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WORK TITLE: The Book Sisters
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 1951?
WEBSITE: https://hopecandersen.wixsite.com/thebooksisters
CITY:
STATE: NC
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born 1955, Sharon, CT; married c. 1988; husband’s name Thom; children: three.
EDUCATION:Wellesley College, B.A.; Yale Divinity School, M.A.R.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer, poet, and novelist. Worked as a newspaper critic, ghostwriter, editor, teacher, and screenwriter; served as teaching assistant at the Stone Coast Writer’s Conference, Maine.
WRITINGS
Contributor of poetry and short stories to periodicals. Author of one-act play Room, produced at the Lyric Stage, Boston, MA.
SIDELIGHTS
Hope Andersen began writing in the third grade, when she wrote her first short story and became enamored with the works of William Shakespeare. She studied fiction with American fiction writer Andre Dubus and poetry with Derek Walcott, who received the 1992 Nobel Prize in Literature. For most of her career as a writer, Andersen wrote short stories and poetry published in small literary magazines. She completed her first novel at the age of sixty following her husband’s successful battle with liver cancer. However, this novel was as yet unpublished when her debut novel The Book Sisters was published in 2017.
According to Andersen, she was in her twenties when she first developed the idea for The Book Sisters. However, at the time she accepted the advice to wait. “Forty years later, the book erupted,” Andersen noted in an interview with Vinny O’Hare for the Book Reader website, adding: “It wrote itself in about four months.” Andersen also noted in the interview that the story reflects aspects of her own life in that the tale of six sisters mirrors Andersen’s own family in which she was one of six sisters. She went on in the Book Reader website interview to note: “Though, honestly, the narrator Vera is pretty much me.”
The Book Sisters revolves around Vera, Victoria, Veronica, Violet, Virginia, and Viveca, sisters who grew up on their parents’ farm in Iowa during the 1960s. The sisters’ parents, Vern and Valley Book, purposely settled in rural Iowa to have a sedate lifestyle, especially following Vern’s devastating experiences in war. Eventually, the couple begin to have children, who end up making their parents’ once sedate life much more complicated. Despite living in relatively conservative middle America, the sisters lives in some ways reflect the times. The best example is Victoria, a musical prodigy and church organist. Victoria ends up running off to join the counterculture movement, doing drugs and having a baby whose father is a Black Panther. Veronica always loved the farm life but decides to become a veterinarian. Virginia is the beautiful one, admired by all, while Viveca is deeply religious. Violet is a sickly girl but also the conniving one who is intent on maintaining her status as their mother’s favorite. Vera, the narrator, tried to get her writings published at the early age of eight. A tragedy occurs that affects the entire family, with each family member choosing to cope with it in a different way.
“Each sister is wonderfully distinct, her individual quirks, adventures, and relationships recorded with lyricism and great humor,” wrote a Kirkus Reviews contributor, who also noted: “Andersen writes in an effortlessly sunny prose, its placidity belying its keen wisdom and emotional depth.” A Readers’ Favorite website contributor remarked: “Strong characters, excellent writing, and a fast pace combine to make this an exceptional read.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Kirkus Reviews, February 15, 2018, review of The Book Sisters.
ONLINE
Book Reader, http://bookreadermagazine.com/ (June 8, 2018), Vinny O’Hare, “Featured Author Hope Andersen,” author interview.
Hope Andersen Website, https://hopecandersen.wixsite.com/thebooksisters (June 8, 2018).
Readers’ Favorite, https://readersfavorite.com/ (August 2, 2017), Jane Finch, review of The Book Sisters.
ABOUT ME
I am a graduate of Wellesley College (B.A.) and Yale Divinity School (M.A.R.). I wrote my first novel (Lost and Found, as yet unpublished) at the age of 60. In my early career as a writer, I studied fiction with Andre Dubus and poetry with Derek Walcott. I published short stories and poetry in small magazines. I was awarded the Wellesley College Playwriting Award for my one-act play Room, which was produced at the Lyric Stage, Boston. I served with Madison Smartt Bell as a Teaching Assistant for George Garrett at the Stone Coast Writer's Conference in Maine. Over the years, I have worked intermittently as a newspaper critic, a ghostwriter, an editor, a teacher, and a screenwriter. A native New Englander, I now live in North Carolina with my husband Thom. We have three grown children, two dogs, a cat, and a fish. I am currently at work on a young adult novel titled An Accidental Thief.
Hope Andersen wrote her first novel at the age of 60. The Book Sisters, her debut novel, was influenced by Lesley Frost's children's book Really, Not Really, in which reality and fantasy meet. In her early career, she published both short fiction and poetry. She was awarded the Wellesley College Playwriting Award for her one-act play Room, which was produced at the Lyric Stage, in Boston. She has worked intermittently over the years as a newspaper critic, a ghostwriter, an editor, a teacher, and a screenwriter. A native New Englander, who loves the mountains of Vermont and the beaches of Cape Cod, she now lives in North Carolina with her husband Thom. They have three grown children, two dogs, one cat, and a fish. She is currently at work on a young adult novel titled An Accidental Thief.
