Author Ellen Marie Wiseman said that, coming from a small town in upstate New York where her graduating class was just 28 students, she always loved reading.
Wiseman said her hobby eventually led to writing, and once she started, she was inspired to write about her mother’s experiences living in Germany during World War II.
Now, over 10 years after the release of her first book, she celebrates the release of her seventh novel, “The Lies They Told,” and is visiting Oyster Bay, Carle Place, and East Meadow. The historical fiction novel, which was released on Tuesday, July 29, explores the eugenics movement in America.
“I chose to write about America’s eugenics movement because of its chilling connections to the Holocaust, mental asylums, and state institutions—topics I’ve explored in past novels,” she said in an author’s statement.
The novel follows Lena Conti—a young, immigrant mother—who is forcibly separated from her family on Ellis Island and moves to Virginia with her two-year-old daughter. There, a social worker from the Eugenics Office accuses Lena of feeblemindedness, and she is sent to a state institution.
Although the novel takes place in Virginia, the subject matter is pertinent to Long Island.
Wiseman said Cold Spring Harbor was home to the Carnegie Institute’s Eugenics Records office in the 1920s and 1930s, which stockpiled information, studied children from institutions, and produced propaganda newspapers and posters on the movement.
“They were really influential,” she said.
Wiseman said her research into the Holocaust for her first book, “The Plum Tree,” inspired her to explore other social injustices, like mental asylums, institutionalism, and labor rights. Her new release, “The Lies They Told,” focuses on the eugenics movement in America.
“When I was writing my other books… I kept finding these threads that tied into eugenics… So that kind of snowballed into me thinking that I needed to write a book about the American Eugenics Movement,” she said.
Wiseman she began her research about three years ago. She said that, although she wasn’t a fan of history class in school, she is inspired to tell the stories of “average people in extraordinary circumstances” to educate readers on different issues.
While the primary goal of fiction is to entertain readers, Wiseman said she is motivated to hear that many of her readers also learn through her characters’ stories.
“It really is rewarding to hear people say that they were entertained and inspired at the same time,” she said.
But the past isn’t the only thing that can be learned from her novels, Wiseman said.
“I think that, for me, understanding eugenics in America isn’t just about learning from the past. It’s also about recognizing how these old ideas can resurface in new forms,” she said.
“The Lies They Told” is available online on platforms including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound and Books-A-Million. To learn more about the novel, visit Wiseman’s website at www.ellenmariewiseman.com/books/the-lies-they-told.
“I hope that people are entertained by ‘The Lies They Told,’ but I also really hope that it reminds people, invites people, to remember that all people, no matter their race, nationality or abilities, deserve empathy and the chance to live free,” she said.
