the big house book club

Hi Anna and the Big House Book Club!

What a wonderful surprise it was to find your note this morning, and what a great book club page. I really enjoyed it, especially Tabitha reading the excerpts, the photos of everyone with the book and listening to all the songs on the play list. (Ha, that's pretty much everything, isn't it? Well, I can't help it. It was great.) Nice job, guys.


I wish I could be there person, listening to your thoughts on the book. I have a feeling it'd be a blast. In the meantime though, I'll just say this: One of the things I love most about Meredith is her 'Never say die' determination to somehow make it through. Yes, Pretty Girl is fiction, and Meredith's a fictional character (although she's very real in my head) but it wasn't hard, after speaking with survivors of sexual abuse, to imagine how it felt to be let down by almost every adult around, and for Meredith to try desperately to find a way through.

When I was writing to the end of the story, I didn't know what was going to happen. I was in Meredith's head, panicked, terrified, running down that hallway to her room with her father chasing her, and when she cried I was crying, too. I could see it all very clearly, like a movie in my head, and was typing like a million words a minute, trying to get it all down as I saw it. And when she saw the statue, and I realized what was going to happen, I got so freaked and excited to finally see how it all climaxed that I called my parents and yelled into the phone, "I know what's going to happen! I know how the book ends!" and they got all excited too, and said, "How? How?" and I crowed, "I'm not going to tell you! You have to read the book!"

I really, really wanted Meredith to make it, and she did. I'm happy about that.

So thanks so much, Anna, and everyone in the book club. I hope you enjoyed Such a Pretty Girl and if I'm ever out in the Petaluma area, I'll be sure and stop in to say hi.

All Best,

Laura Wiess
http://www.laurawiess.com