Ep. 54: Sarah Pekkanen & Greer Hendricks (authors of You Are Not Alone) + Book Recommendations
Sarah's Bookshelves Live
Sarah Dickinson
4.9 • 732 Ratings
🗓️ 15 April 2020
⏱️ 54 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In Episode 54, Sarah Pekkanen and Greer Hendricks (authors of You Are Not Alone) go behind-the-scenes of their writing process, how they decided to write psychological thrillers, and share where their next novel is set (it’s not in New York City!).
This post contains affiliate links, through which I make a small commission when you make a purchase (at no cost to you!).
Highlights
- The themes Sarah & Greer try to base every book around.
- The Sarah & Greer co-writing team origin story.
- How Sarah’s and Greer’s personalities are similar and different.
- The good, the bad, and the ugly about Sarah & Greer’s writing process…and how their process is different from many other co-writing teams.
- Sarah’s and Greer’s thoughts on whether writing together is more or less efficient than writing alone.
- How they decided to write psychological thrillers (vs. some other genre).
- How they work through their plot twists (and keep them from becoming outlandish).
- How they threw out the original first third of You Are Not Alone.
- The book they’re working on now.
- The screenplay for The Wife Between Us that they’re currently working on.
- A bonus recommendation co-signed by all three of us.
- Where their next book is set…and it’s not New York City.
Sarah and Greer’s Book Recommendations [25:59]
Two OLD Books They Love
- Greer: Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson | Buy from Amazon [26:18]
- Sarah: Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon | Buy from Amazon [29:36]
Two NEW Books They Love
- Greer: Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano (My Review) | Buy from Amazon [31:47]
- Sarah: My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing | Buy from Amazon
[36:18]
Two NEW RELEASES They’re Excited About
- Greer: The Lies That Bind by Emily Giffin (Release Date: June 2, 2020) | Buy from Amazon [39:03]
- Sarah: Good Morning, Monster by Catherine Gildiner (Release Date: September 22, 2020) | Buy from Amazon
Rate It Game [44:27]
Other Books Mentioned
- The Nanny Diaries
by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus | Buy from Amazon
- An Anonymous Girl
- The Wife Between Us
- You Are Not Alone
- Bridget Jones’s Diary
- Wonder
- The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon | Buy from Amazon [31:11]
- Something Borrowed
- Babyproof by Emily Giffin | Buy from Amazon [41:02]
- All We Ever Wanted by Emily Giffin | Buy from Amazon [41:11]
- Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb | Buy from Amazon [43:08]
- The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides | Buy from Amazon [50:10]
About Sarah
Author Website | Instagram | Twitter
Sarah Pekkanen is also the co-author of the New York Times bestseller THE WIFE BETWEEN US and the upcoming AN ANONYMOUS GIRL, both cowritten with Greer Hendricks.
AN ANONYMOUS GIRL has been optioned for a television series by eOne, with Sarah and Greer executive producing. THE WIFE BETWEEN US has been optioned for film by Amblin Entertainment, with Sarah and Greer screenwriting the adaptation.
Her prior solo novels are: THE EVER AFTER, THE PERFECT NEIGHBORS, THINGS YOU WON’T SAY, CATCHING AIR, THE BEST OF US, THE OPPOSITE OF ME, SKIPPING A BEAT, and THESE GIRLS.
Sarah’s linked free short e-stories, published by Simon & Schuster exclusively for e-readers, are titled “All is Bright,” and “Love, Accidentally.”
Sarah is the mother of three young boys, which explains why she writes part of her novels at Chuck E. Cheese. Sarah penned her first book, Miscellaneous Tales and Poems, at the age of 10.
About Greer
Author Website | Instagram | Twitter
GREER HENDRICKS is the #1 New York Times bestselling co-author of An Anonymous Girl and The Wife Between Us. The Wife Between Us has been optioned for film by Amblin Entertainment, with Greer and her co-author, Sarah Pekkanen, hired to write the screenplay. An Anonymous Girl has been optioned for television, with Greer and Sarah tapped to executive produce. Prior to becoming a novelist, Greer served as Vice President and Senior Editor at Simon & Schuster. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Allure, and Publishers Weekly. She lives in Manhattan with her husband and two children.
Next Episode
Mini Episode featuring Sarah Saba Cetra (@bookedinadvance)…airing April 22.
Support the Podcast
- Support on Patreon – When you support the podcast on Patreon for $5/month, get bonus podcast episodes and other goodies!
- Share
If you like the podcast, I’d love for you to share it with your reader friends…in real life and on social media (there’s easy share buttons at the bottom of this post!). - Subscribe
…wherever you listen to podcasts, so new episodes will appear in your feed as soon as they’re released. - Rate and Review
Search for “Sarah’s Bookshelves” in Apple Podcasts…or wherever you listen to podcasts!
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Sarah's Bookshelves Live. I'm Sarah of the blog Sarah's Bookshelves. Each week I'm |
| 0:15.5 | talking with one bookish guest about two old books they love, two new books they love, one book they don't love, and one new |
| 0:22.7 | release they're excited about. We're going to get real and sometimes a bit snarky about all things |
| 0:28.3 | books. If you like the show, I'd really love your support. Spread the word to your reader friends, |
| 0:33.8 | subscribe to the show, rate and review it wherever you listen to podcasts, or get bonus podcast episodes by |
| 0:41.2 | supporting the podcast on Patreon. There's a link in the show notes and in my Instagram bio to my |
| 0:47.5 | Patreon page. Let's get rolling. Hey everyone, welcome to a full-length episode of Sarah's Bookshelves Live. |
| 1:12.2 | I am thrilled to have Sarah Peckinan and Greer Hendrix, the writing team behind the psychological thrillers, the wife between us, an anonymous girl, and most recently, you are not alone, joining me today. Prior to teaming up with Greer, Sarah was a journalist covering Capitol Hill and writing features for the Baltimore Sun. |
| 1:17.3 | She is the author of eight solo novels prior to teaming up for her latest three. |
| 1:20.0 | And she currently lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland. |
| 1:24.2 | Greer served as vice president and senior editor at Simon & Schuster. |
| 1:28.2 | Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, Allure, and Publishers Weekly, |
| 1:32.9 | and she lives in Manhattan with her husband and two children. Welcome, Greer and Sarah. |
| 1:38.9 | Welcome. Thank you. I'm kind of a time warp here because I feel like you are not alone has been out in the world for so long now because it was a book of the month pick in February and so many |
| 1:43.4 | people have been talking |
| 1:44.3 | about it. But as of record date is actually not out yet. Yeah, it'll be out on Tuesday and it's just, |
| 1:49.8 | it's so thrilling, like right before the release. And you're right, we have been seeing a ton of |
| 1:55.0 | stuff on social media that the early readers who got it through Book of the Month. You know, |
| 1:59.4 | I've gotten that kind of early peak and it's been great to get their reactions. |
| 2:03.5 | And we're also super excited. |
| 2:05.4 | And I think people have been loving it. |
| 2:07.4 | Oh, thank you. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Sarah Dickinson, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Sarah Dickinson and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.