Indies Introduce Q&A with Trisha Tobias

Trisha Tobias is the author of Honeysuckle and Bone, a Winter/Spring 2025 Indies Introduce young adult selection, and January/February 2025 Kids’ Indie Next List pick. 

Morgan Haywood-Joy of Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn, New York, served on the bookseller panel that selected Tobias’ book for Indies Introduce.

“Don't let the duppy get you…Honeysuckle and Bone transports you to the canicular heat of Jamaica as the secrets heat up with each turning page,” said Haywood-Joy. “Tobias tactically uses this evocative horror to pay homage to the rich oral history that is Caribbean folklore. From the secrets to the lies, you’ll feel like our main character, Carina, eavesdropping behind every wall.”

Morgan Haywood-Joy: Hello! I am Morgan Haywood-Joy. I work at Greenlight Bookstore, I am the HR manager. I'm here speaking with Tricia Tobias, yay! Trisha is an associate developmental editor at YA book packager Dovetail Fiction, a Highlights Foundation Diversity Fellow, and a Walter Dean Myers Grant recipient. She lives in Morganton, North Carolina. 

Trisha Tobias: Thank you so much!

MHJ: First of all, I love this book so much. This is a great book.

TT: Thank you.

MHJ: I had so many questions afterwards. I was like, “Wait a minute, I can ask her these questions!”

What was the inspiration behind this novel?

TT: I started developing the concept for Honeysuckle and Bone as part of my editorial job. This was about a year after my father passed away, and I was feeling incredibly lost without him. It was really destabilizing, and I was looking for ways to ground myself. One of the ways I was doing that was by turning to my mother. We were talking a lot more. She is Jamaican, and I asked her to tell me all about her life as a child and as a teen growing up on the island. I was like, “Tell me all those stories again. Tell me about the culture again.”

It all felt so foreign to me as a child — a very Americanized child — but it was so interesting to hear those stories again as an adult, at a time when I was really looking to connect. Through all of that discussion, I noticed the way that my mother and I were handling our grief differently. She was treating my father as if he were a duppy, a ghost, a spirit. She behaved as if his presence were still around the house, and I think that brought her a lot of comfort. It had me thinking about all of the duppy stories she used to tell me as a child. All of these things combined became a large part of what inspired the idea of having this ghost story set in Jamaica.

MHJ: That's so awesome. What is your favorite duppy story?

TT: I had to think about this one, but this is a somewhat personal one. My mom lost her father around age 12. When my grandfather passed away, he left behind a house full of sons and daughters, grandkids, and nieces and nephews. It was a full house, and some of those people were still babies. After he died, the babies would not stop crying. It was driving everyone bananas, and it was endless. Until my Grandma Doris figured out what the problem was.

One day she walks into the nursery, the babies are screeching, and she says out loud, “Leave the children alone. You cannot care for them. It's time to stop.” All the babies finally stopped wailing, because Grandpa was still trying to help take care of the kids, even though he had passed on, and it was really freaking out the kids in the process. I can understand not wanting to be handled by a spirit — that must be kind of uncomfortable.

So, with Grandma Doris’ blessing, he quit child-rearing. He's like, “Fine, I know when I'm not wanted.” He switched to protecting the family, and from what I have been told, he was kind of brutal, but very effective. I think it was a better job for him.

MHJ: Okay. He assumed a better role.

TT: Exactly!

MHJ: I really loved how you spoke about the duppies because I feel like that's something we don't see often. There's not that many authors of Caribbean background getting their stories out there. So when I saw this one, it's giving me the same feel as Hurricane Child or Jumbies, especially for YA. We have that for adult fiction, but this is giving me “New Adult” fiction vibes.

I just really enjoyed it, because I'm thinking, “Duppies? Okay!” My mom is from Grenada, so I was raised with the soucouyants and all the different jumbies that are out there.

TT: Yes! You know!

MHJ: I definitely asked my mom. I was like, “You have anything with honeysuckle?” She was like, “Ask your god mom.” Because my god mom is Jamaican, so I should ask her just to see what similarities there are, because so much of the Caribbean diaspora intersects. I keep on saying I loved it, but I did!

TT: I love hearing that. I really appreciate it. Thank you.

MHJ: How much of Carina is you? She speaks on the duality of her identity, or lack thereof, as it pertains to her Jamaican roots. Is that something you grappled with as well?

