"And then there's Nelly and she's, you know, she's got a slight autism. She speaks like the queen of England ... She doesn't want to grow up. She wants to pretend everything around her that's happening isn't really happening. So she hides behind this language, and she hides behind Marnie. And as the book progresses, we see Nelly becoming more mature, and we see Marnie becoming a little bit more vulnerable and not quite as tough as she sets out in the beginning. And together, I hope the reader sees these two girls coming to meet in the middle. ...
"Then there's Lennie [the neighbor], and Lennie came about basically through my absolute respect for the older generation. I was raised by my grandmother, and she really grounded my sister and I. And I'm really grateful for my grandparents, and I hope I recognize that gratitude by creating this older figure that comes in to save Marnie and Nelly. He observes that they're by themselves, and he has his own issues, he has his own remorses in life. He's incredibly lonely for his partner that he lost, and he sees these two girls as a chance to redeem himself and also to fill in the blank in his own life. And he takes them in, and he takes care of them. And this unusual family develops."
On the book's gruesome early chapters, in which, after a week, the girls finally decide to bury their parents, whose bodies have begun to decompose
"Somebody said ... they found it quite difficult to get through those chapters. But I had been humorous before those chapters, so I knew that people would struggle through them because they knew, they were assured of some laughs beyond it."
On why, despite the drugs, gore and abuse, O'Donnell still thinks of her novel as a young adult book
"I think there's a narrow margin. I mean, I hate saying this, but there are 15-year-olds and there are 15-year-olds. Young girls do fantasize about the absence of their own parents, wishing they weren't around. It's not a nice thing to say but, you know, frustrated teenagers. I don't think that there's anything in there that would surprise your average parent. I think that they're aware of the dangers their children face. And if they're not, they should be."
On how Marnie and Nelly begin to find normalcy
"With Lennie's help, they're able to form a family. But Marnie, from the beginning of the book, is someone who simply doesn't trust the adult world. And, you know, she believes herself to be an adult. And as the novel develops, Marnie comes to realize, 'I'm still a child.' And the flip side for her sister is she comes to realize, 'I'm not a child. I need to grow up, and I need to support my sister.' "
Read an excerpt of The Death of Bees