Author, journalist, and New Times columnist Asha Elias' debut novel, Pink Glass Houses, was inspired by her time as a Miami Beach housewife. Published by HarperCollins imprint William Morrow, the 272-page book hit stores last month.
The former Ocean Drive reporter sits at the café at Books & Books in Coral Gables. Behind her is a wall of pictures of famous authors hanging in white, bold frames. A few days before, she was seated in the adjacent room to celebrate the launch of her novel.
"I basically live here," she quips, just as Jonah Kaplan, general manager of the bookstore and son of owner Mitchell Kaplan, walks by and stops to say hello.
Elias grew up in Boca Raton and moved to Miami in 2001 to attend the University of Miami. Fresh out of college, the journalism major got a job at Ocean Drive. She stayed at the magazine for nearly a decade before having her first child and deciding to be a stay-at-home mom for the next few years. It was throughout that time that Elias found herself surrounded by other PTA moms whose main priority was their kid and just their kid. It was an experience that would later inspire her first book.
Pink Glass Houses, set in Miami, of course, follows two moms as they compete for the title of PTA president at the prestigious — and totally fictional — Sunset Academy elementary school. The book description deliciously teases, "Pink Glass Houses is an irresistibly voyeuristic peek into the lives of the rich and infamous, where cocaine playdates, $100,000 kiddie birthday parties, and relentless social climbing are a way of life."
"The book was really inspired by motherhood in Miami and this experience of me having worked and having had a career and then putting that aside to be a full-time parent, which is what I wanted," Elias shares. "But then there's what that does to us psychologically and how things like crafting, Pinterest DIY boards, and party decorations kind of take over your life, and we become irrational about things that would not have mattered to us when we were in the corporate world."
"The rest of the country doesn't really understand how vibrant and how nuanced it is here," Elias says.
Photo by Richard Alvarez/World Red Eye
An important aspect of the book — and the story — is that it's written from the perspective of someone who's lived in the shared experience of her characters. And someone who is a Florida native, so she gets it.
"We live in such an interesting place, and I love Florida," Elias says. "And I think it's okay to criticize Florida because, you know, there are so many ridiculous things about living here. And we get it; we're in on the joke, but the rest of the country doesn't know. The rest of the country doesn't really understand how vibrant and how nuanced it is here."
The author sits perfectly upright, her shoulders back and posture pristine. Her brown hair cascades down her shoulders in waves. While she might be petite in size, there's a silent strength to her that spills over to her work. Her characters, much like Elias herself, are women you do not want to mess with.
"It's really a character-driven story," she adds. "It's getting into the minds of these women, primarily as they're navigating motherhood and trying to kind of outcompete one another for who's the most involved, most helpful, the most useful."
In addition to her work as an author and columnist, Elias also works in the philanthropic space. In that experience, she says she's seen so many people who are in it for the wrong reasons. Many people just want to inflate their own egos and raise their own status.
"There was a frustration that I wanted to put out on the page, so I kind of channeled that all through this PTA story," Elias says.
Pink Glass Houses. By Asha Elias. William Morrow. 272 pages. Hardcover; $28.
