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On The Table Read Magazine, “the best entertainment eBook magazine UK“, author Gail Lukasik talks about What They Never Told Us which explores the profound identity shifts and psychological trauma experienced by ordinary people who uncover hidden truths about their parentage.
Written by JJ Barnes
I interviewed Gail Lukasik about her new book, What They Never Told Us, what inspired her to share this story, and her creative writing process.
Tell me a bit about who you are.
I’m the author of five mystery novels, a best-selling memoir, White Like Her: My Family’s Story of Race and Racial Passing and a biography/memoir, What They Never Told Us: True Stories of Family Secrets and Hidden Identities Revealed. I began my writing career as a poet.
Before writing my first mystery novel, I earned my MA and PhD in English with a specialization in poetry from the University of Illinois at Chicago. It was my son who first encouraged me to try my hand at mystery novels.
He said, “Mom, you’re always reading mysteries. Why don’t you try writing one.”
So, I thought, okay, why not try?
That was how Destroying Angels was born. I began writing Destroying Angels in 1996.
How long did it take you to complete your first book from the first idea to release?
The writing went fairly quickly. It took me about year to write the book. I must have had these characters and plot ideas brewing in my subconscious for a while.
At the time of my writing the book, I was dealing with a health issue. I was at high risk for breast cancer.
So, I decided to follow Walter Mosely’s sage advice and write about what I feared. Very good advice as it turns out.
My protagonist, Leigh Girard, is a breast cancer survivor who leaves her Chicago teaching job and moves to the wilds of Door County, Wisconsin, where she takes a job as a reporter for the local newspaper. Her first assignment, an amateur naturalist’s obituary, turns into a hunt for a murderer.
Although the writing came easily, the road to publication didn’t. As a first-time mystery writer, I received my fair share of rejections. However, if the agent or publisher included valid reasons for the rejection, I often used their suggestions to improve my book.
One agent suggested that Leigh’s character was too acerbic. So, I softened her characterization and made her more likeable and relatable. Within a year I had a contract. I immediately began writing the second book in the Leigh Girard series, Death’s Door.
I went through a rigorous editing process, lined up blurbs from well-known mystery writers and had author’s photos taken. Then the unthinkable happened. Just before galleys were to be printed, the publisher went out of business.
Now I had not one unpublished book but two. I was on the verge of giving up. Then a writer friend suggested I attend a Chicago mystery writing conference and pitch my book. I did. Within two weeks of pitching, I had a second contract. The book was published in 2006 to a rave review from Kirkus Reviews, who said, “The stark beauty of the Door peninsula provides the backdrop for this riveting debut thriller. Plan on an all-nighter.”
My mystery writing career was launched.
It took ten years from idea to release for Destroying Angels to be published.
I would have never been able to endure those ten years of rejections and setbacks without the support of my family and friends. At my lowest point, my husband said, ”Whether this book gets published or not, you’re still a writer. And you’ll write other books.”
He was right, I went on to write three more mystery novels. The latest, The Darkness Surround Us, was my first gothic, historical mystery. I also wrote two nonfiction books, White Like Her and What They Never Told Us, as mentioned earlier.
How long did it take you to complete your latest book from the first idea to release?
Because my latest book, What They Never Told Us, relates the stories of ordinary people who made extraordinary discoveries about their parentage and/or race and ethnicity, it took me at least a year just to interview the people. Then another year writing the book, which included extensive research on racial identity, adoption, and donor conception. So, from idea to release, I estimate about two years to complete, then another six months of editing until it was released.
Focusing on your latest release. What made you want to write What They Never Told Us?
I never intended to write What They Never Told Us. But an unexpected thing happened after I wrote White Like Her, which chronicles my mother’s passing for white; how I discovered her lost family; and how I traced the Frederic family back to an eighteenth-century enslaved ancestor, Marta, in Louisiana.
After the book’s publication, prompted by my appearance on PBS’s Genealogy Roadshow and their confirmation that my mother had been passing as white, I wrote an article for the Washington Post about my mother and her lost family, which led to my appearing on The Megyn Kelly Today Show.
My appearance on the show, I received an avalanche of emails from strangers around the world. In many cases, they wrote to tell me their family secrets. The majority of these emails began with, “I never told anyone this.” Suddenly I was the repository of other people’s secrets.
This went on for several years and I still receive the occasional email from a stranger wanting to share their secrets.
I decided that these voices needed to be heard. I wanted to find out why these family secrets were being kept, what trauma occurred when they were revealed, and how did people heal their fractured identities.
