Consider Dreamt a literary beach read, though there’s nothing light about it. The writing is elevated, the story full of insight and the characters gripping—but it’s all set in a fictional town on the Cape that had me daydreaming about summer.

I invited Jimin to Dear Fiction to share insights about Dreamt I Found You, which is inspired, in part, by a contemporary retelling of Korea’s Romeo & Juliet. Not only is the story behind the story fascinating but there are so many great takeaways when she talks about her writing process. Enjoy!

Welcome, Jimin! Happy Pub Day!

Where did you get the idea for Dreamt I Found You? What was the spark, and when did you know you had a story big enough for a novel?
I’ve always loved stories so this book is a love letter to how stories impact our lives, how stories surround us and determine the choices we make, whether they’re stories we hear from family and friends or those we read and watch on screens.

Many things came together at once for this book to be written. For one, a memory of my boyfriend in college who had a coffee mug with a scene from a Chinese version of Romeo and Juliet. I wondered then if there was a Korean version of that story. When I asked my aunt and uncle, they told me the Tale of Chunhyang. I had no idea it was as famous as it was in Korea and it made me wonder about all the versions of the same stories we share as humans on this planet.

The other part of this book came from my cousin Sherry, who has always been such a supporter of my writing. Her family is so different from mine even though our mothers are sisters and we grew up living together under one roof at various times in our lives. So the idea of sameness and difference helped me write this novel.

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Sameness and differentness is a huge theme in this book, and I found your exploration of it fascinating. Another fascinating turn: You ended up writing their story as a mystery. Did you always plan on writing it that way?
I wanted the cousins, Dahee and Channing, in this novel to experience change in their financial fortunes based on the situation in their families. I was curious about how children live through those kinds of changes, when economic circumstances improve and when they decline. They’re held together despite the struggles in their lives as cousins so the mystery evolved out of that. I had to write an entire draft just about the mystery and then a draft about the love story between Channing and Minjae and then weave them together from Dahee’s point of view.

One aspect of your book I love is the way the Korean folktale of Chunhyang shapes the story. How have stories shaped your life, and is there a story you have returned to over time in terms of shaping your personality and moral compass?
Love stories are the same in so many ways. Why does society separate people? We love who we love. People are constantly interfering with that. We see it in so many ways.

My grandparents were of different social/economic classes so I grew up hearing how my grandmother was disowned by her parents because of who she loved and had to move to the northern part of the Korean peninsula. My father was eventually born and then the Korean War started and he and his father fled south on foot, leaving my grandmother behind temporarily—or so they thought.

My grandmother who left her family for the man she loved ended up living the rest of her adult life, most of her life if we believe the stories we heard that she died in her sixties, without the man she left her family for because a border was imposed at the 38th parallel. It should have been a cautionary tale, instead my grandmother was an example of someone who made a choice based on love, not on these artificial rules people came up with. It has stayed with me, this sense that sometimes laws and social rules are unjust.

The setting for the book is East End, a diverse community on the Cape, and there’s a tight knit community of Koreans summering there. Is this based on a real place? Why did you set this story at the beach rather than, say, Boston?
Great question. I think there’s something about a small community that insulates it from the rest of the country and the world in ways that cities don’t. My early memories of moving to the States from South Korea are all based in Providence, Rhode Island. I went to kindergarten and first grade there. And after we moved away my parents took us back every summer to stay with my aunt and uncle who lived there. Not just a few days. My brothers and I spent the entire summer. Every weekend my aunt and uncle took us to the beach and we stayed all day.

When I was in college my parents moved back to Providence for a couple of years before moving yet again. That was eye-opening. I added a whole new set of memories.

The other beachtown influence that continues to grow is that my writers group goes to Cape Cod every summer. We’ve had this annual retreat for over a dozen years now. And every time I go, all those childhood memories return and I get the most written during that week. My friend’s house is set right in the harbor and you can walk to the public beach down the road.

In terms of diversity, East End is entirely fictional but it’s possible for a place like that to exist because we have Martha’s Vineyard, of course. And Annandale, Virginia, where my parents retired and where my aunt and uncle and cousins currently live is such a great community with a large Asian community. I love visiting it.

I love that we can use our imaginations to create places we wished existed in fiction.

That is so deep, Jimin. I agree. On another note. What has been the single most meaningful moment in your publishing career? Why?
Probably getting the news when I was buying dog food after teaching a class at the Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence that my editor had bought my first novel, A Small Revolution. Nothing compares to being catapulted to that start of the journey. I couldn’t believe it. I was stunned and walked up and down the aisle with all the huge 20 pound bags of dog food, saying over and over again into my cellphone to my agent, “Can you repeat that?”

What has been the single most challenging moment of your publishing career? What did you do to get over it?
After that first book was published, I set out to work on my second novel where a Korean American woman is having a great time at the W Hotel in Barcelona, partying on the rooftop pool, when she gets a call from a woman she used to babysit. The younger woman is desperate and begs the older one in Spain to come back to their upstate New York hometown to help her. I worked really hard on that book but I just couldn’t get it to work and had to put it aside. That was painful.

At the time, I had another idea based on the story of my grandmother that I was playing around with. I thought maybe it would be a memoir. Instead that one turned into a novel and my writers group loved the voice so much better than my mystery and so I pivoted and wrote that other one really fast. That turned into The Apology.

So though Dreamt I Found You is not that mystery, I’m really proud of myself for having come up with a mystery for that one. And I guess there’s a lot that’s similar to that story: It’s also about a woman asking another for help and one coming to the rescue of the other. This time, they’re cousins instead of a care giver at one point. But I have a babysitter in there! Channing is taking care of two little boys for the month of August. Fascinating how these ideas come back around again.

Lesson learned: Even if you think you’ve given up, all is not lost. Elements of that abandoned story will return in another version.

Thank you all for reading. Next week, I’ll update you about all of the fun stuff I’ve been up to. Also, I’ve been reading Yesteryear and LOVING it. What a cringe book—the narrator is so psycho in the most delicious way. I can’t put it down. What are you reading and loving lately? xo Happy week!

We’ve stayed in touch with every book we’ve put out since, and her latest, The Island Club, is my favorite Nicola novel so far. I loved being transported to vintage Balboa Island, California, but I was also fascinated by her glamorous and compelling tale of female friendship. (It reminds me of my book All the Summers in Between quite a bit!) I invited her to share about her writing journey, her latest novel and what has helped her stay inspired along the way. xo

Welcome, Nicola!

Where did you get the idea for this book? What was the spark?
Actually, there were two sparks for this book. The first was the setting. I knew I wanted to set this novel on Balboa Island, a tiny, walkable island tucked into Newport Beach, California, close to where I spent my teenage years. To get there you take a historic ferry, which has been running since 1919, just 800 feet across the harbor. There’s a saltwater taffy shop, a frozen banana stand, an old-school diner and old timey boutiques, so it felt perfect to set a 1950s novel there.

The second spark was tennis. A few years ago, in my early 40s, I found myself on a tennis court for the first time in my life. I had never played a sport, and yet somehow, I was roped in to joining a group lesson. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing or even how to hit the ball, but as time went on I grew to love the game and, more importantly, I found an incredible community of women. All of us are busy with motherhood, our jobs and all those other pesky adult responsibilities, but many of us realized that we had forgotten to leave time to be playful. Almost all of us were beginners at tennis, and let me tell you, there is something profoundly bonding about being bad at something together and gradually - very, very gradually - starting to improve.

So, without really realizing it, this book became about female friendship, and what happens when women give themselves permission to try something new.

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How is it different from your other novels?
My previous novels were written from a single, first-person perspective, so writing The Island Club through three alternating narrators, Milly, Sylvia and Adele, was a big change for me. And quite honestly, I loved it! Moving between the three women’s perspectives allowed me to step out of one character’s interior world and into another. I was about to show how interconnected their lives were and how the same moment would be understood very differently depending on who was experiencing it. It probably tripled the amount of work I needed to do in a single POV novel (three backstories, three emotional arcs etc), but ultimately, I think it added a depth and complexity that the story wouldn’t have had from a single point of view, so it was absolutely necessary.

What has been the most exciting moment in your publishing career?
It’s always thrilling when you get that box of books in the mail a few weeks before pub day and get to hold your brand-new book baby in the flesh (ok in the paper) but I don’t think anything can beat that very first thrill of finding an agent and a publisher and realizing that you’re going to be a published author.

What has been the most discouraging moment? How did you push through?
Well, sales are probably the toughest part of being an author. It’s not something I ever really want to think or care about, but of course I’m aware that the publishers think about it. My second novel The Showgirl came out during covid and the sales just weren’t as robust as my first novel Montauk. So that can send you into a bit of a spiral – oh my God what if I don’t get to publish another book, what if I only had one good book in me?

But then last year, like a fairly God mother, Taylor Swift named her album “The Life of a Show Girl,” and all of a sudden, my book was everywhere. The lyrics of her title song really tied in with my character in The Showgirl - a young women in 1920s NYC who’s determined to make it on the Broadway stage no matter what the cost - so the ultimate show girl gave my book a nice little boost. Thank you Taylor!

If you could write like any other author on this planet, who would it be and why?Wow this is a shockingly hard to narrow down. There are so many I admire. But I would say Elizabeth Strout. I had the incredible opportunity to study with her when I was working towards my MFA in creative writing and what I appreciate most about her writing is how she pares her sentences down to the simplest, most honest and straightforward style. She has a deep understanding of human behavior and is able to capture universal truths that are so relatable in the lives of ordinary, everyday people. I was blown away with her novels Olive Kitteridge and Amy & Isabelle.

What are you most proud of when it comes to The Island Club? What do you think you really nailed? It’s okay to brag a bit -- we want to know that your hard work paid off too. :)
I’m proud of the dynamic I created between the three women. They’re very different, each carrying their own secrets and complications, but their stories weave together in a way that I think this is both surprising and inevitable. In books like this, with alternating narrators or timelines, readers often latch onto a favorite, but I worked to make each story line equally engaging. I’m obviously biased, but I found myself rooting for all three, which felt true to the kind of layered, sometimes complicated friendships we all have in real life.

Thank you, Nicola! Next week I’ll be publishing an Author Confessions column with one of my writing heroes, Jimin Han, whose third novel Dreamt I Found You releases next Tuesday. Plus, big news from the book writing front. xoxo Happy week, everyone!

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With a new subject to write about, Pataki dove into years of research about Evelyn Nesbit, discovering that she was a fixture in New York society at the turn of the century and was at the heart of a crime of passion involving famed architect Stanford White. We invited Allison to talk about her latest book, motherhood, and how she pulls off a book tour with little ones at home. Hint: It’s not easy. Welcome Allison!

I love origin stories. Where did you get the idea for It Girl?

It Girl is inspired by the life of Evelyn Nesbit, who was known as The Gibson Girl at the dawn of the twentieth century. I first saw images of the Gibson Girl hanging up in my mother’s bedroom when I was young. I was fascinated by the scenes of elegant, busy women. I found it to be so intriguing—this combination of cool and slightly intimidating sophistication blended with the mundane activities of daily life. Nobody I knew dressed like that to, say, wash their hands. Plus, those piles of hair!

Fast forward a few years, my mother made an offhand comment: “Oh, the real Gibson Girl, her life was so tragic.” Wait, there was a real woman behind these images? A true-life Gibson Girl? And her life was full of drama? How had I never stopped to consider that? Tell me more! I’ve learned that as an author of historical fiction, inspiration can strike at any time. It’s funny how an offhand comment like this can lead to three years of research and a leading lady who takes up residence in my imagination, but that’s how it always goes. I knew I had met my next book.

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What was the single most fascinating piece of research you uncovered?

Evelyn’s role in what was known as “The Crime of the Century.” This was the very sordid love triangle and scandal that sits squarely as the climax of this book. And without giving spoilers, I’ll just say that it was such a huge scandal and drama at the time that President Teddy Roosevelt had to ask the papers to stop printing about it and give Evelyn a break. And yet today, so few of us know about this shocking story! It was breathtaking to enter into the events the preceded and then surrounded this dramatic murder and mystery that rocked the entire nation. And to see how Evelyn’s voice got coopted by the eruption of this scandal.

Was there a particular challenge about this book that you haven’t faced before? Can you give a specific example?

With all of my heroines, interestingly enough, I have found my way into their stories and into the narrative and character arc by first becoming fascinated with their end point. That’s been the case with Traitor’s Wife, with Sisi, with Marjorie Post, with Finding Margaret Fuller. But with Evelyn, I actually had to wrestle with her character arc and the resolution of her story for years before I felt like she and I had gotten it right together. It hinges on the plot twist, so I am reluctant to say more. But once you read It Girl, you’ll see what I mean!

What has been your hardest day in publishing ever? Can you be specific about what challenges you faced and what you did to overcome them?

When I was on book tour for Finding Margaret Fuller, I was at the very end of some of my travel, and I remember I was in a hotel room in Atlanta the night after a great book talk at Fox Tale Book Shoppe. By that point I had been on the go for several weeks straight, and I was exhausted and really missing my family, and vice versa. I FaceTimed with my husband and three young girls at bedtime, and they just began weeping into the phone. Like, shout-crying. And my eldest, who was 8 at the time, declares through her tears: “WE ARE FALLING APART WITHOUT YOU.”

Let me tell you, the mom guilt in that moment is real! My little ones are so young, so every time I have to leave them for bedtime, it’s a big deal. There are so many facets to this job-- researcher, writer, editor, small business owner, social media creator, travel agent, public speaker, and more--and I love each piece of it. I really relish the chance to get out into the world to meet readers and speak about my work. But launching and touring is demanding for any author.

It also asks a lot of the family that is being left behind, particularly as my kiddos are still so young. I highlight this one evening in particular, but the broader challenge I face very often with this career is figuring out how to balance it all. I wish I could accept every invitation to speak to every library, bookseller, and book club. Every “yes” in one direction means a “no” to someone else, and so I’m constantly negotiating that. I wouldn’t say I’ve overcome it, but I’m taking it chapter by chapter, so to speak. :)

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Lastly, tell me about a part of this book that you’re most proud of. Do you have a specific scene that, as a writer, you feel like you really nailed?

Evelyn was the first self-made female celebrity of modern American society, and she really shaped this concept of the “It Girl” in pop culture as we know it. But her story is not all glamour and happily-ever-after, even if she was nicknamed ‘America’s Cinderella.’ The plain truth is that Evelyn had to fight for every single thing she had, beginning as a young, fatherless, penniless girl. And that continues to be the case as she soars to stardom as the most sought-after artist’s muse and model and then Broadway showgirl of her era.

But in spite of that, Evelyn was often put in situations where she was vulnerable to much larger forces and the powerful individuals who surrounded her and sought to exploit her. So I really needed to write a few rock-solid scenes where we see Evelyn stepping into her own power. I needed to walk the line of showing her as a vulnerable and real human while also holding her space as the superstar performer who enraptured an entire nation.

So one of those scenes is a performance scene, where we see Evelyn on stage and we see the megawatt star power she has and her ability to command the room. This will come in as a huge piece of her ability to write her own ending and determine her own free will later in the story. So I needed to sow that seed of her potential and her evolution early on. So I’m proud of one of her performance scenes where she is entrancing the rich and powerful of Gilded Age New York in Mrs. Vanderbilt’s ballroom. It’s fun, it’s layered, it’s glamorous, it’s a bit dark. I hope readers enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Love this newsletter? Consider pledging your support and becoming a paid subscriber—or purchasing one of my novels. Our Last Vineyard Summer is out in paperback in July.