TT: Yeah. There's definitely a lot of things that Carina and I do not have in common, but that question mark around identity is one of the things that we share. For me, as someone who was born in New York and grew up on Long Island, there was a lot of emphasis on the American part of my background, because that was largely the culture in which I was being raised. So the world, and the life, that my mom would describe to me over the years felt so separate from me as a suburban kid from Long Island. I just didn't relate.

I thought it was really interesting. I thought it was cool that my mom was from another country. I would do school projects about Jamaica; if it's cultural exchange day, we're bringing the jerk chicken, because that's what they expect us to bring. But I didn't personally have a strong relationship with the country or the culture, and I didn't know how to have one. When your own blood is teasing you about how you don't belong, or you're not a very good Jamaican, you get a little embarrassed, a little ashamed about trying to engage with that culture.

You think “maybe I should stay in my lane,” but it is my lane. That's the reality. That was the door I had to open for myself: that is my lane. Let's explore and see what this looks like for me. What is my relationship with the culture? And it will look different, because I am very Americanized, and that's okay. I speak for myself. I represent myself.

Even in New York — where there's a very prominent Caribbean community — because I was spending most of my time in very white American spaces, it still felt like that aspect of my identity was not wholly accepted, because it was a little out of the norm. Not that anyone was rude about it, but you just feel a little bit out of step. It wasn't until I was an adult that I felt like I could explore that entire aspect of my identity. So that ongoing journey of understanding and defining for myself what being Jamaican American means, what it looks like, I felt that was a journey that Carina would definitely understand and could tell really well.

MHJ: That's amazing. My mom being from Grenada, I was born here, but I remember hearing the stories and being around my cousins. There was a part in the book where Carina spoke briefly about trying on the accent and it didn't work out. When I was younger, I tried to do it, and I remember my mother and my brother laughing at me, and I was like, “Oh! Noted!”

TT: Never again!

MHJ: You know what, I still try. I commit. I committed to the bit!

TT: You're better than me, because I'm like, “I do not like to try and fail, so let me step aside.”

MHJ: It gets me where I have to go sometimes. Some people hear it and they're like, “Are you?” I'm like, “Yeah, I am.” But it definitely is that feeling of being othered and creating that own lane for yourself. I may be born in the States, but my family and my roots are still here. I still have that experience, because my mother decided to bring me into that experience. I think you said that so beautifully.

I noticed that there were pockets of Patois littered sparingly throughout the novel. Was it a conscious choice to not go full throttle with this for your readers sake, or should you read it as Carina translating what and how she understands is “broken English”? I thought maybe it's because Carina does not understand it. Maybe that's why it wasn't in the book intentionally. Or maybe the readers think, “I can't pronounce this.”

TT: I'm glad that you asked this question. I hadn't thought about it being interpreted that way. I definitely thought a lot about how to handle the use of Patois throughout the novel. I even talked to my mom about the pros and cons. Ultimately, I don't think there really would have been a wrong way to go about it, but I did feel like there would have been a wrong way for me to go about it. As someone who is as good at speaking Patois as Corina is — which is awful — I wanted to be mindful of how I was presenting the dialect. And accessibility for readers who aren't familiar with Patois was a big factor as well — balancing authenticity with readability. 

But, here was my thinking: I felt like I could lean on the fact that, for better or worse, many readers probably have an idea of what they think people who are from Jamaica sound like, and how they speak. So they're going to apply that rhythm, that melody, that cadence, to the characters’ voices in their own minds. I don't need to do that work for them. I can trust that on my end, less is more. If I leaned in more, then instead of feeling authentic, I worried it could sound mocking on the page. You can lose a lot when it's just text, and I don't ever want to present the language in a mocking manner. So I thought we can be a little bit more conservative and let the readers fill in certain things. Hopefully that worked.

MHJ: I love how intentional you are about that. I was sitting here reading it, and I was just like, “Let me read this out loud.” I definitely put my accent on it, and I said, “Okay, I see it.” I do like that you didn't try to put so much accent on it, or so much Patois in it. Like you said, people can put their own voice on it as well. And then after talking about your accent, God forbid you have to read out loud somewhere!

TT: Oh, let me not play myself!

MHJ: Exactly, you saved yourself! I see what you did there. I like it. Very intentional.

TT: Two steps ahead.

MHJ: It also made me think of Maisy Card’s These Ghosts Are Family. It also takes place in Jamaica, and it's littered with Patois throughout. I'm just thinking about how intentional it is, and how it works for both of y'all. Her use of it works so well for her, because I believe she was born there. I'm not sure, and I don't want to misspeak. But I love how both y'all are just so intentional with it. I just think that's fire. That's it.

