Q&A with Hannah Selinger, Author of Valley of the Moms
Hannah Selinger is the author of Valley of the Moms, which is available now.
Hannah Selinger is a James Beard Award-nominated lifestyle writer and mother of two based in Boxford, MA, and the author of the memoir Cellar Rat: My Life in the Restaurant Underbelly. Her print and digital work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, the Boston Globe, the Washington Post, Eater, Travel + Leisure, Food & Wine, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and elsewhere.
Her 2021 Bon Appétit essay, “In My Childhood Kitchen, I Learned Both Fear and Love,” is anthologized in the 2022 Best American Food Writing collection.
Valley of the Moms is a twisty thriller that uncovers the untruths, petty grievances, and local school politics underneath a seemingly quaint small town.
Let’s get to know Hannah as she talks favorite books, inspiration behind Valley of the Moms, current reads and more!
What are some of your favorite novels?
Such a hard question. The entire Rabbit Angstrom series by John Updike. Nobody’s Fool and The Risk Pool, both by Richard Russo. The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler. The Shipping News by Annie Proulx. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver.
When did you know you wanted to become an author?
When I was a really young kid! I have copies of books that I wrote when I was five or six that my school “bound” and “published”; they are covered in wallpaper samples, which was probably the best we could do back in 1985.
What’s the inspiration behind Valley of the Moms?
When I moved back to northeastern Massachusetts in 2022, following a 17-year hiatus, I got into a bit of a spat with my local Parent Teacher Organization, and that gave me the idea for something broader about wealth and power and the machinations of wealth and power in towns like mine.
How important was the setting to the story as a whole?
I like to think of setting as a third main character in my book. Even though this is a literary thriller that is narratively focused around a murder, it’s also a love letter, of sorts, to a place.
What was your favorite chapter or part to write?
There’s a scene that takes place at the LifeTime health club pool, which I think of as a bit of tongue-in-cheek (if you’ve ever been to a tony health club, I think you’ll get it), and that was a lot of fun to write.
What are you currently reading and what’s on your TBR (to be read) list?
Currently reading: John of John by Douglas Stuart (though I’ll definitely be finished by the time this appears). On my TBR: Love in the Afternoon, and Evening by my friends Charlotte Druckman and Mayukh Sen (it came out in early May); Salt, Sweat, & Steam by Brigid Washington; The Complex, by Karan Mahajan.
About the Author
