Interview with David Andrew Ponton, Author of Love, Remembered

What's the story behind the story? What inspired you to write this book?

A few years ago, I started noticing how often women speak about old love relationships indirectly. Not in dramatic ways. Usually, through passing comments that almost slip out accidentally. Still keeping a letter, mentioning a place differently because you are attached to it forever, remembering the exact wording of something romantic said to you many years earlier. This stayed with me. Love, Remembered is a collection of seventeen true love stories about women who carried their love long after life moved on.

I found myself drawn to the Romantic poet John Keats’ love of Fanny Brawne towards the end of his life, knowing perfectly well he was unlikely to recover. There is something unbearable in how young they both were and how she coped. Also touching is the love of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. Not because their marriage was perfect, but because of the depth of their love for one another through periods that damage many couples privately. And some lives surprised me altogether. Édith Piaf and Coco Chanel, for example, whose relationships often felt chaotic and sad beneath the public image people now remember.

Some stories in this book are happy. Some are painful. A few feel unresolved even now, which, perhaps, is true of most important relationships in real life … and with which you may identify.

If you had to pick theme songs for the main characters of your book, what would they be?

I Can’t Make You Love Me by Bonnie Raitt.

What's your favorite genre to read? Is it the same as your favorite genre to write?

I read a lot of autobiographies, modern history, and psychology.

What books are on your TBR pile right now?

I am attempting to learn Spanish, so I have a lot of study books to read at this time.

What scene in your book was your favorite to write?

The saddest part was writing about the poet John Keats, who was dying, and how, to spare the woman he loved the anguish of his death, he sailed to Italy and then never wrote to her again to give her a chance to move on... but she never did.

Do you have a motto, quote or philosophy you live by?

Life is shorter than you think. Live it.

If you could choose one thing for readers to remember after reading your book, what would it be?

Whatever the outcome or no matter how brief, feeling loved is the most beautiful thing that can happen in your life.