What were you biggest challenges with writing What They Never Told Us?
There were several hurdles I had to overcome: locating people who were willing to have their stories revealed in a book, telling their stories with honesty and compassion, and methodically researching the social historical mores that necessitated the secrecy.
A challenge I hadn’t anticipated, but that proved difficult, was the toll the writing took on me personally. All my interviews were done on Zoom and often lasted nearly two hours. Because I was so intent on accurately portraying each person, I not only transcribed them word for word, but I often stopped the video to note facial expressions, tone of voice, and gestures. I used many of my fiction writing skills such as dialogue, characterization, and physical descriptions to make each story zing.
As I listened and watched, I found myself standing in their shows, empathically feeling what they were feeling. An example, is Brad Ewell, the Texas cop who discovered that his biological father was a murderer. By time he found out he was adopted, his biological mother was deceased. He talked about lost time and lost opportunities. When I was transcribing and writing his story, my brother was dying. This sense of lost time and lost opportunities hit me hard.
I had to stop writing. I took about a week off, which was very unusual for me, before I returned to Brad’s story.
What was your research process for What They Never Told Us?
I learned a great deal about research not only from earning advanced degrees but from writing mystery novels. One of my big lessons was don’t go down rabbit holes while researching. Anyone who does research knows how easily one thing inevitably leads to another thing, especially if one enjoys learning about historical facts, etc. All very interesting but not necessarily helpful when you’re focused on a particular topic for your book.
An example from What They Never Told Us where I had to do considerable research because of my lack of knowledge was donor conception. I narrowed the topic, citing the earliest history of human donor conception in the U.S, giving several examples of why secrecy was recommended, and the legal, moral, and legal issues.
How did you plan the structure of What They Never Told Us?
I divided the book into three sections: Race and Ethnicity, Adoption, and Donor Conception. Prefacing the Race and Ethnicity section, I told my confusing and sometimes painful journey to redefine my racial identity under the spotlight of public opinion. Because these discoveries shatter a person’s identity, I thought it would be helpful to explain how I redefined my racial identity.
Within each section, I structured the narratives in the same way I structured my mystery novels. I used the same mysterious twists and turns: from how the discovery was made; to why it was kept secret; to the arduous, sometimes disappointing, quest to find the biological parent or parents.
Did you get support with editing, and how much editing did What They Never Told Us need?
My editor at Skyhorse Publishing, Jesse McHugh, was very supportive throughout the editing process. He was particularly vigilant about the research, which I appreciated. He also asked me to explain and/or elaborate on certain conclusions and/or statements. In comparison with my editing experiences with my other books, I think the editing was about average.
What is the first piece of writing advice you would give anyone inspired to write a book?
I’d like to give several pieces of advice for first-time writers.
Read deeply in whatever genre you’re writing in.
Write every day, if possible. Set aside a dedicated writing time. I write for three hours every morning when I’m working on a project.
Be persistent and never give up.
But above all, find joy in your writing.
Can you give a hint about any further books you’re planning to write?
I have several ideas rattling around for either a mystery novel or a historical novel.
And, finally, are you proud of your accomplishment? Was it worth the effort?
I’m proud of the books I’ve written, especially White Like Her and What They Never Told Us. It gives me immense satisfaction, when someone writes me and tells me that one of my books has had a profound effect on them.
Recently a person wrote this review of What They Never Told Us on Goodreads.
I was adopted as a child and while I’ve made contact with my biological mother, my biological father and half siblings know nothing of my existence. Because of this, I was able to relate to a lot of these stories, and it also provided me many resources to look into to find my biological father. It also made me feel ‘normal’ for feeling the way I do about my birth and all of the secrets.
My hope is that many more people find solace and help from my books.
Pop all your book, website, and social media links here so readers can find you.
Mystery:
Leigh Girard Mystery Series: Destroying Angels, Death’s Door, Peak Season for Murder.
Stand-alone Mysteries: The Lost Artist, The Darkness Surrounds Us
Memoir/Biography
White Like Her: My Family’s Story of Race and Racial Passing
What They Never Told Us: True Stories of Family Secrets and Hidden Identities Revealed
Apple Books: https://apple.co/3R3fjaY
Kindle: https://amzn.to/3FgdrcD
Hardcover: https://amzn.to/4ij3nhk
Poetry:
Homeless, In My Own Words: True Stories of Homeless Mothers
Website: www.gaillukasik.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lukasikgail/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gaillukasik5/
X: https://x.com/glukasik1?s=21
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gaillukasik_author?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc
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