You are here: Home / Featured Authors / Featured Author Hope Andersen
Featured Author Hope Andersen
By Vinny O'Hare
Featured Interview With Hope Andersen
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born in Sharon, Connecticut during the Flood of ’55. Raised in New England throughout my childhood, I now live in North Carolina with my husband of 29 years, our three grown children, two dogs, a cat and a fish.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I fell in love with Shakespeare in the third grade. I wrote my first short story the following year.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I love many different authors for many different reasons. If I am in the mood for poetry, I’ll pick up Mary Oliver or Robert Frost. Non-fiction? The Book of Joy with the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Tutu. Women’s fiction? Marian Keyes, Sophie Kinsells, Jane Austen! I enjoy Robert Parker’s mysteries and Anne Lamott’s essays. The Book Sisters
Tell us a little about your latest book?
I began writing The Book Sisters in 2016. It was the second novel I wrote after my husband’s near-death experience with liver cancer. I actually came up with the idea for the book when I was in my 20s, but I was advised to wait. Forty years later, the book erupted. It wrote itself in about four months. While it is a story of six sisters, and I am one of six girls, the book is less about my family and more about prototypes. Though, honestly, the narrator Vera is pretty much me.
Andersen, Hope: THE BOOK SISTERS
Kirkus Reviews. (Feb. 15, 2018):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Andersen, Hope THE BOOK SISTERS Book Baby (Indie Fiction) $12.99 11, 18 ISBN: 978-1-5439-1126-8
Andersen tells the story of a set of colorful sisters fumbling their way through life in this debut novel.
The six Book sisters of Iowa--Victoria, Veronica, Violet, Vera, Virginia, and Viveca--spent their girlhoods on their parents' farm during the tumultuous years of the 1960s. Victoria is a piano prodigy and church organist who runs off to experiment with drugs and accidentally have a Black Panther's baby. Veronica, or "Ronnie," is an animal-loving tomboy who eschews inheriting the farm in favor of becoming a veterinarian. The sickly Violet is her mother's favorite, acutely aware of her position in the family and willing to scheme to maintain it. Vera is a young writer, always observing and taking notes, who pitches her first story at age 8 to a New York publisher who stops at her lemonade stand. Virginia is the beautiful one, adored by all, who picks up smoking at the age of 10 in order to be more fashionable. Viveca, a girl of faith, falls asleep in the barn one Christmas waiting for Baby Jesus to arrive. The book follows the sisters in childhood and far beyond--through first loves, addiction, marriages, children, national tragedies, and the losses of their parents, spouses, and each other. Andersen writes in an effortlessly sunny prose, its placidity belying its keen wisdom and emotional depth: "Violet was the apple of Valley's eye. She was a rare grape, silky and smooth with a pronounced taste. She was an armful of fragrant purple lilacs. She was sweet rose water." Each sister is wonderfully distinct, her individual quirks, adventures, and relationships recorded with lyricism and great humor. The author impressively captures that intangible mythic quality of large families that informs and ensnares their members. Vera--the author's stand-in--is particularly vivid in her role as historian and secret keeper. While the childhood sections are strongest, the book gets progressively affecting as the decades slip by and life exacts its toll from the various "chapters" (as their mother calls them). This heartwarming portrait of a Midwestern farm family is also a succinct chronicle of American womanhood in the second half of the 20th century.
A beautifully composed novel of individuality within sisterhood.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Andersen, Hope: THE BOOK SISTERS." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Feb. 2018. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A527247912/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=65cba23d. Accessed 17 May 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A527247912
The Book Sisters
by Hope Andersen
Fiction - Literary 206 Pages Reviewed on 08/02/2017Buy on Amazon
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AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Hope Andersen is a graduate of Wellesley College (B.A) and Yale Divinity School (M.A.R.). She wrote her first novel at the age of 60. In her early career as a writer, she studied fiction writing with Andre Dubus and poetry with Derek Walcott, and published both stories and poems. She was awarded the Wellesley College Playwriting Award for her one-act play Room, which was produced at the Lyric Stage, Boston. Ms. Andersen served as a teaching assistant for George Garrett at the Stone Coast Writer’s Conference in Maine. She has worked intermittently over the years as a newspaper critic, a ghostwriter, an editor, a teacher, and a screenwriter. A native New Englander, she now lives in North Carolina with her husband Thom. They have three grown children, two dogs, a cat and a fish. She is currently at work on a young adult novel titled An Accidental Thief.
BOOK REVIEW
Reviewed by Jane Finch for Readers' Favorite
The Book Sisters by Hope Andersen tells the story of the Book family, husband and wife Vern and Valley, and their six daughters. Set in the wilds of Iowa during a period of unrest in the world around them, and having experienced horrors in the war that he cannot discuss, Vern and his wife settle down to an idealistic quiet lifestyle, growing corn and keeping a few animals. As their children start to arrive, their peaceful world becomes one of turmoil as each girl brings a different personality and a different view on their once gentle and peaceful life. The family tries to adjust to the varying characters of the girls, but after a tragedy that affects them all in different ways, Vern and Valley eventually succumb to the comfort of liquor, and their world crumbles around them. The girls each go their separate ways, some trying to leave their childhood behind, whilst others are reluctant to let go.
Hope Andersen has written a captivating family saga that manages to define each complicated character whilst at the same time painting a picture of a wild and dramatic, and sometimes cruel, landscape with a little farm struggling to survive in its midst. Although having eight complex characters in play, the writing approach enables the reader to follow the family trials and to empathise with Vern and Valley as they endeavour to keep their family together. Strong characters, excellent writing, and a fast pace combine to make this an exceptional read and certainly one to recommend.