New Novel "The Memo" is Co-Written by Local Author
The buzzy new book was written by Lauren Mechling and Hastings resident Rachel Dodes
JUN 10, 2024
by Janine Annett
Hastings-on-Hudson — Ever had the feeling that when everyone else got a note about how to navigate life, you were left off the list? That’s the premise of the forthcoming novel The Memo, co-written by Lauren Mechling and Hastings resident Rachel Dodes.
In The Memo, 35-year-old Jenny Green is about to attend her college reunion when she starts receiving mysterious texts about “the memo.” At the time, her college friends are all flourishing, and she is floundering. But with an unusual assist from the school’s career office, Jenny has a chance to revisit pivotal moments and make different choices leading to the success she’s always dreamed of… at a cost.
A freelance culture writer and regular contributor to Vanity Fair, Dodes’ work has also been featured in Town & Country, ELLE, Esquire, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Buzzfeed, among other outlets. She also previously co-hosted a weekly news/comedy podcast.
Dodes moved to Hastings-on-Hudson last August with her husband, son, and dog, Coco (who recently escaped the confines of the family’s yard but was secured with the help of the Hastings Police Department). Mechling, author of the 2019 novel How Could She, lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children.
Dodes and Mechling first became friends while working at The Wall Street Journal. Then, they reconnected when Dodes invited Mechling to be a guest on her podcast. “She’s very funny,” Dodes said. “We share a comedic sensibility.” When Mechling made a social media post about a television show called “Canceled,” Dodes thought maybe that could make for a funny scripted podcast.
The two had a meeting scheduled with a big podcast network on Friday, March 13, 2020, which would have been an ominous day even without a global pandemic that was about to shut down the entire world. The meeting to discuss their “Canceled” proposal was canceled.
During the height of the pandemic, Dodes and Mechling bonded over their struggle to work while raising kids. Dodes’ husband got a severe case of COVID-19 and was hospitalized, but survived the ordeal. While it seemed like “everyone was baking bread and trying face masks as if they were going to come out of the pandemic like a swarm of perfectly optimized butterflies,” said Dodes, she and Mechling felt like “we just didn’t get the memo.”
The pair decided to write a book about a character who always suspected that she did not get “the memo.” Dodes said writing the book with her friend allowed the pair to “escape the misery of our pandemic existence” and focus on an alternative universe.
Rachel Dodes
The Memo, which will be available on June 18th from Harper Perennial, is receiving praise from writers such as J. Courtney Sullivan, Laura Zigman (who called the book “smart, sharp, darkly funny, and every women’s fantasy”), and Laura Dave, and has been named one of the 20 best books of the year so far by Vogue. Production companies responsible for other successful TV shows and movies like Mare of Easttown, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, and The Devil Wears Prada have already optioned the novel.
Lauren Mechling and Rachel Dodes will be signing copies of The Memo at Picture Book in Dobbs Ferry on Friday, June 14th from noon - 2 PM.
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