So, how do two people write as one?
With a lot of laughter, in the case of Alli Frank and Asha Youmans, co-authors of the new novel “The Better Half,” out July 1. The two women, who met about 10 years ago when both were working at Seattle’s Bertschi School, quickly found that they shared “a very similar sense of humor,” Youmans said, in an interview this month. (Youmans still lives in Seattle; Frank is now based in Sun Valley, Idaho.) Although both moved on to other jobs, they stayed in touch, and one day in 2018, Frank contacted Youmans with an idea: Why not write a novel together?
That book was “Tiny Imperfections,” inspired by Frank meeting a Black woman in San Francisco who was the head of an elite private school. “It ran through her mind, watching this woman surrounded by white families: She’s holding the keys to the kingdom. What’s it like to be her?” Youmans said. Frank, who is white, wanted to turn the idea into a novel, but felt she needed some help to authentically convey the Black experience — so she called up her former colleague.
Youmans remembered meeting Frank at Third Place Books in Seward Park, near her home, to discuss the idea. “We had coffee for hours, and talked and talked and talked, and fantasized about the story we might write, and we just started. One of Alli’s favorite things to say is ‘ignorance is bliss,’ and we were very blissful because we had no idea what we were supposed to do and what we weren’t supposed to do. But we knew we were passionate about books and passionate about education and telling a story of kids and their families.”
Education and community run deep in Youmans’ family: Her late father, Thomas “T.J.” Vassar Jr., was one of the first Black students to attend Seattle’s Lakeside School. After two terms on the Seattle School Board, he spent many years at Lakeside as an administrator, working to make the school diverse and welcoming for all. “The reason I write the way I write, it’s carrying on his legacy,” Youmans said, calling Vassar “the father of DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) in education in this region.” Growing up, she watched him and learned “so much about how to be gracious myself. You may be faced with ignorance, put a smile on your face and things can change in an instant.”