CANR
WORK TITLE: THE SISTERS OF SUMMIT AVENUE
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.lynncullen.com/
CITY: Atlanta
STATE:
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME: SATA 319
http://books.simonandschuster.com/Mrs-Poe/Lynn-Cullen/9781476702919 http://www.mybookishways.com/2013/10/interview-lynn-cullen-author-of-mrs-poe.html
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born July 11, 1955, in Fort Wayne, IN; married; husband’s name Michael; children: three daughters.
EDUCATION:Attended Georgia State University; Indiana University, B.A.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer.
AVOCATIONS:Travel, history.
AWARDS:Named Georgia Author of the Year, 1999, for The Mightiest Heart; “Discover Great New Writers” selection, Barnes & Noble, 2007, Best Book of 2008, American Library Association, both for I Am Rembrandt’s Daughter; Best of the South writer, Atlanta Journal Constitution, 2011.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
As a child growing up in Indiana, Lynn Cullen roamed her local library in search of biographies of interesting people. As an adult, her travels have taken her to many interesting places, and her interest in people and history have inspired her books for young readers.
Cullen’s first book, the middle-grade novel The Backyard Ghost, taps into the author’s interest in U.S. history through her story about a preteen whose worries about being popular are quickly set aside when she discovers a ghost from the Civil War haunting her home. In Meeting the Make-Out King, a seventh-grader’s hopes of being accepted by the popular group at school have a chance to come true, until Nora is asked to date a middle-grade Don Juan.
A twelve-year-old boy is the star of The Three Lives of Harris Harper, which finds the hero wishing he could trade in his quirky and chaotic family for the upper-class family he babysits for. When his young charge, Jamey Benya, runs away, Harris learns that even the most perfect family is not what it seems, in what Booklist contributor Chris Sherman dubbed an “easy reading story [that] skillfully blends the humor and angst of early adolescent relationships with a serious exploration of family identity.” Another preteen boy, Kenny, learns about life while caring for a pair of orphaned baby squirrels in Stink Bomb, which contains a “worthy message—the importance of taking responsibility for one’s actions,” according to a Publishers Weekly contributor.
Turning to history for her next middle-grade effort, Cullen wrote Nelly in the Wilderness, which takes readers back to 1821. Twelve-year-old Nelly Vandorn and her older brother, Cornelius, hope to preserve their rural way of life in the Indiana frontier after their widowed father brings home a city wife named Margery, a young woman with cosmopolitan tastes. Praising Cullen’s story for its focus on a complex young character, Horn Book contributor Mary M. Burns called Nelly in the Wilderness “not only an evocation of frontier life but also a study of an adolescent girl’s maturation against fearful odds,” which include a lack of parenting and education. In addition to introducing “a capable, headstrong heroine,” the novel “delivers a surprising amount of information about life on the early American frontier,” concluded Chris Sherman in a Booklist review.
The result of eight years’ worth of research and travel, Cullen’s historical novel I Am Rembrandt’s Daughter transports readers to the fifteenth century and the era of the Dutch masters. Set in Amsterdam, the novel is narrated by fourteen-year-old Cornelia, the illegitimate daughter of Rembrandt van Rijn. Having been spurned by his wealthy patrons, Rembrandt is embittered and living in poverty. Starved for affection and worried about her future, Cornelia aspires to a conventional life and realizes that marriage is the only way to accomplish this. While caring for her increasingly mentally unstable father, the teen builds a relationship with Carel, the son of a wealthy shipping family, even as she is attracted to the far-less-wealthy Neel, one of Rembrandt’s last students.
In I Am Rembrandt’s Daughter, Cullen creates “a powerful family drama,” according to Booklist contributor Gillian Engberg, who describes the novel as an “absorbing, romantic story of a teen who upends her worldview and, in doing so, grows into herself.” Citing the novel’s “vivid prose,” School Library Journal contributor Joyce Adams Burner added that “Cullen drenches her depiction of Cornelia’s coming-of-age in deft details of the plague-ridden [Amsterdam].”
