Behind The Book With Noelle Salazar 

Last year I did my first Q&A with Noelle Salazar which you can read in this link here https://booknotions.com/qa-with-noelle-salazar/ . A year later I finished reading an early copy of Noelle’s new novel The Lies We Leave Behind which is available to read wherever books are sold on November 5^th! 

Q: Noelle, would you please give a brief description of The Lies We Leave Behind?

A: I’d love to! And thank you for having me back. TLWLB is a dual timeline story that in the present day introduces us to William, a WWII veteran and widower who years ago lost the love of his life and is suddenly face-to-face with someone who might know what happened to her. In the past timeline, we have Kate – a WWII flight nurse William meets when injured in France. The two fall in love and plan a future together, but a secret Kate has kept from everyone who knows her comes back to haunt her, and she heads into enemy territory to face the ghosts of her past.  

Q: How long did it take you to research and write The Lies We Leave Behind? In The Authors Note you wrote a real flight nurse Jane Kendeigh was the inspiration for this book as well as Angels of the Resistance & The Flight Girls. While I know this isn’t Jane’s story, did you think of loosely basing Kate’s character off Jane? 

A: I spent a couple months doing research before I wrote a word of the story. But as always, I did more along the way as situations and locations cropped up. Many rabbit holes fell in the process. It never fails to amuse me how one small detail will send me on an hours long search. 

I never thought of loosely basing the story of Jane Kendeigh, mostly because I love being able to take several factual anecdotes I’ve found and throw them at my fictional character. Basing a story on a real person limit that to some degree, even if it is fiction. If I were to have written a story based on Jane, I’d have wanted to get it mostly “right”, and somehow that feels like it would limit my creativity.

Q: What lessons & emotions do you hope readers learn & feel after reading The Lies We Leave Behind? That quote Selene said to William early in the story was very powerful. In the face of death, we understand life better. I truly believe that because life is short, and we only get to live it once. 

A: I love that you love that quote. Thank you. It’s funny to me – we write these things… deep in the emotions of creating these fictional humans we’re rooting so hard for (while putting them through the worst things – oops) … and sometimes end up writing lines like that and then wondering at ourselves, “I wrote that?” 

I hope people take away just what you said. Life IS short. And we only get one. To forgive ourselves. To be kind to ourselves. To understand we aren’t perfect, but talking and being open and TRYING can only help us and make us better humans. I hope people feel hope. That even in the darkest times there is light. We just must look for it. And sometimes it’s inside us.

Q: Last year when we did the Q&A, you briefly spoke about The Lies We Leave Behind without giving away the title. You were sad to finish writing the book & you weren’t ready to leave the characters behind. I admit I teared up at the end. If you were to write a sequel to The Lies We Leave Behind what would William, Lizzy, Emma, Selene & Willa be doing right now? 

A: Oh. Wow. What a question. It was very hard for me to leave these characters behind. I remember at one point while writing the first draft, I felt like I didn’t know Kate very well. Even though I’d written pages and pages of her. And then I realized, she’d shown me, up until that point, all that she’d wanted to show me. Until that point. And then she let me in more. 

If I were to write a sequel… I think William would be spending some time in France, getting to know the daughter he never knew existed. And Willa would be full of awe and questions – and a tiny bit of regret that she hadn’t thought to ask to get to know her father sooner. But Kate would’ve raised her in such a way that she never felt she was missing out on anything. Until she set eyes on William. 

As for Emma and Lizzy, they would return home but come back as often as they could – keeping in touch with letters and phone calls. And fabulous Selene would take some time to get to know her grandfather, staying in his house in Seattle, and learning who he is and who he was.

Throw in some major drama, maybe an accident of some sort, a fight or two… Maybe Selene falls in love with an American… (I always must throw in some love) 

Q: If/when The Lies We Leave Behind were to ever become a miniseries or a movie, who would be your dream cast to play the characters you created? 

A: Ooh!! Fun question! Let’s see…

Young William – Zach Gilford

Kate – Saoirse Ronan

Willa – Juliette Binoche

Emma – Amy Brenneman

Lizzy – Alison Brie

Selene – Clémence Poésy