There’s nothing like doing an interview with an incredibly engaged, enthusiastic reviewer. Shining Sea’s working title was An American Family, and I’ve always felt the tale was universal–but some of the similarities between the story and interviewer Michelle Marie Dunton’s own life were uncanny. I may appear a little drained…(Read More)
When I’m deep in the first draft of writing a new novel, I don’t typically read other authors’ fiction for pleasure. What about other novelists? Do they? And has becoming a novelist interfered with their fiction-reading pleasure? I investigated. “I read like a coyote loose among sheep…” To read the rest in…(Read More)
California!
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From September 16 through October 4, I’ll bring Shining Sea home to California–home because that’s where the story opens and returns, and where Barbara Gannon and her five children all have grown up. San Diego, Berkeley, Sausalito, San Rafael, and Los Angeles… Please check the events page for details, and hope to…(Read More)
Little, Brown is holding a book giveaway on Goodreads, from July 14 to August 7 — thirty copies of the paperback edition of Shining Sea are up for grabs! Free to enter… what’s to lose? To read more and try your luck, go here…(Read More)
“To me, freedom is being able to choose a career path based on vocation rather than the fear of ending up without medical insurance.” For my op-ed in USA Today on being a writer, being an expat, endometriosis, and universal healthcare, please look here…(Read More)
Twenty-five copies of the paperback edition of Shining Sea, before it comes out on August 8, are up for grabs on Goodreads. Deadline is June 29! To enter, look here…(Read More)
“I want to understand human beings, what makes them who they are and why they do the things they do.” The Woolf sent me some of the most incisive questions on the craft of writing, the researching of Shining Sea, the influence of expat life on my work, and writerly responsibility I’ve ever received…(Read More)
If you read Commonwealth by Ann Patchett and are looking for similar reads, The Seattle Public Library suggests you pick up Shining Sea. Having read Commonwealth, I’d agree! Some other great suggestions on the same list–books by Angela Flournoy, Jhumpa Lahiri, Ayana Mathis, Anne Tyler, Tiphanie Yanique…. Very nice to have Shining Sea…(Read More)
Thank you to Jill Marsh and Book Muse for this graceful, on point review of Shining Sea and a Recommended Reading Award! “Woodstock and freedom; Vietnam and death; AIDS and counterculture; [Shining Sea] is an evocative yet concise American novel of self-discovery in which successive generations try to define themselves and their notions of…(Read More)
A big merci to everyone who joined me at the American Library in Paris on March 8, International Women’s Day, to hear a reading from and talk about Shining Sea as well as some thoughts on women in life and literature. What a fun, lively evening! A video of the event should be available…(Read More)
