We chat with author Rebecca Morrison about The Blue Dress, which follows an Iranian American girl who navigates complicated relationships with her mother, her best friend, and her body image in this unflinching and ultimately uplifting middle-grade debut.
Hi, Rebecca! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
I was born in Iran and left with my family in 1979 during the revolution. I immigrated to the United States in my teens. In 2020, after practicing law for over two decades, I decided to pursue my dreams of becoming a writer. I started by doing short pieces for The New York Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Newsweek, and HuffPost, among others. My debut novel, The Blue Dress, is based on my childhood as an Iranian immigrant trying to fit into my family’s expectations of beauty and my American homeland.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
I remember in sixth grade writing something, and my gruff teacher, Mr. Muir, softening and saying that it was a good essay. I always loved telling stories, and wanted to write but didn’t think it was possible. It wasn’t until I was almost 50 that I gave it a real shot.
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: Jane Eyre
- The one that made you want to become an author: The Joy Luck Club.
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: The Kite Runner.
Your debut novel, The Blue Dress, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Hopeful mother-daughter immigrant story.
What can readers expect?
The Blue Dress is about thirteen-year-old Yasmin, who came to America from Iran a year and a half ago, and is trying to figure out her new life. She has a complicated and sometimes heartbreaking relationship with her mom who wants Yasmin to be thinner. She’s close friends with Carmen, whose family came from Mexico a few years ago. In her attempts to find belonging and feel seen, Yamin makes some wrong decisions, the most dangerous of which involve disordered eating, but through a series of events finds help and a way to love and accept herself in her body and her new life.
Where did the inspiration for The Blue Dress come from?
The Blue Dress is based on my childhood as an Iranian immigrant with a complicated, and sometimes dark, mother-daughter relationship. I took many parts of my real life and combined it with fictional elements to create a story that would resonate with kids and parents.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
Even though I started writing this book as a memoir, changing it into a novel felt right. The more I worked on it, the more I saw it was the perfect way to tell my real story but fictional elements that helped with the depth of the story. I could tell the emotional truth of my childhood but have the freedom to change details, compress timelines, and invent characters. I could give readers a story that made them feel seen without exposing my family to judgement.
Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?
In the early drafts of my book, I felt like I had to include as much of my true story as possible and if I deviated from it, it would make the book worse. But the more I dug into the characters, I realized the opposite was true. The fictional elements gave it a better arc, created more complex characters, and made the story more interesting. I pushed myself to lean into fiction, using that flexibility to broaden the story.
What do you hope readers take away from The Blue Dress?
I hope my book gives parents and kids a way to start a conversation about body image, disordered eating, and friendship struggles in a way that feels safe. I also hope it gives them a way to talk about self-worth, the pressures of being a teen, and how we’re all just trying to be seen and loved for who we are. Sometimes it’s easier to start those conversations through someone else’s story.
This is your debut novel! What was the road to becoming a published author like for you?
For so many years, I thought I was too old for a second career in writing, and that I couldn’t even dream about it. But then the pandemic hit and I lost my legal contracting job. I was stuck at home. Something in me knew that if I didn’t do it then, I never would. I tried things many people told me were impossible. I pitched publications far above what others would recommend for a beginner. But I did the work, I took the classes, read the publications, figured out who and where to send my work. It took a lot of drive, dedication, and hard work, but it also took the confidence to believe I belonged in that new world, and that I could achieve that thing that seems so far off.
What’s next for you?
I’m working on a novel for adults, very loosely based on my life. It follows a sixteen-year-old girl in Iran in 1979 who falls in love with a boy from a different world than hers. The revolution and a series of other tragedies force her and her family to leave Iran and move to America. The story goes through the next forty years of her life. At its center is a complicated, painful mother-daughter relationship shaped by their past. There is estrangement, grief, love and healing both for herself and for the people in her life.
Lastly, what books are you looking forward to picking up this year?
I’m excited about Christina Wyman’s new book, Breakout. She’s a beautiful and powerful writer. I’m also looking forward to reading Judy Bloom’s biography by Mark Oppenheimer.
