January Guest Author Alison Larkin: THE ENGLISH AMERICAN
Monday, January 19th, 2009
My semi-autobiographical novel, The English American tells the story of a young woman adopted into a very English family who finds her birth parents– and a new homeland—in the United States. I come from a performing background. When the comedy is working, you know it, because the audience laughs. When the story is moving the audience, you can hear sniffles right there in the room with you. But writing a novel is quite different. You work on it for months and eventually people read it, but you have no idea what they’re thinking or feeling until much later! And even then, you only find out what they thought if they take the time to email you, or someone writes a review or a blog about it. I absolutely love phoning in to book clubs, because it allows me to communicate with my readers, and always gives me a new perspective on what I have written. If you’d like me to phone in to your book club, I would be delighted. To invite me, go to my website and shoot me an email.
I was absolutely thrilled when Redbook Magazine picked The English American as their Book Club selection of the month. You can see TVAM Northwest’s book club discussion about the book .
The English American brings up universal questions that book clubs tell me are leading to passionate discussions. Like how much of each of us is nature, how much is nurture and how much is individual choice. I’ve also been told it’s a good choice for busy Mom’s. I knew I’d have to read it through a few times myself, so I wrote the kind of book I’d have time to read i.e. I made sure that in addition to an authentic adopted heroine at it’s centre, it also had short chapters and a what’s-going-to-happen-next quality, which is the kind of book I like to read.
Last week I was thrilled to get an email from a book club in New Jersey run by a librarian who had created an English American crossword puzzle! I loved the idea so much, I am offering an English American Gift Basket to the first the first book club to select the book and successfully complete the crossword puzzle.