Cullen mines the traditions of British folklore in her picture books The Mightiest Heart and Godiva. In The Mightiest Heart, a folktale based on a Welsh legend dating to the twelfth century, Gelert, the dog of Prince Llywelyn, is wrongly banished when his owner is led to believe that the dog has attacked Llywelyn’s infant son. Commending the handsome illustrations by Laurel Long for imbuing the book with “an epic quality,” Booklist contributor Carolyn Phelan wrote that the book’s “period setting and compelling plot will carry readers along.”
A better-known character is the subject of Godiva, which expands the story about the cobbler’s daughter whose greedy husband, Lord Leofric, promised that he would lower the taxes on the citizens of Coventry if she rode naked through the streets, clothed only by her long hair. Cullen tells the “dramatic” story of Lady Godiva “directly and without fuss,” wrote Booklist contributor GraceAnne A. DeCandido, and Kathryn Hewitt’s richly toned illustrations expand her “tender retelling.” Calling Godiva “an excellent book for youngsters who may be unfamiliar with this tale,” Sheilah Kosco added in School Library Journal that Cullen includes an afterword that “puts the tale into historical perspective.”
Cullen takes a different slant on history in Little Scraggly Hair: A Dog on Noah’s Ark, which tells the biblical story from the point of view of a scruffy pup. In addition, the story is a just-so story that explains why dogs have warm, wet noses and are devoted friends to man. Another historical epoch is introduced from a pug dog’s viewpoint in Moi and Marie Antoinette, which follows the life of French queen Marie Antoinette during her growth from a teenager to a mother and monarch as narrated by her devoted pet. In Publishers Weekly, a reviewer dubbed Little Scraggly Hair “a dog-lover’s delight,” while Booklist contributor Shelle Rosenfeld concluded that the message in Moi and Marie Antoinette “is classic, and the royal pooch makes an enticing narrator.”
In 2013 Cullen published the picture book Dear Mr. Washington. Illustrated by Nancy Carpenter, the story traces the fictional letters of painter Gilbert Stuart’s daughter as she writes to George Washington for interfering with his portrait posing sessions. Booklist contributor Ilene Cooper labeled the account “a different take on” Washington. A contributor to Publishers Weekly took note of the “lively mixed-media illustrations.” A Kirkus Reviews contributor concluded that “this collaboration’s clever epistolary narrative and playful pictures present a fresh, remarkably humanizing view of our first president.” Writing in School Library Journal, Amy Shepherd called it “a fabulous addition to picture book collections.”
After establishing herself as a writer for young readers, Cullen turned to adult fiction with the novels The Creation of Eve and Reign of Madness. In the former, Cullen presents a historical novel that reimagines the life of Renaissance artist Sofonisba Anguissola. Despite being a renowned portraitist, Sofonisba struggles to gain the same respect as her male peers. Men less talented than her enjoy greater pay and status. After her mentor, Michelangelo, finds Sofonisba in bed with another painter, she flees Italy to avoid a scandal. Sofonisba hopes to start anew in Spain, working as a painting tutor and lady-in-waiting to Queen Hisabeth. The women bond over their similar experiences of discrimination and dream of finding equality through true love.
“This is a good choice for fans of Tracy Chevalier, Sarah Dunant, or Elizabeth Kostova,” Leigh Wright observed in Library Journal. However, a Kirkus Reviews contributor complained that “this love-obsessed narrative leaves plenty of room for a sequel, but no one’s likely to be terribly interested unless it offers a more three-dimensional portrait of the artist.” In a far more laudatory assessment, Booklist writer Margaret Flanagan asserted, “Cullen does a magnificent job reinvigorating a still-life portrait of an all-but-forgotten maestra.”
Cullen’s next novel, Reign of Madness, tells the fictionalized story of Juana of Castile, the third child of Spain’s Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand. The historical Juana was betrayed by those closest to her and ended up a prisoner for the rest of her life, locked up for forty-six years in a tower. Cullen’s telling of Juana’s story focuses on Juana’s life up until she is imprisoned.
Juana marries the Duke of Burgundy, sometimes referred to as Philippe the Handsome. At first the marriage appears happy, as Juana’s husband is attentive and loving. Philippe, however, turns out to be a philanderer. Then, when Juana unexpectedly becomes heir apparent to the throne following the death of Queen Isabella, she suddenly finds the men in her life—including her father, her husband, and eventually even her son—trying to manipulate her so they can take the throne. Soon Juana is at the mercy of powerful forces, and rumors circulate that the queen is in hiding and is possibly insane. Philippe successfully assumes the throne after having Juana locked up as a madwoman.
