Ellen Baker
Author Interview - Ellen Baker
Author of THE HIDDEN LIFE OF CECILY LARSON
“A family secret, a DNA test, a journey as rich and colorful as the early-day circus itself. Through Cecily Larson’s hidden life, Ellen Baker tenderly examines personal determination, lost love, family ties, and our innate need to discover our own truth.” — Lisa Wingate, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Before We Were Yours and Before and After
Orphan Train meets Before We Were Yours meets Water for Elephants in this compelling multigenerational novel of survival, love, and the families we make.
In 1924, four-year-old Cecily Larson’s mother reluctantly drops her off at an orphanage in Chicago, promising to be back once she’s made enough money to support both Cecily and herself. But she never returns, and shortly after high-spirited Cecily turns seven, she is sold to a traveling circus to perform as the “little sister” to glamorous bareback rider Isabelle DuMonde. With Isabelle and the rest of the circus, Cecily finally feels she’s found the family she craves. But as the years go by, the cracks in her little world begin to show. And when teenage Cecily meets and falls in love with a young roustabout named Lucky, she finds her life thrown onto an entirely unexpected—and dangerous—course.
In 2015, Cecily is now 94 and living a quiet life in Minnesota, with her daughter, granddaughter, and great-grandson. But when her family decides to surprise her with an at-home DNA test, the unexpected results not only bring to light the tragic love story that Cecily has kept hidden for decades but also throw into question everything about the family she’s raised and claimed as her own for nearly seventy years. Cecily and everyone in her life must now decide who they really are and what family—and forgiveness—really mean.
Sweeping through a long period of contemporary history, The Hidden Life of Cecily Larson is an immersive, compelling, and entertaining family drama centered around one remarkable woman and her determination to survive.
Author Interview - Ellen Baker
Author I draw inspiration from:
When I was fifteen, I read Joyce Carol Oates’s Because it is Bitter and Because it is My Heart and I Lock My Door Upon Myself, and though I’d thought before about wanting to write novels, the experience I had reading these two books cemented that I really wanted to make a career of it. I still draw inspiration from the feeling I had then, which was of being understood completely, at the same time that I was being swept away into another world.
Author Interview - Ellen Baker | Author I Draw Inspiration From
Favorite place to read a book:
On my yoga mat in the sunshine on my deck. Obviously, this only works in certain seasons since I live in Maine.
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with:
Idgie Threadgoode from Fannie Flagg’s Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café. I imagine Idgie would keep good humor and tell a bunch of great stories, all the while working to figure out a way to get us unstuck.
Author Interview - Ellen Baker | Book Character I’d Like to be Stuck in an Elevator With
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author:
For me, it was more a series of moments, starting when I was about six, and it always had to do with the feeling I had when I would finish a book that had let me escape into another world at the same time it moved me deeply and helped me understand more about life, myself, and other people. I started to think: what could be better than helping to create that same kind of experience – of simultaneous escape and profound connection – for others?
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook:
Hardback or paperback. My eyes don’t do well with e-readers, and besides that, I love to physically flip pages. I have trouble listening to audiobooks because I have such a visual imagination that I can’t, for example, drive and listen at the same time, or I wouldn’t be seeing the road in front of me!
The last book I read:
Mercy Street by Jennifer Haigh. Amazingly written and extremely compelling.
Author Interview - Ellen Baker | The Last Book I Read
Pen & paper or computer:
I write character notes and outlines and lots of other notes using pen and paper. I also print out my research materials and write notes all over those pages and organize them in big stacks. When it comes to writing the book itself, I write a draft on the computer, then, when I’ve done all the editing I can see to do on the screen, I print out the entire thing and edit it using a pen. Then I put all those changes in on the document. I repeat that same process several times, until I get to the point where I’m making only the tiniest changes on the printed copy.
Book character I think I’d be best friends with:
I’m not sure this is a natural fit, but I’d love to be best friends with Lily Bart in Edith Wharton’s House of Mirth. I’d like to live in that world and time for a short while (the costumes! the parties!) and see if I could save Lily from herself. If she’d had one good friend, maybe things would’ve turned out better for her.
Author Interview - Ellen Baker | Book Character I’d be Best Friends With
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a:
Reiki practitioner. I’ve practiced Reiki in the past and really love seeing how dramatically better people feel after receiving treatment.
Favorite decade in fashion history:
1910s.
Place I’d most like to travel:
Italy. Maybe it’s a cliché, but I’ve wanted to go to Italy for as long as I can remember, and I’ve never been.
My signature drink:
Irish Breakfast tea in the morning. Sauvignon Blanc at night.
Favorite artist:
I can’t pick a favorite, but I’m a Rodin, Degas, Monet, Christian Louboutin, Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, Sarah Vaughn, George Strait, Allison Krauss, sort of a person.
Number one on my bucket list:
Go to Italy. 😊
Find more from the author:
https://www.facebook.com/ellenbakercreative/
https://www.instagram.com/ellenbakercreative/?hl=en
Author Bio:
In addition to The Hidden Life of Cecily Larson, Ellen Baker is the author of Keeping the House and I Gave My Heart to Know This. She has worked as a bookseller and event coordinator at an independent bookstore. Originally from the Upper Midwest, she currently lives in Maine.