Thank you for reading, and find a reason to smile today. It’s spring break in New York next week, so I’ll be back on April 7th. xo

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Welcome, Rachel, to Dear Fiction!

First, can we get into the origin story of this book a bit more? Was it always going to be the story it is, or did it evolve?
During a particularly challenging season of my own parenthood, I came across a depiction of Cinderella’s so-called evil stepmother. In that moment, I saw her with fresh eyes. I realized she wasn’t necessarily a character motivated by harm. She was a mother, like myself, doing what she needed to do to take care of her family.

When I started writing, I really started with Ethel and her character. But I also knew I wanted to interrogate the outline of the classic Cinderella narrative—one that, as the mother of two daughters, I have come to question more deeply. The details of the plot evolved over time but the intention at the heart of the book remained pretty steady.

The evil stepmother character is very one dimensional in Disney. In your novel, we get to know her complicated story. Can you explain what you did and didn’t want your character to be?
I wanted her to be complicated. I wanted her to have made mistakes—but mistakes that felt understandable within the world she’s living in. At the same time, I wasn’t interested in writing her as wicked or evil either. My goal wasn’t to soften a villain; it was to question whether she was ever one to begin with.

The book reframes Cinderella by treating the fairy tale as if it were a true story and asking: what would this actually have looked like? What historical pressures, legal realities, and social constraints might have led to these events? Once you start thinking about inheritance law, remarriage, and property, the outline of the fairy tale begins to shift.

If you could live a day as one of the characters in Lady Tremaine, who would it be and why?
Moussa’s life sounds pretty great—he gets to travel, play music, go to fancy parties, have a wealth of interesting conversations and interactions with a variety of people. If you haven’t read the book, I won’t spoil it by revealing who he is or what role he plays, but envisioning his character was an opportunity to overturn expectations of yet another Cinderella trope.

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Can you tell us about your writing process? When did you start the book, how long did it take to write, then revise? How did you fit it in with the other responsibilities in your life?
The book itself came together fairly quickly; the first draft was written in about eight months. But that requires some context. I took a leave of absence from my then day job to write full-time for four of those months, and I took that opportunity very seriously. I was motivated partly by guilt and partly by fear—I knew how rare that window was, and I didn’t want to waste it.

Because I have young children, any writing time for me has to coincide with some form of childcare. I thank our nanny in the acknowledgments because this book simply wouldn’t have been possible without her. But it was also my husband taking the kids for an hour so I could run to a coffee shop on a Saturday morning, or squeeze in twenty extra minutes during a nap. It was never glamorous. It was incremental and protected.

As for balancing everything, I definitely don’t want to pretend I have it figured out! Although I left my prior career—I co-founded a creative agency with several other women—I still help run Piecework, the puzzle and design company I co-founded. Every day feels like a ruthless reprioritization of whatever fires need putting out. Everything moves in seasons. I don’t think there’s a secret formula, just dogged perseverance.

I also think it’s important to say that my writing journey didn’t begin with this book. I started writing seriously nearly eighteen years ago. I went to graduate school for fiction. I wrote another novel that didn’t sell. So while Lady Tremaine came together quickly—almost magically—it arrived after a long, winding road. In many ways, the speed of this book was only possible because of all the years that came before it.

Do you have a scene in the book you’re particularly proud of? A scene that nails the stepmother character in the way you wanted her portrayed?
While it was certainly fun to rethink the traditional Cinderella plot points and reframe them, the scenes I’m most personally proud of are the ones that move beyond the familiar outline of the fairy tale. What felt most satisfying was giving Ethel territory the original stories never afforded her—an interior life, a sense of her own womanhood separate from her role as stepmother or antagonist. Exploring her private moments felt closest to who she truly is as a character. They show her as a person rather than a plot device.

In writing a book with so much drama, there has to be moments of joy too. What are Ethel’s (Lady Tremaine) joys?
She takes true pleasure in her family—most obviously in her daughters, but also in those who have become like family to her, including Lucy, her falcon. In the more recent years of her life, she hasn’t really been afforded the luxury of hobbies or leisure. Survival has taken precedence. But if you pay attention to what she’s drawn to, it’s being outdoors, moving through open air, and spending time with the people—and creatures—she loves.

Have you thought about doing this with other fairy tales? If you could revisit another from a different character’s point of view, who would it be and why?
I’ve thought about it, but I haven’t landed on another fairy tale that’s calling to me in the same way. What made Cinderella so compelling was the tension between my childhood impression of it and my adult understanding. I would need to feel that same spark again.

It likely doesn’t warrant a full novel, but I do find myself amused by Goldilocks. There’s something funny about a girl who wanders into someone else’s house, samples everything, breaks a chair, and gets away with it.

Ha! Very true. I think book clubs will really enjoy talking about Lady Tremaine. To learn more about Rachel and her first (hard won) novel, visit her here! Thanks for coming by, Rachel. I really loved this one!

xo See you all next week!

Such Good People is the compelling then and now story of two childhood friends Rudy and April whose lives are changed forever when they’re in college. They meet up at a bar, lock eyes knowingly, and hours later, Rudy is arrested, then incarcerated. April is expelled. Years later, on the eve of April’s political husband’s election campaign, Rudy is released on parole—and the campaign is suddenly in jeopardy. A gut wrenching novel about love and loss, this is the perfect book for anyone who loves the work of Jackie Friedland or Jodi Picoult. I can’t wait to dive in!

I asked Amy Blumenfeld to stop by Dear Fiction to tell us about her latest! Welcome, Amy!

Let’s start with the fact that this is your second novel! Congrats! How is Such Good People different/similar to your first book?
Both Such Good People and my debut novel, The Cast, are about the things we do for the people we love and how the people we love impact the things we do. Both raise thought-provoking issues with lots of grey areas but are rooted in the power of life-long friendships and friends who are like family.

The big difference between the two is the lens. The Cast centers on one character’s medical crisis and how her friends are impacted individually and collectively over time by that experience. Such Good People is about the ripple effect of a split-second choice and how a singular moment can change lives and legacies forever.

I like to think of both books as breezy reads that pack a punch.

Where did you get the idea for Such Good People?
I was raised in a home where a painting of the scales of justice and the words “Justice, Justice, Shall You Pursue” were prominently framed on our living room wall. My father began his career as a public defender and when I was young his colleagues would come over to our house and I’d listen as they prepared their cases around our dining room table. Later, when he became a judge, I’d sit beside my dad on the bench and observe arraignments from his vantage point. I learned to appreciate nuance, the complexity of situations, and understand that behind every docket number was a real human being. Most of the time, that human being had relatives and friends sitting on hard pews in the audience section awaiting their loved one’s case. It didn’t matter if they were on the side of the defense or prosecution. Their angst-riddled faces were directly in my line of sight and I couldn’t help but wonder about their lives. Their backstories. How being on the periphery of a criminal case impacted them.

After The Cast was published, I knew I wanted to write another novel with childhood friendship at the heart but somehow related to the criminal justice system. The problem was, I had no idea what that story would be. Then one day, we were invited to a fundraiser for a halfway house where a family friend was involved as an administrator. Although we weren’t able to attend the event, we started receiving their newsletters and I actually read the mail! In one issue, they profiled some teachers working for the organization and I was fascinated by their stories. Some had their own personal experience being incarcerated and were inspired to make a difference after prison by becoming educators and helping those newly released transition back into society. Those teacher profiles helped inspire April’s character. I knew she would be a teacher who was deeply motivated to make a difference for formerly incarcerated individuals…but why? And that’s how I created the backstory. She had a best friend from childhood. He was an incredible person who did something questionable only because he was trying to help her. He paid the price. She paid a price too. What could that be? And it all snowballed from there.

The whole time I was writing I had my dad’s courtroom on my mind – specifically the people in my line of sight in the pews during arraignments. I envisioned April and Rudy’s families and how a single choice by a good person thinking he was doing a good thing could spiral out of control and change all of them forever.

So many people ask me how I name my characters. What did you take into consideration when naming these individuals?
That’s a great question! For me, it varies. The little cameo characters – the ones mentioned only once or twice in passing – I try to give a subtle wink to someone I know. I’ll use my niece’s middle name or name a dog after my friend’s puppy. But there are different rules for my main characters. I do put a lot of thought into it. For instance, I knew immediately that Rudy would be named Rudy. In fact, I knew his name before I conceived of the title for the book. Again, I was inspired by my dad’s background. In exchange for free housing during his first year of law school, my dad accepted a job to live in the officers’ quarters of a local jail and interview inmates. He was part of a criminal law program and felt it would be good training to get to know all angles of the system. It certainly proved to be enlightening. One of the inmates he interviewed was a man who wanted to study “If” – the poem by Rudyard Kipling. I heard this story several times throughout my childhood and was really moved by the fact that of all things to discuss, this man chose to analyze Rudyard Kipling’s words about keeping your head up in tough times. My character “Rudy” is a subtle nod to Rudyard Kipling. And… the poem makes a cameo appearance in Such Good People.

That’s really cool! People don't often realize how tough being a writer is, how thick of a skin you need to have. Even still, we all have moments where it hurts. Can you tell us about a time when you really struggled or even considered giving up? What kept you going?
My first novel, The Cast, took forever. I didn’t grow up dreaming of becoming an author. I dreamed of becoming a television news anchorwoman on a local New York network station. That was the brass ring for me! I went to graduate school for journalism and was in the broadcast track but eventually figured out that I was better suited for print instead of broadcast work. When I wrote my masters project (essentially a long magazine article) about adult survivors of childhood cancer, my professor approached me at graduation and insisted that I turn the project into a book. He didn’t say what kind of book, but he planted a seed. At the time, I was 23 and couldn’t afford to just write a book. I needed a job, stability, and health insurance. So, for many years as I worked as a writer or editor in the magazine world, I chipped away at “the book” during my free time never knowing if it would become anything.

Initially, I envisioned non-fiction – like a series of interviews with childhood cancer survivors. Then I thought about writing a memoir about my own experience as a childhood cancer survivor, but that just felt weird and not fun at all. As years went on, I stopped and started. I grew frustrated and set it aside. I’d then get a great idea and plow for weeks only to encounter writers block or get distracted with real world stuff and then skip months to deal with life.

I continued to speak with survivors/doctors and kept up with the headlines regarding long-term pediatric survivorship and I realized there was so much more to tell than my own experience. Additionally, I realized I would never read a “cancer book” so I why would I write one and expect others to want to read it? I asked myself, “What would I want to read?” and the answer was clear – contemporary fiction. That was when it all clicked into place: I would write a novel that was not a cancer book but instead about a close group of friends dealing with love and relationships and life and parenthood and all the things I enjoyed reading but also touched upon the long-term impact of childhood cancer. I envisioned a combination of The Fault in Our Stars and a reunion of old friends like the movie The Big Chill. I had zero experience in fiction, but I always enjoyed creative writing so I figured I would give it a shot.

There were so many times over the course of 20 years that I could have given up but I genuinely felt something inside telling me to keep going. It was like I had to give birth to this thing even though I had no idea what form it was going to take. I’m not sure if it was because I knew I wasn’t going to medical school and this was my way to give back to the pediatric cancer community by raising awareness about survivorship issues, or because I adored my professor and wanted to honor his advice. Either way, I’m glad I stuck with it.

We are too! If you could get one do over in your writing life, what would it be?
I would have given one of the characters in my first novel, The Cast, her own POV chapter. Initially, I gave all the main characters their own POV chapters but at some point in the editing process I started to feel it was getting messy and possibly confusing so I cut Lex’s POV chapters and just wove her perspective into dialogue in the other chapters. If I had a do-over, I’d put her POV chapters back – or at least one chapter in her voice. My characters become my imaginary friends and I feel like I punished her for no good reason! My intention was to make things neater by eliminating her POV, but I think I invited questions as to why her POV didn’t matter and why I didn’t treat every member of The Cast equally.

What do you think you really got right in Such Good People? Please be specific and explain what worked for you. :))
I think I got the dialogue right. There are plenty of things I don’t do well – I work pretty slowly and let the characters and plot marinate in my mind for a long time before I sit down to write – but the upside to allowing those imaginary friends to take up residence in my head is that I feel like I get to know them very well. I get a sense for the way they would speak, their quirks, their likes/dislikes, motivations and all the little details that help build strong characters. I think the long-term rental in my brain enabled me hit the mark with the individual voices and that, in turn, I believe helped to strengthen the dialogue and particularly the connection between Rudy and April.

What do you think makes "good people"? How have you grappled with what that phrase means?
The simple answer is that I think good people are the ones genuinely driven by kindness, compassion and think about others. The complicated answer is that it all comes down to nuance. That’s what this book is about – the grey areas, the circumstance, the nuance.

I love that. Thank you for coming by, Amy! So great to hear about how much your years in your dad’s courtroom impacted you. :) This book sounds fascinating! I can’t wait to read it. xo

As always, if you enjoy reading Dear Fiction, please click the “heart” icon at the top of the page. It helps other book lovers find our community of readers. Also, my book is out! Did you pick up a copy yet?

The intrigue only increased from there. We learned Colette is a retired librarian, and an accomplished jewel thief who stole gems for the French resistance during World War II. We also learn that her younger sister disappeared during a German raid with a priceless bracelet sewn into the hem of her nightgown. Decades later, the bracelet surfaces and Colette has the chance to discover what really happened to her sister.

I asked Kristin to stop by Dear Fiction to chat about her latest book (she’s penned more than a dozen) and her writing life. Welcome, Kristin!

I'm fascinated with origin stories. Tell me where the idea for The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau came from.
The idea for the book came initially from thinking about how many different ways people found to support resistance movements during World War II. Of course many of those methods of resistance—things like smuggling arms and blowing up railroad tracks—were necessary to defeat the Germans but were obviously illegal. And one could argue that the ends certainly justified the means in those cases. Theft—as Colette and her mother engage in, in the book—was another illegal activity that certainly helped the underground.

But what happens when the war ends? Evil doesn't simply disappear from the world. There are still wrongs to right, scales of justice to balance. But does that end goal of justice justify the means of jewelry theft when the world is no longer at war? Who determines what's right or wrong? Those questions are at the heart of this story, which is about a lifelong jewel thief who must come to terms with the decisions she has made—and the guilt she has carried for so many years.

How was this book more/less challenging to write than your previous books?
This one was actually a huge challenge for me, because it was the first book I wrote after going through several months of treatment for breast cancer: a lumpectomy, chemotherapy and radiation. I had written the outline before my diagnosis, and it took me six months to pick up the story again, because through those treatments, I found I simply couldn't write. I don't know if it was stress or exhaustion or the actual chemotherapy meds, but I wasn't myself—and I really felt terrified that I'd been fundamentally changed and that I'd lost my writing voice forever. Coming back to the page was filled with a lot of fear and self-doubt at first, but I finally found my way back to the story—and back to myself.

Since jewelry figures so central in this book I'm curious if you have a strong connection to any single piece of heirloom jewelry? Are you someone who splurges on jewelry or do you prefer flea market finds?
It's funny that I chose jewel theft, because I'm not big on expensive jewelry myself. My ears aren't even pierced, believe it or not! But I'm a big believer in sentimental jewelry—and at the end of the day, that's what the diamond bracelet really is for Colette. For me, aside from my wedding and engagement rings, my most sentimental pieces are the two thin silver rings I wore through my cancer journey. One was engraved with the names of my son, husband and mom, to remind me who I was fighting for. And the other was engraved: TOWTIITI, which stood for, "The only way through it is through it," the mantra I repeated to myself each day.