A Burton Book Review website contributor remarked that the author’s historical novel is a “piece of fiction that is testament to the consuming power of greed of those who surround Juana.” A Kirkus Reviews contributor wrote: “Although the outcome is known, the suspense never waivers.” Carol Gladstein, writing in Booklist, noted: “Cullen … puts a very human face on one of history’s most famous rulers.”
Cullen’s following novel is Mrs. Poe, a historical fiction that focuses on the romantic life of Edgar Allan Poe. In an interview with a contributor to the website My Bookish Ways, Cullen discussed how she became inspired to write the book. She stated: “The idea for Mrs. Poe came to me two years ago, the day I brought my husband home from the hospital to recover from encephalitis. The illness had nearly killed him and had left him with a debilitating brain injury. So that day, after I had settled him in bed, I was in my office, pacing the floor with worry. … My writing income, like most writers’, couldn’t keep a roof over our heads, and worse, I had no idea for a new book. And then as I paced, into my nearly delirious state of panic and fear the word ‘Poe’ floated into my mind. I ran to the computer and looked him up. I saw that he was an orphan who more than anything wanted love. My interest was piqued—I do like an underdog.”
The book focuses on the relationship between Poe and Frances Sargent Osgood, also a writer. Osgood’s husband frequently cheats on her. Meanwhile, Poe has a strained relationship with his sick wife, Virginia. Osgood and Poe meet in 1845 and eventually fall in love, causing turmoil in both of their lives.
Mrs. Poe received mixed reviews. A writer on the Nyx Book Reviews website described the book as “boring and repetitive and too shallow.” The same reviewer added: “ Mrs. Poe is filled with flowery prose and lush descriptions and dramatic sentences.” “The narrative might have been more interesting had the author focused on the relationship between the title character and her husband,” remarked a critic in Kirkus Reviews. In a more favorable review of the book, Anne Kingston, contributor to Booklist, complimented Cullen’s “rich, carefully researched rendering of the literary New York of the era.” Kingston continued: “Likewise compelling are her sketches of the literary lions of the day.” A California Bookwatch writer described the book as “an absorbing read.” Similarly, a writer on the Susan Coventry website stated: “This is a fascinating look at New York literary society in the mid 1800s and a disturbing love triangle.” Booklist writer, Laurie Barman, suggested: “Cullen … cleverly spins a mysterious, dark tale … with just enough facts to make it believable.” Writing in Library Journal, Andrea Brooks asserted: “Cullen has crafted a beautifully heartbreaking story filled with emotional twists and turns.”
Cullen published the novel Twain’s End in 2015. The fictional account recreates the relationship between Samuel Clemens (aka Mark Twain) and his longtime secretary, Isabel Lyon. Cullen projects how Lyon’s real-life dismissal from his employment just after her marriage may have played out.
Writing for the Historical Novel Society website, Arleigh Johnson reasoned that “readers should find this novel an intriguing and character-driven retelling of a man that many still blindly revere solely as the fictional Mark Twain.” In a review for the Victorian Musings blog, Kimberly Eve stated: “One thing I never thought I would ever say, ‘Thank you Lynn Cullen for making me like Mark Twain and Samuel Clemens!’ I highly recommend Twain’s End to anyone who would like to get to know the man behind the myth.” Booklist contributor Mary Ellen Quinn claimed that Cullen “does a fine job of bringing to life for the reader the complexities of Clemens’ private life.” A Kirkus Reviews contributor suggested that “a more nuanced character would have strengthened this sad story of futile, desperate love,” but a contributor to Publishers Weekly remarked that the relationship between Lyon and Twain “is wonderfully reimagined in this absorbing novel.”
In her 2019 novel, The Sisters of Summit Avenue, Cullen takes readers back to the Great Depression era in the Midwest in a tale of two estranged sisters, Ruth and June, and the outcome of a long overdue reunion. The two sisters were at odds with one another even as children, vying for toys and friends. June, the older sister, is blonde and beautiful, and Ruth typically wanted what June had. Now Ruth is managing the family farm after her husband has been left bedridden by a mysterious disease. She is jealous of June’s life: married to a successful doctor and living in a large house in St. Paul, Minnesota. However, Ruth does not know that June has her own problems, unable to have children. The mother of both women, Dorothy, brings them together to try and bridge their differences, but this reunion is fraught with difficulties from the start and then a secret from Dorothy’s past is revealed, making the two sisters wonder about their own identity.
