1–What is the title of your latest release?
THE HIDDEN LIFE OF CECILY LARSON
2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
THE HIDDEN LIFE OF CECILY LARSON tells the story of Cecily, a small town doctor’s wife who, in 2015, finds out through an at-home DNA test that the baby she gave birth to in 1936 at age fifteen – a baby she’d been told had died at birth – is still alive, bringing to light a tragic love story she’d kept hidden for decades and throwing into question everything about the family she’d raised and claimed as “her own” for nearly 70 years.
3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I started with the question of whether it would be possible to keep a significant secret over the course of a long lifetime in a small town, and I knew right away that I wanted my small town to be in northern Minnesota, where I was born and which still feels to me like home. Other parts of the book take place on the coast of North Carolina, both because I’ve loved visiting there and because I wanted to weave some historical events that took place there into the novel. Then, I was writing about a traveling circus in the 1930s, so I took a look at the map of the central United States and laid out an itinerary. Circuses usually traveled about 40-50 (or sometimes up to 100) miles a day, moving to a different town overnight. So I had to think about where I wanted them to be for various events in the characters’ lives and figure out the timeline and where they would’ve stopped along the way between, say, Superior and Sheboygan, Lexington and Huntington.
4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Yes, definitely. In the novel, Cecily ranges in age from seven to ninety-four, and I would hang out with her at any age.
5–What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Plucky, resilient, firecracker
6–What’s something you learned while writing this book?
So much! I learned about traveling circuses and how to learn to be a bareback rider, about the legalities of adoption, about the location of the café on the lot at Paramount Studios. So many details, both big and small.
7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
Every day, I read what I wrote the day before (and sometimes quite a bit more than that) and edit it a bit. This not only smooths out any rough edges, but it also helps me figure out where I’m going to go next.
8–What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Raw oysters.
9–Describe your writing space/office!
I write everywhere in the house, depending on my mood and the weather. Sofa, dining room table, desk in the upstairs office, kitchen counter, front porch. If I’m writing a first draft, I prefer to be reclined on the sofa. For editing, I’m more likely to sit up straight at a desk or table. If the weather’s nice, I love to be outside.
10–Who is an author you admire?
There are so many! But four that come instantly to mind are Elin Hilderbrand, Amy Bloom, Dani Shapiro, and Beatriz Williams.
11–Is there a book that changed your life?
Again, there are so many, and the changes to my life weren’t dramatic as much as incremental. Chronologically, I would say: The Trumpet of the Swan, Because it is Bitter and Because it is My Heart, A Farewell to Arms, and Absalom, Absalom. The feeling I had when I read each of these, the first when I was about eight and the last when I was about nineteen, was of being absolutely transported and so, so intrigued by how the author had accomplished that using only words on a page. Each time I had that feeling, I would think, I want to learn how to do that. And finally, as a result, I ended up becoming a novelist.
12–Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
It was just after noon on Groundhog Day, and I was working on my laptop, sitting on the couch in the cottage I was renting at the time, which had a beautiful panoramic water view. The phone on the table beside me lit up with a call from New York. I remember the snow all around, the gray water, the eagle I’d been seeing repeatedly around that time, which had felt like a good omen, and the feeling that my life had just changed.
13–What’s your favorite genre to read?
Women’s fiction that leans literary.
14–What’s your favorite movie?
The Purple Rose of Cairo.
15–What is your favorite season?
When I lived in the Midwest, I would’ve said fall, but now that I live in Maine, I can’t pick a favorite. I love – for different reasons – every time of year here. Even the one that’s commonly called “mud season!”
16–How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
A romantic dinner. A piece of extraordinary, very dark chocolate cake.
17–What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
The Morning Show.
18–What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Mediterranean.
19–What do you do when you have free time?
Take a walk in the woods. Spend time with my amazing partner and friends. Explore the beautiful coast of Maine. There’s always something new to discover. Thirteen years in to living here, I’m still investigating where to find the best clam chowder. I hope never to finish that project!
20–What can readers expect from you next?
I’m working on a novel about a strong woman protagonist with a complicated family. My usual!
THE HIDDEN LIFE OF CECILY LARSON by Ellen Baker
Orphan Train meets Before We Were Yours meets Water for Elephants in this compelling multigenerational novel of survival, love, and the families we make.
In 1924, four-year-old Cecily Larson’s mother reluctantly drops her off at an orphanage in Chicago, promising to be back once she’s made enough money to support both Cecily and herself. But she never returns, and shortly after high-spirited Cecily turns seven, she is sold to a traveling circus to perform as the “little sister” to glamorous bareback rider Isabelle DuMonde. With Isabelle and the rest of the circus, Cecily finally feels she’s found the family she craves. But as the years go by, the cracks in her little world begin to show. And when teenage Cecily meets and falls in love with a young roustabout named Lucky, she finds her life thrown onto an entirely unexpected—and dangerous—course.
In 2015, Cecily is now 94 and living a quiet life in Minnesota, with her daughter, granddaughter, and great-grandson. But when her family decides to surprise her with an at-home DNA test, the unexpected results not only bring to light the tragic love story that Cecily has kept hidden for decades but also throw into question everything about the family she’s raised and claimed as her own for nearly seventy years. Cecily and everyone in her life must now decide who they really are and what family—and forgiveness—really mean.
Sweeping through a long period of contemporary history, The Hidden Life of Cecily Larson is an immersive, compelling, and entertaining family drama centered around one remarkable woman and her determination to survive.
Women’s Fiction Historical | Women’s Fiction Family Life [Mariner Books, On Sale: February 20, 2024, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9780063351196 / eISBN: 9780063351202]
Epic Story of Secrets that Spans Seventy Years
Buy THE HIDDEN LIFE OF CECILY LARSON: Amazon.com | Kindle | BN.com | Apple Books | Kobo | Google Play | Powell’s Books | Books-A-Million | Indie BookShops | Ripped Bodice | Walmart.com | Target.com | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon DE | Amazon FR
About Ellen Baker
Ellen Baker is author of Keeping the House, which won the 2008 Great Lakes Book Award. She has worked as a bookseller and event coordinator at an independent bookstore. She lives in Minnesota.
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