Saturday, April 24, 2021

Q&A with Lea Geller

 

 


 

Lea Geller is the author of the new novel The Truth and Other Hidden Things. She also has written the novel Trophy Life. She lives in New York.

 

 

Q: How did you come up with the idea for The Truth and Other Hidden Things, and for your character Bells?

 

A: Anonymous gossip and gossip in general has always interested me but mostly I was interested in writing about a woman who did not feel SEEN and the lengths she would go to change that.

 

The accidental pregnancy part also interested me because it’s not something we read a lot about — especially in woman in their 40s with older kids — and the dynamic of getting ready to welcome a child when another has one foot out the door was also interesting.  

 

Q: The novel is set in Dutchess County, New York. How important is setting to you in your writing?

 

A: VERY. I do like to visit the spot I write about. My first book was set in the Riverdale section of the Bronx where I live. I was very curious about the hipster migration from Brooklyn to the Hudson Valley so this gave me an excuse to check it out for myself!

 

Q: What do you think the book says about truthfulness?

 

A: That we can believe we are being truthful about many things but still lie to and about ourselves.

 

Q: Did you know how the novel would end before you started working on it, or did you make many changes along the way?

 

A: There were big changes along the way but I knew how it would begin and how it would end. The rest was fuzzy!

 

Q:  What are you working on now?

 

A: A book about a former child actress!

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Let’s see. In addition to my kids and cats, I got a house full of plants and a yard full of chickens this year so now I am officially “that woman.” Also, unlike Bells, my main character, I am a positively terrible baker. Ask my kids.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb

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