Meet the Member: Talking with Author Sarah Pekkanen

Today we’re speaking with Rock Creek Sports Club member Sarah Pekkanen. Sarah’s third book, These Girls, was recently published and is receiving rave reviews! On Monday, May 21, Sarah will be at Rock Creek Sports Club from 5:30-7:30 for a book signing. Copies of Sarah’s books, The Opposite of Me, Skipping a Beat, and These Girls, will be available for purchase for $15, cash or check.

Q: How long have you been a writer? How did you get into it?

A: I think I’ve always known I wanted to be a writer. When I was a kid, I used to write books on 3-ring binder paper and send them off to New York publishers, then impatiently wait to see my masterpieces on the bookstore shelves (I’m still waiting for someone to publish “Miscellaneous Tales and Poems”!) I became a journalist after college, working for a bunch of newspapers including The Baltimore Sun, then I turned to fiction after having kids (now I have three boys). For a few years, after my second son was born, I didn’t write at all, and I missed it so much – I felt as if my best friend had moved away without leaving a forwarding address. Then one night, I took a glass of wine up to my computer when the kids were asleep and began to type… and those pages turned into my first novel, THE OPPOSITE OF ME. Now I have three books on the shelves at stores, and I’ve just completed my fourth. For me, one of the most exciting things is seeing my books published in foreign countries – we’re up to 10 right now, including Italy, Russia, China and Australia.

Q: What inspired you to write These Girls?

A: I wanted to write a novel celebrating female friendships for a number of reasons: First, it seemed like the natural progression in my books, since all of my novels focus on the important relationships in a woman’s life. My first book, The Opposite of Me, is about sisterhood and my second, Skipping a Beat, is about marriage. These Girls, my third novel, is about female friendships, another vital link for women. And because friends are so important to me personally, I was eager to plunge into the creation of three very different women who become roommates in New York City and form an incredible friendship. My novel is told from alternating points of view of Cate, Renee, and Abby, and each of these women is carrying a painful secret. They end up finding the emotional lifelines they need in each other, just when they need it the most. Q: Can you tell us a little more about These Girls?

A: Sure! Here’s the official summary from my publisher. You can also learn more on my website at www.sarahpekkanen.com: In her third novel, internationally bestselling author Sarah Pekkanen examines the lives of three women working and living together in New York City and shows that family secrets may shape us all, but it’s the rich, complicated layers of friendship that can save us. Cate, Renee, and Abby have come to New York for very different reasons, and in a bustling city of millions, they are linked together through circumstance and chance. Cate has just been named the features editor of Gloss, a high-end lifestyle magazine. It’s a professional coup, but her new job comes with more complications than Cate ever anticipated, including resentment from colleagues who wonder if Cate’s talent earned her the promotion, or whether her good looks dazzled the flirtatious editor-in-chief. Cate’s roommate Renee will do anything to nab the plumb job of beauty editor at Gloss. To engage readers, the magazine decides to have the candidates interact on-line through social media before selecting the winner. But snide Internet comments about Renee’s weight send her into an emotional tailspin. Soon she is taking black market diet pills – despite the racing heartbeat and trembling hands that signal she’s heading for real danger. Then there’s Abby, who they take in as a third roommate, and who, like the other two women, is also hiding a secret. Once a joyful graduate student who worked as a live-in nanny while she studied to become a teacher, Abby abruptly fled what seemed to be a happy life in the D.C. suburbs. No one knows what shattered Abby – or why she left everything she once loved behind. Pekkanen’s most compelling, true-to-life novel yet tells the story of three very different women as they navigate the complications of careers and love – and find the lifeline they need in each other.