Betsy Lerner stopped by CBS Saturday Morning to discuss her debut novel, Shred Sisters.
Lerner’s book, published in October by Grove, follows Amy and Ollie Shred, two siblings whose relationship is tested by Ollie’s mental illness. In a starred review, a critic for Kirkus called the book, which was longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, “a seamlessly constructed and absorbing fictional world, full of insight about how families work.”
CBS Saturday Morning co-host Dana Jacobson noted that Lerner wrote her debut novel at the age of 64.
“I say to people it took seven months and 40 years to write this book,” Lerner said. “All of my experience, all of my perspective, all of my young pain, it all manifested in the book.”
Jacobson asked Lerner what she loves about books.
“I think from a very young age, I found it was the first place where I ever felt really understood,” Lerner said. “And then, also, my mother always dreamed of being a writer, and she taught me what a simile was when I was 8 years old, and I kept trying to make them. I just loved language.”
“What is it like to see bits of yourself on the page, but also in a work, for the first time, of fiction?” Jacobson asked.
“So exciting and so much fun, honestly,” Lerner said. “I don’t know if this is true for other writers, but once it’s in a book, it’s not really yours anymore. You’ve written it for people—have at it. I want to share the deepest, most costly things. That’s what interests me as a reader and as a person.”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
