Interview with Writer Lisa Groen
In October 2025, my dear friend Lisa Groen’s new historical fiction book, The Cassatt Sisters: A Novel of Love and Art, will be coming out. Midwest Book Review says it is “hard to put down, intensely revealing, and a work of art itself.” Lisa paints a dazzling picture of Belle Époque Paris and the extraordinary life of artist Mary Cassatt during her time with the Impressionists.
At the heart of this compelling historical fiction novel is an age- old question: What must a woman sacrifice to live a life of freedom and accomplishment?
Read my interview (from Spring 2025) with writer Lisa Groen:
Q: You had two book contract offers for two different projects in 2024. Congratulations! Can you give a brief background history for the one coming out in October, “The Cassatt Sisters: A Novel of Love and Art.”
A: Yes! I’ve recently turned in my finished manuscript for The Cassatt Sisters (October 2025), a historical novel about artist Mary Cassatt during her career with the Impressionists. Set in Paris during la Belle Époque, it features Mary’s close relationship with her sister Lydia, a secret love affair, and a keyhole glimpse of artistic luminaries such as Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Berthe Morisot.
Mary first caught my attention in 2008, when I visited an Impressionist exhibit in Frankfurt, Germany. The art museum Schirn Kunsthalle highlighted four female artists—Berthe Morisot, Eva Gonzales, Marie Bracquemond, and Mary Cassatt. At the time, I’m embarrassed to say I didn’t know any female Impressionists. I was drawn to Mary as the sole American in the collective. How brave she was to leave home after the Civil War to pursue her dream in Paris. I couldn’t wait to learn more.
Q: Can you throw in a few words of advice for those in the trenches?
A: I published my first book in 2003 and workshopped twenty pages of what would become The Cassatt Sisters during my MFA program in 2008. I’d intended to complete the novel soon after, but life changes sent me back to a corporate job. This was a career that supported my kids and me well for years. “To everything there is a season” has been true for me. Dreams can simmer on the back burner for a long time. I started writing again three years ago. This is a busy, creative season for me, and I’m incredibly thankful.
Q: What was your favorite book as a child, and why?
A: I have very early editions (and memories) of Winnie the Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner by A. A. Milne, which were my mother’s and grandmother’s books. My mother wrote and colored in them as a girl, and I loved them too. Milne’s rhythmic writing and humor delighted me. When my daughter was four and I read them to her, she giggled too.
Q: If you had to write a story based on the last photo in your camera roll, what would it be about?
A: My last photo is a screenshot of Carl Jung’s quote: “The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are.” This sums up my thoughts about midlife, the season I’m in now. So, I’d write a story about a woman who comes back to herself, after raising her children and following a lot of cultural scripts, to find freedom.
“ ‘To everything there is a season’ has been true for me. Dreams can simmer on the back burner for a long time.”
About the Author:
Lisa Groen is a spiritual director and author of two books, the forthcoming historical novel The Cassatt Sisters: A Novel of Love and Art and a collection of essays in The Mother’s Book of Well-Being. Her writing also appears in the textbook The Fourth Genre: Contemporary Writers of Creative Nonfiction.
A graduate of the University of Utah and the MFA program at The Naslund-Mann Graduate School of Writing, Lisa’s essays and short fiction have been published in Brevity, The New Southerner, and featured on Georgia Public Radio. Lisa publishes regularly on Substack. Visit her website.
Preorder her new book on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Black Rose Writing, or The Kings English Bookshop. Follow Mary and the artist life in late 1800’s Paris on Lisa’s Substack.
Ellis Elliott is a published author and poet. Join her Bewilderness Writing Workshops and use free writing to find yourself and your voice on the page. Order her poetry collection Break in the Field.