I feel like the business and work of being a writer is magical and also extremely tough. What has been your most challenging moment as a writer?
(As mentioned above) In October 2022, I was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent treatment, including chemotherapy and radiation, through April 2023. During that time, I found myself unable to write normally. I had other creative outlets during that time—I even co-wrote and sold a television series (still in development)—but I couldn't seem to keep thoughts in my head long enough to move from chapter to chapter in the writing of a book. That terrified me. I really worried that it was a change in my brain (courtesy of the chemo) that would last forever, and there were days when I sat down to write and wound up weeping at the impossibility of it all.

I'm incredibly grateful that once my treatments were done, I began to get my writing groove back. I think that staying engaged in other creative things—such as writing and developing a TV show—helped me to stay afloat, because I knew there was a part of my brain still capable of creating. Eventually I found my way back—and I think the detour, into both self-doubt and a different writing format, helped make me a stronger writer and storyteller in the end.

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If you could relive one day in your author life, what would it be and why?
I would choose to relive the day Patti Callahan Henry, Kristy Woodson Harvey, Mary Kay Andrews, Mary Alice Monroe, Meg Walker and I met at Mary Kay's house in Tybee Island, GA for our first Friends & Fiction summit, in November 2020. We had all launched Friends & Fiction together seven months earlier, in April 2020, but because of the lockdown, we hadn't been able to be together in real life. F&F changed all of our lives--and we truly never expected it--so to meet up and celebrate that and begin to plan our future together felt really special.

Can you describe what happens to you when you're really in a novel? (Are you dropping the ball as a mother? Do you feel tingly in your chest?
When I'm really in it, I write and write and write until my vision blurs and I have a headache! It doesn't happen often, but boy is it a magical feeling. My last day like that was in early May. I was actually in a hotel lounge for the day while my husband was at work and my son was at school, and something just cracked open in me and the writing flowed. I wrote 7,000 words and finished the first draft of my 2026 book, then promptly collapsed in exhaustion. But not before ordering a celebratory glass of champagne.

Who are your writing heroes—and why?
My F&F cohosts—Mary Kay Andrews, Patti Callahan Henry, and Kristy Woodson Harvey—are not only my writing besties, but also some of the hardest-working, smartest, savviest women I know. They all have such a unique voice and style, and yet they all share the same work ethic, dedication to their readers, and genuine love for the world of books. I love all three of them deeply as both people and professionals!

Which of your novels do you think is your best so far? Why?
I always think my best novel is my most recent, because I think I'm still a work in progress, and I continue to try to push myself to get better and better with every book. I think that if I don't feel like each book is an improvement over the last, I'm doing something wrong, and I really do strive to tangibly improve. So for that reason, The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau is my current favorite. But if I had to choose a book from my backlist, it would probably be The Forest of Vanishing Stars, which just poured out of me differently. I think the real answer is that I haven't written my best book yet--but stay tuned!

I love that. Thank you so much, Kristin. Good luck with this latest novel. To buy a copy of The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau, pop on over here to find a retailer. xo

Have a great weekend, everyone!

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It’s the latest delight from historical novelist Eliza Knight who has penned so many historical fiction and historical romances that I stopped trying to count them all on her website. LOL. This book isn’t entirely a departure. Her last historical book also followed an empowered woman: Queen Elizabeth and her close relationship with her corgi, Susan! Not only will readers appreciate this story’s ability to remind us of our own deep love of books, the plucky heroine will have you rooting for her from the beginning.

Welcome to Dear Fiction, Eliza. Please don’t judge any grammatical mistakes I make in this interview. Haha!

Where did the idea for Confessions of a Grammar Queen come from? 
A few summers ago, I met Frank in a bar in Columbus, Ohio—a towering Harlequin Great Dane who acted like he owned the place. He wandered from table to table with the swagger of a four-legged mayor. As a lifelong dog person, I was smitten. I turned to my husband and daughter and said, “That dog needs to go in a book.”

A month later, while blasting Taylor Swift’s “The Man” on a book tour, I had a flash of inspiration. By the end of the song, I had a heroine—Bernadette—and Frank was faithfully by her side. The idea kept building as I wandered the New York Public Library. I thought about women in publishing and who the icons were, the women who paved the way. I wanted to write a story that was a nod to their ambitions and perseverance. I called my agent with a pitch I couldn’t stop thinking about: a smart, stylish woman in 1960s publishing, with a secret feminist book club at the NYPL, determined to become the industry’s first female CEO. Confessions of a Grammar Queen was born.

Why did you choose to write about the sixties, and what was your favorite piece of research you discovered?
Set in the early 1960s, Confessions of a Grammar Queen is inspired in part by the Equal Pay Act of 1963, when women finally gained the right to ask for the same salary as their male colleagues—but the request wasn’t always honored. A struggle women still face today. Beyond the connections to women in the workplace, I absolutely love the music of the 60s, I love that people had pink kitchens, and I loved the changing style of clothes.

My favorite piece of research was about Eleanor Gould Packard, a copyeditor for the New Yorker during from the 60s until she retired in the late 90s. She was called the Grammarian, a title I gave Bernadette in my book, and while I embellished her story, the way she got her job at the New Yorker was quite fascinating. She took a copy of the magazine, copy edited an article that was already printed, and brought it in. They hired her. She was a fascinating woman. I wish I could have met her! 

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She sounds fascinating! There are some satisfying workplace victories in this novel. Can you talk about how your own experiences at work shaped the story? I often find in my research that sometimes women's lives weren't all that different in the 60s and 70s than they are today.
It’s so true, they aren’t! As a young adult finishing high school and going to college, I worked as a receptionist at a few doctor’s offices, my dorm, a law firm and a car dealership. I experienced the same thing at each one: a lot of comments on my looks, my clothes, whether or not I was smiling enough—and not at patients, clients or customers, but to the males at work. One of my bosses, when I wore slacks to work actually told me that I should wear a skirt. What?! 

Oh wow. That’s a doozy. Are you a grammar queen? Or did you just enjoy writing the personality of one? 
I am by no means a Grammarian—tell me to fix a misplaced modifier and I will run! But I do *LOVE* words. I still have my father’s childhood dictionary which I used to pour over as a child myself, and I’ve always had a love of language and the written word. I would consider myself a logophile! I absolutely did have a blast writing about the personality of a grammar queen, and infused some of my own quirks into Bernadette’s character. But I will say when the book was sent for copy edits, I was terrified of what the results would be—and my CE definitely had fun with it! 

Haha! What is the nicest thing anyone has ever said about your writing and why did it mean so much to you? 
Finding out that a reader has loved your work and couldn’t put down a book is always fun, but I think the nicest thing that anyone has ever said to me wasn’t actually about me, it was about them, in that my book helped them get through a really tough time. And that means the world to me, that words I put on a page, characters I create, worlds I build, helped someone, that I’ve touched people’s hearts. That is so humbling and profound.

That gave me chills. I completely agree. What is your greatest deep-seeded fear when it comes to writing? How have you pushed through that fear specifically?
I have two fears. One day, I will wake up and can’t use my hands to write. I have carpal tunnel from years of piano and I’ve been a writer since I was a child. I already use braces, creams, etc… but, I have started to use dictation to help with this. The second fear I have is that one day I won’t have a story to tell, or rather, I will forget how to tell a story. The former is a nonsensical fear as I have vast lists of ideas that I will never get the chance to write because I am not immortal—but I do worry that the words will dry up one day and my brain will proclaim it is finished.

You are a history buff. Do you think you could have lived in that era happily?
Knowing all that happened in the 60s I think I would not have had as much fun as I like! I value women’s rights, civil rights, and I do love technology. The 60s were a turbulent time for women, people of color, LGBTQ+ and people with disabilities. We were also on the cusp of the Vietnam War which was hard on our country—people were divided and so many of our military members came home scarred. I wouldn’t want to live in that world. That said, I love the music, the clothes (I used to have go-go boots and a flower power wardrobe!), the sense of change in the world, which the 60s brought with women’s rights movements and civil rights movements. 

If you could compare the vibe of your book to a specific movie, what would it be and why?
Ohhhh! This is a fun one! My answer is Legally Blonde! Like Elle Woods, Bernadette Swift loves pink, and believes women can do hard things, women are smart, and women deserve respect. Like Elle, Bernadette has to deal with a sexist boss who hits on her and is constantly disparaging her skills because she is a woman. Like Elle, Bernadette has a male co-worker and several good female friends rooting for her and supporting her. 

Yes! I can totally see that. I absolutely love that comparison. Great to see you, Eliza! After reading her book, check out her super fun podcast, “History, Books & Wine.” I recently recorded an episode with Eliza and it was a great conversation since we share so many similar interests. We also realized we both went to the University of Maryland, College Park — Go Terps!

My latest novel Our Last Vineyard Summer is out in just about two weeks! I would really love to personalize a copy to all of my readers of Dear Fiction. My publisher partnered with Bronx River Books and the shop will ship anywhere in the country!!

Also, anyone who preorders a book from Bronx River Books will receive four goodies:

-A printed “Guide to the Perfect Vineyard Summer” written by me, which includes my list of the best beaches, restaurants and sights.

-A recipe for a Vineyard spritzer.

-A Feminist Summer Book Club Reading List as curated by the Whiting sisters (in the novel).

-A beautiful booklet with reading discussion questions.

Phew. I’m out of breathe from all of that! LOL. Buy here, and here, and here!

I wanted to tear open the box immediately and set my eyes on the cover, the blurbs, the energy of the girls jumping off the boat, but outside, it was rainy and gloomy. I couldn’t possibly film an unboxing video in my dreary old house.

I would need to wait to see my books. You only get one shot with an unboxing video—whatever my 10-year-old films on the first take is what I post on social media, no matter what. A genuine reaction needs to be captured or what’s the point? My second requirement for an unboxing video: Sunshine. I write summer books and I feel my best when I’m sitting in a bright patch of sunlight, so I wait for a beautiful day even if my patience with the weather wears thin.

Authors either love the unboxing video or they dread it, but like it or not, it’s become a rite of passage in the life cycle of a novel. Readers love seeing them, even if they feel contrived. Some writers get dressed up for their video. Others add fancy music or speed up the video. Some have stopped making them altogether. The thinking is how can you possibly show any true emotion when you’re filming yourself for social media? Writers are a pretty authentic bunch, so it’s not surprising that if it doesn’t feel real, they don’t want to post it on social media.

But here’s the rub: I absolutely LOVE watching other authors see their books for the first time. All of us were once little girls who dreamed of writing a novel, and now we’re women who are sitting there holding our books. Stories that we created from our very own imaginations. Seeing those videos feels like the kind of empowerment my mother talked to me about when I was little.

Writers also have a special connection with our words and to hold all of that work in our hands for the very first time is similar to the instant love you feel when holding your baby for the first time. A slight exaggeration, but you see my point. The shot of joy that you see in these videos is very, very real. So I make unboxing videos for all of my friends, readers and author pals who want to share in my sacred moment of holding my book for the first time.

Finally, the sun came out last week. After she got home from school, I wrangled my 10-year-old after her playdate to my back deck near my favorite flowering plants. We practiced where I should sit so that you didn’t see the playset, the barbecue and badminton net. I threw my hair up in a ponytail since it was 90 degrees and I could care less that I didn’t have makeup on. This is about the books! I set my giant box of novels in front of me and gave my daughter a thumbs up. She pressed record.

I freaked! As always. You can even hear her laughing at my reaction, the way kids always laugh at their parents when they’re embarrassed with the way they’re acting. I could have been clever and talked about my characters. I could have looked much better in my video. But what mattered is that it felt real. That the video felt like me.

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Media Diary

What I’ve Been Watching: We finished Season 48 of Survivor! Go Kyle! In all honesty though I was rooting for Eva. :)

What I’ve Been Reading: Kristin Harmel’s The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau. You’ll hear more on this one next week!

An Article Worth Sharing: “What Are Your Dad’s Rules For Life?” by Joanna Goddard. Someone sent me this sweet article this week in which the Cup of Jo writer interview her dad. I loved it.

Podcast I’m enjoying: “Jeanine Cummins, Speak to Me of Home” talking to Zibby Owens on the Totally Booked podcast. It was a great interview.

As always, if you enjoy reading Dear Fiction, please “heart” the icon at the top of the email. It will help more lit loving friends finds our lovely reading community.

To preorder a signed copy of my new novel, please visit this link from Bronx River Books who will ship it to you—no matter where in the country you live.

Share Brooke Lea Foster's Dear Fiction

Mansion Beach is a creative retelling of The Great Gatsby and I loved every minute of it. You know who else is a fan? Elin Hilderbrand, who recently called it the book of the summer! Of course it made my list of the best beach reads of summer as well.

Dear Fiction's Summer Reading Guide

Thank you for stopping by Dear Fiction, Meg!

Why do you keep writing about Block Island? What continues to draw you to the island?
Block Island is such an amazing place! I discovered it before I started writing my 2019 novel, The Islanders. I was looking for a place to set a novel, so my husband and I took a daytrip. I’d always been curious about Block Island—even though I went to college and got married in Rhode Island, I’d never been to the Block. When I first visited, I was immediately smitten. It has so much natural beauty, a vibrant daytripping population, and the very best beaches around. I was intrigued by the idea of writing about people who live there year round as well as those who visit for a day, a week, a summer—and I’m still intrigued by that! I love the idea of putting people in a constrained area, like an island, to see what happens.

I love origin stories. Where did the idea for Mansion Beach come from?
I think it basically came from an Audible sale. I’m a huge audiobook listener, and once I saw something about the audio version of The Great Gatsby, read by Jake Gyllenhaal. Of course I’d read Gatsby before more than once (I was an English major!) but listening to this version brought it back to me. It struck me that Gatsby was, in many ways, the ultimate “beach book” before beach books were a thing: it has a summer setting, a love triangle, some mystery, and lots and lots of cocktails. Had it been published now instead of 100 years ago, it might be on the table with Elin Hilderbrand’s latest! I became really interested in the idea of writing a contemporary story inspired by this classic, so that’s what eventually became Mansion Beach.

Do you have a theme you return to repeatedly in your novels? What is it—and why are you so fascinated with the idea?
I’d say I always return to families. Every one of my novels features a family in one way or another. I’m also really interested in wealth or lack of wealth and what that does to marriages, relationships, friendships. I love an outsider story as well! I think because I moved around a lot as a kid and was often the newcomer I love to put a character in a foreign situation and watch them figure it out.

This novel is very humorous. Why do you use comedy in your books and what part of the story made you laugh the most?
Aw, thank you! That’s a huge compliment. My favorite books are the ones that can balance light and dark in a particular way, and if a book doesn’t make me laugh at some point I might put it down. The Wedding People is a recent book I think did a fabulous job of this, as well as anything by Liane Moriarty. I try to make sure my favorite characters always have a sense of humor.