A Publishers Weekly reviewer had praise for The Sisters of Summit Avenue, noting: “Cullen explores a complex, realistic dynamic between sisters who have never resolved their contentious youthful traumas and grounds her story with convincing historical details.” Similarly, a Kirkus Reviews Online critic concluded: “Sibling rivalry, betrayal, resentment, and cowardice add spice to this saga of sisters.”
In a Publishers Weekly Online interview with Bridey Heing, Cullen commented that one of the themes she was pursuing in the novel was the ability to appreciate what you have. “It’s such a human thing to want more and something different,” Cullen explained. “It’s good to improve yourself and to have curiosity. But to always want more? And to lord it over someone else? That’s the toxic part.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, April 1, 1996, Chris Sherman, review of The Three Lives of Harris Harper, p. 1362; December 15, 1998, Carolyn Phelan, review of The Mightiest Heart, p. 748; January 1, 2002, GraceAnne A. DeCandido, review of Godiva, p. 851; April 1, 2002, Chris Sherman, review of Nelly in the Wilderness, p. 1328; November 1, 2003, Abby Nolan, review of Little Scraggly Hair: A Dog on Noah’s Ark, p. 500; November 1, 2006, Shelle Rosenfeld, review of Moi and Marie Antoinette, p. 60; April 15, 2007, Gillian Engberg, review of I Am Rembrandt’s Daughter, p. 52; February 15, 2010, Margaret Flanagan, review of The Creation of Eve, p. 32; July 1, 2011, Carol Gladstein, review of Reign of Madness, p. 39; September 1, 2013, Laurie Barman, review of Mrs. Poe, p. 50; December 15, 2014, Ilene Cooper, review of Dear Mr. Washington, p. 59; September 15, 2015, Mary Ellen Quinn, review of Twain’s End, p. 37.
California Bookwatch, December 1, 2013, review of Mrs. Poe.
Horn Book, July-August, 2002, Mary M. Burns, review of Nelly in the Wilderness, p. 457.
Kirkus Reviews, December 15, 2001, review of Nelly in the Wilderness, p. 1756; October 1, 2003, review of Little Scraggly Hair, p. 1222; September 15, 2006, review of Moi and Marie Antoinette, p. 950; June 1, 2007, review of I Am Rembrandt’s Daughter; January 1, 2010, review of The Creation of Eve; August 1, 2011, review of Reign of Madness; April 15, 2013, review of Mrs. Poe; November 15, 2014, review of Dear Mr. Washington; August 1, 2015, review of Twain’s End.
Library Journal, January 1, 2010, Leigh Wright, review of The Creation of Eve, p. 94; June 15, 2011, Carly Thompson, review of Reign of Madness, p. 74; September 15, 2013, Andrea Brooks, review of Mrs. Poe, p. 63.
Maclean’s, November 18, 2013, Anne Kingston, review of Mrs. Poe, p. 80.
New York Times Book Review, November 1, 2013, Liesl Schillinger, review of Mrs. Poe.
Publishers Weekly, May 3, 1993, review of The Backyard Ghost, p. 310; January 19, 1998, review of Stink Bomb, p. 378; October 26, 1998, review of The Mightiest Heart, p. 65; November 5, 2001, review of Godiva, p. 71; February 25, 2002, review of Nelly in the Wilderness, p. 67; November 10, 2003, review of Little Scraggly Hair, p. 61; October 9, 2006, review of Moi and Marie Antoinette, p. 55; June 25, 2007, review of I Am Rembrandt’s Daughter, p. 61; November 30, 2009, review of The Creation of Eve, p. 26; June 27, 2011, review of Reign of Madness, p. 134; August 19, 2013, review of Mrs. Poe, p. 41; November 17, 2014, review of Dear Mr. Washington, p. 50; August 3, 2015, review of Twain’s End, p. 32; July 8, 2019, review of The Sisters of Summit Avenue, p. 56.
