Ellen Meister's 'Divorce Towers': Beverly Hills breakups

Like much of the world during 2020, Jericho author Ellen Meister craved an escape from the sobering reality of the pandemic. As such, she wanted her next project to have pure “entertainment value” as a diversion from the chaotic feel of the time. That’s how she landed on Beverly Hills as the setting for her ninth novel, “Divorce Towers” (Montlake, $16.99).

But Meister found that writing about a place defined by affluence and self-indulgence pushed her out of her comfort zone, as she doesn’t “swim in a glam pond.” To bring “Divorce Towers” to life, she needed to create a protagonist who similarly felt like a fish out of water. Enter Addison Torres, who, in the wake of a scandal that torpedoed her engagement and career as a professional matchmaker in New York City, flees the familiar to take a job as a concierge at a glitzy Beverly Hills condo that caters to “the rich and newly unshackled.”

Meister, who will appear at Theodore's Books in Oyster Bay on Sept. 5 for a talk and book signing, recently chatted by phone about the quirky characters of “Divorce Towers” and her own Hollywood associations.

“Divorce Towers” is a tale of revelation, reinvention and redemption. Why are there so many peculiar characters with severe flaws?

I think perfect characters are boring. If you have a character with a flaw, then you give them the opportunity to grow and have an arc by the end of the book. Everybody in the book is coming off a failed relationship. This condo caters to wealthy Beverly Hills types who are recently divorced or separated. It’s where monied people go right after their marriages end. I wanted to explore the idea of giving everybody a second — sometimes a third, fourth or fifth — chance at love.

This book shines a spotlight on a lot of failed marriages, but your union is anything but that.

I have a very solid marriage.

In a previous book, you wrote about an unhappily married woman.

My poor husband had to deal with that! I was writing about a woman who wanted to shuffle her husband off this mortal coil.

Has living in Jericho influenced any of the locales for your stories?

Everything influences everything when you are a novelist. My previous book, “Take My Husband,” was probably my most Long Island-centric one, taking place in Plainview and Smithtown. In my first book, “Secret Confessions of the Applewood PTA,” I created a Long Island town that had similarities to Jericho. One of the nice things about a fictional town is that you’re not stuck in reality. But it’s also interesting to choose an actual town and stay within the confines of a real map, which I found a little challenging with “Divorce Towers” because I’m not familiar with Beverly Hills.

Do you have any plans to feature Long Island again in a future book?

I’m sure that I will be back on Long Island.

You have a connection to someone famous: a “Friend.”

Lisa Kudrow is my cousin. We grew up on opposite coasts, so it wasn’t like the cousin around the corner. Our fathers were first cousins and they were the sons of sisters, so they were extremely close. There were three kids in the Kudrow family and three kids in the Meister family, and we paired up very nicely when we used to go on vacations.

Staying on the topic of Hollywood connections, you were a clue on a game show.

Being a clue on “Jeopardy!” was one of those things that I never would have thought to put on my bucket list. My husband and I watch the show all the time. We would sometimes pretend the category was American Authors or Women Authors, and he would shout out, “Who is Ellen Meister?” We would both laugh because it was so absurd to think that I could ever be a clue on “Jeopardy!” — and then it actually happened.

What’s your next project?

My next book will be about a woman Uber driver whose goal is to be a life coach. She counsels people from the front seat of her car while she drives them places. She’s also dealing with a crusty father who’s an ex TV comedy writer — there I go again with the New York-Hollywood connection — who leaves Hollywood and winds up on her doorstep in Brooklyn. She’s also trying to navigate a love life of her own.