You've written nine books, right? Did your books shoot to the top or have you been slowly growing your audience? Which one of your books helped you gain notoriety and why do you think?
Yes, nine is right. Um, I think I’m still waiting for my books to shoot to the top? I’ll let you know when I’m there! It has definitely been a slow build. I’d say that my third novel, The Admissions, got a good amount of attention that was new to me. Two Truths and a Lie got placed in more outlets where it had a chance to reach a wider audience. Vacationland maybe got the best review coverage? I’m not even sure. Then, Summer Stage, which I really loved, didn’t sell as well as those books! But I have not had One Big Hit. (Yet.) Are you listening, Book Gods?

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I love that. That’s how it feels sometimes, right? Praying to Book Gods that our novels find audiences! What has been the hardest day of your publishing career?
When I had published two novels and was trying to sell my third, my publisher passed on it and I had to start all over—new book, new publisher, new search, everything. I think the day I learned they had passed on that book was really hard. In retrospect, that book wasn’t good! It wasn’t ready! I had to write a book in between and go back to the book in question later. But I didn’t know that at the time, and I felt very hopeless.

Describe your perfect Block Island day. Begin the morning and end at sunset. :))
First comes a run, in weather that is still cool and not too humid (unlikely, but I can dream). Then, while I’m drinking a strong cappuccino, probably from The Cracked Mug, the weather begins to warm, becoming beach-worthy by around 11 am. My Irish skin can’t take several hours at the beach, but I’ll go as long as I can (Scotch Beach, or Fred Benson), with plenty of sunscreen and a hat. I *always* go in the water, it’s a rule of mine, and it doesn’t count unless you go all the way under.

I brought lunch from Three Sisters, so I don’t have to leave the beach. Then I’ll read and probably take a beach nap. An afternoon bike ride comes next, ending with a mudslide consumed outside while looking at the water (the outdoor bar at Payne’s Dock works for this). Dinner out, probably at Spring House, definitely seafood and a cold glass of white wine, and if time, I’ll catch the sunset on the west side of the island.

I love that! And guess what? My husband and I were married on the deck at the Spring House. I know the view intimately! I loved this interview, Meg. Thanks for your honesty! Now everyone go buy her novels!

Meg and I are going to be speaking about our novels in July at Inkfish Books in Rhode Island. Woot! Don’t miss us!

As always, if you enjoy reading Dear Fiction, please like the heart icon at the top of this email. It helps other book lovers find our community. Have a great weekend, everyone!

2025 Top Beach Reads of Summer

“The book began coming to life about five years ago, when I finally got sick and tired of being sick and tired with the world,” she writes in the author’s note. “I didn’t want to become bitter, yet that was how I felt.” Instead, these short stories helped her to feel human again in all of its complicated ups and downs.

Formerly, an editor at Magnolia Journal, Anna was told she’d never publish these gems and she’d nearly given up on writing them until….she decided to try anyway. And thank goodness. I feel wiser just having read the book.

Welcome, Anna!!

You and I are fairly similar. We both transitioned out of a career in journalism (you, an editor for Magnolia Journal) to a career as a fiction writer. Why did you decide to make this jump?
Even though I left full-time work, I still freelance as a writer and editor, so I haven’t left it behind completely. There have only been a couple of short times in my life where I had the space to focus on my personal writing without freelance other writing or editing happening—what I think of as my “professional” writing. While it seems like that would be ideal to only write my own stuff, I’ve found I function better if I have both pieces in my life to bounce back and forth between.

I’ve tried to understand why this is, I think the structure of my professional writing gives me something to push against with my personal writing, so those stories become more creative and free. Whatever the reason, I just know it’s the formula that works for me. Of course now that I said it’s “the formula” watch it fall apart. Isn’t that always how the writing life feels? Just when you think you’ve grasped it, poof, it goes and have to re-figure out how to make your way again.

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Even the title of your novel They Will Tell You the World is Yours is evocative, but so are the myriad vignettes that you pen in this gem of a book. Which of the vignettes do you feel is the most compelling and why?
Because the book spans a woman’s life from birth to mid-life, my hope was always that different spots in that arc might hit at different times for readers. That was just an idea though, truly, just a hope. When I wrote the book, my daughter was around 1 and so the early life stories were really on my mind, just thinking about how she was being shaped and how we might be a part of that in positive ways. Then earlier this week I recorded the audio book and the stories about the woman’s late 20s were actually physically slowing me down. I had to stop a couple times because they just took me back to some of those deep learning times of that decade. While it was surprising, it also was kind of exciting because it meant the theory was working.

When it comes to choosing one very favorite vignette, I don’t think I could zero in like that, but currently what’s happening in the vignettes about those early searching years of adulthood is stirring me.

Why did you decide to tell the stories of what a woman learns from birth until midlife? What about that journey captivates you and why?
The jacket copy of this book has a line that says “we find ourselves in this story.” I thought about that line a lot because I never thought I could create one character whose life would—by the outer, visible details—look familiar to “most” people. What the copy is speaking to, and what I want people to get from the arc of the vignettes, is shared revelation about how or why the world has affected us, sometimes without our realization.

There’s nothing prescriptive in here about answers, or how to live, I set up the arc because I wanted the feel of a line of dominoes—that’s how I understood the anxiety and disillusionment to grow for the character. When the pieces fall, what does she do? Watching it, hopefully, gives us space to evaluate what we do—where we turn for comfort, who we trust, what voices we let in.

This felt like a deeply personal story. Can you pick a specific moment that you pulled directly from something that was said or told to you, whether it's a wide-eyed observation, a career disappointment or the realization of your place in the world? There’s a story about the main character discovering that her new boss at work is younger than she is. I didn’t have a sudden moment where I made that discovery, like the character does, but I did have a job where much of the management was significantly younger than I was. There was initially so much discomfort in that because I had to face a lot of the agism I had been unknowingly holding. But then from there I got the opportunity to really look at how I was valuing what I offered to the world, and what metric I was using for success. Those shifts and realigning moments—which sometimes aren’t as gentle as that language makes them seem, sometimes the moments are everything blowing up and pieces going everywhere—are points of non-fiction throughout the book. The characters and stories pull from all kinds of places, and many are just straight-up imaginary, but I wanted the revelations to feel very real, and so most of them are straight from life.

You've said that you had a writing teacher tell you that you'd never sell a book of vignettes. You listened at first, writing other things, but found yourself drawn back to these poetic short tales. What made you believe there might be an audience for this kind of writing?
I have written plenty of things for an audience, but I can honestly say this book was written for an audience of 1. I was in a season where my professional writing and career had taken over. I had the lost the thread of creating—not in a casual way, but in that deep way that making things can truly bring life. I knew I had to write something that was mine so I decided to shut down the outside world and write what I needed in that moment.

When the book was done and I decided I did want to just see if there was an agent who might believe in the work, what I had seen at Magnolia Journal gave me footing to make a case for shorter vignettes. I had seen how much readers liked the shorter, more evocative stories—they didn’t have a ton of free time in their lives but they still wanted beauty, comfort, and some thought provoking, revelatory moments.

Was there a point in a woman's life that you left on the cutting room floor? A subject or point that you struggled with creating a vignette around?
I knew the moment I had written the last word in that book. The feeling was just there, in my gut: Done. My agent and I really looked closely at the whole manuscript before she took it to publishers because we knew a collection of vignettes was a hard sell. I thought briefly in that period about trying to extend the storyline into another phase of life for the woman. Those attempts are in a folder tucked deep in my hard drive, it didn’t take long to realize my initial feeling of where the story needed to finish had been correct.

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If someone wanted to write their own vignette, how would you instruct them to do so? How do you get yourself writing these? Maybe you should teach a Substack class on writing vignettes!
Oh, I would love to teach a vignette class! Especially in times like this when everyone is so strapped for margin in their lives. Pressing in and saying, “I’m experimenting with this new thing for the sake of creativity and nothing more” is the ultimate resistance to the efficiency culture.

For an actual tip to take home and try, I will repeat great advice given to me by an editor many years ago. She told me to handwrite what I love and then read it out loud so I could get the feel for the rhythm coming off my pen and then settling into my mind. I still do that sometimes, when I want to get into a space of writing more rhythmically and lyrically. I also love writing out song lyrics—it clicks my brain into a different mode of looking at how a story might be told.

Okay, as a subscriber to Magnolia Journal, I have to ask: How has Joanna Gaines and Magnolia Journal changed Waco, Texas? Tell us about what it was like to live and work as an editor there.
My husband grew up in Waco so I am full of “What Waco used to be like,” stories. I had the opposite childhood, we moved all the time, so I am always interested in his perspective and sense of place within this city. There’s no doubt Magnolia completely transformed Waco. It was widely known for tragedies, then all of a sudden a very positive vibe was being sent out to the world and people were just like, “What? Waco?”

Working at Magnolia Journal put me around the Silos a lot for events, and in that process I met people from every corner of America who had come here, to Waco, Texas, to visit. And they were always so excited! So eager to tell you about what they loved about the city from the show.

No one ever thought Waco would have a pull like that, so I just try to keep it in my mind as this really beautiful story of unexpected transformation. If you see it happen on the scale of a city, it makes you a true believer in the possibility for great change in people, families, neighborhoods. That’s just solid hope, brought to you by a little Texas town no one expected a thing from.

Thank you for stopping by Dear Fiction, Anna! Be sure to order Anna’s book, out on Tuesday May 20th, here and here.

As always, if you enjoy reading Dear Fiction, please “heart” the icon at the top of this email. It helps other bookish friends discover our lovely little lit community. :)

This is a magical idea. Imagine picking up Joan Didion’s Slouching Toward Bethlehem for the very first time and getting lost in her words? I often think of The Great Gatsby (3.9 stars on Good Reads. What?!) as one of my all time favorite books. The idea of discovering Jay Gatsby all over again is exhilarating in that nerdy author kind of way.

But I think the book I would select is A Hundred Summers by Beatriz Williams. Really! You’ve heard me talk about this novel quite a bit and there’s an important reason: It was the first time I read a historical novel and thought: This is the kind of novel I want to write. Glamorous setting. Fascinating characters. Intriguing point in American history. If I could read Beatriz’s novel for the first time now, I’d read it with the eyes of an editor. How did she build the story? What traits did she give her two female characters and how did she use scene to show their transformation over that fateful summer? I swear I would take notes.

Maybe I should read it anyway, just for the heck of it. Great idea, me!

Breaking News!

The paperback for my book All of the Summers in Between, a starred pick by Library Journal, is out today! Katie Couric Media says: "This one had me racing to turn the pages. Thea, a local teen, meets Margot, a wealthy summer resident, and the two form an unlikely friendship tested with unimaginable twists and turns. I won’t say more — except pick it up... and cancel your plans for the rest of the week!"

Plus, I adore this blurb by one of my favorites Patti Callahan Henry: "Another engaging and thrilling novel for summer! With a bygone-Hamptons setting, deep friendships that return in a roar, and love that can survive it all, Brooke Lea Foster carries us with skill and suspense into a glittering world [that] has it all: mystery, friendship, secrets, enchanting setting, and of course love. With a reminder that women must find what is most important at the core of their own lives, make room in your beach bag for this mesmerizing book.”

Best Part of My Week

It’s been my dream to grow roses up my white picket fence in my backyard for years. I’m not sure why it’s taken me so long to plant them but my husband and I finally did for Mother’s Day. It was backbreaking work. We broke a sprinkler head! We didn’t mulch! But we have four fragrant English rose bushes growing right along my fence. I’ll need to give it a few years, of course, before they climb the pickets, but I can’t wait until they come into themselves.

Another high: Oh my goodness. My kids Mother’s Day presents were the cutest. My son wrote me this heartfelt card that was a tear jerker all about how I’ve been there for him whenever he needed me. My 10-year-old made me a front page of a newspaper that featured an article about what a great mom I was. It made all of those runny noses and late night fevers of this past winter vanish in an instant.

The kids also asked me some of the questions from The New York Times list called something like “Questions to Grow Closer to Your Mom.” One of them was “What is your favorite part about being a mother right now?” I told them that I love how much they want to talk to me. When they were little, I used to follow them around and tell them all sorts of stories. Now they follow me around and chatter on about friends, their teachers, annoying assignments, what they want me to make for dinner. After hearing that, their faces took on that proud expression from knowing that they were doing something that made them lovable to me.

We’re going to drive to an antique market with my mom this weekend, and we decided we’re going to ask my mom all of the same questions in the car.

Worst Part of My Week

We went to see Michelle Zauner’s (Crying in H Mart!) band Japanese Breakfast this past Friday in Brooklyn. OMG the concert was so good. Her voice is ethereal and she literally sat in a giant clam shell singing. Ha! But the worst part was there was this one concert goer who was so rude. We were in the balcony and there’s no seating, so everyone just kind of huddles together to try to see.

There was an old guy with a very young girlfriend (no judgement) watching in one alcove along with several other people. I saw an opening where I could sneak in between him and this other guy and see a little better. I was not going to block anybody. I’m petite and I wasn’t going to stand in front of anyone at all, but as I tried to say excuse me and slip in between him and another person, he angled his body and boxed me out. Like literally would not let me pass. I turned to say excuse me and try a different angle and he literally pushed backwards into me and just blocked me entirely.

It was so weird and so rude and I was SO exasperated that I started laughing because I couldn’t believe somebody would do that. My friend, Sara, was super ticked off and was ready to tell him off, but I don’t like confrontation with strangers. Has anyone else noticed that people are so stressed these days (thanks to the uncertainty of the economy, scary policies, etc) that they’re doing such bizarre things. Another time this week I watched a woman back her giant SUV into a sports car at the gym and zoom off. Couldn’t she have left a note on their car just in case there was damage? Are we in an era that lacks common decency?

Media Diary

What I’ve Been Watching: “Your Friends & Neighbors” with Jon Hamm. The show was filmed in gargantuan houses a few towns away from where I live, and it’s been fun to track the scenery. It’s also super addictive since it’s about rich people behaving badly, which is my favorite!

What I’ve Been Reading: Meg Mitchell Moore’s Mansion Beach! Meg is going to be featured in these pages soon and I’m loving hew latest novel (also about rich people behaving badly) in Block Island, Rhode Island. Coincidentally, my husband and I were married on that island at the Spring House Hotel.

An Article Worth Sharing: I absolutely adored the essay by Lena Dunham (Girls) in The New Yorker called “Breaking Up With New York.” There are so many little gems in here about growing up, making it in the city, how it can bring out the best and worst of people. I listened to her reading it while I went for a run and it kept me engaged for the length of the twenty-five minute essay.

Podcast I’m enjoying: “How to Act Like an Extrovert” from The Happiness Lab. This episode is so fascinating. I’m part of a podcast club that listens and discusses a podcast the way you might a book club. We all had to take the Meyers-Briggs Personality Test too. No surprise on my findings. I’m the same personality type I was when I first took it at age twenty when my mentor administer it to me. ENFP (Extrovert, Intuitive, Feeling, Perceptive.) Doesn’t that sound like a writer? Ha!

Psst, a little secret: You can preorder a signed copy from Bronx River Books.

My favorite local booksellers Jessica and Mark at Bronx River Books are taking preorders for my latest book Our Last Vineyard Summer beginning tomorrow May 14th. I will write the book out to whoever you’d like me to, or I can write you a personal note inside if you want a copy all to yourself.

If you’re interested in ordering a copy, click here! I’ll also sign copies of any of my novels if you'd like to read them all. :) An author’s dream.

OMG we’ve hit 6,925 subscribers!!!