School Library Journal, November 1, 2001, Sheilah Kosco, review of Godiva, p. 144; February 1, 2002, Carol A. Edwards, review of Nelly in the Wilderness, p. 130; December 1, 2003, Linda Staskus, review of Little Scraggly Hair, p. 112; August 1, 2007, Joyce Adams Burner, review of I Am Rembrandt’s Daughter, p. 114; December 1, 2014, Amy Shepherd, review of Dear Mr. Washington, p. 99.
ONLINE
Access Atlanta, http://blogs.ajc.com/ (August 1, 2011), review of Reign of Madness.
Atlanta, http://www.atlantamagazine.com/ (August 1, 2011), Teresa Weaver, “Books,” includes review of Reign of Madness.
Authors Compare, http://www.authorscompare.net/ (December 5, 2011), “Lynn Cullen—Author Interview: Characters.”
Bookreporter.com, http://www.bookreporter.com/ (August 4, 2011), Amy Gwiazdowski, review of Reign of Madness; (April 14, 2012), author biography.
Burton Book Review, http://www.burtonbookreview.com/ (August 19, 2011), Marie Burton, review of Reign of Madness.
Curled Up with a Good Book, http://www.curledup.com/ (April 14, 2012), Luan Gaines, review of Reign of Madness.
Decatur Book Festival, https://www.decaturbookfestival.com/ (August 15, 2019), author profile.
Examiner.com, http://www.examiner.com/ (October 19, 2013), Kayla Posney, review of Mrs. Poe.
Fantastic Fiction, https://www.fantasticfiction.com/ (August 15, 2019), author profile.
Georgia Center for the Book, http://www.georgiacenterforthebook.org/ (April 14, 2012), author profile.
Historical Novel Society, https://historicalnovelsociety.org/ (November 1, 2015), Arleigh Johnson, review of Twain’s End.
Kirkus Reviews, https://www.kirkusreviews.com/ (June 19, 2019), review of The Sisters of Summit Avenue.
Lynn Cullen, http://www.lynncullen.com (August 17, 2019).
My Bookish Ways, http://www.mybookishways.com/ (October 2, 2013), author interview.
Nyx Book Reviews, http://www.nyxbookreviews.com/ (January 15, 2014), review of Mrs. Poe.
Popcorn Reads, http://popcornreads.com/ (April 19, 2014), review of Mrs. Poe.
Publishers Weekly, https://www.publishersweekly.com/ (July 5, 2019), Bridey Heing, “Betty Crocker Tears: PW Talks with Lynn Cullen.”
Rundpinne, http://www.rundpinne.com/ (July 26, 2011), review of Reign of Madness.
Susan Coventry, http://susancoventry.blogspot.com/ (January 16, 2014), review of Mrs. Poe.
Victorian Musings, http://kimberlyevemusings.blogspot.com/ (October 8, 2015), Kimberly Eve, review of Twain’s End.
Lynn Cullen is the bestselling author of historical novels The Sisters of Summit Avenue, Twain’s End, Mrs. Poe, Reign of Madness, and I Am Rembrandt’s Daughter. To read about Lynn’s introduction to writing historical fiction, click here.
Her novel, Mrs. Poe, was named a Book of the Week by People Magazine, a Target Book Club Pick, an NPR 2013 Great Read, an Indie Next List selection. It was also a book of the month at Costco, an Oprah Book of the Week, and Atlanta magazine named it one of the Best Books of 2013.
Twain’s End was a People Magazine Book of the Week, a Townsend Prize finalist, an Indie Next selection, and named a Book All Georgians Should Read by the Georgia Center for the Book. Lynn’s novels have been translated into seventeen languages and she has appeared on PBS’s American Masters.
Lynn grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the fifth girl in a family of seven children. She learned to love history combined with traveling while visiting historic sites across the U.S. on annual family camping trips. She attended Indiana University in Bloomington and Fort Wayne, and took writing classes with Tom McHaney at Georgia State.
She wrote children’s books as her three daughters were growing up, while working in a pediatric office, and later, on the editorial staff of a psychoanalytic journal at Emory University. While her camping expeditions across the States have become fact-finding missions across Europe, she still loves digging into the past. However, she does not miss sleeping in musty sleeping bags. Or eating canned fruit cocktail.
