For bios, blurbs, and book club questions, here’s a little bundle of everything you’ll need. Let me know if anything is missing, and I’ll gladly provide it.
- For speaking engagements or press interviews, please contact Robin Barnett at Booked PR.
- For publication, translation, or distribution rights inquiries, please contact Michelle Grajkowski at 3 Seas Literary.
- Feel free to contact me directly for complimentary copies of my books for book industry professionals.
Short bio (72 words)
Christine Gunderson is an award-winning, Amazon bestselling author, a former television anchor, reporter, and Capitol Hill press secretary, a suburban mother of three, and the author of Friends with Secrets and Behind White Picket Fences.
She currently lives just outside Washington D.C., but grew up on a fourth-generation family farm in rural North Dakota. She loves Jane Austen, sailing, and Star Wars, and she can drive a tractor, a skill yet to be useful in her daily life.
Full bio (151 words)
Christine Gunderson is an award-winning, Amazon bestselling author who grew up on a fourth-generation family farm in rural North Dakota where she read Laura Ingalls Wilder books in her very own little house on the prairie.
She’s a former television anchor and reporter and former Capitol Hill press secretary. She currently lives in the Washington D.C. suburbs with her husband and three children.
Her debut novel, Friends with Secrets is an Amazon Bestseller, an Amazon Editors First Reads Pick and winner of the Women’s Fiction Writer’s Association Star Award for Best Debut Novel.
Her next novel, Behind White Picket Fences, releases in June of 2026 with Lake Union.
You can contact her for book club appearances at www.christinegunderson.com
Behind White Picket Fences
Media gallery
Taglines
15 words or less/90 characters or less
| Three mothers quit the white-picket rat race… and uncover its secrets. | |
| A homage to female friendship exploring the hamster wheel of modern motherhood, and the consequences for jumping off. |
Blurbs
30 words or less/100 to 200 characters
| Fusing page-turning suspense with keenly observed humor, this homage to female friendship explores the hamster wheel of modern motherhood, and the consequences for jumping off. |
Praise for Friends with Secrets:
| “Funny and poignant, Friends with Secrets is a feel-good book about balancing motherhood, friendship, and career.” —Liz Talley, USA Today Bestselling Author of Deconstructed |
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| “Christine’s genius lies in the minutiae of the mundane, rendered through her hilarious lens. From exersaucers toys to chipped mugs, you will feel seen.” —Camilla Monk, Author of Spotless |
Book description
Amazon description (172 words)
In a funny and suspenseful debut, Christine Gunderson explores the myth of the perfect mother, the bonds of female friendship, and the haunting impact of secrets.
What you see isn’t always what you get.
Take Ainsley. The gorgeous mother of two lives a picture-perfect life with her husband, Ben―aspiring politician and heir to a candy fortune―in suburban Washington, DC. But in reality, Ainsley is terrified someone will figure out who she really is and where she came from.
Nikki’s fighting to keep afloat as a stay-at-home mother of four, subsisting on chicken nuggets and very little sleep. She’s a mess on the outside, and inside yearns for the validation―and the paycheck―of the television news career she left behind.
When a dangerous figure from Ainsley’s past becomes a coach at her kids’ school, she fears the worst and confides in Nikki, spilling every detail of her former life.
Together, they devise a plan to expose the coach and safeguard their kids. But can they protect their own lives―and their new friendship―in the process?
Book information
- Genre: Women’s fiction
- Subgenres/keywords: friendship, motherhood, children, politics, suburbia
- Publication Date: June 9th, 2026
- ISBN-13: 978-1662522710 (paperback)
- Retail Price: USD $4.99 ~ $16.99 (price may vary depending on formats and distribution platforms)
- Format: E-book, 5.5*8.5 Paperback, Audiobook
- Page Count: 443
Distribution
Book Club Discussion Questions
- How have expectations for women changed since the 1960s? Do you feel more or less is expected from mothers today? How have housekeeping expectations changed over the decades? Which expectations have remained the same?
- What are your thoughts on travel sports? Do you feel they enhance childhood? Make it more difficult? Why do you think travel sports are now so prevalent?
- What is your definition of balance? Do you think most families have balance in their lives? If not, why?
- Think about your own childhood. Compare it to the experience children have today. Do you think things are better or worse for kids today? Why?
- What is your neighborhood like? Is it a true community? Do people know their neighbors? Or is your sense of community based on something other than the place where you happen to live?
Have you ever thought about “dropping out”? If so, why? What prevents people from doing this, even if they find the concept attractive? - What did we learn from COVID? Were there any positive parts of that experience? What were the drawbacks?
- Is your impression of the 1960s different after reading this book? If you lived during the 1960s, is there anything from this era you’d like to see explored in more depth?
- Discuss the trad wife movement. Why do you think this lifestyle is appealing to some young women today?
- What do you think life will be like for women sixty years from now? Will it be better? Worse? Do you think advances in technology will make motherhood easier or harder in the future?
Message Michelle
You can also visit 3 Seas Literary Agency’s website.
Message Trina
You can also visit Trina Kaye Organization.