Laura Dave

But, no, it's a great premise.

And, you know, I think that fans of Laura Dave would really, you know, like your book because, you know, the last thing he told me is a little bit along those lines.

Yeah.

I'm trying to remember if it was you or somebody that said recently that if you start a book with a murder, then... there's one set of expectations, but if you start a book with a disappearance, it's a totally different expectation.

Big Little Truths is our September Reese's Book Club pick and the highly awaited sequel to Big Little Lies, which was adapted for the screen by Hello Sunshine.

To make things even more special, Leon is joined in conversation by fellow Reese's Book Club alum and best-selling author, Laura Dave, who also wrote the hit Hello Sunshine adaptation, The Last Thing He Told Me, streaming now on Apple TV.

So without further ado, I'll pass it over to Laura to kick off the discussion.

Well, it's so nice to be here.

You're going to then After you consider genre, tone, voice, think about universal themes and or plot.

So if you're writing a domestic drama with a juicy twist, Laura Dave might be for you.

And then intangibles.

Some books just remind you of other books for reasons that are hard to articulate.

And then we'll talk about this base because spoiler alert, I am loving it.

So this self striping confetti cannon colorway, has butter yellow pink purple coral tan fuchsia aqua and like a limey kind of grass green actually I don't know that the tan is really tan I think it's more like a gray maybe like a grayish it's gorgeous it pale pairs so well with that teal for the cups heels and toes I love it I knit on these dinner with my friends Meg and Laura and then Megan I went to see Jagged Little Pill and I am just starting the toe now so quite a quite a bit of progress on these I really enjoyed working with it I did really used to like Michelle's old Tarhe base which was sort of I think it was maybe a custom thing for her but it is no longer available so she's been searching for a replacement and I worked with a different mill on this custom spin.

So like I said, it's, it's an 85, 15 superwash BFL nylon.

It's a three ply yarn and it's 390 yards for a hundred grams.

Wounds only Jean's therapy can heal.

But as the trial unfolds, it's Augusta Gus Bird, Anna's former employee, a seemingly insignificant bystander, a nobody, who holds the key to unraveling the tangled webs of lies and deceits.

What really happened to Mary in Rome? And if her memories can't be trusted, how will they ever uncover the truth behind her estrangement? Twistive and propulsive in her defense is a compulsively readable debut for fans of Lucy Foley and Laura Dave.

I don't know Laura Dave, but this did feel twisty turny like a Lucy Foley.

Yep.

Jennifer Garner returns as Hannah, and the first season was based on Laura Dave's novel about Hannah's husband suddenly vanishing, leaving her to navigate the fallout with her stepdaughter.

But this new season is actually based on the sequel novel, The First Time I Saw Him, which jumps five years into the future.

That time jump is a highly effective narrative device because trauma does not remain static.

But maybe check trigger warnings or read some other reviews before you pick it up.

The other disappointment was The First Time I Saw Him by Laura Dave.

This is the sequel to The Last Thing He Told Me, which I find this really interesting that I didn't like this one as much because the first book was actually my very first mystery thriller book that I had really ever read.

I really enjoyed the first book.

It's so intense.

Then you look at The Last Thing He Told Me, based on Laura Dave's novel.

Right.

Starring Jennifer Garner, Angourie Rice, and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.

So my TBR list got a lot longer.

Um, but anyway, a few years ago, I read The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave, and I really loved it.

It...

I, I was listening to the audiobook, and I actually found myself taking longer routes or staying in the car an extra minute, um, if I was able to so that I could keep listening.

Um, thankfully, that's not the title, but that does hold true for most of these books.

[timer dings] Um, all right.

So that hors d'oeuvre was a little longer than intended, but isn't that always what happens when those little trays are going around? But on to the main appetizer of this episode, The First Time I Saw Him by Laura Dave.

Contrary to what you may assume from the title, this is a sequel to The Last Thing He Told Me, not a prequel.

And speaking of figuring things out, there is this incredible cross-media synergy happening in the thriller space that I stumbled upon in the report, and it completely blew my mind.

You're talking about the Laura Dave situation with Apple TV.

Yes.

Okay, so Apple TV has a show called The Last Thing He Told Me.

Yeah.

Season 2 is based on a concurrent sequel novel called The First Time I Saw Him.

The author, Laura Dave, wrote this new book specifically to continue the television show.

The TV show needed a Season 2, so the author-

And they have like a 3.9 rating, like average together.

But it's the Hannah Hall series by Laura Dave.

The first one is called The Last Thing He Told Me.

It's a thriller.