Andrea Leeb presents Such a Pretty Picture in conversation with Jack El-Hai

Such a Pretty Picture is a candid and heart-wrenching memoir about child abuse, family secrets, and the healing that begins once the truth is revealed and the past is confronted. Andrea is four and a half the first time her father gives her a bath. Although she is young, she knows there is something strange about the way he is touching her. When her mother, Marlene, walks in to check on them, she howls and crumples to the floor—and when she opens her eyes, she is blind. Marlene’s hysterical blindness lasts for weeks, but her willful blindness lasts decades. The abuse continues, and Andrea spends a childhood living with a secret she can’t tell and a shame she is too afraid to name. Despite it, she survives. She builds a life and tells herself she is fine. But at age thirty-three, an unwanted grope on a New York City subway triggers her past. Suddenly unable to remember how to forget, Andrea is forced to confront her past—and finally begin to heal. Readers will feel Andrea’s pain, her fear, and her shame—yet they will also feel her hope. And like Andrea, they will come to understand an important truth: though healing is complicated, it is possible to find joy and even grace in the wake of the most profound betrayals.

Andrea Leeb is a writer and survivor advocate living in Venice Beach, California. Her work has been published in numerous literary journals, including Litro Magazine, the Potomac Review, Text Power Telling magazine, and HerStry. In 2025, she was a non-fiction finalist in the Tucson Festival of Books literary awards program. She has an MFA from the Bennington Writing Seminars, a JD from the Cardozo School of Law, and a BSN from Georgetown University. Previously, Andrea worked as both an attorney and as a registered nurse. She currently spends her time writing, advocating for survivors of sexual assault, volunteering at the UCLA Rape Treatment Center and Stuart House, and mentoring young women from post-conflict and climate-challenged countries. Such a Pretty Picture: A Memoir is Andrea’s first full-length book.

Jack El-Hai is the author of the nonfiction books The Lobotomist, The Nazi and the Psychiatrist, The Lost Brothers, and most recently Face in the Mirror. He has contributed articles and essays to The Atlantic, GQ, Wired, Smithsonian, and many other publications. A past president of the American Society of Journalists and Authors, he was a writer-in-residence earlier this year at the Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg Institute for Advanced Study in Delmenhorst, Germany.

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