She now lives in Atlanta with her husband, their dog, and two unscrupulous cats.
LYNN CULLEN Explains Her Introduction to Writing Historical Fiction
I am often asked: What is the most challenging part about writing a historical fiction novel and how hard it is to write when you’ve never really experienced that time period? May I tell you a story in reply?
When I was about nine years old, my aunt took me, along with my brother and her own daughter, on a daytrip to the Ohio countryside where she was born. A mother of five and a busy world-renowned composer of choral music, she had never singled me out before. In fact, I would never go on a trip with her again. But that summer day I was curious to see where Aunt Ruth and my mother and their family grew up. And so I slid into the backseat, bound for Eden, Ohio, as it was so picturesquely named.
I was enthralled. The white clapboard family farmhouse, built in the 1800s, had the privilege of overlooking the dirt road that divided Ohio and Indiana. A kid could throw an acorn from the front porch in Ohio and hit Indiana. Corn fields, with tasseled stalks higher than I was tall, stretched in all directions. Cows slept under a dusty oak tree (which made me think of my mother, who told me of making the mistake of riding their Bessie when she was little.)
A stroll down the rutted road to the paved crossroad took us to their redbrick, one-room schoolhouse. Through its cob-webbed windows, I saw old iron and wood desks stacked up to the crumbling plaster of the ceiling. As we walked back to the car, grasshoppers sprang from the fields and latched onto our arms with their prickly legs. Otherwise, it was just us and the corn and the cows. I felt as if I had gone back in time.
We drove the back roads to return to Fort Wayne, hitting the Dairy Queen for a Mr. Misty, what I thought then was the highlight of the trip. But Aunt Ruth didn’t take me home. She took me to her house, sat me down, and handed me a sheet of paper.
Write about what you saw, she said.
At first I was surprised, then annoyed. I’d had my Mr. Misty; I was ready to get back to my usual neighborhood street kickball game. But one didn’t say no to Aunt Ruth. Forced to write or miss the game, I wrote about being a girl from rural 1920s Ohio, putting in all the sights and sounds that I’d experienced that day. After a few minutes, I forgot about kickball. I forgot about everything but writing. It didn’t hurt that when I was done, Aunt Ruth praised my work to the skies. But it would be decades before I realized the significance of that trip. It was the true beginning of my vocation for writing historical novels.
Nowadays I don’t have to be forced or tempted with Mr. Mistys to write stories set in the distant past. It’s what I love to do, so I don’t find it hard. Time-consuming, yes, and there is that extra challenge of making up a story while sticking with actual events. But that’s the fun part. I get to pick a character and read everything possible about them. I get to learn what was going on in the world at their time, what the customs and the dress were, what foods they ate, what they did on a typical day. At the same time I get to read all I can about everyone who was connected to them. And then I get to travel to the setting.
Toledo Cathedral
Just like when touring Ohio with Aunt Ruth, I think about all the senses when I’m in these places. How do the mountains outside of Segovia smell? –Like moss, wet stone, and fresh piney air. What does it feel like to walk along a stream in the woods near Valsain? –The grassy ground is mushy, due to mole tunnels. What does the stone feel like of the buildings in Segovia? –Rough and chalky. It’s yellow, as is the soil. What does Castilian garlic soup taste like? –There’s a salty burst of fat on the tongue from the tiny chunks of pork, followed by the richness of poached egg yolk. How does a bird sound when trapped within the dome of the Cathedral in Toledo? –Let me tell you, there are few more heartbreaking sounds than the cries of a frantic bird echoing from cold stone piers of an ancient church.
These pieces form a puzzle just waiting to be put together. My task and my joy is to think of the story that links them together. I can’t imagine a more exhilarating game, and I’m grateful to be able to play it. Who knew that an afternoon road trip to the quiet fields of Eden, Ohio would be my start?
Lynn Cullen grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana and is the bestselling author of The Sisters of Summit Avenue, Twain’s End, and Mrs. Poe, which was named an NPR 2013 Great Read and an Indie Next List selection. She lives in Atlanta surrounded by her large family, and, like both Poe and Mark Twain, enjoys being bossed around by cats.
