Alexa Young, CA
"Lally's memoir is a testament to both the intense work it takes to achieve [the American Dream] and the sacrifices she made that would be unthinkable to the average American fortunate enough to be born into that dream. The writing is clean and concise and reads like a conversation rather than a series of events...Excellent, excellent work. Very highly recommended."
Asher Syed, Readers' Favorite, 5 Stars
Brina Patel sits down with Dr. Lally Pia to talk about her new book
B: What made you decide to write your story into a memoir? Have you always had an affinity for storytelling?
Dr. Pia: I grew up in Ghana and I was a quintessential reader of books. I’d sometimes read three a day when I was a kid. Everyone would call me a bookworm. Like, “Oh, who wants to talk to the bookworm?” [Chuckles.] So, of course, when you start reading a lot, you get stuck being the person who tells the story.
My friends would come to me and they’d all just lie down and say, “Go ahead, tell us a story.”
From the age of 13 to 24, I wrote these long diary entries; I got used to putting down my thoughts. Writing this memoir has been in my mind for about 14, 15 years. Everybody who heard my tortuous path to becoming a physician said, “You’ve gotta write this down. I’ll read it.” I kept hearing it over and over. And honestly, I’m much more of a novelist than a memoirist because I really like exciting stories. So I just put [the memoir] in the back of my mind.
I wrote it once I started to get better at writing; as I worked through all my book clubs and all of that. It just unfolded. And then I just thought, okay, let me just get this memoir out. So that’s kind of how it happened.
Interview With
Dr. Lally Pia: Psychiatrist, Memoirist, and America’s Next Great Author Finalist
MEET LALLY PIA
Lally Pia has lived in Sri Lanka, Ghana, Wales, England, Pennsylvania, and California. At UC Davis she removed human body parts and mastered the fine art of embalming, a truly dead-end job.
She attended medical school at U.C. Davis, residency in San Mateo and Davis and currently practices as a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist in Sacramento, California.
Her writing has been published in anthologies for the California Literary Review and the Sacramento branch of the California Writers' Club in 2022. Also in 2022 she was a finalist for America's Next Great Author, a TV pilot which brought scores of writers together to promote their stories. In addition, her interview about a day in the life of a psychiatrist has received over 60,000 online views.