My goal is to try to get 7,000 passionate readers and writers and lovers of New England, coastal everywhere and author interviews by the end of the summer.

Will you help me out and refer a friend who loves to read? If she/he doesn’t like it, they can always cancel. Plus, it’s free! We have fun over here, right? Invite them to join us!

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The Mademoiselle Alliance follows a young glamorous mother with a daredevil streak. In 1928, she flies planes and races cars, anything to keep her days from feeling static. But when she’s living in Paris ten years later, she meets a spy who recruits her to lead the largest spy network in occupied France. Inspired by the true story of Marie-Madeline Meric, Natasha’s novel is a “fiery tribute to a historical woman so extraordinary she almost defies belief,” says Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Alice Network.

Nastaha and I became friends after I founded Dear Fiction two years ago. Her newsletter was a favorite of mine and she helped get me on my feet in the Substack world. One of my favorite aspects of Bijoux is when she heads to her beach house and I get a glimpse into her beach life in Australia. Photos below.

Welcome, Natasha! Thank you for joining this issue of Dear Fiction.

Tell me about where you came up with the idea for The Mademoiselle Alliance?
Marie-Madeleine Fourcade is almost absent from non-fiction books about WWII and it was that very absence that made me want to find out if she was one of the many women who did extraordinary things during the war, but whose story has been forgotten. And she was. She was a mother. A rally car driver. A pilot. A journalist. A woman who became known as the beautiful spy. A woman at the top of the Gestapo’s most-wanted list. A woman whose heart was broken over and over by the war, but who kept fighting because it was the right thing to do. A woman who eventually led the largest Resistance network in France.

I adore stories of courageous women who don’t give up. Why specifically were you drawn to the story of Marie-Madeleine Méric Fourcade?
Charles de Gaulle created the Compagnons de la Libération to honour the Resistance fighters he believed had fought the hardest for France’s freedom throughout the war. He bestowed this title on 1038 people. Of them, 1032 were men, including three of Marie-Madeleine’s male lieutenants. Marie-Madeleine was not among those honoured, despite leading three thousand agents in the largest and most important WWII Resistance network. I wanted to write The Mademoiselle Alliance so that readers could honour her the way history did not.

Your book is set in Paris and Morocco. Can you talk about your relationship with both of these cities? Research trips?
I haven’t been to Morocco—yet! But I’ve been to Paris lots of times. I speak the language almost fluently and that’s a big help when researching a book like this! Specifically in Paris I visited Marie-Madeleine’s grave at the Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris so I could pay homage to her. It’s a family tomb and you can read the names of her parents very clearly, and the name of her second husband from after the war. But there’s also a blank space on the grave and if you look very closely, you can see that letters were engraved there once upon a time. But weather and the years have somehow conspired together to erase Marie-Madeleine’s name from her own grave, which is a terrible metaphor for the way she’s been erased from the history books.

You’re kidding. Wow, that’s a telling detail. I love that. Let’s pivot a bit. How is this novel different from the ones you’ve written before?
It’s the first time I’ve written a bio-fiction, based primarily around a real person as the main character. I stupidly thought it would be easier because I didn’t have to come up with the plot—the plot was her life. But it was so much harder! There were 3,000 agents in the network and everyone had a real name and a codename, which makes for 6,000 names total! Way too many for a novel. And every second person’s name was either Jean, Henri or Pierre! So I had to invent a system for managing the sheer quantities of information I was grappling with.

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You are based in Australia, and one of my favorite things about your Substack is when you go to your beach house and write. Do you write better there or at home in Perth?
I’m based in Perth, Western Australia. And I love my beach house! I write so much better when I’m there, probably because if I go there to write, I’m alone and don’t have to think about my kids or my husband. I can be totally selfish, follow no routine, and completely stay in the world of my book with no interruptions for days at a time. That kind of immersion is priceless. And the view! It’s hard not to be inspired by a view of the sea.

I’m inspired by your view of the sea. Can you hold a writer’s retreat there and invite poor American writers like myself that stare out at simple backyards. Ha! Can you continue to make me jealous and describe the view from your office?
I have French doors that open out onto the garden, so I have a view of greenery and trees and gorgeous garden. I love opening the doors and letting in the fresh air while I write.

When you sit down to write, what do you always have at your desk? (Tea, chocolate chips, photos of your historical person, etc)
Always tea—I drink lots of tea! And water. And a book that’s kind of like a talisman for whatever I’m working on, a book where something about the voice of the story connects in some way to the story I’m writing. I read a little each day before I begin and it helps to drop me into the voice of my own book.

What a great tip. I keep books around me too — for my most recent novel I’m working on, it’s a book by Chiamanda Ngozi Adiche. The book has nothing to do with my story but reading her words in the morning inspires me. Question: Has publishing ever made you cry?
When I made the New York Times bestseller list, I cried! I honestly couldn’t believe it. It seemed so unlikely that an author from Australia could do that. My publisher told me that I could now cross that off my bucket list and I had to confess that it wasn’t even on my bucket list because I hadn’t ever dreamed it was possible! But I went and wrote it down onto a list just so I could have the satisfaction of crossing it off!

What writer friend could you not live without?
Kate Quinn is such an extraordinary human being. Not only is she a bestselling author, but she makes the time to read the books of so many other authors and she’s been incredibly generous in giving me a wonderful endorsement quote for my last couple of books, including The Mademoiselle Alliance. But she didn’t just send me a quote; she sent me a long email telling me how much she loved the book and her words came at just the right time, in that long lead-up to publication when you’re feeling incredibly nervous as an author. It made me truly believe in my book and reminded me of how special it is to touch someone else through your writing. Her kindness at that moment meant the world to me.

How incredibly generous. Lastly, if you could have the perfect Australia day, what would you do?
I’d be at my beach house in Siesta Park—yes, it’s a real place!—and I’d get up and go for a run, then throw myself into the ocean at the end. It would be early, before anyone was up, and I’d have the whole beach to myself and the water would be the perfect temperature. Then I’d have a shower outside—is there anything better than an outdoor shower? I love ours! I’d sit on the deck and stare at the sea while I ate my breakfast and my kids would gradually get up and they’d join me and we’d just have a lovely time being together in the most beautiful place in the world.

I loved this interview, Natasha. Thank you for this lovely window into your writing life. Learn more about Natasha’s work here, and buy The Mademoiselle Alliance here.

Also, don’t forget to offer my giveaway for signed copies of THREE NOVELS here.

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It is one of dozens of insightful moments in this saccharine, humorous and deeply felt novel out today from Viola Shipman. You’ll polish it off in a day or two! It’s funny too because I met Viola (pen name for Wade Rouse!) at a book event on eastern Long Island a few years ago and he has so much heart, insight and humor that it’s no wonder I adore his novels.

I loved the premise of The Page Turner from the start. Our heroine, Emma, is the daughter of two literary authors who own their own small press and churn out fiction geared toward the intellectual elite. Her dream: To be a romance novelist. What happens next is so much fun to watch. I invited Viola to drop by and chat about the new novel and all things publishing.

Welcome, Viola!

How is The Page Turner different or similar from your other books?
I call The Page Turner very Viola but also very different. I am writing about the foundational themes that have always interested me – love, family, friendship, getting knocked down by life and forging on with fight, hope, grit and gratitude – but I’m tackling bigger issues in this novel: Ego, misogyny, the corrosiveness of wealth and secrets, the necessity yet evils of social media, the difficulties of being an author today, the challenges facing the publishing industry, plus why we are so quick to judge others – as well as the books we read – by a quick glance at our collective covers. The Page family is not sweet and perfect.

I think that’s why I loved this book so much. I LOVE stories of rich people behaving badly, then add in the element of the main character’s parents’ intellectual snobbery and you had me hooked. Where did this idea come from?
I recently signed a new, three-book contract, and it made me stop—as I turn sixty—to think about what types of books I wanted to write. That led me back to my Ozarks grandma—my pen name, Viola Shipman—and to how a woman who never finished high school used her voice and her stories to inspire me, and who first led me to the things that would save me as a gay kid in rural America in the 1970s: Books, reading and writing.

Voice was the big idea I had for this novel: Voice is all we have as souls and writers, but we often don’t trust our voices out of fear (failure, we want to fit in, we want to be liked, we don’t think we’re good enough … whatever). We also don’t believe anyone wants to hear our voices, so we silence them, which is the worst thing we can do as people or writers because we are silenced before we even begin to change the world.

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Do people ever accuse you of not writing "serious" enough? It’s not often you see a male writer with pastels on the cover, but of course, it’s one of my favorite covers I’ve seen this season.
Yes, I’ve been accused for not writing “serious” enough. It used to bother me in the past, but it no longer does. I sort of wear it as a badge of courage knowing that my writing may not appeal to certain critics who feel that keeping emotion at a distance is best in both life and literature, or that overt sentimentality is a weakness in life and literature (and to be clear, I started my career writing nonfiction, and I held nothing back, yet hope and seeing the good in the worst still came through, and even that bothered some critics). They couldn’t be more wrong, and I actually feel sorry for them.

I grew up reading everything with my grandmothers, who not only volunteered at the local library but also would pull romance novels off the rounders in the grocery store and take them to our log cabin. As I grew older, I read the books they did, from Erma Bombeck and Shogun to Tom Wolfe, Harold Robbins, Judith Krantz and Jackie Collins. Many of the so-called “romance novels” featured women who overcame great obstacles in their lives to find love and success, or who were redefining literature by being the ones in charge in a male-dominated world. I learned to love all kinds of writing, but realized I was drawn to stories—like the stories my grandmas shared with me about their lives and the books we read together—that were “universal” in nature, ones that center on love, family and friendship.

Much of The Page Turner centers on what I’ve experienced writing fiction: Why are books that focus on “women’s issues” often deemed less than by some critics and readers? I ask in the novel why books that center on female characters and the issues of their lives—all of our lives—labeled as chick lit, or fluff, when other novels are simply called literature? Why are stories that center on the most important parts of our lives considered less worthy of attention and wide readership if they do not include blood, murder, bad words, or seek to intentionally divide us? All of this has inspired my writing journey and Emma’s in the novel.

And yet … my 2026 novel, Thank You for Being A Friend, will certainly shatter some preconceived notions regarding my writing. It will be published in hard cover next spring under my own name, Wade Rouse. It’s a hilarious and deeply poignant exploration of family, faith and friendship featuring four men of a certain age (“The Golden Gays”)—each similar in personality to the characters on The Golden Girls— who not only perform a popular theatrical show celebrating the sitcom but also live communally in a beautiful mid-century home in Palm Springs until age, illness, estrangement and secrets test their friendship pact. I couldn’t be more excited to share it with the world.

Editor’s note: This will definitely be number one on my TBR list for next year. “The Golden Gays!” How clever. I love it.

Did you come up with the title The Page Turner? How did it evolve as you were writing it?
I did, although the original title for The Page Turner was The Mighty Pages. As you well know, most authors lose the title battle with their publishing team (lots of input is sought in publishing these days, often too much), but my publisher always allows me to come up with alternative titles that I end up loving just as much, and this title fits the storyline perfectly.

One of the very first things I wrote in The Page Turner—which is, at its heart, a tribute to how books and reading not only change us but often save our lives—was the following, and the story evolved from its heartbeat:

Books are a chance to right the wrong in the world, an opportunity to rewrite ourselves. We can reimagine and reinvent, see the world in an entirely new way simply by turning a page.

It’s only by listening to that voice within us – the one that speaks to us late at night, the one calling to you right now, the one we try so hard to ignore because we just want to fit in and we just want life to be less painful – that we can bring our stories to life.

Because when we do, our words are no longer our words, our stories are no longer our stories, they belong to you, the reader. You make them your own, and, when you do, for a moment, the pain eases, the words are no longer jumbled, your heart is Super Glued back into place once more, it is whole, we are one, and the world actually makes sense again.

If even for a single, mighty page.

That is absolutely beautiful. I remember reading it and thinking: This man can write DEEP. I love that you write under a pen name. For those of you who don't know, the author publishes under Viola Shipman, the name of his maternal grandmother. After all of these years, why is it so important to you that you continue to use her name?
I would not be the person, or writer, I am today without my grandmother. She sacrificed everything for me and my family to have a better life than her. She was a working poor seamstress who never finished high school or learned to drive, and my grandfather was an ore miner who—when that work dried up—raked rocks off farmers’ fields so they could till their crops. Their lives were not easy, and yet they approached each day with gratitude and hope. They remembered what mattered most in this world, something we all forget every day.

My grandma always said, “Life is as short as one blink of God’s eye, but in that blink we forget what matters most: Each other.” No one said my grandmother’s name during her lifetime; she was overlooked by society because she had no education, power or money, and yet by loving unconditionally and teaching me to cherish my “Wade-ness” she was a powerful agent of change.

And if a reader walks into a library or bookstore a hundred years from now – long after I’m gone – and picks up one of my novels, says my grandmother’s name, understands the person she was and the sacrifices she made and, perhaps, reconnects with their own family history to understand how they came to be, then my work will be done and my “blink” will have mattered.

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Can you describe a moment in publishing where you threw up your hands and nearly gave up?
Yes, many times actually, but the biggest came in 2012, following the death of my mother. I had published four memoirs—one book at a time, literally on spec, no book contract each time—and my imprint and team was dissolved. I had written a quirky, funny, deeply poignant book about my hair (yes, you heard me right). I called it a hair-moir, but it was about my fascination with my hair over my life and the different hairstyles I’d sported, all woven together with my mother’s battle with cancer and her total lack of ego (she would not wear a wig). It was a really a book about self-esteem: My lack of it, and my mother’s incredible light. There was a lot of interest, but my agent (who is amazing and is still my agent today) could not find a buyer. I felt my career was over. My father went downhill quickly, and I was dealing with his worsening dementia. I became severely depressed. I felt as if I were drowning.

One day, after dealing with my father, I pulled off on the highway and wept. I called my agent and asked if my writing career was over, and she said, “Not as long as you keep writing and keep being you.”

The next trip to visit my father was to help him move out of our family home, and I found my grandmother’s heirlooms (recipe boxes, charm bracelet, hope chest) boxed up in the attic, and an idea hit me out of the blue, and I began to write what would become my first novel, The Charm Bracelet, on top of a cardboard box. I sent early pages to my agent, and she told me, “This is going to be great, but you only get one chance at a debut novel so it has to be perfect,” so I knew it would take me a while to get this just right. So I did whatever I could to “extend my runway” to make that happen: I taught writing workshops. I became a writer for PEOPLE magazine online, waking at five a.m. to cover breaking celebrity news.

Most days, my life was the same as it was when I was writing my first memoir: Working full time and writing at night, my days often going from five a.m. to midnight. My husband believed in me so much he took on two jobs…and then, after three years of writing, my novel sold at auction and concurrently in deals around the world, eventually becoming a #1 international bestseller. That was twelve novels and one memoir ago. I’ve learned to never give up and to continue to write what calls to you. You must stay in the game. I believe most overnight successes in publishing take about twenty years.

Second to that was making a difficult decision to leave a publisher I believed was not doing enough for me and my work, taking a pay cut and moving to a new team. Turned out that was the best decision I ever made.

Being an author is not for the weak.

