Like many graduate students in the 1980s, Linda Edelstein (TGS ’82) and Carol Kerr (TGS ’86) co-wrote dissertations, attended conferences and shared Friday night beers.
They also created mystery plots together.
“We did it to keep sane while we were going through graduate school,” Kerr said.
As classmates, the two pledged to write a mystery novel someday. They delivered on that promise 45 years after meeting at NU.
“Not The Trip We Planned” released March 4. The story follows two older women who travel to Chicago to uncover the cause of the death of a friend’s husband.
Edelstein, a clinical psychologist and former clinical lecturer at NU, said she called Kerr about the project in 2019 after Kerr’s retirement from working in public mental health.
Because Kerr lived in California at the time and Edelstein in Evanston, the two met over Zoom. Edelstein said those conversations still occur at 4 p.m. every Wednesday.
“That would be great if graduate students make some vows to each other,” Kerr said. “You don’t have to write a book, but you can stay in touch with people.”
A self-professed fan of writers Agatha Christie and Anthony Horowitz, Edelstein said she knew the book’s front cover should not include stereotypical aspects of mysteries such as teacups, cats or storefronts. Most importantly, she did not want a hero and sidekick, she said.
Instead, Edelstein said she and Kerr each brainstormed separate characters before coming together to write the story.
Kerr created Maddy, a 71-year-old former social worker named after a friend of Kerr’s mother. Edelstein invented the 68-year-old journalist Chickie, based on her mother Sarah’s nickname.
“My character is the feistier one, the nastier one, versus the kinder, gentler soul,” Edelstein said. “Not surprising.”
Edelstein also writes from Chickie’s perspective on a blog called “Old Dogs, New Tricks” because “I’m an old dog always hoping to learn a new trick,” the page reads. Article topics range from weight to Wordle, and they all express Chickie’s grievances. “Maddy” has authored one post so far about self care.
Although Edelstein said the characters represent her and Kerr’s respective personalities “on steroids,” the two women have always shared a sense of humor. Kerr credited their banter to the seriousness of graduate school, which they poked fun at.
On one occasion, Edelstein said she struggled working on her dissertation about women who had lost children. She called Kerr, who came over with a six-pack of beer.
“I said something like, ‘I don’t know if gender matters once you’re dead,’” Edelstein said. “She looks at me, and we got so hysterical. Sobbing, can’t even breathe. And then my writer’s block was gone.”
That “irreverent” sense of humor, coupled with honesty, helped their relationship persist through challenges like parenting, deaths of family members and aging, Kerr said.
Ken Adams, who has known Edelstein for 50 years, read and edited several drafts of the novel. He said the friends’ dynamic comes through the pages.
“It takes a certain sensibility to find humor in the pain of aging and loss,” Adams said. “I think they do it.”
But readers of all ages, whether that be 20 or 70, can take away the lesson of making bold decisions, Edelstein said. For her, that has manifested in mailing letters to publishers, climbing Mount Kilimanjaro despite a fear of heights and creating this fictional novel.
When writing and marketing “Not The Trip We Planned,” she said she and Kerr committed to being bold and honest — the same traits that sustain their friendship.
“If you’re lucky enough to get old, do it with pizzazz,” Edelstein said.
Email: [email protected]
Related Stories:
— Author R. F. Kuang talks writing, inspirations with NU AASP
— Author Gioia Diliberto discusses new book ‘Firebrands’ at The Book Cellar
— Evanston Public Library volunteer talks importance of books and service
