Q&A with Noelle Salazar

 

 

 

Noelle Salazar is the author of the new novel The Lies We Leave Behind. Her other novels include The Roaring Days of Zora Lily. She lives in Bothell, Washington.

 

Q: What inspired you to write The Lies We Leave Behind, and how did you create your character Kate?

 

A: I found a small image of WWII flight nurse Jane Kendeigh with a short description beneath it of who she was and what her job had been.

 

A few years before finding that, a friend of mine was going through flight nurse training for the Army. So, when this picture of Jane appeared on my screen, and I learned flight nurses first came to be during WWII - I was intrigued.

 

I knew a little bit about what the training had been like for my friend. What had it been like for these women fighting in the second World War? I couldn't stop digging for information. They were amazing women. Courageous and smart and quick on their feet.

 

I worked in the medical field for a long time. I have cousins who are nurses. Good friends as well. I went through training to be a medical assistant once up a time. And throughout my life, I've encountered so many amazing, kind, comforting women who were nurses.

 

Kate was inspired by all of them, and by who I became during my own training. She is a compilation of women I have known and have been impressed by.

 

The “messy” side of her, that abandons her more logical thinking and puts herself in harm’s way? That part of Kate was inspired by just being human and asking myself the question, what would I do?

 

Q: How did you research the novel, and did you learn anything that especially surprised you?

 

A: As always, I started with an online search. This time focused on flight nurses of WWII. As I scrolled, I landed on a book put together several decades ago. A compilation of stories of nurses and flight nurses of WWII. Goldmine! I immediately ordered it, waiting impatiently, and then scoured it for all the amazing information inside.

 

Aside from the book, there was a lot of mapping, looking where bases were located, and researching rivers and cities. And then back to the book, which had amazing details about the wounds tended and how, the patients, the situations on the planes, the different housing options depending on locations and countries...

 

There were so many things that surprised me. Snakes in beds, wound care, POWs on planes with wounded Americans... It was fascinating.

 

Q: How was the novel’s title chosen, and what does it signify for you?

 

A: The title for this book was a process. While I was writing the book, I only had a placeholder title and so once I was done, me and my team got to work throwing words around.

 

I knew I wanted to have the same sort of feel as All The Light We Cannot See. And we wanted it to be a broader sort of title, instead of something on the nose.

 

What we settled on I love. It gives intrigue - which fits the story perfectly, and signifies what the main character's life has had to be for her to survive. 

 

Q: The writer Kate Quinn said, “Noelle Salazar has an unerring instinct for writing tough women with big hearts.” What do you think of that assessment?

 

A: Well first, Kate would know about tough women with big hearts, she's one of them. Second, I'm flattered. And I own that assessment. I was raised by tough women with big hearts. My friends are these women.

 

So writing them... honoring them... celebrating them... It is my favorite thing. I am inspired by the women I have known and the women I read about that fit this description.

 

It's not a conscious decision to write them, but every time a story builds in my mind, these are the women that show up on the page.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: Currently I am working on a few things.

 

My first romcom! The story popped into my head one morning when I was on a walk and poured out of me.

 

A dual-timeline story set during present day, and the early 1800s. It's two women's stories that intersect in an interesting way, and helps one of them heal from something. And there's a little mystery.

 

I also have a young adult novel I'd love to see in the world. A bittersweet story that is sad and hopeful and magical. 

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: I hope you love this book as much as I loved writing it. When I was finished, I mourned. I was not ready to leave these characters.

 

I always wanted to write a story with a man's point of view, thanks to my Nana giving me my first Danielle Steel book, which was told from the point of view of a man. I'd found it interesting to get a man's perspective - something that felt so foreign to me. William's character is my little homage to character Bernie Fine. 

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Noelle Salazar.