Darn straight. I’m realizing this more and more. It’s one reason I love asking that question. It inspires me, too. Have any of your novels ever made you cry?
Oh, yeah. Every time. I judge if my books are ready to turn over to my editor after a tenth read and whether I’m ugly crying or laughing hysterically at the same places every time. Specifically, there is a scene in my novel, The Clover Girls—about four girls who become best friends during summer camp in the 1980s—that tears me apart: It’s based on saying goodbye to my mother, and the pain we experience as children and caregivers. My next novel has some gut-wrenching scenes. And my memoirs always bring me to tears, including moments with my Ozarks father in my recent memoir, Magic Season, (about how baseball and the St. Louis Cardinals were the only things to bridge our divide).

Lastly, what was your biggest high in publishing?
Selling The Charm Bracelet—in the U.S. and to about thirty countries—after years of working on it because I thought my career was over. Getting the first movie option for one of my novels (The Secret of Snow) because it was a bucket list item. And having my mom see my memoir, At Least in the City Someone Would Hear Me Scream, featured as a summer book pick on the Today show two weeks before she died. She was the one who pushed me to write: As a hospice nurse, she told me not to live with any regret in life as so many of her patients at the end of their lives did. I felt I had finally made it, even at the hardest time of my life.

Fill in the blank: I'm happiest writing in.....!
My blue robe! LOL! It’s true! I can only write in my lucky robe! And I don’t wash it until I’ve completed a book and sent it to my editor. I’m very ritualistic. And love to be comfortable when I’m writing. I laugh when I see movies or TV shows depict authors writing in couture, gowns, or tuxes.

That is hysterical. When I was writing my first novel, I bought a sweatshirt that said, “Make it Happen.” I wrote in it all the time when I was working on Summer Darlings because I really believed that it would make it happen—and it did.

Thank you so much for stopping by today, Viola. I adore you, your books and this new one is a keeper. Learn more about Viola Shipman (and Wade Rouse) on his website and buy The Page Turner here. xo

When we met at a recent book event and she told me about her latest novel, The Girl from Greenwich Street, I knew I had to feature Willig in these pages. The Girl from Greenwich Street is being called “Law and Order: 1800.” It follows Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr in turn of the century Manhattan as they investigate the shocking murder of a mysterious (and until now, unknown) young woman. The story is completely true, and this interview with Willig, is as fascinating as the novel itself.

Welcome, Lauren!! I’m so excited to have you here on Dear Fiction.

Where did the idea for this novel come from? I have this vision of you sitting at Hamilton on Broadway and honing in on one line and then diving into research.
Can you believe I still haven’t seen Hamilton? Unless you count Hamilton by association because when she was seven my daughter was obsessed with it and used to belt out the songs at me.

As a native New Yorker, I’ve always been fascinated by my city’s history—birthday parties at the Museum of the City of New York were a huge deal when I was growing up—so I subscribe to a ton of Instagram accounts about New York history. Years ago, a post popped up about the Manhattan Well Murder, and, like so many people, I thought, oh my goodness, Hamilton and Burr working together as counsel for the defense? How strange and wonderful! (Spoiler: that’s one of the least strange things about this case.)

I immediately fell down the rabbit hole— and by rabbit hole, I mean the transcript of this trial, because that is the strange and wonderful thing about this case: it’s America’s first fully recorded murder trial, ninety-nine pages of pure drama. All sorts of things come out on the stand: lies, adultery, secrets. Not to mention Hamilton and Burr elbowing each other as they fight for the limelight!

I was hooked. I knew I had to write about it. And that’s why I’ve never seen Hamilton! I didn’t want to let anyone else’s depiction of Alexander Hamilton guide me as I delved into the documents. Although now that The Girl from Greenwich Street is out in the world, I can finally book those tickets!

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You will not be disappointed! What was the biggest challenge when it came to researching this novel?
This case is a giant historical game of telephone. From the moment Elma’s body was found on January 2, 1800, stories started circulating through the city, most of them riddled with misinformation. Over the centuries, a lot of that misinformation was repeated until it took on the ring of truth. So the biggest challenge for me was peeling back all the layers of what everyone thinks they know about this case to try to figure out what actually happened.

One major example involves Hamilton. The story that’s told over and over is that Hamilton took this case because he was in debt to Ezra Weeks (the accused man’s older brother) for building Hamilton’s country house, the Grange. There’s one slight problem with this. Hamilton doesn’t even buy the land on which the Grange stands until four months AFTER the trial. He can’t be in debt for a house that hasn’t been built yet. I had to ask: why did Hamilton take the case? The answer to that entirely changes the shape of the story.

And that’s just one example among many where I had to really dig to try to get to the facts of the case!

Although there were times when the facts were murky and I had to make educated guesses, there were no places where I knowingly deviated to make the story more interesting—because the story is so interesting as it is! You’ve got more and more people with a motive to murder Elma popping up all over the place. One witness is asked to leave the courtroom, breaks in again, and has to be towed out by the bailiffs. Family secrets come out on the stand. People blurt out things they really wish they hadn’t. You can’t make this stuff up. It’s Law and Order: 1800!

What drew you the most to Elma's story? What did you see in her that made you want to write her story?
One of the things that infuriated me as I was working on this book was how, with all that’s been written about this case over the years, so little attention has been devoted to Elma Sands. People don’t even bother to get her name or family situation right. Some people refer to her as a Quaker—her family were Quakers, but Elma refused to join the meeting. Some people refer to the boarding house owners as her aunt and uncle—Catherine Ring, who ran the boarding house, was Elma’s first cousin. These details may seem small, but they matter. Elma matters. All too often, she gets trampled over by authors in their eagerness to get to Hamilton and Burr. She’s also used as a pretext to get them into the courtroom, flattened into an innocent woman seduced or a melancholy nymphomaniac laudanum addict, the classic Madonna or whore dichotomy, with no attempt to get to the real woman underneath.

As an example of this, there’s a recent “non-fiction” book about the case that opens with a scene in which Elma is feeling melancholy, because that’s just the way she is, and she’s yearning for a tipple of laudanum. This is presented as fact. It’s not. It was part of the defense strategy, trying to claim Elma had committed suicide—and no one bought it at the time.

Fortunately, we have the transcript, with the testimony of Elma’s relations and acquaintances, from which a very strong image of Elma starts to emerge. I also did a deep dive in censuses, wills, Quaker meeting house records, family publications, and local history to get an idea of what Elma’s childhood was like growing up in Cornwall, New York. What emerged was a young woman who was treated as the family disgrace—the illegitimate niece of a hellfire and brimstone Quaker preacher, the charity case and family embarrassment—but who refused to be cowed. Too lively, they called her. Fond of fine things. Prone to borrowing other peoples’ belongings without asking—because if she doesn’t take for herself, nothing will be given to her.

I really don’t think you can understand why Elma left the boarding house on that fateful night and with whom unless you have some idea of who Elma was— and I’m still spitting mad that no one seems to have made much of an effort! Much easier to just label her a melancholy laudanum addict and move on….

It’s infuriating the way women are often flattened, as you say, into these stereotypes. Getting to know Elma is what makes this story so fascinating. But about those superstars Aaron Burr or Alexander Hamilton: Talk a little bit about their dynamic. Were they brilliant partners or competitive ones? What is your favorite scene between them?
The dynamic between Hamilton and Burr made me think about middle school frenemies: that friend you know is poison for you but you can’t quite stay away from. New York was the largest city on the eastern seaboard but by modern standards it was tiny, just 60,000 people in 1799, and the New York political and legal elite was even tinier. Hamilton and Burr were co-counsel on a number of cases. But their characters were deeply antithetical: Hamilton’s boasting and micromanaging irritates Burr and Hamilton froths at the mouth whenever Burr—as he does repeatedly!—tricks Hamilton.

One of my favorite examples of this—which I got to use in this book!—really shows the dynamic between them. In the late 18^th century, if you were admitted to the bar first, you got to give the closing statement. That was the place of honor. Both Hamilton and Burr had been admitted to the bar in 1782, but Burr had been admitted in April and Hamilton in July, which meant that Burr was technically senior. Hamilton, being Hamilton, insisted that he give the closing statement and Burr take the junior position, delivering the opening statement. Burr, being Burr, instead of saying, “Hey, I was admitted to the bar three months before you, nice try”, told him to go ahead. Hamilton, blithely oblivious, shared his notes and drafts with Burr. When it came time for trial, Burr stood up to give his opening statement—and delivered Hamilton’s opening statement as his own, leaving Hamilton with nothing to say.

And that pales in comparison to the trick Burr pulls on Hamilton with the Manhattan Company…. But you get the idea! They veer back and forth between working together and cutting each other off at the knees, a dynamic that’s very much at play in the Levi Weeks trial.

If you could relive the best day of your writing career, what would it be and why?
There’s really nothing like seeing your first book in a bookstore for the first time and realizing, wow, this is actually a book! I’ll never forget the week my first book, The Secret History of the Pink Carnation, came out. I was a grad student and law student at Harvard at the time, and one of my best friends from the history department came downtown to Copley Place with me to see if the Barnes and Nobles there had my book. She started jumping up and down, exclaiming, “Oh my goodness, you’re a poster!” Sure enough, there, in front of the store, was a giant image of my book cover. So I started jumping up and down and shouting, “Oh my goodness, I’m a poster!” And then we went to the bakery next door and got giant cupcakes.

I’ve had many wonderful moments since then—the thrill of the characters finally starting to speak to you when you’ve been stuck for months, amazing readers creating Peep dioramas of my books, gossip and fun with other authors—but nothing quite beats being a poster. And cupcakes.

What has been your lowest moment in publishing? What did you do to push through?
I feel like that Chumbawamba song: I get knocked down and I get up again. This past February marked the twentieth anniversary of the publication of that first book and it still boggles my brain that I’ve been at this for twenty years (twenty-two if you count from my first book contract). I think if you talk to any long-term career author, you’ll get a similar answer: there are lots of ups and downs, and you just have to ride them out and remember this business is nine-tenths luck, and sometimes the luck is with you and sometimes it isn’t—but you just have to keep writing. I like to tell myself that I don’t regret any book I’ve written, only the books I haven’t written.

That being said, my lowest moment came a couple of years ago (October 2022, to be precise), when I discovered that someone had plagiarized my first book. She’d changed the title and the cover; she’d changed a couple of the characters’ names, but not all; and she’d partly rewritten the first chapter. But otherwise it was my book. Word for word. My words with someone else’s name on them.

There’s something very special about a first book—it’s the one you agonize over, the one where you can recite lines from memory—so maybe that’s why it hit me so hard. It felt like my past was being erased. Like I was being erased. That there was an alternate history where my memory of writing those same words, laboring over those words, chortling over those words, in my little grad student studio back in Cambridge in 2001 had never happened. It was like coming home to find someone sitting in your chair, wearing your clothes, and looking you in the eye and saying, “Who are you? This is MY house.”

The lawyers from my publishing house got on it. The book was pulled—or as pulled as they can make it. (Once something is out there, you can never fully get rid of it. It kills me knowing there are still physical copies of that book floating around, being sold at used bookstores, my words with another person’s name.) But it stopped me writing for months. Why should I write if my words could be taken away from me?

What really got me through it were the amazing readers on my Facebook author page and website, and the realization that the book wasn’t just a book: from that book and its sequels (that book had turned into a twelve book series, taking up over a decade of my life), we’d built a community together. And no one could take that away.

Wow. This is one of the most powerful interviews I’ve done on Author Confessions. I loved this so much, Lauren. Thank you for all of your great storytelling and for giving us twenty years of smart, well-researched and engaging fiction.

You can buy Lauren’s latest The Girl from Greenwich Street here. See you all next week. Happy Tuesday!

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I read the dual timeline novel over a few days, and the literary mystery whisked me away. The premise is simple: A little girl’s life is transformed in 1928 when her mother, a renowned author, goes missing. Fast forward to 1952, the girl, Clara, is all grown up with a daughter of her own; she’s contacted by someone in England who claims to have a book containing the handwritten dictionary of her mother’s lost language. The real heart of the novel is Clara uncovering her mother’s story, and grappling with the past. It’s so good!

I adore talking to Patti and we had a nice chat about her new novel. Her books are so full of heart and so is she. She’s also chock full of writing advice and insight about the difficult path of publishing.

So great to see you, Patti! Congrats on the new novel. Where did the idea for The Story She Left Behind come from?
I’m so thrilled to be talking to you about this new novel! I had originally set out to write about Beatrix Potter when I discovered that Beatrix once created a coded language so her mother couldn’t read her journals. This sent me down the rabbit hole of “writers who created languages.” And therein I found Barbara Newhall Follett. It was as if electricity ran through me. There’s always a moment when a story takes hold of you, when it whispers in your ear and won’t let go. For this novel, that moment came when I first read about Barbara Newhall Follett—the brilliant young writer who vanished without a trace. Her story felt like something out of a novel itself, filled with longing, escape, and the irresistible pull of mystery. I couldn’t stop thinking about her—about the ways we are shaped by the stories we tell and the ones we leave behind. From that moment, I knew I wanted to write about a woman who disappears but leaves behind something more than just unanswered questions.

Did the book change as you were writing it? How did it evolve?
Absolutely it changed! Books always change as I write them—if they didn’t, I think I’d be worried. The Story She Left Behind started as novel about Barbara, her real life and mystery. But after nearly a year of writing (OMG!), I realized that I wanted to fictionalize her story. I wanted Barbara to be the inspiration but not the subject. This required me starting over, something that is always hard as a writer. But I do believe that nothing is wasted. Not the time I spent in research or the words I wrote! The novel turned into something even richer, even more layered than I originally imagined. It became more about the people left behind—the ones who try to piece together the past, the ones who carry its weight forward. It became about memory and myth, about how truth isn’t always fixed but shaped by those who tell it. It was about language and how we use it to shape our world.

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I love that. I remember when you traveled to the Lake district to research this book. Why did you feel as though you needed to go and what did it add to the writing/story specifically?
There’s only so much research you can do from a desk before you have to step into the world of your story. I knew the Lake District was important to The Story She Left Behind, and I needed to feel it for myself—the air, the mist, the way the light shifts over the water. It’s one thing to read about a place, but it’s another to stand where your characters would have stood, to walk the same paths, to breathe the same air. Being there changed everything. It added a sense of atmosphere I couldn’t have captured otherwise.

There’s a kind of magic in the Lake District, a feeling that the past lingers in the stones and trees, and that seeped into the novel. It helped me understand my characters better, especially the ones searching for something lost. And, of course, there was the simple joy of discovery—of wandering into a path down a side street, of finding a tucked-away bench overlooking the hills, of listening to the wind move through the fells and knowing that sound would be in my story.

You've written 18 novels now, as well as short stories, an Audible original and essays in anthologies. Does writing ever get easier?
You’d think it would, right? But the truth is, every book is like learning to tell a story alll over again. Some parts get easier—I know my rhythms, I trust my instincts more—but other parts remain just as hard. The blank page is always daunting. Doubt still creeps in. Almost every time I get halfway through a story and think I see something shiny (another story) out of the corner of my eye. I still have those moments where I think, “what if this is the book I can’t untangle?” What does get easier is knowing that those moments will pass. I’ve learned that the messiness of writing is part of the process, that doubt means I’m pushing myself, that the best stories are the ones that challenge me. And, of course, I’ve learned that the only way out of a tough writing day is through it—one word, one sentence, one scene at a time.

