Heartwood, my fifth novel, was published on April 1st and became an instant National Bestseller. Heartwood was selected by Jenna Bush Hager of “The Today Show” as her April Read With Jenna Book Club pick. I appeared on “The Today Show” twice, once to pass out copies in Rockefeller Center while Jenna hyped the book, and a second time on April 22nd. Check out the raves in The Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, or there’s an awesome free article and interview here at Boston.com.
Sea Wife was published in April 2020, just as the world went on lockdown for the Covid-19 pandemic. Sea Wife is about crossing the sea in a sailboat with your family, and that’s what the pandemic felt like for a lot of people. See me talk with Lauren Groff about Sea Wife here. Sea Wife was named a New York Times Notable Book, an Indie Next Pick, a Book of the Week by People Magazine, and was a finalist for the Mark Twain American Voice Award. My novels have been translated into 18 languages. In 2018, I was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in Fiction.
I am not a particularly brave person, but I certainly enjoy the research process, which thrusts me into new experiences. In order to write Heartwood, I ate mugwort, learned to flyfish, bushwacked in the North Woods, became a birdwatcher, section hiked parts of the Appalachian Trail, and went on “ridealongs” with Maine Game Wardens. In my real life, I live in the quiet city of West Hartford, Connecticut, with my husband and two kids. I teach creative writing at Yale.