JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Can something good come from a foundation built on a lie? That is the question at the heart of a new novel from British writer Rosie Storey.
ROSIE STOREY: I was really thinking about how we all lie in tiny ways every day. You know, on dating apps, for example, we might be lying about presenting ourselves in a certain way.
SUMMERS: But what if the specific lie on a dating app is that the person you're pretending to be is actually dead. That's how the book, aptly titled "Dandelion Is Dead," begins. It's about a 30-something woman named Poppy, who, while grieving her older sister, Dandelion, finds Dandelion's phone and gets into her dating app.
STOREY: One particular message catches her eye. It's from Jake, a 40-year-old man who says that he can feel Dandelion's heat. And there's something about that message that compels Poppy to reply and accidentally catfish Jake.
SUMMERS: I spoke to author Rosie Storey about what inspired this book, her first-ever published.
I have to say, as I was reading the early parts of this book, when Poppy is just starting to talk to and communicate with Jake as Dandelion, it definitely took me back to the really early days of being on dating apps myself when it seemed like there was just unremarkable experience after unremarkable experience. But every once in a while, there'd be just, like, this little bit of a spark, this little bit of a promise. That part of the story focused on online dating, did any of that come from your own experiences?
STOREY: Oh, big time. I, too - I remember when Tinder launched in the U.K. in 2012, and, you know, embarrassingly, I still know what dating apps are like. I've been on all the dating apps...
SUMMERS: Uh-huh (laughter).
STOREY: ...Over the years, a little bit for research but certainly in my own kind of quests for love. And it's definitely helpful that I am a writer. And as Nora Ephron famously said, everything is copied because a terrible date can be handy for writing. And so I've certainly brought in the kind of rich, psychological territory of modern dating into this novel.
SUMMERS: So the story is - it's told through two perspectives. We hear about it and learn about this world from Poppy's perspective but also from Jake's, the man who is at the other end of those Hinge messages. Tell us about Jake.
STOREY: I adore Jake. He's a divorced father, and he's figuring life out. For me, this book is really about personal authenticity and how hard it can be to be ourselves and the journey towards that. And Jake is absolutely on that journey himself. And it was so fun to write a man. I must say, for once, being in control of a man's emotional journey was wonderful. I'm absolutely fascinated in societal pressures both on women but also with men. I mean, Jake is struggling. He wants to be a good man but he wonders if he can be. He doesn't necessarily feel masculine enough. He's also got his own grief that he's been pushing down. So through this book, he really has to face it.
SUMMERS: You wrote in the note inside the book that you lost a dear friend. And first of all, I just want to say I'm so sorry.
STOREY: Thank you.
SUMMERS: I wonder - what did the experience of losing someone that you cared about so much - what did that teach you about grief that found its way into the book, into how we see Poppy grapple and live with the reality that she's lost her sister?
STOREY: The experience of losing someone so vibrant and wonderful and, frankly, far too young, absolutely influenced this book. With Poppy and her sister, Dandelion, I see them as a yin and a yang, two halves of a whole. So where Dandelion is really vibrant and confident and sometimes aggressive and lascivious, Poppy sees herself absolutely in the shadow of her sister. And she has to work out who she is when she's not in contrast to her big sister.
SUMMERS: One of the things that I really loved about this book but that also was really challenging to me as I was reading it is that I could never quite figure out who I was supposed to root for. Everyone in this book - Poppy, Jake, even Dandelion, though she's dead - they're all imperfect and just so messy, making these choices that are sort of nebulous and in a gray area. Was that intentional?
STOREY: Everyone has definitely been pointing out that it's a messy story, and my characters are messy. But for me, I just think life is messy. Whether we see it from the outside or not, people make mistakes and they do things the wrong way, and it's about making those mistakes and getting to the place you want to be. So my characters are absolutely imperfect and messy. But I adore them. I root for them all the way, and I hope the readers will by the time they get to the end, as well.
SUMMERS: Author Rosie Storey's debut novel, "Dandelion Is Dead," is out now. Rosie, thank you.
STOREY: Thank you.
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