Interview with Heather Gudenkauf

Heather Gudenkauf, author of These Things Hidden, has been kind enough to stop by Reading with Tequila to answer some questions.

Heather Gudenkauf is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Weight of Silence.

Heather was born in Wagner, South Dakota, the youngest of six children. At one month of age, her family returned to the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota where her father was employed as a guidance counselor and her mother as a school nurse. At the age of three, her family moved to Iowa, where she grew up. Having been born with a profound unilateral hearing impairment (there were many evenings when Heather and her father made a trip to the bus barn to look around the school bus for her hearing aids that she often conveniently would forget on the seat beside her), Heather tended to use books as a retreat, would climb into the toy box that her father's students from Rosebud made for the family with a pillow, blanket, and flashlight, close the lid, and escape the world around her. Heather became a voracious reader and the seed of becoming a writer was planted.

Heather Gudenkauf graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in elementary education, has spent her career working with students of all ages and is currently a Literacy Coach, an educator who provides curricular and professional development support to teachers.

Heather lives in Dubuque, Iowa with her husband, three children, and a very spoiled German Shorthaired Pointer named Maxine. In her free time Heather enjoys spending time with her family, reading, hiking, and running. She is currently working on her third novel.

Reading with Tequila: Where did you get the inspiration for These Things Hidden?

Heather: The idea for the novel came about after I heard an NPR news story describing how in the twelfth century, a deeply concerned Pope Innocent III created the Medieval foundling wheel. The Roman Pope ordered the construction of foundling wheels, rotating platforms built into the walls of churches, after becoming aware that many unwanted newborns were being tossed into the Tiber River by their mothers. This allowed desperate women to anonymously and safely leave their newborns with the nuns inside the church walls. From this I decided to write the story of one little boy left at an Iowa safe haven site, the mystery surrounding his birth and the four women who pass in and out of his life.

RWT: These Things Hidden does a wonderful job of showing how the choices we make can effect our entire lives in unexpected ways. Was that the intended message of the book?

Heather: Thank you! I do think that the choices we make can have a far-reaching impact on our lives and often on the lives of others. These Things Hidden highlights the importance of making thoughtful, well-intentioned choices, but also acknowledges the fact that sometimes life just happens - good and bad - and how we respond in these circumstances is the true measure of who we are.

RWT: Allison goes through so much in the book and in the end proves to be a very strong person. Did you ever feel bad about all that you put her through?

Heather: I did feel bad for all that Allison had to endure and out of all the characters in the novel, she underwent the biggest transformation. Allison, the golden girl, had her whole life in front of her and one decision sent her on a path she could never have imagined. Thankfully, Allison's determination and strength get her through the most of difficult times.

RWT: I love the scene where Allison calms Joshua by treating him the way should would another inmate. Is this a known parenting technique or your own idea?

Heather: That is one of my favorite scenes in the book also. I got the idea for this through my experience as a teacher and working with students who needed assistance in calming themselves. By giving a person the opportunity to gather their bearings and to save face, gives them the chance to make better choices. I wish I could say it's my own technique - but it's one I learned from many wonderful teachers I have worked with in the past.

About the Book

When teenager Allison Glenn is sent to prison for a heinous crime, she leaves behind her reputation as Linden Falls' golden girl forever. Her parents deny the existence of their once-perfect child. Her former friends exult her downfall. Her sister, Brynn, faces whispered rumors every day in the hallways of their small Iowa high school. It's Brynn—shy, quiet Brynn—who carries the burden of what really happened that night. All she wants is to forget Allison and the past that haunts her.

But then Allison is released to a halfway house, and is more determined than ever to speak with her estranged sister.

Now their legacy of secrets is focused on one little boy. And if the truth is revealed, the consequences will be unimaginable for the adoptive mother who loves him, the girl who tried to protect him and the two sisters who hold the key to all that is hidden.

Reading with Tequila's review of These Things Hidden