Connecting with Fran Hawthorne...plus a book giveaway

 

Photo by Jolene Siana

Today we are pleased to welcome Fran Hawthorne to CLC. Her latest novel, I Meant to Tell You, released this week and it sounds intriguing! It would make a great book club pick. Thanks to Caitlin Hamilton Marketing, we have one copy to give away!

FRAN HAWTHORNE has been writing novels since she was four years old, although she was sidetracked for several decades by journalism. During that award-winning career, she wrote eight nonfiction books, mainly about consumer activism, the drug industry, and the financial world. ETHICAL CHIC (Beacon Press) was named one of the best business books of 2012 by Library Journal, and PENSION DUMPING (Bloomberg Press) was a Foreword magazine 2008 Book of the Year. She's also been an editor or regular contributor for The New York Times, Business Week, Fortune, and many other publications. But Fran never abandoned her true love: With the publication of her debut novel, THE HEIRS, in 2018 and now I MEANT TO TELL YOU, Fran is firmly committed to fiction. She’s at work on her next novel and also writes book reviews for the New York Journal of Books. 

Visit Fran online:
Website * Twitter * Instagram

Synopsis:
When Miranda Isaacs’s fiancé, Russ Steinmann, is being vetted for his dream job in the U.S. attorney’s office, the couple joke about whether Miranda’s parents’ history as antiwar activists in the Sixties might jeopardize Russ’s security clearance. But as it turns out, the real threat emerges after Russ’s future employer discovers that Miranda was arrested for felony kidnapping seven years earlier – an arrest she’d never bothered to tell Russ about.

Miranda tries to explain that she was only helping her best friend, Ronit, in the midst of a nasty divorce and custody battle, take her daughter to visit her parents in Israel. Russ doesn’t see it quite as innocently. In a frantic search to persuade Russ that she’s not a criminal, Miranda either makes the situation worse or exposes other secrets and mysteries. Miranda’s stepfather – who has just revealed to her mother that he’s been having an affair—starts dropping cryptic hints about her biological father. On top of all that, Miranda is arrested again, this time for drunk driving.

With everything she thought she knew upended, Miranda must face the truth about her mother, herself, and her future marriage. (Courtesy of Amazon.)

“Fran Hawthorne delivers a nuanced exploration of the connections among women – and how they can unravel when lies of omission are revealed. Told through the eyes of three women in different eras, I Meant to Tell You kept me turning the pages late into the night.”
--Jennifer Coburn, USA Today best-selling author of Cradles of the Reich

 “An absorbing, beautifully told story about how tenaciously we hang onto family myths --and how, once one secret is revealed, other truths come into the light.” 
--Janice Steinberg, author of The Tin Horse (winner, San Diego Book Award)

What were the biggest rewards and challenges with writing I Meant to Tell You?
I Meant to Tell You has three narrators, so the biggest challenge was to give each of these women her own distinctive voice. Ronit was especially difficult, because she’s an immigrant. Her voice had to be just enough “off” grammatically to hint that she isn’t totally comfortable in English, without going overboard with an accent or too many foreign words. 

The biggest reward, in terms of writing, was each time I somehow broke through a plot block.

What is a favorite compliment you have received on your writing?
I’ve gotten some lovely professional reviews, but the ones that touch my heart come from readers like Natalie, who wrote on Goodreads: “I loved all these family members and I would love to share their stories with my book groups.” Isn’t that the ultimate goal for a novelist -- that readers feel a personal connection with their characters and want to talk about the characters with other people?

If I Meant to Tell You was made into a movie, who would you cast in the lead roles?
If only! But okay, here’s my dream cast: Jennifer Lawrence as Miranda (the Jennifer Lawrence of Silver Linings Playbook more than The Hunger Games); Olivia Colman as Miranda’s mom, Judith; Gal Gadot as Miranda’s friend Ronit (because of her “presence,” not just her Israeli accent); and Channing Tatum as Miranda’s fiancé, Russ (because they’re both big, cuddly guys).

What is the last book you read that you’d recommend?
Properties of Thirst by Marianne Wiggins. It’s a sprawling, powerful family saga about a pioneering California rancher named Rocky Rhodes, who’s fighting the Los Angeles city government over the water rights he desperately needs. As World War II breaks out, Rocky’s son is presumed killed at Pearl Harbor, and the government plants a Japanese internment camp right near the ranch. Rocky, his sister, his son and twin daughter, and the man who loves the daughter are all seeking—and missing—connections, whether it’s connections to other people or to the land. What makes this novel even more amazing is that the author suffered a massive stroke while she was still writing the book, and her daughter helped her finish by reading the manuscript aloud to her more than two dozen times.

What is your favorite Thanksgiving food item?
Honestly, it’s plain old dark-meat turkey. (But not the drumstick!) 

If we were to visit you right now, what are some places you'd take us to see?
Since I live in New York City, I’d try to find out-of-the-way places that aren’t on most tourist lists. For instance, I’ve been taking long walks exploring many of the city’s coastlines, and one of my favorite views is the panorama of Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens from the tip of Roosevelt Island. Of course I’d take you to the New-York Historical Society, where I volunteer as a guide!

Thanks to Fran for visiting with us and to Caitlin Hamilton Marketing for sharing her book with our readers.

How to win: Use Rafflecopter to enter the giveaway. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us. If you have trouble using Rafflecopter on our blog, enter the giveaway here. 

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Giveaway ends November 22nd at midnight EST.

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