It all starts with a squabble over an apple cake. When one sister bakes a much better cake than the other, the estrangement that follows ripples across three generations of the Rubinstein family for years.
In this episode of Elena Meets the Author, I’m talking with New York Times bestselling author Allegra Goodman about her latest novel, This Is Not About Us, a national bestseller and a Late Show with Stephen Colbert Book Club Pick. It’s a portrait of a modern American Jewish family on the East Coast, centring around two elderly sisters, Helen and Sylvia. Their sister Jeanne, the family matriarch, dies in the very first chapter, and as the Wall Street Journal puts it, what follows is a story about three generations bound by love, rituals, and guilt trips.
In each chapter, Goodman gives us a different member of the Rubinstein family. From octogenarian Helen, who says exactly what people need to hear (not necessarily what they want to hear), to sixth grader Lily, who wishes she lived in a different century and that her parents hadn’t divorced. It’s funny, sharp, and deeply relatable. The kind of book you recognise yourself in even when you’d rather not.
This is actually the second time I’ve spoken to Allegra in less than a year. Last July we talked about Isola, her historical novel about a French noblewoman who loses everything and is forced to live on a remote island. And now here we are with a sprawling Jewish family constantly gathering for birthdays, bat mitzvahs, and recitals. Same author, two entirely different books, both exceptional.
We talk about how Allegra began writing this book more than ten years ago, the novel’s rotating perspectives and humour, the title’s origins in the bat mitzvah storyline, Jeanne’s phrase “write down the ocean,” the role of music, what drew her to the name Rubinstein, her writing routine, and the books she has loved recently.
If you enjoy the episode and want to go deeper, Behind the Stories is my paid Substack where I share writing craft insights and process tips from each conversation, give early access to upcoming guests, and you can suggest questions before I record. It’s also a way to directly support the podcast and help it grow. You can find it at elenabowes.substack.com.
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