lying for a living

A soap character’s novel makes the New York Times best seller list.

The Book Is Real Enough. It’s the Author That’s Fake.

Barely two months after Kendall, who is played by the actress Alicia Minshew, set down those first few deathless words, “It was one of those brutally hot, muggy days in August,” her first novel “Charm” was released in the fictional small town of Pine Valley, Pa., as part of the soap’s story line. Concurrently, “Charm” — an actual hardback with a list price of $21.95 — became available in real-life bookstores around the country.

Pine Valley. Yes, the show is All My Children, which I watched maniacally in high school and college, until I realized that I absolutely had to quit. Soaps were like crack to me. Once I started watching, I had to watch some more. All My Children was the gateway show; from there I started tuning in to Santa Barbara. Eventually, spring break became one long daytime TV binge. Going cold turkey was the only way to save myself.

But even in my darkest days (I sank to watching General Hospital) I wouldn’t have bought a novel “written” by one of the characters. Fake! Fake! I would have screamed. However, while sitting riveted in front of the screen, waiting for the next shocking revelation like an addict craving a hit from the pipe, I would never have doubted Kendall’s prodigious creativity.

That Kendall Hart could whip up a novel and get it published with such dispatch raises no credibility issues with viewers, said Ms. Leahey of Soap Opera Digest. “Soap opera characters come back from the dead and have evil twins,” she noted, “so in that world, it would make sense for someone to write a book in a few weeks.”

Of course it would make sense. Kendall Hart “is a very aspirational character for women,” says the head of Disney-ABC’s daytime division. “She’d come from a trailer park and had built up a cosmetics company, and we felt that was the stuff of good female fiction.”

Sure. You go, girl.

By the way, “Kendall’s” perfume, also called Charm, will go on sale at Sears next week.