-
Your next favorite book
is waiting.
Author Biography | Interview | Books by this Author | Read-Alikes
Jane Hamilton's novels have won literary prizes, been made into films, have been international best-sellers, and two of them, The Book of Ruth, and A Map of the World, were selections of Oprah's Book Club. Her essays have appeared in the New York Times, and various magazines and anthologies. Through the years she's taught at Carleton College and in the Warren Wilson MFA program, and given numerous workshops. She lives in Wisconsin on an apple orchard with her family.
Jane Hamilton's website
This bio was last updated on 09/08/2025. In a perfect world, we would like to keep all of BookBrowse's biographies up to date, but with many thousands of lives to keep track of it's simply impossible to do. So, if the date of this bio is not recent, you may wish to do an internet search for a more current source, such as the author's website or social media presence. If you are the author or publisher and would like us to update this biography, send the complete text and we will replace the old with the new.
Are the two devastating
incidents at the heart of A Map of the World based on real events?
Both are based on real events. The drowning was the first kernel of
the book: I knew a little boy about my son's age who drowned in his family's
swimming pool. The death haunted me and I knew it would eventually come through
in my writing. I had the first third of the book written for a long time, and I
knew Alice was going to get in trouble because of the drowning, but I couldn't
see how she was going to make peace with herself. I wrote the equivalent of
three novels trying to come up with various solutions--all failures--but I was
determined not to leave her forever in her dilemma. In 1990 I came across an
article about Kelly Michaels (she was convicted of abusing scores of children at
a day care center) and quite soon after that I saw a documentary about a similar
situation involving a couple in North Carolina. Both the writer and the
filmmaker believed their subjects were innocent and had gotten swept up in a
witch hunt. The accused were in a predicament that was so horrifying I resisted
writing about it, but I felt keenly that it was something that could happen to
any of us. Living as I do--on the outskirts...
Bonnie Jo Campbell is the author of six works of fiction, including American Salvage, finalist for the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award, and Once Upon a River, a national bestseller. The ... (more)
If you enjoyed:
The Book of Ruth
Try:
Once Upon a River
by Bonnie Jo Campbell
Highly regarded as both a novelist and a short story writer, Ethan Canin has ranged in his career from the short stories of Emperor of the Air to the novellas of The Palace Thief, from the short novel Carry Me Across the ... (more)
If you enjoyed:
Disobedience
Try:
America America
by Ethan Canin
We recommend 19 similar authors
Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!
Can you name the title?
Test your book knowledge with our daily trivia challenge!
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
