This was the style when I started writing the book. I'm slow.
I am THRILLED to announce that my latest novel will be published by St Martin’s Press with the brilliant Brenda Copeland as my editor.
If you’ve been reading my blog for awhile, you are probably aware that I have been working on a novel for a long time. Years. I took a break to write a proposal for a pet/animal memoir, but there were so many pet/animal memoir books coming out at that time, that my agent and I decided to scrap the plan and I returned to the novel. I was very happy to return to the novel because I had quite fallen in love with the main character whose name is Hildy. I recently came across an interview I gave in 2009 in which I said that I had just completed the novel, but, in fact, I had just completed the first of many drafts. My agent, Maria Massie, of the Lippincott, Massie, McQuilkin Agency was very helpful and read each draft and gave wonderful notes and finally, this summer, we sent it to one editor, Brenda Copeland of St Martin’s Press. We decided to send it to Brenda before sending it out to a large list of publishers, because I had met Brenda and loved her and really wanted to be at St. Martins.
Well, she read it and SHE BOUGHT IT!
What’s the novel called? We don’t know yet. We have been trying out many different title ideas and nothing seems just right. But we have plenty of time – the book won’t be out until early 2013. It’s about a woman named Hildy Aldrich, who lives in a small town on Boston’s North Shore. By day, she’s a successful real-estate broker, good neighbor, mother and grandmother, but her nights are lonely, due in part to her daughters’ intrusive “intervention” and Hildy’s subsequent stint at a rehab for a drinking problem that she knows she doesn’t really have. So it is, in part, about a woman who feels lonely and unjustly persecuted by those who are dearest to her, but it’s also the story of the community in which she grew up – a craggy New England seacoast town that harbors many secrets from the past and the present. There’s a scandal, a love story, a bit of mysticism (Hildy’s ancestress was one of the witches hung in the witch trials in nearby Salem, and Hildy appears to have some intuitive gifts). There are horses, dogs, ghosts, lovers, babies, lobsters, lobstermen, old houses and drinking – all things I love – and also scary stuff like blackouts, arrests, a missing child and a woman who is becoming slightly unhinged by obsessive love. But my favorite thing in the book is Hildy. I can’t wait for you all to meet her. She started out as a peripheral character - the book was originally about a scandal involving a psychiatrist and his patient – but Hildy kept intruding with her own story. I hate it when writers talk about their characters this way, but it’s really what happened. This staunch character with a very dry wit and lots of knowledge kept butting in with her stories about her hometown and her childhood and all sorts of defensive explanations about her drinking,and wouldn’t stop until finally I made her the narrator and the story became more about her, though the scandal with the shrink and the patient is still there.
Well, that’s all I can say. Don’t want to spoil it. But tomorrow I’ll post about my visit to my new publishers in the amazing Flatiron Building.
Congratulations! I never met Brenda but do have a Twitter relationship with her and I think she’s wonderful. You are lucky to have each other in your new endeavor.
How wonderfully exciting! Can’t wait to get this on my bookshelf! Hildy sounds so intriguing…
What time frame is it set in?
Congratulations – you rock!
Wonderful news!! Can’t wait to read it. And congratulations!! I was just wondering about the progress of your book the other day. Maybe I have intuitive gifts.
Congratulations Ann! Your book sounds wonderful. I can’t wait to read it. It will even be that more special because you wrote it. I feel like we are getting a privileged peek.
Ann, BIG congrats on selling your novel and your new publisher!!
That is just the best thing to know and like a character so much. Can’t wait to meet her–and read about the New England town. The good ol’ north shore has certainly been a bountiful area for lots of fun stuff, and I bet you’ve come up with plenty more.
By the way, I belive those fashions are coming back in 2013.
Well done. Great news. Looking forward to reading it, but what a long wait.
Doesn’t matter if you started out writing it with a hammer & chisle. Sounds great, can’t wait to read it, congratulations!
Congratulations! You description really piqued my interest! Where did you get the idea for her name?
What wonderful news! So happy for you.
Sorry, but I have to butt in with this. I saw the documentary “Buck” last night and fell in love with that cowboy and how he handles horses. Even if you aren’t particularly a horse lover, you will be inspired by this man.
Oh, I’ve been wanting to see this, Linda.
Wonderful news. Congratulations. I can’t wait to read another Ann Leary book!
Congratulations Ann! I am looking forward to meeting Hildy Aldrich.
How exciting! Congratulations…..I am very happy for you!
That is great news about the book- except for the fact that it won’t be out until 2013! The world had better not end before it’s out. I can’t wait to read it.
Thanks guys!
Congratulations Ann! I’m also looking forward to meeting Hildy! I’m really happy for you!
Yay cant wait hope it is available on Kindle too
MADE.MY.DAY!!!!!!!!!!!
Yay!! That is great news!! My sincere congratulations on your accomplishment. Am I allowed to feel proud of you, since we’ve never met? I do!! So exciting.
