Hi everyone and welcome back to Kayla Reads and Reviews! I am so happy to be hosting Leah Scheier, author of a book that holds my whole entire heart, THE LAST WORDS WE SAID. I want to thank The Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee for asking me to be a part of this tour! I adored this book and it was the first one I ever read that I truly felt represented the world I live in.
Kayla Reads and Review: How did you come up with this idea?
Leah Scheier: Every one of my novels has centered around a topic that really interested or excited me. For example, my first novel, SECRET LETTERS was born from my love of the Sherlock Holmes stories. The idea for THE LAST WORDS WE SAID was first of all an exploration of grief and the terrible limbo that the families of missing persons experience--that unbearable space between hope and despair. I wondered how a teen would feel if the love of her life went missing. And worse-- how she would deal with the loss if she felt responsible for what had happened. Ellie's first story about Danny about their meeting on a rocky plane came to me as I was sending my then -thirteen year old daughter on a plane by herself for the first time. I was scared for her-- what if there was turbulence? What if she had no one to turn to? So I comforted myself by imagining that perhaps she would meet someone kind who would distract her and make her laugh. LAST WORDS began from that picture in my head. As I began to write, Rae was the voice in my head that wouldn't shut up. She is, in many ways, my favorite character, because she is both unflinchingly honest and yet also terribly kind. And Deenie was every girl I knew who had "frummed out" (become very religious) in high school. And Danny? Danny was the boy I wished I knew in high school.
KRAR: Were you scared people wouldn’t be able to relate to the characters?
LS: Not really. This is my fourth published novel and I'm used to reading critiques of my books, my characters, their choices and everything else. It's part of putting a piece of yourself out into the world. You have to be prepared for people not connecting-- and then telling you about it. I don't think about how others will relate to my characters when I write. If their voices and their stories move me, if they make me laugh and cry, I trust that many readers will have the same reaction. I don't expect everyone to. No book on earth has connected with every single reader. After I've finished the first draft I always hand it over to my three daughters who are my most critical beta readers. After reading LAST WORDS each one of them came to me with tears in her eyes. So I figured I'd done ok.
KRAR: What was the hardest part of writing this story?
LS: Writing the ending was the hardest. To avoid spoilers, I'll just say that. I had to take frequent breaks while writing the last few chapters. I ate a lot of chocolate.
KRAR: What is one thing you hope readers take away from this story?
LS: It’s a little bit different now from when I first started writing it—maybe because of the recent political climate and the rise of antisemitic attacks. The book doesn’t have much about antisemitism in it at all and that was my intention because the whole point of the book was just to simply represent this Modern Orthodox community. It’s not insulated in the way that Ultra Orthodox communities are; growing up myself and seeing my children grow up Modern Orthodox, we were pretty shielded from overt antisemitism. Now that I’m able to see more of it in the news, it’s disturbing and frightening. What I want is for teenagers to read about kids just like themselves in a Modern Orthodox Jewish community and say, hey, they’re just like me and it’ll shine a light on the fact that we’re all just dealing with the same stuff in slightly different shades. I want the book to show a community that I love and that most people have not encountered. I also want my readers to fall in love with the characters irrespective of their religion and hope for the best for them.
KRAR: All three of the girls are at different places in life religiously but they are still best friends and Danny in a way is the glue that connects them. We see each character have a different relationship with Danny. What is something you want the readers to take away from these relationships?
LS: That's exactly the point! We don't have to be in the same place religiously, politically, or ideologically to respect one another. It's important to be friends despite our differences. As the world becomes a more toxic place, as I see people shunning their colleagues and family members for holding differing opinions, as people "block" each other on social media over a disagreement, I think these four fictional teens get it right. Rae rebels against her religion while still loving and respecting her parents who raised her. And she maintains a relationship with her best friends even when she doesn't agree with them. Their arguments are important for their growth as people. If you never encounter anyone who disagrees with you, even on things you consider fundamental, you will never mature and learn about the real world. And you will never truly know what you believe, if you've never been challenged.
Nine months ago, Danny disappeared and everything changed for his friends. Rae’s pouring herself into rage-baking. Deenie's deepening her commitment to Orthodox Judaism. And Ellie—Danny’s best friend and girlfriend—is the only one who doesn’t believe he’s dead.
Because she still sees him.
Moving back and forth between past and present, the story of Ellie and Danny unspools, from their serendipitous meeting to Danny and Ellie falling for each other. In the past, they were the perfect couple—until it all went wrong. In the present, Ellie’s looking for answers. Her friends are worried about her mental health, but Ellie’s certain that the tragedy that’s rocked their modern Orthodox community isn’t as simple as they all believe. She’s determined to uncover the truth about what happened to the love of her life. But to do that, she’ll have to be more honest with herself.
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