Hi, I'm Zivie Owens, and you're listening to the award-winning podcast, Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books. Thanks so much for listening to my podcast. If you like what you hear, please follow me on Instagram at Zibi Owens and also at Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books.

Thanks so much for listening. Enjoy it. Today's episode was sponsored by Nest Notes, which is a company

founded by a mom named Chase Simmering, who's in Miami, and they create print keepsakes that tell

stories, which, as you all know, stories are like my favorite thing, whether they're family

stories or stories of the places we call home.

So shop kids stationary and paper goods and little journals and all the rest at this amazing company, nestnotes.com.

Lara Prescott is the author of The Secrets We Kept, an instant New York Times bestseller and a Hello Sunshine Reese's book club pick.

The Secrets We Kept is Lara's debut novel and will be translated into over 30 languages

and adapted for TV by the Ink Factory and Mark Platt Productions.

Lara received her MFA from the Mishner Center for Writers at the University of Texas.

She studied political science at American University in Washington, D.C.,

and international development in Namibia and South Africa.

Prior to writing fiction, Lara worked as a political campaign consultant.

Lara's writing has appeared in the Southern Review, the Hudson Review, Crazy Horse, and more.

She currently lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband, son, cats, and dog.

Welcome, Laura. Thanks so much for coming on moms. Don't have time to read books. Thanks so much for having me. It's great to be here. So the secrets we kept. By the way, I read this on my iPad, and I kept taking all these screenshots of quotes, and my husband was like sleeping next to me. This is ago when I was, like, finishing it. And every softened I'd be like, and he's like, shoot him. And then I'm like, it's another really good quote. Anyway. So there was lots to memorial commemorate or whatever the word is. Anyway, would you mind, I know this was an instant bestseller, everybody probably knows what it's about, but would you mind just giving like a quick summary for the people

who might not have heard of your book? Sure. The secrets we kept is a work of historical fiction

and it's based on the true story behind Boris Pasternak's Dr. Javago and how it was used as a weapon during the Cold War.

But my book really focuses on women behind the story. So a group of CIA secretaries and

Boris Pasternak's Real Life, Mistress and Muse, Olga, even Skaia. And were you really, I saw on your

website, you were actually named for Lara in the book?

I was.

...