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Karen Mack and Jennifer Kaufman discuss their book, "A Version of the Truth"


MAGGIE RODRIGUEZ, co-host:

Last year, two best friends turned authors found great success with their first novel, "Literacy and Longing in LA." Now, Jennifer Kaufman and Karen Mack are back with us here with a new book called "A Version of the Truth," which shows how one lie can change your entire life.

Jennifer and Karen, good morning to you.

Ms. KAREN MACK ("A Version of the Truth"): Good morning.

Ms. JENNIFER KAUFMAN ("A Version of the Truth"): Thank you.

Ms. MACK: Good morning to you.

RODRIGUEZ: Karen, congratulations, first of all, on the success of your first book.

Ms. MACK: Thank you.

RODRIGUEZ: Is it true that you wrote the second one in between press appearances for that one?

Ms. MACK: Well, we actually started doing research a long time ago on the--on the second book. And we were writing it in between. But once we really got working on it, it was 9 to 4 every day.

RODRIGUEZ: Wow.

Ms. MACK: It's a--it's a difficult process.

RODRIGUEZ: I can't even imagine. And together, no less. How do--how do you do that? How do you write a book together?

Ms. MACK: Well...

Ms. KAUFMAN: We get asked that, like, a lot. It's--the physical process is always the same. We sit at one desk and we use one computer. And nothing goes on the paper that doesn't sound authentic. We...

Ms. MACK: We actually say it out loud like it's a play.

Ms. KAUFMAN: We say it out loud.

Ms. MACK: Which is...

RODRIGUEZ: So one of you stands behind the other and the other one types?

Ms. MACK: Well, we sit--we sit side by side.

RODRIGUEZ: You sit--OK.

Ms. MACK: But we--actually, we act it out like it's a play.

RODRIGUEZ: Oh.

Ms. MACK: We thought it was--it's an unusual process, but we actually did some research, and as far back as Dickens--he used to yell things out the window, and I hear that Richard Ford talks to his refrigerator, so...

RODRIGUEZ: Whatever works.

Ms. MACK: ...we actually--we actually act it out.

Ms. KAUFMAN: And by the end of the day, it's kind of like two lonely souls sitting on a park bench.

RODRIGUEZ: Yeah.

Ms. KAUFMAN: We converse back and forth and drink cold coffee and...

RODRIGUEZ: Well, it definitely works, because I read the book two days ago on a two-and-a-half-hour flight; it was the quickest flight of my life, a great read.

Ms. KAUFMAN: Great.

Ms. MACK: Thank you.

RODRIGUEZ: But what I found interesting was that this is not a typical heroine. Cassie is not a perfect girl with a perfect life.

Ms. MACK: No. Right.

RODRIGUEZ: She was widowed at 30, dyslexic...

Ms. KAUFMAN: Right.

RODRIGUEZ: ...dropped out of school, can't find a job. Jennifer, why cast someone like that as your heroine?

Ms. KAUFMAN: Oh, we like writing about sort of quirky misfits.

RODRIGUEZ: Mm.

Ms. KAUFMAN: And they just--they work for us. This girl, Cassie, was young--a young woman who--how do you describe her? She's attractive, she's smart, she's good-natured, but she had a run of really bad luck.

RODRIGUEZ: Yeah.

Ms. KAUFMAN: And as a result, at a very low point in her life, she tells a perfectly logical but lethal lie.

RODRIGUEZ: Yeah.

Ms. MACK: And it...

RODRIGUEZ: She calls it a little lie...

Ms. MACK: A little lie.

RODRIGUEZ: ...but it turns out to affect her life and everybody else's that...

Ms. MACK: It all comes crashing down on her. And the lie she tells is she lies on her resume to get a job at a university, which is ironic because she barely graduated high school because of her dyslexia. And a funny thing then starts happening, it's like that great Kurt Vonnegut quote, "You are what you pretend to be."

RODRIGUEZ: Yes.

Ms. MACK: And she suddenly starts pretending--she becomes the person she's pretending to be. And is the moth really the butterfly or is the butterfly the moth?

Ms. KAUFMAN: Butterfly the moth.

RODRIGUEZ: Right. Exactly.

Ms. MACK: Exactly.

RODRIGUEZ: It's interesting because it's fiction, but there's a lesson in it...

Ms. MACK: Yes.

RODRIGUEZ: ...really, how one lie that you think is going to be no big deal...

Ms. KAUFMAN: That's right. That's right.

RODRIGUEZ: ...will change your life. Why did you focus so much of the book on that lesson?

Ms. MACK: Well, sometimes the truth just isn't good enough. And then what do you do? I mean, we've all been in that situation. And you can take one road or the other, and that was sort of the dilemma.

Ms. KAUFMAN: Do you think...

RODRIGUEZ: Also, is it the fact that Cassie's life turned out well in the end despite the lie? Do you think it says that lying is OK or that it's not OK?

Ms. KAUFMAN: You know, I think it says that you have to go through a fair amount of struggle once you do that to pull yourself out of it.

Ms. MACK: And there was a love interest and there was a possibility of her losing her love interest because of the lie.

RODRIGUEZ: Right.

Ms. MACK: I mean, there was a possibility of her losing all sorts of things.

RODRIGUEZ: Yeah, it is interesting to see everything that happens as a result of that.

Ms. MACK: Yes. Yes. Yes.

Ms. KAUFMAN: Right.

RODRIGUEZ: And finally, you're working on book number three already?

Ms. MACK: Yes. Yes. And it's for--it's for--it's for Random House, and it's the same sort of...

RODRIGUEZ: Another quirky misfit?

Ms. KAUFMAN: Another quirky misfit.

Ms. MACK: Well, we seem to like misfits. I don't know why.

Ms. KAUFMAN: This one disappears.

RODRIGUEZ: Oh. Well, we'll look forward to that. Thank you so much.

Ms. MACK: Great. Thank you.

Ms. KAUFMAN: Thank you for having us.

RODRIGUEZ: Thank you.

If you would like to read an excerpt from "A Version of the Truth," just go to our Web site at cbsnews.com. Pick it up, it is a wonderful read.

We'll be right back. You're watching THE EARLY SHOW on CBS.


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