For a writer, there are few thrills that equal the publication of a first novel when the years of work and the attendant hopes and aspirations are finally contained in print for readers. For Brooklyn writer Taylor Larsen, whose parents live in Chatham, this is that moment. Her debut novel STRANGER, FATHER, BELOVED was published this summer by Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.
Larsen joins the select few who not only have a book published but see it received with critical praise. Ploughshares named it one of the Best Book of the Summer. Publishers Weekly called Larsen “A promising new voice.” In a starred review, Kirkus Reviews said, …a noteworthy debut with a family drama that explores loyalty, lies and well-being. [She] captures every nuance with finesse, every emotion with grace.”The New York Post cited it in their Summer Must Reads. And New York Times best-selling author Tom Perrotta called it “A compelling, unsparing debut novel.”
The publication experience is heightened when an author has the opportunity to share it with home town friends and family. Recently Larsen’s parents, Harriet and Dick Larsen, hosted a celebratory party at the Chatham Beach and Tennis Club. When they introduced their daughter, their love and pride were evident. The book, said Harriet, evidenced “boldness on one side and sensitivity on the other.” Her father’s remarks were greeted with laughter when he emphasized that the main character, a father and husband and alcoholic who suffers from delusional paranoia, was not drawn on Taylor’s personal experience.
After reading two scenes from the book to the gathering, Larsen, a graduate of Columbia University’s MFA program in fiction writing, credited her mentors and teachers, answered questions and spoke about her writing process. She is drawn by mood, she says, and trusts this as her guide throughout the writing. Like many authors, she does not outline, but lets the story and characters unfold as she progresses.
Larsen is currently at work on a new novel.
What else have I been reading this month? Here are four more picks.
A MAN CALLED OVE by Fredrik Backman is another debut novel that became a New York Times bestseller. “You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll feel new sympathy for the curmudgeons in your life,” said People.
THE SNOW CHILD by Eowyn Ivey, a transformational novel set in Alaska in 1920 that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
BEFORE THE FALL by Noah Hawley is a psychological thriller that opens when a corporate jet, after departure from Martha’s Vineyard, crashes into the Sound, killing all on board but an artist and a four-year-old child. It weaves between the former lives of those who died and the on-going story of the survivors.
THE BOOK THAT MATTERS MOST by Ann Hood is, writes Lily King, “an exhilarating celebration of all that books awaken within us: joy, love, wisdom, loss, solace.” It is also a valentine to book clubs everywhere.
Coming in August, we will visit the Chatham Bookstore, Where The Sidewalk Ends, talk with the Featured Author Ann Hood, and pay homage to books about baseball, the sport that most epitomizes summer.
What are you reading this month? Please join the conversation.
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