I'm thrilled to introduce you to Leslie Lehr, whose new book, A Boob's Life, is launching on March 2nd. It delivers what the title promises—a deep dive into this female body part shaped as a unique hybrid of memoir and cultural analysis. Leslie is also a story consultant and in our interview offers great tips about how to successfully pitch your book. She is the 'go-to' for helping writers craft their query letters, which is often the key to landing that coveted publishing agent.
Leslie Lehr is a prize-winning author and story consultant. She has written the novels What a Mother Knows, Wife Goes On, and 66 Laps, and essays for the beloved New York Times "Modern Love" column and the infamous anthology, Mommy Wars. Leslie is a breast cancer survivor, the mother of two daughters, and lives in Southern California.
Her newest book A Boob’s Life, which drops on March 2nd, explores the surprising truth about women’s most popular body part with vulnerable, witty frankness and true nuggets of American culture that will resonate with everyone who has breasts – or loves them.
“Lehr’s appealing sense of humor runs throughout, as does her sharp analysis of broader social issues...”
—Publishers Weekly
“Original, thought-provoking, and with an elegant sense of humor, A Boob's Life is a must-read."
—Salma Hayek
“Thoughtful and honest. Our verdict: GET IT."
—Kirkus Reviews
KARIN GUTMAN: I love the topic of your new book! How did it occur to you to write an entire book devoted to this female body part? Do you remember the moment when the thought first occurred to you?
LESLIE LEHR: One night I got out of the shower and noticed that my boobs were crooked. I had just recovered from breast cancer and moved into my dream house. But the sight upset me so much that my husband accused me of being obsessed, as if I should be grateful to be alive and nothing else should have mattered. But it did.
Especially when we settled in to watch David Letterman’s farewell TV show, with all the celebrities visiting – and he opened with a boob joke. So much for our date.
I left a message for my doctor, then couldn’t sleep. We had just moved, so while my husband slept, I started unpacking my scrapbooks and realized I could track my whole life by my boobs. I also had fashion magazines I hadn’t had time to read yet – and one of them said boobs were “out” that year. I needed to prove I wasn’t the only one who was obsessed – and figure out how it happened. I knew immediately that this was my next book.
KARIN: How did you go about fleshing out the seed of this idea?
LESLIE: Lots of research! I started a file on every related subject I could think of. I poured over my old diaries and scrapbooks. And I interviewed a bunch of people. I originally thought of linked essays, but once I connected the dots, they told a bigger story of America.
KARIN: I know the book is a blend of research and personal narrative. How did that hybrid evolve?
LESLIE: It was necessity. I’ve written personal essays, in Mommy Wars and Modern Love. But I had something to prove here. I needed to see how – and when - history and the American culture had impacted a typical midwestern girl like me. I love research; it’s a great procrastination device. But since A Boob's Life brings us to present day, I kept updating - and it's crazy-making. My next book is a novel.
KARIN: What did you find surprising about what you discovered as you researched? And how did this shape your own thinking about your journey as a woman with breasts?
LESLIE: I realized that women are our own worst enemies. And I am just as complicit.
KARIN: I know your last published book was fiction. How was it for you to make a shift from writing fiction to personal narrative?
LESLIE: All of my novels grew from personal essays – challenges that kept me up at night. So the inspiration was the same. And I write in scenes. The challenge was switching between narrative and analysis without being heavy-handed and keeping true to the time period (from the 1960’s to now) about what I knew then versus what I understand now.
KARIN: How has the last year through Covid affected your writing practice?
LESLIE: I’ve been writing and consulting more than ever. It’s harder to separate play time and work time, but I’m very grateful.
KARIN: Was this an easy book to sell? How did you pitch it and who is the audience?
LESLIE: My agent at the time said she wasn’t interested in breasts. Which to me, meant she was in denial. But I hadn’t written a book since my novel, What A Mother Knows, and while my analytical side came back immediately after chemotherapy, my creative side did not.
My agent moved over to CAA (to rep Kamala Harris!) and did not take me with her. I wrote a crack query letter and got a new agent right away. And I had a full proposal, a relatively new requirement for memoirs. But it took her two years and 30 submissions to sell the book.
I wrote and kept updating the proposal as the political landscape evolved, from serious to funny and back. Then I went ahead and wrote the whole book. Most editors at publishing houses took the topic for granted, or didn’t see it past a magazine article. By now I already had TV interest, so I knew I wasn’t crazy. I was ready to indie publish. Then I heard back from Pegasus Books.
So getting a rave review from Publishers Weekly – who said that “women of all ages” will enjoy this book - has been a great feeling of I told you so!
KARIN: I know you are an expert at writing query letters and help a lot of writers through this process. What do you think is the most important part of pitching a book project?
LESLIE: Finding the gold, the part that keeps you excited and the part that shines in a unique way.
And not giving up.
Buy the book!
To learn more about Leslie Lehr, visit her site.
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