Debut novelist Tara Badstubner joins us on Big Blend Radio's \"Toast to the Arts Podcast\" as her first novel, \"Every Room Remembers\" (Sibylline Press), arrives on September 25, 2026.
The novel follows SJ Monroe, an interior designer grieving the sudden death of her husband, and Wyatt, a ghost in a liminal state who must watch in silence as she mourns everything left unresolved in their marriage.
Tara shares the three experiences that sparked the story: anxiety about losing loved ones during COVID, an accident across the street that drew her whole town to mourn, and an extraordinary haunting during a writers' visit to a house in upstate New York.
She talks about why grief calls for treading lightly, how she wrote an imperfect marriage, and the animal signs that appear at pivotal moments in the book, including a black snake, a fox, green beetles, and a Carolina wren. She also tells the story of the bluebird that keeps tapping at her own windows, and takes us to the Osprey House restoration in Beaufort, South Carolina.
Tara reads a passage from the book, and we talk about book clubs, reading through grief, favorite rereads, her writing habits, and advice for first-time novelists.
\"Every Room Remembers\" is available for pre-order now. A must-read for fans of \"Remarkably Bright Creatures\" and the film \"A Ghost Story.\"