Lynn Cullen
Lynn Cullen is the author of I AM REMBRANDT'S DAUGHTER, a 2007 Barnes & Noble "Discover Great New Writers" selection. Her first novel for a general audience, I AM REMBRANDT'S DAUGHTER is the result of eight years of research and travel. Lynn Cullen's previous award-winning novels and picture books for children include the critically acclaimed MOI & MARIE ANTOINETTE, THE BACKYARD GHOST, and THE MIGHTIEST HEART, for which she was named 1999 Georgia Author of the Year.
An avid traveler and self-taught historian, Lynn Cullen grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where she spent much of her childhood combing the public library for biographies and roaming the riverbank near where the legendary pioneer, Johnny Appleseed, planted a grove of apple trees. She now lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband, Michael, and three daughters, and is intrigued that artifacts from the Civil War have been unearthed in her backyard.
Genres: Historical Romance
New Books
September 2019
(hardback)
The Sisters of Summit Avenue
Novels
Meeting the Make-Out King (1994)
The Three Lives of Harris Harper (1996)
Ready, Set - Regina! (1996)
Regina Calhoun Eats Dog Food (1997)
Stink Bomb (1998)
The Mightiest Heart (1998)
The Backyard Ghost (2000)
From Corey Gordon's Extremely Private Diary (2001)
Nelly in the Wilderness (2002)
Romulus and Remus (2002)
Moi and Marie Antoinette (2006)
I Am Rembrandt's Daughter (2007)
The Creation of Eve (2010)
Reign of Madness (2011)
Mrs. Poe (2013)
Twain's End (2015)
The Sisters of Summit Avenue (2019)
Picture Books
Godiva (2001)
Little Scraggly Hair (2003)
Dear Mr. Washington (2015)
National bestselling author Lynn Cullen grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Her novel, MRS. POE was named a Book of the Week by People Magazine, a Target Book Club Pick, an NPR 2013 Great Read, an Indie Next List selection. the book of the month at Costco, an Oprah Book of the Week, and Best of 2013 by Atlanta Magazine. TWAIN'S END was a People Magazine Book of the Week, a Townsend Prize finalist, an Indie Next selection, and named a Book All Georgians Should Read by the Georgia Center for the Book. Her novels have been translated into seventeen languages and she has appeared on PBS American Masters. Her newest novel, THE SISTERS OF SUMMIT AVENUE, will be released September 2019 and is available for pre-order. She lives in Atlanta with her large family when not on the road researching her next book.
Lynn Cullen grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana and is the bestselling author of The Sisters of Summit Avenue, Twain’s End, and Mrs. Poe, which was named an NPR 2013 Great Read and an Indie Next List selection. She lives in Atlanta.
Lynn Cullen is the author of The Creation of Eve, named among the best fiction books of 2010 by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She is also the author of numerous award-winning books for children, including the young adult novel I am Rembrandt’s Daughter, which was an ALA Best Book of 2008. An avid traveler and historian, Cullen lives in Atlanta.
QUOTE:
"It’s good to improve yourself and to have curiosity. But to always want more? And to lord it over someone else? That’s the toxic part."
Betty Crocker Tears: PW Talks with Lynn Cullen
By Bridey Heing | Jul 05, 2019
Comments
Cullen’s The Sisters of Summit Avenue (Gallery, Sept.), features two competitive sisters: one is a struggling farmer, while the other works as a “Betty” writing recipes for Betty Crocker.
Photo: Parker Clayton Smith
Lynn Cullen
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What kind of research did you do?
I went to Minneapolis to find Betty Crocker, because in the 1930s, people were really encouraged to go to her kitchen and meet her. What struck me was that they would get to the kitchen and would be gently told there are actually 21 “Bettys,” not one Betty Crocker. They kept boxes of tissues around the kitchen because people would inevitably break down and cry. It crushed them. I went to the headquarters in Minneapolis and I thought I could at least go see some memorabilia about her, but no, there’s nothing. So I felt like those people going to the kitchen to see her and who were disappointed. For some reason, that really resonated with me and made me want to write about her.
The novel deals heavily in themes of want and desire. What message do you hope readers to take away in that regard?
