What if the retirement home wasn't the end of the story, but the beginning?

This week, we sit down with #1 New York Times bestselling author Julie Murphy — of Dumplin fame — to talk about Vera Stein Is Fine, her first "adult, adult" solo romance. The idea started with a random fact about David Attenborough starting a retirement home for actors, spiraled into a synopsis Julie sent her agent back in 2016, and spent years becoming the book it needed to be.

Julie joins Jenna and Cait to talk about writing across categories when publishers weren't used to authors jumping between them, what it took to finally finish this book, and the wild, true story of how the Dumplin movie almost didn't happen — until Jennifer Aniston and Dolly Parton stepped in. We also get into why every book is a handmade heirloom of who you were when you wrote it, and why more women need to be talking to each other about their health.

For romance readers, this episode is a look behind one of the summer's most talked-about books — a Palm Springs retirement home full of scandal, second chances, and characters you won't want to leave. For writers, it's an honest conversation about trusting an idea for a decade, writing through the hardest years of your life, and coming out the other side with the book you're most proud of.

In This Episode

• The real David Attenborough fact that sparked Vera Stein Is Fine
• Why Julie sent the first synopsis to her agent back in 2016
• Publishing across categories before it was common to jump between them
• What made this her first "adult, adult" solo romance
• The full story behind the Dumplin movie almost not happening
• How Jennifer Aniston and Dolly Parton both saved the day
• Why every book feels like a handmade heirloom of a specific version of yourself
• The reader review that became this book's unofficial tagline
• Why Julie thinks women need to talk to each other more about their health
• The line from the book everyone's already quoting

Vera Stein Is Fine
by Julie Murphy

Vera Stein is forty, stuck in a dead-end job, and pretty sure her big life has already passed her by — until a visit to her grandmother's retirement community in Palm Springs turns into a fresh start she never saw coming. Funny, tender, and full of scandalous seniors, this is a story about second chances at every age.