I am the author of four previous novels, O My Darling, The Folded World, Schroder, and Sea Wife. Sea Wife was a 2020 New York Times Notable Book and a finalist for the Mark Twain American Voice Award. Schroder was also a New York Times Notable Book and a best book of 2013 according to the Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, among others, and was shortlisted for UK’s Folio Prize in 2014. My work has been translated into 18 languages. In 2018, I was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in Fiction.
I am not a particularly brave or outdoorsy 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 followed Maine game wardens around as they ticketed grumpy outdoorsmen. 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.