One of the reasons I was interested in setting the novel during the 1930s was the rise of radio and, with it, the rise of advertising. It’s fascinating how advertising picked up this burning desire we all have to be better than people, to be classy, to have more than your neighbors. Betty Crocker was a part of that during that era—helping you be the best cook, and to get your man and keep your man happy. The sisters are part of this new way of driving consumption. One is very aware of being a have-not and the other’s job is to encourage people’s desire for hot breakfasts and yachting luncheons. It was important for constructing the story, I really wanted to talk about appreciating what you have while you have it. It’s such a human thing to want more and something different. It’s good to improve yourself and to have curiosity. But to always want more? And to lord it over someone else? That’s the toxic part.
Did you think about social class while writing?
I’m very interested in class and how we don’t talk about it. We’re very conscious of it, and it’s very painful for the have-nots, like June and Ruth. In June’s case, she thought having status would make her feel better about herself. But we know when you rely on that to make you feel better, you can never have enough. And Ruth is always comparing herself to her sister. She sees something she wants and she hurts her sister, who she loves more than anybody in the world. They have to realize you can never have enough, and to look at what you already have.
A version of this article appeared in the 07/08/2019 issue of Publishers Weekly under the headline: Betty Crocker Tears
QUOTE:
Cullen explores a complex, realistic dynamic between sisters who have never resolved their contentious youthful traumas and grounds her story with convincing historical details
Lynn Cullen. Gallery, $27 (320p) ISBN 978-1-5011-3416-6
In this evocative Depression-era novel from Cullen (Mrs. Poe), two sisters must contend with past mistakes after a long estrangement. June and Ruth have always been at odds. As children, Ruth wanted what June had, whether it was toys, friends, or romantic attention. Ruth, now 30, has managed the family farm for the past eight years, since her husband, John, fell ill from a mysterious "sleeping sickness" that's left him bedridden. Thirty-two-year-old June, meanwhile, writes recipes and menus for Betty Crocker in St. Paul, Minn. Ruth is envious of June's career and lifestyle, unaware that June's marriage is struggling in the wake of not being able to have children. When June and her wealthy husband visit Ruth and their mother, Dorothy, resentments and baggage from the sisters' past pile up into insurmountable obstacles to a happy reunion. In the resulting turmoil, a secret their mother has kept for decades comes to light, causing both sisters to reckon with their own sense of identity. Though some plot revelations feel rushed, Cullen explores a complex, realistic dynamic between sisters who have never resolved their contentious youthful traumas and grounds her story with convincing historical details. Fans of Paula McLain will love this. (Sept.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 PWxyz, LLC
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Source Citation
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"The Sisters of Summit Avenue." Publishers Weekly, 8 July 2019, p. 56. Gale General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A593351658/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=31411365. Accessed 12 Aug. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A593351658
QUOTE:
Sibling rivalry, betrayal, resentment, and cowardice add spice to this saga of sisters
THE SISTERS OF SUMMIT AVENUE
by Lynn Cullen
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KIRKUS REVIEW
Two sisters struggle to mend their once-loving relationship in this novel by Cullen (Twain’s End, 2015, etc.).
The year is 1934. June Whiteleather lives in a big house in Minneapolis with her husband, Richard, a prominent surgeon from a wealthy family. June enjoys her job as one of the real-life homemakers behind the fictional Betty Crocker but suffers guilt over being childless. June's younger sister, Ruth, lives on her family's struggling farm on the Indiana-Michigan state line with her mother, Dorothy Dowdy; husband, John, who has a mysterious sleeping sickness; Italian boyfriend/farmhand Nick; and Ruth and John's four children. Ruth's greatest wish is to be June, who is beautiful, talented, and "relentlessly likable." When June and Richard visit Ruth's farm with a possible cure for John's ailment, multiple family secrets are revealed. Evocative historic details include flannel trousers, dress shields, bank robbers, soup lines, fur coats, fedoras, and Richard's "topless roadster." The story is heartfelt, but two prologues and a big cast of unnecessarily named minor characters create confusion; a dust storm that should be terrifying isn't; and a contrived climax features an antihero who reappears, briefly, after a 33-year absence. In a rushed ending, Ruth gets her wish, sort of and not in a good way.
Sibling rivalry, betrayal, resentment, and cowardice add spice to this saga of sisters.
Pub Date: Sept. 10th, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5011-3416-6
Page count: 320pp
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: June 19th, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1st, 2019