Christine Gunderson: Friends with Secrets

Join us for a talk by acclaimed local novelist Christine Gunderson.

In a funny and suspenseful debut, Christine Gunderson explores the myth of the perfect mother, the bonds of female friendship, and the haunting impact of secrets.

What you see isn’t always what you get.

Take Ainsley. The gorgeous mother of two lives a picture-perfect life with her husband, Ben―aspiring politician and heir to a candy fortune―in suburban Washington, DC. But in reality, Ainsley is terrified someone will figure out who she really is and where she came from.

Nikki’s fighting to keep afloat as a stay-at-home mother of four, subsisting on chicken nuggets and very little sleep. She’s a mess on the outside, and inside yearns for the validation―and the paycheck―of the television news career she left behind.

When a dangerous figure from Ainsley’s past becomes a coach at her kids’ school, she fears the worst and confides in Nikki, spilling every detail of her former life.

Together, they devise a plan to expose the coach and safeguard their kids. But can they protect their own lives―and their new friendship―in the process?

Christine Gunderson is a former television anchor, reporter, and Capitol Hill press secretary, a suburban mother of three, and the debut author of Friends with Secrets, releasing in July of 2024 from Lake Union.

She currently lives just outside Washington D.C. but grew up on a fourth-generation family farm in rural North Dakota. She loves Jane Austen, sailing, and Star Wars, and she can drive a tractor, a skill yet to be useful in her daily life.