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From Headlines to Plot Twists: Jennifer van der Kleut on The Better Mother (E211)
Description
In today’s episode, I’m chatting with Jennifer van der Kleut (née McBride). Jennifer is an award-winning former journalist of both print and digital publications, including the D.C. affiliate of ABC7 News. A graduate of San Jose State University, she spent most of her life in the San Francisco Bay Area before moving to the Norther Virginia suburbs of D.C., where she currently lives with her husband and two sons. When she is not writing, she loves going to the beach with her family, going to concerts with her girlfriends, and getting lost in the pages of a book. We are here today to discuss her debut psychological thriller, The Better Mother.
Episode Highlights:
- How journalism trained her to write with clarity, focus, and purpose
- The shift from reporting facts to creating fictional worlds
- Why she’s drawn to writing from a villain’s perspective
- What she loved most about writing The Better Mother
- How understanding “why” drives both journalism and fiction
Connect with Jennifer:
Some links are affiliate links, which are no extra cost to you but do help to support the show.
Books and authors mentioned in the episode:
- Lucy Foley books
- Carol Goodman books
- Kaira Rouda books
- Robyn Harding books
- Ashley Winstead books
- Dream Harbor book series by Laurie Gilmore
- Elin Hilderbrand books
- The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult
- The Locked Ward by Sarah Pekkanen
- This is Not a Game by Kelly Mullen
Book Flight
- The Last Celebrity by Madeleine Henry
- Tell Me What You Did by Carter Wilson
- The Only One Left by Riley Sager
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- One chapter book for growing readers
- One picture book for our littlest readers
- A few family conversation starters + a simple activity
Three books. One common theme.
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