Author Biography | Interview | Books by this Author | Readalikes
Claire Messud’s first novel, When the World Was Steady, and her book of novellas, The Hunters, were finalists for the PEN/Faulkner Award; her second novel, The Last Life, was a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year and an Editor’s Choice at The Village Voice. All three books were New York Times Notable Books of the Year. She has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Radcliffe Fellowship, and is the current recipient of the Strauss Living Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She lives in Somerville, Massachusetts, with her husband and children.
This bio was last updated on 03/26/2016. We try to keep BookBrowse's biographies both up to date and accurate, but with many thousands of lives to keep track of it's a tough task. So, please help us - if the information about this author is out of date or inaccurate, and you know of a more complete source, please let us know. Authors and publishers: If you wish to make changes to a bio, send the complete biography as you would like it displayed so that we can replace the old with the new.
Q: In The Emperor's Children, the introduction of a few outsiders into the
world of the main characters drastically alters the lives of everyone. What were
their lives like before the appearance of Bootie and Ludovic Seeley on the
scene?
Well, Marina had been living at home for the better part of a year, trying to
get her book finished; and Julius and Danielle were living pretty much as they
had done for some time, each in their apartment. But the three of them spent a
lot of time together – more time than they do once the book is underway -- in
the way very close, old friends do when they are single and childless.
Q: The first chapter is called "Our Chef is Very Famous in London", which
gets to the heart of things that a reputation one place may not carry to
another. What made you decide to start the book with that?
Danielle – like Marina and Julius also, albeit in slightly different ways –
is very much a New Yorker. Her whole sense of the world, post-college, has been
focused entirely on New York. I wanted to begin the novel in a rare moment, for
her, in which she has some perspective on her own life, some sense of its
provincialism. All our lives are provincial, no ...
Chloe Aridjis was born in New York and grew up in the Netherlands and Mexico. She received her PhD in nineteenth-century French poetry and magic shows from Oxford, then lived in Berlin for five years. Her first novel, Book of... (more)
If you enjoyed:
The Woman Upstairs
Try:
Asunder
by Chloe Aridjis
Sarah Blake is an American writer. Her debut novel Grange House, set in Victorian era Maine, was published in 2001. Her second, The Postmistress, a story set in Second World War Massachusetts and London, was published in 2010... (more)
If you enjoyed:
The Emperor's Children
Try:
The Guest Book
by Sarah Blake
We recommend 27 similar authors
The Voyage of the Morning Light
by Marina Endicott
A sweeping novel set aboard a merchant ship sailing through the South Pacific in 1912.
Reader Reviews
This moving, intimate, and beautifully written novel puts human faces on the Syrian war.
About the book
An Alaskan Adventure in Small-Town Politics
A charming account of holding local office with an entertaining, quirky cast of characters.
Visitors can view some of BookBrowse for free. Full access is for members only.
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.
Subscribe to receive some of our best reviews, "beyond the book" articles, book club info, and giveaways by email.
