Lauren Oliver
Author Interview - Lauren Oliver
Author of What Happened to Lucy Vale
Twin mysteries, years apart, connect two mothers and their daughters in a gripping novel of psychological suspense by New York Times bestselling author Lauren Oliver.
Who in their right mind would move into the Faraday House, with its grim history and a generation spent rotting and untended? Rachel Vale and her daughter, Lucy.
They’ve arrived unexpectedly, yet with peculiar purpose, to Woodward, Indiana, to rent the most infamous house in town. Here, sixteen years ago, Nina Faraday vanished without a trace and her mother was found hanging from an apple tree in the front yard. It was the stuff of ghoulish fascination and dark imaginings. Old rumors are stirred up all over again by an online community of teenagers now fixated on Lucy, the new girl in school…especially when Lucy’s shattering romance with the swim team star becomes another small-town obsession.
This time the kids in Woodward will be asking: What happened to Lucy Vale?
Parallel mysteries soon converge—about two teenage girls, nearly two decades apart, both consumed by the stories and suspicions of others. Only a mother can bring the truth to devastating light.
Author Interview - Lauren Oliver
Author I draw inspiration from:
Tana French (The Secret Place); Dirt Creek (Haley Scrivener); Jeffrey Eugenides (Virgin Suicides). These authors have inspired me in different ways, but they're masters of intensely atmospheric writing. And just on a line-by-line level, they're incredible.
Author Interview - Lauren Oliver | Author I Draw Inspiration From
Favorite place to read a book:
In bed!
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with:
Okay, well, I am not sure how it would help me with the elevator scenario, per se, but a little-known fact about me is that I am an Agatha Christie fanatic. Hercule Poirot would undoubtedly be miserable about our temporary imprisonment, but I think Jane Marple would likely be lovely and full of amusing and distracting chatter about everything from dead bodies to the postman in St. Mary's Meade. So I'll go with her.
Author Interview - Lauren Oliver | Book Character I’d Like to be Stuck in an Elevator With
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author:
It was never something I exactly decided to become; writing was simply a daily part of my life from the time I was about twelve, and it just evolved from there.
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook:
I'm a paperback and ebook kind of girl--mostly because I travel a lot and I need to find formats that travel easily with me! I do like audiobooks, but I often take notes and/or highlight when I read, which makes audio less feasible.
The last book I read:
The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe. Technically I'm still reading it! This was a recommendation from my cousin, who's a serious sci fi and fantasy buff. The book is amazing so far. I admire how Wolfe drops us into a fully formed and intensely detailed other-world, but slowly peels back the layers of the world-rules without ever doing an info-dump.
Author Interview - Lauren Oliver | The Last Book I Read
Pen & paper or computer:
I use both! I often draft in part by hand, which seems to relieve me of some pressure. But of course I then transfer the work and edit via computer. I also draft a lot on my phone, in my Notes app!
Book character I think I’d be best friends with:
Okay, I'm not sure if we would be best friends, but I've recently developed an obsession with Carl Morck, the lead detective of the Danish mystery Department Q by Jussi Adler-Olsen (which now has a Netflix show). I just feel like I could change him. :)
Author Interview - Lauren Oliver | Book Character I’d be Best Friends With
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a:
Literally a detective. Or a psychologist. Or possible a theologian. Or all of the above!
Favorite decade in fashion history:
I mean the best era was obviously the 90s, but for fashion I would say the 60s!
Place I’d most like to travel:
There are so many places on my list! But I have never been to Greece and that is high on my list. I love lounging around with a book in a bikini, and it just feels like a great place to achieve this.
My signature drink:
I've been sober for three years, so definitely nonalcoholic! I love Spindrifts in lemon or grapefruit.
Favorite artist:
I love the painter Miro.
Number one on my bucket list:
Honestly, my bucket list is so lame. Mostly it involves things like "visiting X friend in Maine more often" or "taking my nephew to France." But I am actually looking forward to taking my nephew to France when he's old enough. I don't have kids of my own so I am kind of a professional auntie.
Anything else you'd like to add:
Thank you for including me!!
Find more from the author:
instagram: Lauren_oliver_books
About Lauren Oliver:
Author Interview with Lauren Oliver
Lauren Oliver is an author, screenwriter, and media entrepreneur. Her previous works include multiple New York Times bestselling novels for teens, including Before I Fall (which spent seventeen weeks on the list and was adapted into a feature film released by Open Road), the Delirium trilogy (a two-million-copy-selling dystopian series translated into thirty-five languages), and Panic, which she later adapted into the streaming TV show on Amazon Prime of the same name, for which she wrote every episode and served as Executive Producer. Along the way, Lauren founded the IP company StoryGiants and helped to package and edit nearly one hundred other novels. She is also the co-founder of Incantor AI, a self-scaling digital media engine built on a new and proprietary foundational model of artificial intelligence that respects copyright by providing both IP attribution and royalty shares to contributing sources. Raised in Westchester, New York, Lauren attended the University of Chicago and got her MFA from NYU. She now divides her time between Maryland and Los Angeles
