Rowan Hisayo Buchanan is preoccupied with questions. They swirl around the Betty Trask award-winning author’s mind for months, until one lodges itself in her frontal lobe and takes root. From there, it becomes a book. “What would it take for a mother to leave their child?” asked Harmless Like You, her acclaimed debut novel, which sparked a fierce bidding war among publishers in 2016.
“What would it take to stay with someone who wants to leave not only you, but life altogether?” asked Starling Days, her second. Seven years later, now on her third, she attempts to answer another: What if the person you love is a danger to others? “How do you wrap your head around that?” broaches Buchanan, over a mug of matcha at a Japanese tearoom in London. Clearly, she’s still chewing it over. “How do you choose your loyalties?”
