Big Bird. In her latest, Her (Knopf), the Newton native, who now has a newborn and a fiancé, homes in on a trickier part of the romantic equation: the ex.

Q: I read somewhere that your previous novels included elements of "thinly veiled autobiography." Is that true for Her as well?

A: It’s much less so. The initial spark of the idea for the book came from a real event. I met my fiancé’s ex-wife, and that sort of sparked the book ... the incident itself was so humorously traumatic. She was very, very, very attractive. I wasn’t really prepared. She got dressed up for the occasion, and I was wearing a parka. And she was, uh, wearing a push-up bra. I wasn’t as prepared as I should have been.

She’s very, very nice. But it’s lucky that we don’t live down the street from one another. I’d be a wreck.

Q: Does your fiancé talk about his ex?

A: No, luckily. Most of the time, your imagination does most of the work for you.... In my case, they have a 10-year-old, so there’s always going to be some contact.

Q: So the book has been optioned and Wendy Wasserstein is writing the script. Who would you envision as the lead?

A: Well, I never cast in my head while I’m writing. But Julia Roberts’s production company is the one that bought it. There is some chance that she’d be in it, which would be great.

The other person to play Adrienne [the ex] I could imagine is Catherine Keener. You know, ultimately beautiful, speaks all these languages, a nightmare.

Q: You live in these parts; what are some of your haunts?

A: It’s funny. I lived in New York for 10 years, Washington for six years. And I’m from Newton, so it’s funny to have moved home. I love going to Newtonville Books. I live in Newton Highlands. I go to Bakers’ Best for coffee and stuff. I have a two-year-old, so I go to playgrounds.

Q: Are you working on anything now?

A: I’ve started a fourth book, which is a slight departure for me. I guess you could describe it as a romantic-comedy murder mystery set in Gloucester and New York. So I get to go to Gloucester and do all sorts of stuff like eat fried clams and call it research [laughs].

Laura Zigman will read from Her on Thursday, June 13, at 7p.m., at Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard Street, in Brookline. Free. Call (617) 566-6660.

Issue Date: June 6 - 13, 2002
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