Bio

Lisette Brodey was born and raised in Pennsylvania. After high school, she moved to New York City where she attended Pace University and studied drama. After ten years in New York, several of them working in the radio industry, she moved to Los Angeles, where she held various positions at Paramount Studios in Hollywood and CBS Studio Center in Studio City, CA. Back on the East Coast, she worked for many years as a freelance writer, specializing in PR and the entertainment industry. In 2010, she returned permanently to the Los Angeles area.

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What genre do you write?

That sounds like an easy question but it’s not. I’ve written in several. Putting labels on books isn’t as simple as it sounds. My first published novel, Crooked Moon, could be considered literary fiction or women’s fiction. Some consider my first-written novel, Squalor, New Mexico, to be Young Adult, as it is a 1970s coming-of-age novel. But many have appropriately classified it as literary fiction, and I agree.

My third novel, Molly Hacker Is Too Picky!, is a romantic comedy that is definitely in the chicklit or women’s fiction genre. Currently I’m writing my sixth novel, which is also book 3 of a Young Adult paranormal series.

My seventh novel is partially written, and it is definitely literary fiction. That’s probably the genre in which I’ll stay. But you never know!

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Have you always wanted to be an author?

Ever since I learned how to write, I wanted to, but I wasn’t sure what to write: plays, screenplays, or books. For the past twenty years, I’ve been content to be a novelist.

Tell me 3 things about yourself that your readers don’t know.

I have never and would never write a character that is solely me. Not even close.

I have a very difficult time reading most books written as if they’re happening in present time, e.g. she walks to the door and answers it.

I consider typing the most valuable class I ever took in high school.

Tell me a bit about your stories

“I Wish…,” which was inspired by your sunset photo, is the story of a well-to-do woman who lives in a New York City high rise. She is married to a good man, but having focused solely on her children, she is now lost and lonely as they have lives of their own. Every day, she watches the rush-hour traffic from her window, but she dreams of being back in a vacation spot she visited with her family decades ago and longs for the blissful sunset she remembers so ardently.

“May Twenty-Fourth” is the story of two American sisters, Julie and Carol, who travel to England together. Despite the death of her husband, Julie is a happy person. She has many friends and a positive outlook on life. Carol is happy being miserable. She’s a chronic complainer who rarely appreciates anything in life. Julie takes Carol on a trip to London in hopes of bonding with her sister away from the stresses of home. On a bus ride to see some church ruins, Carol makes a life-changing decision that impacts both sisters profoundly.

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