Author Peggy Lampman is one of the best guests a podcast host could ever ask for! She joined me live, recently, to talk to me about her new novel, The Ruby of the Sea. She tells some fun and fascinating stories about her life as a passionate foodie and also reveals why she has strayed from her usual food centric novels to write this deeply moving family story about what happens when we try to silence mental illness and trauma. Listen to the end, where Peggy shifts into laugh-out-loud entertainment mode by channeling failed country and western singer/songwriter Ella Mae!

Five Things to Love About Peggy Lampman

1. This woman is just fascinating to hang out with. Seriously. She sparkles--not in a sparkly vampire kinda way, but in a sunshine on water kinda way

2. FOOD. She is a serious foody and talks and writes about food things that make my mouth water. All of her books have food things in them, even her brand new release, Ruby of the Sea, which is set in an historic lighthouse and centers around a family devastated by secret mental illness (you'll want a box of tissues at hand, but you'll still find awesome food and touches of laughter and romance to remind you that life is worth living)

3. She has an amazing sense of humor. Seriously. This woman cracks me up. When I interviewed her for my Tell Me Your Secrets show, she channeled a failed country and western singer named Ella Mae and I laughed so hard I could barely keep hosting! You can catch that awesome interview in video replay here on FB: http://bit.ly/2S4zxDN, or listen to it as a podcast above, or here: https://soundcloud.com/authorsontheair/tell-me-your-secrets-ep-2-off-the-page-with-author-peggy-lampman

4. She's an excellent writer who isn't afraid to dig deep into her characters and make us feel right along with them--while still reminding us there is laughter and good food in the world

5. She is courageous and deeply compassionate. Ruby of the Sea is a deeply moving book about mental illness and the wreckage that happens when we silence and stigmatize it. It is a book that needed to be written and Peggy went ahead and wrote & published it independently when her publisher wanted her to stick with Foodie books.

You can find out more about Peggy on her website. Grab a copy of The Ruby of the Sea on Amazon.

Check back in for next week’s edition of Tell Me Your Secrets, where I interview thriller writer Allison Brennan about her new release The Third to Die.