Did you have an alternate ending in mind? If so, what was it? And what about this one made you feel most compelled to share with the world?

TT: Okay, I have a question. Am I allowed to spoil things?

MHJ: That's a great question.

TT: I would like to answer the question without spoiling it. So without spoiling, I would say very early in the development process — before the book was written, before it was sold, when it had a different name entirely — there was definitely a different ending, because the presumed antagonists and villains were different from who they are now. The twist or twists hadn't been fully solidified yet. Once we decided what was actually going on, who the villains are, then the whole ending changed. The theme also changed, and so when we realized this is actually what Carina is trying to learn, that also shifted everything entirely.

I had to really think about this though, because the current ending has been The One for so long that I forgot that there was ever another way to wrap this up. I went back through notes, and I was like, “Oh my gosh. What were we thinking?”

MHJ: This ending? Loved it. I was like, “Don't let me down!” I was like, “Commit! Commit to the bit!” I was like, “Oh, she committed.” I'll just say, I did not see it coming. I said, “Oh, hold on now. This is crazy.” (In the best way.)

TT: I'm happy to hear that this was appreciated.

MHJ: Yeah, no, you did that. This is what I wanted. This is where I'm at. This is good. This is me also trying to be very vague as well.

TT: I know! I read the question, and I'm like, “Oh, goodness. How do I answer this?”

MHJ: Do you have a nickname? Because you spoke about the importance of nicknames. And I was like, “If this is not the most Caribbean thing I've ever seen.” Because, yes, I have gone to funerals, and I thought a person's name was one thing, and I found out it's another, and I'm just like, “Who are you?”

The idea of nicknames, Scoob and Chicken, and some folks getting other nicknames. So, do you have a nickname that you don't mind sharing?

TT: See, you knew the real question. You know, because there are those nicknames you're like, if you share this with anyone…

MHJ: It's over.

TT: We simply cannot recover from that. I have two answers. What I want to say is “probably not,” but if I do have one, then it's “Princess,” because my parents used that for me a lot, and it sort of filtered into the rest of the Jamaican side of the family. But honestly, it was a little judgy, but it is what it is. I understand. You don't choose the names.

Both: The names choose you.

MHJ: There we go. Yeah, God forbid you do something embarrassing. It's like, “Oh, that's the one.”

TT: Yeah. As a child, I definitely had a reputation for being a bit prissy, a little spoiled. I like my things a certain way. And it didn't hurt my feelings. I kept thinking, “If you think I'm spoiled, you should talk to my parents about that.”

MHJ: I'm not spoiled, I’m just high maintenance. I have standards.

TT: I'm just here doing my thing. Yeah, maybe “Princess,” but honestly, probably not. I probably was saved from having a really embarrassing nickname.

MHJ: Wonderful. “Princess” is a wonderful one. Don't worry, I'm not gonna call you that. I will be respectful and call you by your name.

TT: I appreciate that.

MHJ: That is amazing.

TT: That was a fun one.

MHJ: Thanks so much for joining me and sitting down with me and kee-keeing, you know, doing all the trainings. I can't wait for your book to hit shelves. Is there anything you want to say? Any final thoughts that you may have?

TT: Thank you so much for sitting down and chatting with me. This whole experience has been just out of this world. It was so nice to talk about Honeysuckle and Bone with you. Also, thank you for listening to me babble on the phone when you called me to tell me about the Indies Introduce news. Not my best moment!

MHJ: No, it was great. I loved it. I was sitting at my mom's kitchen table. I was like, “Mom, hold on, I gotta call this author.” And she heard you in the background, she's like, “Is she excited? Say it again! Is she excited?” I was like, “She is excited.” She's like, “This is the Jamaican one?” I say, “Yeah, this one!”

TT: That’s so funny. No, I was very excited!

MHJ: As you should be. One Caribbean makes it, we all root! So I'm so happy for you.

TT: Thank you so much.

MHJ: Of course, thank you so much.

---

Honeysuckle and Bone by Trisha Tobias (Sweet July Books, 9781638931027, Hardcover Young Adult Horror, $19.99) On Sale: 1/14/2025

Find out more about the author at trishatobiaswrites.com

ABA member stores are invited to use this interview or any others in our series of Q&As with Indies Introduce debut authors in newsletters and social media and in online and in-store promotions. Please let us know if you do.