They say that writers are good eavesdroppers. Have you ever heard a piece of dialogue and then used it in one of your books? (I have!) If so, where were you, what did you hear and how did you use it?
Yes! Writer’s are listeners! I’m not sure if I’ve ever used an exact line, but I do know I have listened to the emotions and wondered, “What is up with that?” And then it shows up in a novel.

What was your toughest day in publishing so far?
Honestly, there have been so many. I’m over twenty years into my career (I wrote a substack about it HERE), and so many lessons learned. My toughest day in publishing was the day I had to leave one agent to go to another. Without betraying confidence, let me just say I was powerfully hurt. This is a business, but it is also personal. Our stories are our lifeblood and our business associates are deep in our lives. How did I get over it? I had to do one of the hardest things for me: Be comfortable in being uncomfortable in letting people down or making them upset. It’s almost a spiritual practice to sit in that uncomfortable place and not react, but it is necessary.

If you could relive one day in your life, what would it be and why?
Oh my goodness, so many. I could not pick one; I’d have to roll the dice between my daughter’s wedding and my son’s wedding. Both of those were pure bliss seeing their happiness and having family together. Wonderful book news (like hitting the NYT list or a new contract) are huge celebrations, but it is family that wins my heart every time.

What were a few of your favorite books you read last year?
The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon. Small Things Like These by Clare Keegan. First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. The Shadowed Land by Signe Pike. I could go on and on — we are so lucky at that we get to read early copies of some extraordinary novels. I just finished a novel coming out next year for blurb called The Bookbinder’s Secret by A. D. Bell — keep your eyes open for it!

I loved this interview so much. Thanks so much for stopping by, Patti! If you’re not signed up for Patti’s substack, you can find it at . To find out more about her writing, visit her website. She’s had so many amazing novels and if you haven’t read one, you’re missing out!

See you all next week when we have a much needed catch up! As always if you like reading Dear Fiction, please “heart” the post at the top of the page. It helps more readers find this wonderful community.

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Jackie’s answer: Create unforgettable characters. That’s exactly what she went on to do as she wrote her latest novel Counting Backwards, which is out today. Counting Backwards is a dual timeline and dual POV novel that tells the story of women (both past and present) who are grappling with motherhood, fertility and the decisions that are sometimes forced upon us. I particularly love her heroine lawyer, Jessa, who has the chops of Erin Brokovich. After taking on a probono immigration case at a local detention facility, she asks the hard questions, realizing that the terror facing her client is widespread.

I think this novel would make such a great book club pick because there’s so much to talk about in these pages—and the story is so compelling, you won’t be able to put it down. I invited Jackie, a dear writer friend, to tell us about her writing process, her greatest day in publishing and why this subject was so important to her.

Welcome, Jackie!

Let’s rewind in time for a moment. Do you remember what made you want to be a writer?
I always loved writing. For as long as I can remember, I was the kid who wrote poems for friends' birthdays or got asked to write the lines for our talent show skits. I loved writing so much that I never took it seriously as a career option. It fell into the same category for me as being a famous rock star or actress. Something super cool, but obviously unrealistic. But then when I was in my mid-twenties, working as a corporate litigation attorney, I missed being around stories and books so much that I knew I had to actually try my hand at writing a book. Otherwise I’d be destined to suffer my fate working a job I never wanted for the rest of my life. Nine years after graduating law school, I went back to school to get my masters in creative writing, and I have never looked back!

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Where did the idea for Counting Backwards come from? Were you always certain that such a controversial topic would make for a great story?
When I was a senior in high school, my history teacher had each student choose a Supreme Court case to write a lengthy paper about. I found the 1927 case of Buck v. Bell, where the Court ordered that seventeen-year-old Carrie Buck could be sterilized against her wishes because she was, what they called, "feebleminded." They justified the decision on the grounds that they didn't want her to pass on any "defective" genes. As a seventeen-year-old at the time myself, I was floored that these Justices, who were considered great humanitarians of their era, would hand down a decision like this. Worse yet, I discovered in my research that Carrie wasn't even disabled. She was just a poor, uneducated foster kid who was costing the state of Virginia more tax dollars than they wanted to pay, and they didn't like it. The ruling of the horrible case always stayed with me.

Fast forward to 2020, I was on a news site and saw a headline that said, "The Uterus Collector." When I clicked on it, I found a shocking story about a nurse at an immigration detention center in Georgia who'd come forward as a whistleblower. She said that a doctor at the facility was sterilizing the female inmates, telling them they needed various gynecological procedures, and then removing their uterus or ovaries without their prior consent while they were sleeping. It was unthinkable to me that things like this might possibly still be happening in America almost a hundred years after Carrie Buck's case.

I felt urgently that more people needed to know about these things, and that's when I saw a path to telling both Carrie's story and the stories of contemporary immigrant women in one connected plotline.

Also, please note that there is currently a class-action lawsuit pending in federal court about the treatment of the inmates in Georgia, but the allegations have not been proven in a court of law. My book is a fictionalized imagining of a similar scenario.

You write from the first person perspective of a southern woman with such believability. Where are you pulling from when you write from a different time period?
Though I'm a born and bred lifelong New Yorker, I've always felt a strong pull toward the South. Two of my earlier novels are historical fiction, both set largely in the South in the years leading up to the Civil War. As you can imagine, those books involved a ton of research, and I really got to know the history, the culture, and the overall vibe. I also love language and have always been interested in the slight differences in tone and vernacular between different time periods or locations. Writing about Carrie in the same geographical areas I had studied so extensively only about seventy years later than the stories in my prior books felt like it came very naturally to me.

I've sat with her story for nearly thirty years since high school, thinking of her more often than you might expect. It was actually a relief when I finally got to sit down and give voice to the person I’d been imagining for so long.

How did writing Counting Backwards compare to your other novels? Was it more or less challenging and why?
Counting Backwards was the hardest book I've ever written but also the most rewarding.

The right to reproduce is not something that gets much attention because here in America, we assume certain rights are just never at risk. Yet, this intimate, personal part of our humanity is a type of bodily autonomy that deserves more attention. I started from that position, and then I needed to build characters who could be deeply affected by challenges in this realm.

Portraying the women in detention in modern day America was especially challenging. I wanted to make sure to get everything as "right" as possible, and I needed to learn so much. I spoke with inmates in detention, and I also channeled my own prior experiences as an attorney who represented an asylum seeker back in my former life as a lawyer. Coupling all that with the crazy political landscape we're living in, and the amount of attention immigration has been receiving in the news, there was just so much at stake. I do think it paid off and has resulted in a book that does all the things I hoped for: It explores an important social justice issue while also telling a very human story about family, love, resilience, and bravery.

And you do that! I love asking authors this question. If you could relive one day in your publishing life, what would it be and why?
I've had so many great days in publishing. It's hard to choose! I think the day I'd pick is the day in 2018 when I posted on Facebook that my first book, Trouble the Water, was going to be published. I'd been very shy before that about telling people I was writing a book. I felt like so many people say they're working on the next great novel, and it never turns into anything. I didn't want to be one just one more person talking about a dream that would never come to fruition, so I really only told my family I’d been working on a book.

Even after I got my first publishing deal, there was such a long period of time projected between the date of signing the contract to when the book would actually be published, so I still didn't let the cat out of the bag. Then, six months before the book was coming out, I announced the impending release to a few thousand friends and family members on Facebook, and suddenly my whole journey as an author became real. It was the culmination of so many years of hard work, and I was just so excited for everything that lay ahead.

Have any of your teenaged children ever read any of your books?
My children have not read any of my books, if you can believe that BS! At first, they were too young, and then by the time they got older, they were so familiar with the plots that they just weren't interested in reading stories where they already knew the ending. There's a lot of talk at our family dinner table about my storylines, especially when I'm trying to work out stickier plot points. As for whether I want them to read the books, I'd love for them to get immersed in something I've written. Unfortunately, my three sons aren't very interested in fiction, and my daughter is only in middle school. Hopefully when she gets a little older, she'll check them out.

Has there been a moment when you nearly threw in the towel on being a writer?
There are so many tough moments in writing. When you're trying to get an agent, and people don't come banging down your door. When you finally do get an agent, but it takes longer to sell your book to a publisher than you'd expected. When your book finally gets published and not every last review is five stars. The list goes on and on. It is definitely a challenge to keep the faith at all times, but I think the guiding principle has to be your level of passion. If you love the writing, which I really, really do, you will keep coming back to it. There is so much joy in the process, in creating multi-layered characters who you adore, in watching them grow and change.

And of course, there's also the writing community, so many authors who support each other and offer encouragement. With their hands on your back and the characters you've created overcoming their own obstacles, it makes it hard to sit back and say you can't beat your challenges too. I keep writing because I can’t not!

Lastly, is there an author (or three) whose writing you aspire to be like? In other words, if a critic called you the next _________, what name would you want in that spot?
The list of author comparisons that would make me swoon is long. But I would say I'm especially excited by the idea of having my writing be compared to Jodi Picoult's. We both write about social justice issues, and I love the way her books get deep into the topics they're covering, elucidating multiple perspectives, while still maintaining a gripping plot that's engaging and accessible. That was my goal with Counting Backwards, and I hope that others will feel that’s the kind of book I created.

I loved this book so much and I hope you’re as fascinated by the topic as I am. Jackie is a fantastic writer and you’re in good hands when you open her novel! Thank you so much for stopping by!

As always, if you enjoy reading Dear Fiction, click the “heart” button at the top of this email. It helps other readers and writers find this newsletter! xo

There are certain writers whose books carry a hallmark, and it’s certainly true of Julia Kelly. When you open one of her novels, you know you’re going to get an emotional, charming story that enchants you with its setting and relatable characters. Her latest novel, The Dressmakers of London, out today, is exactly that.

The World War II era story follows two estranged sisters, Sylvia and Izzie, who have lived entirely different lives for the last fifteen years. When their mother dies unexpectedly, they’re shocked to hear that they’ve both inherited her dress shop, despite the fact that Izzie has been toiling at her mother’s side while Sylvia has turned her back on her family since she married a handsome doctor. With Izzie’s resentment building and her eventual conscription to the WAAF, the two sisters are forced to face the past in order to save the shop—and their relationship.

I began reading the book last week, and I ended up bringing it on vacation this week since I was immediately taken with the two sisters. The tension in the novel is palpable, and I’m dying to see how the book unfolds since Julia is such a skillful writer. Plus, with all of the stress unfolding in Washington, all I wanted to do was slip back in time, even if times were complicated then, too.

I asked Julia to tell us about her engaging new novel, her writing life and how she got her start.

Thanks for stopping by, Julia! Why did you choose to write about sisters in The Dressmakers of London?

Some of the most complex and rewarding relationships of my life have been my friendships with other women, so it’s little surprise that I have always been drawn to writing about the dynamics between women. However, when I was sitting down to write The Dressmakers of London, I realized that I had yet to explore the relationship between sisters, which felt like a big miss!

My younger sister and I are very close, and she is one of the most important people in my life. As I began dreaming up this book, my writer's imagination took over, and I wondered what it might be like to be one half of a pair of sisters who were estranged. That is where Izzie and Sylvia start out at the beginning of this book. There are old hurts and misunderstandings about the lives the other wants to leave. I felt a responsibility as a writer to help these two sisters find their way back to one another.

I love that!! The story is told through the two sisters writing letters to one another. Why did you choose the epistolary form? What was challenging about it?

Given how emotionally far apart Izzie and Sylvia at the beginning of The Dressmakers of London, I knew that healing their relationship would take some effort. I also suspected that Sylvia, who was more willing to open back up to her sister at the beginning, might get there faster than Izzie.

When Izzie is conscripted into the WAAF and sent to work on air bases as part of a barrage balloon unit, she needs Sylvia’s help running their family dress shop back in London. The shop and the physical distance between the sisters were both good reasons for having them begin to write letters to one another. I sometimes think people find it easier to write their thoughts and feelings than articulate them as part of a conversation, and Izzie definitely proved to be one of those people.

In terms of the difficulty of writing letters, it’s a skill—and one that I don’t use very often anymore! There were definitely some false starts as I got back into the habit.

You write historical fiction and you write mysteries. How is this book different from your previous novels and would you ever write a contemporary novel? Why or why not?

I like to think that no matter whether a reader picks up one of my historical novels or one of my Evelyne Redfern mysteries, they’ll find some common threads running through them. I often focus on ordinary women who are pushed into circumstances which reveal just how much they are capable of. I also like to write about female friends, as I mentioned above, and I always hope that readers are satisfied but a bit sad to see the characters go when they finish a book.

Although I love writing historical novels, I would never say no to contemporary-set books. For me, it’s all about the right idea coming along at the right time to create that incredible alchemy that is a good book.

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What is your favorite time period to write about and why? Which of your books are set in that time?

I’ve focused mostly on World War II Britain for my novels and my mysteries so far. However, I’m a real magpie when it comes to reading for pleasure, and I find myself reading about a lot of different time periods. I have flirted with the idea of writing about the Victorian and Georgian eras, as well as the 1920s. Right now, however, the very early twentieth century has my attention as I work on a new book. Unfortunately, that’s about all I can say at this point!

What was your best day in publishing so far?

I quit my day job just after starting to date my now-husband, so he saw all of the excitement and anxiety that came with committing to being a full-time author. That’s why it was so exciting when, about two months later, I got the call from my agent as we were talking into a movie theater that we had an offer on a pitch I had submitted. It was unlike anything I’d done before, and I hadn’t been certain how publishers would feel about it. Getting to share that with him was pretty special!

Have you ever had a day you considered quitting? How did you get over the hump?

I hate to be one of those people who says I would do this even if I wasn’t getting paid, but I did for a very long time before I ever secured my first publishing deal. I worked very demanding day jobs first in journalism and then in the tech world for about ten years before I felt secure enough in my writing career to go full-time, and now that I’m here I don’t think I could give it up.

Lastly, if you could relive any one day in your life so far, what would it be and why?

There are too many to count, but my wedding day was pretty special. The entire day was very romantic and a lot of fun with everything from good food to saxophone solos to a blackout mid-way through the wedding reception. (Don’t worry, we got power back very quickly!)

That’s lovely, just like you and your novels. Thanks for stopping by, Dear Fiction! If you’re interested in reading Julia’s latest novel The Dressmakers of London, you can find it here, here and here.

I’m on vacation in the Caribbean this week, and I’ll report back on my reading and writing life when I get back. I lugged four novels down with me. More to come soon!

As always, click the “heart” icon in the email if you enjoy reading Dear Fiction. There are so many of you out there. Say hello and tell me what you’re reading!

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When I think about an author who is an expert at voice, it’s Christina Clancy. I read Christina’s debut The Second Home while I was on vacation a few years back, and I was brought to my knees by the poignant story of complicated sibling relationships. I immediately messaged her (we’d never met) and told her how much I loved her book, and we’ve been corresponding since.

Voice is the star of Christina’s latest novel, too: The Snowbirds, which is out today. Told from the point of the view of a middle aged wife named Kim, the story follows a Madison, Wisconsin couple who move to Palm Springs, California so it will be “summer all of the time.” She wants to move, her husband is reluctant and after they arrive, he goes missing while hiking in the nearby mountains.

Once again Christina nails the voice of her main character. Kim feels like someone I’m getting to know, and then someone I know well — and the portrait of her marriage, while unfamiliar, is so familiar. I love this book so much, so I had to reach out to Christina to get a behind the scenes look at the writing of it.

Welcome to Dear Fiction, Christina!

