The Truth and Other Hidden Things is a freshly funny and heartfelt novel about one woman’s secret life, the stories she tells, and the thrill and notoriety of being noticed.
We chat with author Lea Geller about her new novel The Truth and Other Hidden Things, book recommendations, writing, and much more!
Hi, Lea! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hi! After about fifteen years on the west coast, I now live at the very top of New York City (the Bronx) with my husband, children, a cat and nine cranky chickens. I was once a lawyer and got my start writing by blogging about my life with small, disobedient children.
After the chaos that was 2020, have you set any goals for this year? If so, how are they going so far?
I know I had 2020 goals, but I have no idea what they were because midway through 2020 my main goal was not to lose my mind. For 2021: I’m working on a new book, so that’s always a goal and I would really like to 1) own better underwear, 2) stop yelling, 3) avoid buying more chickens and doing other things I think will make me happy but are really just more work.
Quick lightning round! Tell us the first book you ever remember reading, the one that made you want to become an author, and one that you can’t stop thinking about!
Judy Blume. Judy Blume. Judy Blume. I grew up in the UK and my mother came to America for a vacation and returned with some of Blume’s books for me. I adored her storytelling, her sense of humor and her voice and still do and yes, I remember wanting to be an author when I first read her books. (Before her, I was a big Enid Blyton fan, who was the queen of children’s lit when I was a kid.)
When did you first discover your love for writing?
I started keeping a diary in elementary school (my husband has strict instructions to burn the diaries I have in the house should anything happen to me) and I began blogging when my kids were small and I was journaling less, but still needed somewhere to put all the stories I was telling.
Your new novel, The Truth and Other Hidden Things, is out on April 6th 2021! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
I want to say: BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR, but that’s six words! How about: WOMAN WRITES, GETS INTO TROUBLE…?
What can readers expect?
Hopefully, they can expect to laugh and see something of themselves in this unlikely and at times, unlikeable main character and her struggle to be seen. Bells is a forty-something mother of two adolescents who gets accidentally pregnant and finds out her husband has lost his university job and they have to leave New York all on the same day. I’m also hoping readers will enjoy riding along as a transplant from the city heads to the impossibly hip and increasingly competitive world of New York’s Hudson Valley.
Where did the inspiration for The Truth and Other Hidden Things come from?
I’m not gonna lie. As the parent of teenagers who do not always like me, the idea of getting pregnant and being rewarded with an adoring infant is defintely something of a fever dream for me. I have spent my life moving, and am always interested in the stories of people who arrive in new towns and communities and try to make lives for themselves. Also, I now live in New York City and there is always a stream of people leaving here and moving to quieter, “calmer” places, but bringing their microbrew coffee and big-city anxieties with them.
Can you tell us about any challenges you faced while writing and how you were able to overcome them?
I think it’s always a challenge in women’s fiction to keep the main character interesting and somewhat flawed and still likeable, which is kind of a built-in mandate of the genre. The solution to this as a writer is to keep your eye on the main character’s motivation, decision-making process and personal history.
If it’s not too spoilery, were there any favourite moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
LOVED writing the gossipy blog posts and making up scandals like middle aged moms using task apps to hook up with millennial fitness instructors. Fiction is fun!
What’s the best and the worst writing advice you have received?
BEST: “Everything is Copy,” Nora Ephron – which I take to mean, if it happened to you, you get to write about it.
WORST: A perspective agent once told me that funny doesn’t sell.
What’s next for you?
I’m working on a new book about an 80’s child star who returns to LA to film a reboot of the show and has to reconnect with the actress who was once her best friend but from whom she is estranged.
Lastly, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?
There are a few books I return to every year: Heartburn by Nora Ephron; Atonement by Ian McEwan, Life Among the Savages by Shirley Jackson; and Life After Life by Kate Atkinson. I also teach middle school English and The Outsiders by SE Hinton never fails to amaze me.
