We chat with author Julia Dahl about I Dreamed of Falling, which follows the death of a young mother and triggers an avalanche of secrets in a small Hudson Valley town.
Hi, Julia! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hi! I was born and raised in Fresno, California, then went “back East” for college and stayed in New York City – with sojourns in Georgia and DC for a couple years – for 20 years, until moving up to the Hudson Valley in 2019. I spent most of my career as a journalist, and I worked all over the media – from entertainment and women’s magazines to tabloids to non-profit journalism to a big broadcast network.
I left the newsroom in 2018 and now teach journalism at NYU. My first novel, INVISIBLE CITY, which is about a NYC tabloid reporter investigating murder in Brooklyn’s Hasidic Jewish community, was published in 2014, and I DREAMED OF FALLING, which is about a reporter at a dying local paper investigating his partner’s death, is my fifth novel. I’m at work on a sixth – set in my hometown of Fresno.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
I’ve already been a huge reader – I think I was in the Agatha Christie Book of the Month Club when I was 10 – and I’ve always told stories. Back when I was a kid, though, people called them “elaborate lies.” I’d make all kinds of things up; not to be malicious, just because I loved seeing people’s reactions. Now I keep the lies to a minimum, and always in the context of a novel.
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: Starring Sally J. Freedman As Herself by Judy Blume – I read it three times the summer I was nine.
- The one that made you want to become an author: The book that made me want to become a mystery author was Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn. I read that book in about 36 hours and thought: that is what I want to write.
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: Every Last One by Anna Quindlen. There’s so much about this book I loved. I loved that I had no idea what I was getting into when I opened it. I loved that it began as a “quiet” family story that turned into something unthinkably brutal, but still beautiful. Anna Quindlen is a master at pacing, and illuminating complex relationships, and telling the stories of women and families without ever being sentimental. I aspire to write half as well as she does.
Your latest novel, I Dreamed of Falling, is out September 17th! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Small town secrets, family drama
What can readers expect?
Readers can expect a story about a small town reporter whose longtime girlfriend is found dead and who is surprised by all the secrets he learns about her – and the people around him he’s known his whole life. It’s a dark book, digging into the desperate things we do in the name of love, but not a bleak one.
Where did the inspiration for I Dreamed of Falling come from?
This is my first novel that wasn’t inspired directly by a story I covered as a reporter. Instead it was inspired by the birth of my son. I found parenting an infant harder than anything I’d ever done. And when I finally got my head above water with it, I started thinking: what if someone had said, “let me take over.” What if I let them? And then, four years later, what if I realized that I didn’t have a real connection with my son? From those “what ifs” I spun the story of Roman and Ashley, high school sweethearts who get pregnant accidentally and aren’t ready for parenthood.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
I loved writing the little boy in the book, 4-year-old Mason. He’s got bits of my son in him and I really enjoyed exploring how kids talk and act, and how much adults can learn from their honesty.
Your debut published 10 years ago. What are some of the key lessons you’ve learned as a writer and about the publishing world since then?
I’ve learned so much, but my main takeaway is that community matters. At every step of my career, people with more clout than me have lifted me up. From introducing me to my agent, to blurbing my books, to inviting me to speak on a panel, other writers in my genre (crime fiction) are famously welcoming and magnanimous. I pay that forward every chance I get. Some of my closest friends are people whose first novels came out the same year mine did. Publishing is fickle and difficult and building a connection with people who are your peers – whether they sell more or less than you – will make your life happier in a million ways.
What’s next for you?
I’m at work on my sixth novel, a family drama (and murder mystery, of course) set in California’s Central Valley.
Lastly, what books have you enjoyed so far this year and are there any that you can’t wait to get your hands on?
I devoured THE GOD OF THE WOODS by Liz Moore, SAFE AND SOUND by Laura McHugh, LONG ISLAND COMPROMISE by Taffy Brodesser-Akner, and THE PRINCESS OF LAS VEGAS by Chris Bohjalian. And I can’t wait to read SAME AS IT EVER WAS by Claire Lombardo.
