We chat with author Katherine A. Sherbrooke about her new release The Hidden Life of Aster Kelly, which follows a runway model in 1940s Hollywood who makes a split-second decision intended to protect those she loves and she triggers a cascade of secrets that threatens to upend her daughter’s life decades later.
Hi Katherine, thanks for joining us on The Nerd Daily, can you please tell us a bit about yourself?
Thanks for having me! Writing is my second career, but my first love. I lived in books as a kid and always dreamed of writing one myself. I still can’t quite believe that I now have three novels out in the world. I’m also the mother of two amazing young men and one four-legged writing support hound. My husband and I love to travel and I’m lucky that I can write anywhere.
The Hidden Life of Aster Kelly was inspired by your mother’s mysterious past as a young model in Hollywood. Why was it important to you to tell the story in the way you did? Did any of the details of you mother’s life make it into the novel?
My mother refused to talk about that time in her life, once saying that she “preferred to pretend it had never happened,” even though she came home from Hollywood with a young daughter (my older sister). That scared me and intrigued me in equal measure. I will never know exactly what happened (we lost my mother six years ago), so I decided to create a story about a young woman facing difficult choices and the unintended consequences of those choices, including secrets that need to be kept. One thing I do know for sure is that my mother orbited in some famous circles—including the likes of Roy Rogers, Cary Grant and Bob Hope—so my book includes major movie stars (both real and fictional). She did share lots of details about what it was like to be a runway model in New York (where she worked before and after her time in LA) —from eating nothing but a grapefruit on many days to the proper way to walk a runway— so many of the fashion details in the book came directly from those conversations.
What challenges did you face in doing your research for the book?
My book takes place in 1948 and 1975 and in three main locales: L.A., Manhattan, and Martha’s Vineyard. I had to erase from my mind how these places look today to conjure them in very different timeframes. Fortunately, old photographs help a lot with getting a sense of place and time, but there’s a constant need to check and recheck details to make sure I’m presenting each scene authentically.
Why was it important to you to write a novel that celebrates so many different kinds of love?
For me, relationships between characters are the most interesting part of any book, especially when there is conflict in a relationship rooted in love—whether between friends, lovers, or mothers and daughters. Each of these fundamental relationships has its own powerful brand of love. As for romantic love—and who doesn’t love a great love story?—I define the couples in my book not by whether they are gay or straight, but by their unique connection to each other. This allowed me to explore what true, self-less and long-lasting love might look like.
How did you decide or know that you wanted to be a writer? Did you always know, or was there a pivotal moment for you?
Wanting and knowing are two very different things! I wanted to write fiction from the time I was a young girl, but I didn’t know if I could. I worried that the magic I found in books wasn’t something I had access to. The pivotal moment came when I was on a break between start-ups (or so I thought) and decided to take on the personal “project” of penning a family memoir. That process clicked on a very dusty lightbulb in my creative subconscious, and I decided that there was no time like the present to give fiction a try. I haven’t looked back.
Quick lightning round! Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, the last one you read, and one that you can’t stop thinking about!
- The first full-length book I can remember reading was James and the Giant Peach. It showed me how limitless one person’s imagination can be.
- Last book I read: Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
- Book I can’t stop thinking about: Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
What are your must-haves when sitting down for a writing session?
Coffee, slippers, and a comfy chair
Can you share what you’re working on now?
It’s a bit too early yet to give you the elevator pitch, but you can be sure it’s full of more conflict and complexity in close relationships!
