Book Nook - Friends with Secrets

Friends with Secrets, the debut novel by Christine Gunderson, has been selected as a July title in the Amazon First Reads program. Amazon First Reads is a program that offers customers early access to new books across popular genres. 

 I had a chance to review an e-copy of the book, which explores the myth of the perfect mother, the bonds of female friendship, and the haunting impact of secrets. It also proves that what we see isn't always what we get.

In the book, the "perfect" mom runs into someone from her past and threatens to expose a secret she's ashamed to share. In order to protect those she cares about, she needs to trust with the mom who, on the surface, seems to be her opposite.

 

When a dangerous figure from Ainsley’s past surfaces as a coach at her children’s school, her worst fears are realized. Desperate, she confides in Nikki, revealing every detail of her former life. Together, they concoct a plan to expose the coach and protect their children. But as they navigate this treacherous path, they must also safeguard their own lives—and the newfound friendship that sustains them.

The book tackled a lot of themes - trust, relationships, jealousy, career, growth, and more. It was a fast read for me - I couldn't put it down until I finished it!

 

I had a chance to learn more in this interview (note, the interview questions are intentionally vague to avoid spoilers).

Why did you write this book?

I started writing parts of this book after my first child was born. I’d quit working full time and was struggling with a colicky baby, a travelling spouse, and the absence of a job that had given me a lot of confidence and affirmation, not to mention fun co-workers and a paycheck. 

 

I’d always written in one form or another, writing news stories as a television reporter, and speeches and press releases as a press secretary on Capitol Hill. So for me, writing was a natural outlet as I struggled in my new role as a stay-at-home mom. 

 

That colicky baby is now heading off to college in the fall, and some of the passages I wrote after he was born turned into Friends with Secrets, the novel chosen as an Amazon First Reads pick for the month of July and which comes out on August 1.

 

How can this book inspire mothers to form relationships with each other?

For economic reasons, lots of us end up raising our children far from the families and communities where we grew up. But raising children is the most exhausting, stressful, challenging, and wonderful thing any human being can do, and it's impossible to do it alone. 

 

If we recognize that, and ask for help when we need it, I think we find that the people most equipped to support us are other mothers, because we're all in the same Lego-and-chicken-nugget encrusted boat together. I think we form relationships by saying, "I'm not perfect. I need help." And I think we form relationships by offering help, not judgement, when we see another mother struggling.

 

How can mothers give each other grace, even if they can't always understand each other's choices?

I think every mother loves her children and wants what's best for them. We might differ on the details of what that looks like, Barbies or no Barbies, organic food or frozen pizza, but we all love our children and want them to be happy, healthy, and strong.

 

If we start with that universal fact, we can find common ground, and I believe that grace is found when we focus on what we have in common, not on what makes us different. 

 

I mean, have you ever been on an airplane and exchanged a sympathetic glance with a mother holding a screaming baby? One of those, "I'm-so-sorry-your-baby-is-screaming-and-this-isn't-your-fault-and-we've-all-been-there-and-don't-worry-you-are-an-awesome-mom kind of looks? That's what I'm talking about. Mothers are a stabilizing, civilizing, loving force for good in the world, and if we focus on that, we can always find common ground.

Christine Gunderson is a former television anchor and reporter and former Capitol Hill aide.  She wrote her debut novel, Friends with Secrets, in her minivan in the school pick-up line, at piano lessons, during drama rehearsals, at basketball practice, and in lots of other unglamorous and uncomfortable places where only a parent who writes would write.  She grew up on a fourth-generation family farm in rural North Dakota where she read Laura Ingalls Wilder books in her very own little house on the prairie. She currently lives in the Washington D.C. suburbs with her three children, Star the Wonder Dog, and a very patient husband. When not writing, she's sailing Chesapeake Bay with her family, playing Star Wars monopoly, re-reading Jane Austen novels in the school pick up line or unloading the dishwasher.  You can learn more about her at www.ChristineGunderson.com.