Please, please feel anyway you want, but proud is great, thanks!
FANTASTIC!! So happy! I remember the first time we met, over lunch almost 2 years ago, you told me about that Pet-oir and how you really wanted to write that novel. Remember how I discouraged you and told you you were shit? OF COURSE YOU DON’T BECAUSE THAT’S NOT WHAT HAPPENED! Can’t wait to read your next post and, of course, the novel!! xox
I remember you telling me to go back to the novel because that’s what I really wanted to write. And you were right! xxoo
You have to love a REAL friend who has the courage to tell you what you don’t want to hear at exactly the moment that you need to hear it!!! Thanks Laura, now can’t wait for the new edition to the Ann Leary Book Shelf!!
Congratulations Ann! It’s so exciting to hear and I can’t wait to read it.
Congratulations! I look forward so much to reading it!
No fair! I want to read it NOW!
Congratulations!!! so excited to read this one!
So excited! Congratulations on finishing the novel and for getting it published!!! Too bad we have to wait so long, but cannot wait to read it!!
Wow, Ann! That is wonderful news. I don’t know how you do it. Congratulations! I’ve been waiting for another book from you, and hey, 2013 is right around the corner.
I can’t wait.
Now, go and relax. You deserve it.
excellent news! i’m impatient and 2013 seems so far away…. why does it take so long? if/when you have a chance, can you give us a quick lesson on the process and timeline?
I was just telling an old friend last night how hungry my heart was for good news; this should do me for a while. We Wicked Good Life-o-philes will show up to readings wearing our party hats & dancing shoes in celebration & support of your new novel’s much-awaited launch into the word world.
Woohoo! (and there was much rejoicing)
Wonderful news Ann!!
But why does it take SO long to produce this masterpiece?
Exciting news! I look forward to reading it in 2013!
Thanks for all the nice comments everyone. It does take a while to publish a book, and I plan to blog about the entire process, so that you will all be able to follow along the rather interesting path a book takes from the author’s hands to the bookshelves in bookstores. The book needs to be edited, and that can take some time, though I generally love the revision process. Then there are all sorts of decisions to be made regarding the cover, the title, the copy that will go in the publisher’s catalog, the copy that will go on the inside flap of the cover, etc. Then, there’s a 6 month lead-time for any major magazines like, say, Vanity Fair, More, O, etc, and these magazines still devote pages to book reviews so everything must be in place at least six months ahead of the pub date. It’s almost 2012, so 2013 doesn’t seem too far off when you consider all that needs to be done. But, as I said, I’ll be blogging away and keeping you all up to date.
Ann, I’m thrilled for you and can’t wait to read it. It will also be great to read about the whole process of bringing to to press. Can’t wait.
This will be the chance for that book tour we all talked about way back when. And I always felt you should go on The Daily Show, especially since you know Jon. He has a huge audience, and you’d feel more comfortable with him. Just a suggestion for promotion.
Congratulations! Guess I’m the only one good with the release date hehe! – anticipating is part of the fun – and I am just reading Dracula now.
Sandy—-Do you love Dracula??? I have to admit that I had never read it before, then it was one the books already loaded onto my Nook. I LOVED it !! As soon as I started it I couldn’t put it down. And, as I type this, now I also remember that we discussed it here! I miss those discussions…….hint, hint, oh blog mistress !!!!
I do love Dracula, I was quite surprised I would enjoy it so much, I love thinking back that it was written in 1897! I did not have time to keep up and discuss it on the blog, a good read.
Thumbs up on the Count, Ladies. lol Congratulations Ann, will be looking forward to reading it.
Ann,while we are on a writing subject here, just wondering if you have a muse? I’m fascinated by people who claim they write through a muse.
Ann–Congratulations !!! Can’t wait to be able to read the book, and I’m looking forward to hearing all about the process. It’s like having an inside look into a whole different world for me. And–that will be the perfect time for another Blogapalooza !! (Hint, hint,hint…..I miss those too !!) A great get together where perhaps our favorite author will sign our copies ???!!!!
Barbara, I’ll put that on my “to-do” list for early 2013. Stay tuned.
That’s so great!!! Congratulations! I love reading your books, so I’m sure this one will be fabulous as well. I think we need to have a great big get-together where even those of us that live on other places cna come to. Perhaps book a hotel in town or close by? It’something to put on your list of things to think about Ann
Have a grand evening!
Congratulations!
2013? I will have to practice patience. I can’t wait to “meet” Hildy. What a great name, of course the first thing that popped into my head is that larger-than-life character from His Girl Friday … then your short description of this Hildy, gives me a fantasy of these two strong women snapping brilliantly at each other, then joining forces to fix anything that needs fixing within their reach. Yay
I am SO proud of you, once again. I can’t wait to read your new project.
I was wondering what had happened to that novel. I remember you talking a great deal about it. Look forward to finally having the finished product.