{"id":377969,"date":"2026-10-20T15:05:03","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T15:05:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/377969\/"},"modified":"2026-10-20T15:05:03","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T15:05:03","slug":"bonnie-garmus-reveals-the-secret-she-only-told-queen-camilla","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/377969\/","title":{"rendered":"Bonnie Garmus reveals the secret she only told Queen Camilla"},"content":{"rendered":"

When bestselling author Bonnie Garmus started writing her latest novel Peck and Peck, she kept the story a closely guarded secret. But then she met The Queen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was so nervous but she\u2019s incredible, really funny. I had in my head the whole time \u2018I\u2019m talking to The Queen of England\u2019,\u201d says the author whose award winning novel Lessons in Chemistry was chosen for The Queen\u2019s Reading Room initiative.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen she asked me what my new book was about, and I said, \u2018oh, I never talk about what I’m writing about\u2019, which is true. And she said, \u2018Oh but to me, you will.\u2019 So I told her the whole thing. When people used to say, what is Peck and Peck about? I’d go, I’m not going to say, but Queen Camilla knows.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bonnie Garmus is an inspiration in never taking no for an answer. Prior to becoming a best selling novellist at 64, the former advertising executive was rejected so many times, her husband suggested she should give up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said \u2018well, that’s 98 rejections\u2019. And he goes, so are you going to quit? And I said, no, I thought I’d go for 100,\u201d she tells Ateh Jewel on the Second Act podcast.<\/p>\n

\"BonnieBonnie Garmus in the Second Act studio with Ateh Jewel<\/p>\n

\u201cJust because someone says no doesn’t mean that they’re right. I just decided, no, isn’t for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lessons in Chemistry\u00a0came about after an infuriating day in the office where a male colleague took credit for her work.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI was shocked and upset,\u201d she recalls. \u201cI went back to my desk and instead of working, I wrote the first chapter. I was thinking, how many other women in the world right now are in this same meeting, taking this same kind of treatment. I am not accepting it a minute longer.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is life lessons like this that she wants to pass on to her two adoptive daughters, Zoe and Sophie. \u201cThe amazing thing about adoption is you learn that loving someone has absolutely nothing to do with biology. The bond that people have between people is really, really special.<\/p>\n

She adds: \u201cIt\u2019s kind of funny because they’re both really nice and kind people, so they’ll speak up, but maybe they’ll be not as loud as I would have been. But I’ll give them another ten years before they \u00a0hit 40.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs you get older, you give yourself more permission to do things that are more and more out there. And I really want to role model that for my kids; take risks, don’t give up, and don’t listen to people who are negative.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said her confidence kicked in at the age of 40. \u2018I just started saying no a lot more. It was just like the clock turned and said, \u2018now you can own all the power that you have.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have the time to waste anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

Listen to the Second Act podcast, now on Apple Podcasts<\/a>, Spotify<\/a>, Amazon Podcasts<\/a> and Youtube<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When bestselling author Bonnie Garmus started writing her latest novel Peck and Peck, she kept the story a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":377970,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[2878,9,24,63,1433,122,124,123,48830],"class_list":["post-377969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-books","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queen-camilla","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-second-act"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=377969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377969\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/377970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=377969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=377969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=377969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}