Hi, I'm Zibi Owens, and you're listening to Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books.

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i'm thrilled to be interviewing susan conley today susan is a self-des Maynor, someone from Maine, who has written four books, including a memoir called The Foremost Good Fortune, a novel, Paris was The Place, and a photography book called Stop, Here is the Place. Her latest novel, Elsie Come Home, was recently selected by O the Oprah magazine, is one of the 10 newly released books that will give you an excuse to stay indoors this winter.

Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Paris Review, and other publications.

A fellowship recipient from the McDowell Colony, the Breadloaf Riders Conference, and others, Susan is on the faculty at the University of Southern Maine,

and co-founded the telling room, a creative writing lab for kids.

So welcome, Susan.

Thanks so much for coming on.

Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books.

Oh, it's terrific to be here.

So Elsie Come Home is an amazing novel.

Can you tell listeners a little bit about what it's about?

Yeah, Elsie Come Home is about this sort of secret that I started to realize many women I knew were caring,

which was that they couldn't be amazing mothers and have these amazing careers without compromising something.

And Elsie starts to unravel, and her husband suggests that she go away to this so-called

retreat in the mountains in China and try to get it together. And it's really about

her sort of coming to terms with her own guilt and creativity. And how did you end up setting it in

China? I mean, I know you've spent a bunch of time in China. Is that how you came up with this idea

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