On the surface your novels all seem really different. Do you see a common thread running through them? What is it and why does that theme keep you returning?
I'm very fortunate that my editor hasn't asked me to stay in my lane--at this point, I'm not even sure what my lane even is. A friend of mine just texted me after reading my debut, The Second Home, and my second book, Shoulder Season. He said he thought I wrote about women on their own, and I found that very perceptive, because The Snowbirds is also about a woman who is wrestling with her independence. Kim has never been able to give all of herself to her partner, Grant. Now that she's getting older and her life is changing, she's trying to decide if she can truly commit to her long-time relationship or if she's better off letting go. Another theme is "home." The characters in all my novels are trying to figure out where they feel most themselves.

Where did the idea for The Snowbirds come from? Where were you when you had it and how did it evolve and change as you were writing?
We were in Palm Springs during covid and decided on a whim to purchase a condo (#coviddecision) because we didn't want to return to the midwest, and rental prices had gone through the roof. I have never owned a condo and didn't know anything about HOAs. I found it funny that people fought over the smallest stuff, like the hot tub temperature and the color of the pool umbrellas.

Yet there was a tight community of residents who'd been coming to Palm Springs forever. Among them were friends Gord and Roger. They told me a story about how, a few years earlier, they'd gone for a hike, and only Gord returned home after Roger had slipped down an ice chute. Roger was missing for three days, and the entire complex united around his search.

I was an avid hiker and found his adventure fascinating, yet I was more interested in what it must have been like for his family and friends to wait to hear news of his whereabouts. Also, it's crazy to think of someone heading out into the mountains and possibly never seen or heard from again. That was the starting point for the story, and as I worked on it I became interested in some themes that began to emerge. One was how late middle age in an opportunity for self-discovery and change, and also the challenges of facing old age with a partner when you've been with for a long time. You don't stay married for the same reasons you get married.

What has been your most challenging moment in publishing? What did you do to overcome it?
I was so excited for the launch of my debut novel, The Second Home, that I was counting out the number of coffee filters I had to go through before my release date. My publisher made my book a lead title, and for a while it seemed like everything I could have dreamt was happening: I was flown to NYC to meet the team, they sent me to a big bookseller conference called Winter Institute, and I had a "pre-tour" with fancy dinners with booksellers in several cities.

My planned events were incredible--I was supposed to be at a luncheon in conversation with Lily King, and I was going to speak at the Boston Public Library. But then... covid. One by one my events were canceled, and I think my publisher knew it would be hard to break out a debut under those circumstances. I used that last coffee filter on June 2, 2020, the day of a social media blackout. They couldn't even promote my book! It sucked, but I still knew I was lucky to have a book enter the world, and it did find readers. My career got off to a bumpy start and I missed out on events where I could connect with readers and other writers.

I sometimes wonder what it would have been like if not for the pandemic. You can imagine that's why I'm so excited to launch my third book during "normal" times.

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What was your most challenging moment writing The Snowbirds? How did you overcome it?
I was on deadline for this book and I found it incredibly challenging. While I was working on it my mom moved out of our family home into an independent living community, so I was trying to write while making trips to the Goodwill and getting her house ready for sale. I was like Annette Bening in American Beauty when she said, "Today I will sell this house!" Only I'd sit at my desk and think, "Today I will write this book!"

I'm not an outliner or a planner, and this is a difficult way to write when you have to turn in a finished product. I had a few artist residencies, and that helped. When I was really getting down to the wire I found this incredible focus and concentration I honestly wasn't sure I could tap into again. I would work twelve hour days on the book, reading it from beginning to end while editing. It was so cool to think of it as a whole thing, and to be so intensely involved in the story. I thought, this is what it's like to be an artist. It's so hard and so much work to write a book. That's why, even if I read a book that's not for me, I am appreciative of the effort and care the author put into it.

Was there a moment in the book that you feel like you really nailed? What was it and why are you so proud of it?
I'm a writer of place, and I think I captured the character, landscape and "vibe" of Palm Springs.

Palm Springs originally came to fame when people sought rest cures for illnesses like TB. Celebrities from Los Angeles, required under contract to remain within two hours of Hollywood in case they were needed on set, escaped to the desert where they could have fun away from the limelight. This is where Marilyn Monroe was discovered, and where Bob Hope, Howard Hughes, Clark Gable, Zsa Zsa Gabor and Steve McQueen lhad homes, and where the Rat Pack was formed. In the 50s and 60s it became a mecca of swanky Mid Century architecture.

These days, as a character in my book says, it's "gay and gray," although hipsters and young people are discovering the desert. It's also a pretty wealthy resort town, so most of the residents have lots of leisure time for dining, golf, tennis, and, of course, pickleball. Thrown into the mix are the year-round residents and Snowbirds. You feel like you are in a place where leisure takes priority over work, and where arts, culture and style matter.

You've set a book on Cape Cod and The Snowbirds is set in Palm Springs. If you had to live in one, which one would it be and why?
This is a tough question because they are both so different! I actually meet lots of people from Provincetown in Palm Springs because they are both gay meccas. I think I'd say Cape Cod, specifically Wellfleet, because my family has owned a house there since the 1890's and I spent every summer there when I was growing up. It's a place that is filled with nostalgia and history. My husband isn't into living there year-round, although we've talked about it. He doesn't like the crowds in the summer and wouldn't want to be there as much in the winter. But I do get to spend a few weeks there this summer. I'm teaching a workshop at Castle Hill in July.

Best book(s) you read in 2024?
The Wren, The Wren by Anne Enright. I didn't have time to read much (and my eyeballs were too tired from writing) while I was working on The Snowbirds. This was the first book I read when I finished. My bookseller friend James Boehnen from Arcadia Books in Spring Green, WI pressed it into my hands and said it had been his favorite book the prior year.

I never turn down a bookseller recommendation. What a lovely book about womanhood and relationships. I loved the writing as much as the story.

Thank you so much for coming by! Everyone go buy The Snowbirds here, here or here. You’ll love Christina’s work so much!

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A few quick sentences on the plot. It’s 1936 and anthropology student Charlotte has the chance of a lifetime: to join an archaeology dig at the Valley of the Kings. She falls in love, marries a fellow archaeologist and they have a baby named Layla, living in Luxor. Then the unthinkable happens, a scene that had me holding my breath. Charlotte returns to New York and leads a quiet life working as a curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Fast forward to 1978. Charlotte, still working at the Met, meets Annie, a young upstart assisting the legendary Diana Vreeland, who is planning the Met Gala while the King Tut exhibit is readying to open. When one of the collection’s most priceless artifacts goes missing on the night of the gala, the story gets even more exciting. “Annie and Charlotte team up to search for the missing antiquity, a desperate hunch leads the unlikely duo to one place Charlotte swore she’d never return: Egypt,” reads the book jacket. Love it!

Thanks for stopping by, Fiona. I’m so excited to talk to you about this novel!

You always write a book set in a NYC landmark, and for this one, it's the Met. Please tell us what inspired you to also take readers to Egypt in this novel.
The Met Museum is an intimidating institution, and it wasn’t until I got tours of the building from people with three different perspectives – a former security guard, an Egyptologist, and the head of communications – that I felt like I knew my way into the story. I decided to focus on the Egyptian Art Collection as well as the Met Gala, from the point of view of two very different women in terms of age, outlook, and what they do for the museum. I like to say that the novel is a mash-up of Thelma & Louise, Indiana Jones, and The Devil Wears Prada – a fun blend of glamour and mummies. I have to add that I was inspired to set part of the story in Egypt after reading a wonderful nonfiction book by Lynne Olson called Empress of the Nile, about a remarkable real-life female archaeologist who worked in the Egyptian desert in the 1900s.

Did you travel to Egypt for research? How did your travels shape/inform the book?
I did go to Egypt, which was mind-boggling in terms of how old everything was. I knew I needed to understand the smells, sounds, and tastes of the country and it’s hard to get that from documentaries or YouTube videos. In the book, the character of Charlotte works in the Valley of the Kings as a young archaeologist, which is where many of the ancient pharaohs were buried. To descend into an ancient tomb decorated with colorful drawings and hieroglyphs was incredible, and I hope I’m able to transport the reader there with me in the story.

It's often said that writers return to similar themes in all of their novels. What do you think is something you return to -- and why?
I’m definitely interested in how women’s voices and issues have changed over time, as well as how they haven’t. It’s something that comes up in every decade I’ve worked in, from the 1970s to the Gilded Age to ancient times. For example, I learned in my research that Egyptian women in antiquity had the right to divorce, to own property, and to keep custody of their children, whereas until the mid-1970s, American women couldn’t even get a mortgage or a loan without a man co-signing for them. Quite a surprise.

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What do you think is the hardest part about being a writer -- that has nothing to do with the writing? Can you give a specific example of a time where you struggled?
The hardest part of being a writer – one that has nothing to do with the writing – is dealing with social media. It’s a gift in so many ways, in that you have direct contact with your readers, you can get your message out into the world easily and share research and fun behind-the-scenes stories. But it also requires a serious commitment and sometimes that takes up more time than I would like. I do love seeing what other authors are doing, though, and keeping up with friends. Everything in moderation, right?

If you could relive any day in your life, what would it be? And why?
If I could relive any day in my life, I would want it to be the day before I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s, before I knew what that annoying tremor in my arm meant. Once you get a diagnosis like that, your perspective is changed forever. The good news is that in the almost five years since that day, I’ve met so many people with the disease who’ve inspired me and guided me. PD is now basically integrated into my day-to-day existence. I take my pills, exercise, try to keep stress to a minimum, and go ahead and live my life. It’s just a part of who I am.

Since you've visited New York at all different points in time in your books, which time period do you think was the city's best?
I love writing about the 1920s – the city was changing so quickly and there was a sense of lawlessness and excitement in the air. Also, the clothes and styles were fabulous. Women were starting to come into their own at the time, no longer bound by corsets or social norms, which is always a fun angle to explore in a story. There’s nothing better than reading a novel about a woman who goes from strait-laced to unhinged and finds power and freedom in tossing off the constraints of society, no matter what era it might be.

Lastly, what is the best piece of writing advice you ever received? Why did it resonate with you?
Anne Lamott’s advice to go ahead and write a terrible first draft has been very helpful. There are good writing days and bad ones, and I like having permission to write an awful scene, knowing that I can always go back and edit it later. In fact, some of the worst scenes I’ve written in the first draft have ended up being my favorites in the final version. I do around ten different revisions, so there’s always a chance to layer in more complexity and depth of character down the road.

If you’d like to order Fiona’s new novel, visit here, here or here. Congrats Fiona! Happy Pub Day!

As always, if you like reading Dear Fiction, please heart this post. It helps more book lovers find good book recommendations.

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When I was in high school, my best friend had a dollhouse in her bedroom. It was the most magical world to burrow into. I would move around the miniature couches and coffee tables. I loved handling the tea set that was barely the size of my thumb. When I was writing All the Summers in Between, I began thinking about dollhouses as an interesting window into a character’s mind. How the tiny world inside one of these houses might symbolize a characters’ secret dreams and desires.

Around the same time, my author pal Elise Hooper began posting about her own dollhouse renovations on instagram. She built tiny furniture, wallpapered miniature rooms, and she even made a miniature set of books, including a copy of All the Summers in Between.

So I was particularly excited to discover that Hooper’s new novel The Library of Lost Dollhouses, out April 1, centers on two exquisite, never-before-seen dollhouses. The novel sounds soooo good, and I’m so excited to get my hands on a copy. Says the tagline: “When a young librarian discovers historic dollhouses in a hidden room, she embarks on an unexpected journey that reveals surprising secrets about the lost miniatures.”

Elise stopped by Dear Fiction to tell us about her new book and why she’s drawn to the world of miniatures. Don’t forget to preorder The Library of Lost Dollhouses here.

Why are you so attracted to miniatures? Is this something that you’ve been doing for a long time? What got you back into it?
I think miniatures can be attractive to novelists because we’re used to studying things closely. I also find miniatures to be very satisfying because I can make something in a short amount of time and this is so different from the long process of researching and writing novels.

In late 2020, after emailing my editor the manuscript for my fourth novel, Angels of the Pacific, a story about the hardships and heartbreak of war, I cleaned my office of the detritus that always accompanies the final push of meeting a deadline—notecards, old photos, books, empty coffee mugs, and chocolate bar wrappings—and my gaze caught on the dollhouse that had been in my family for five generations. Since my daughters had outgrown it, the antique had been serving as small bookshelf. As a child I’d spent hours sitting in front of the dollhouse, lost in my imagination. The dollhouse had offered me a gateway into a world of creativity. It was my first foray into storytelling, and I learned to sew, knit, quilt, draw, and build miniature furnishings because of it.

Over forty years later, as I considered the many ways that old family artifact had influenced my life, I realized my next book needed to be about dollhouses. As the idea of a book about dollhouses grew on me, I decided to redo and update the dollhouse as “research,” but also because it sounded fun. This was late in 2020 and Seattle was pretty quiet because of the Covid lockdown, so an engrossing creative project was exactly what I needed. My new book, The Library of Lost Dollhouses, will be out in April 2025.

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In my latest novel, one of the main characters is drawn to this elaborate dollhouse in her friend’s bedroom. She keeps looking at it and thinking…if only that could be my life. Why do you think dollhouses are such a timeless tradition, and why are women drawn to them as much as girls? 
There’s a lot of science that supports how miniatures trigger a sense of comfort for people. In a world that feels uncertain and confusing, miniatures offer a way for us to control our environment and through them we can build the world the world we want to inhabit.

Also, fun fact: for centuries dollhouses served as a means for people to display their wealth and they really didn’t start to be used as toys until mass production of the twentieth century allowed them to be produced cheaply.

You’ve done so many makeovers on old dollhouse furniture. Can you talk about your creative process? How does the idea start and how does it evolve?
I tend to be very spontaneous when it comes to a miniatures project. When an idea strikes, I pounce on it. I also always have more than one miniature project underway so while the glue or paint dries on one, I can work on another. I have a lot of older pieces that I inherited from my grandmother and friends, and I love to transform them into modern miniatures. For example, I had this old upholstered chair from my great grandmother that was faded and stained, so I painted it a vivid bright blue and decoupaged big pink peony fabric flowers onto it.

I’m in the process now of converting an old discarded piano into a speakeasy—it sounds weird, but the top of the piano opens, so I’m going to fill this hidden compartment with a pop-up miniature bar. I love it when pieces can be surprising. The dollhouse is a place to experiment and take décor risks that I wouldn’t necessarily try in my real house.

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Can you tell us about some of the things you’ve tried to make in miniature that have failed? 
I made a mossy stone patio out of egg carton pieces that I didn’t like. Although the stone looked real, it was too dark and I like bright, colorful pieces.

What has been the coolest thing you’ve done in miniature? The albums? The books? I love making teensy tiny 1:144 scale dollhouses that fit inside dollhouses. I tend to use kits to make these, but I personalize them with my own color scheme, window boxes, and landscaping.

Are you creating a library in your dollhouse? Why? What books are in it?
Yes, I have books all over the dollhouse. I make miniatures of my classic favorites, but also newer releases and books by friends. My new book is about a collection of dollhouses that are found in an old historic library, and these dollhouses reveal the secrets of their former owners. So, for research, I need to have a library and lots of books in my dollhouse.

Thank you, Elise! Don’t forget to preorder Elise’s book — it’s going to be a goodie!