Download the Skolay app
.png)
Learning has always been my favorite challenge and my greatest delight. The world is a vast and interesting place, and I'm here for it all. I chose to write fiction about history, and specifically women's stories in history, because there is so much there that is unknown and untapped, and the research is always amazing and engaging. I'm also fascinated by the way history just keeps circling back. So talk to me about history, about learning, about writing, about philosophy, about what you're reading and how it's impacted you, about how you want to write or about how I write ... we do best as humans when we're engaged in other peoples' stories.
I love talking to readers about what moves them, what excites them, and what they hope to discover and learn from a novel. Fiction gives us ways to understand and communicate with each other, and conversations with other readers are always wonderful conversations to have.
.png)
.png)
A reformist teacher. A dangerous student clique. A powerful novel about secrets and redemption set in the shadows of McCarthy-era America.
Rosemary Chivers is haunted by the choices she made as a teenager—and by those made for her by a controlling mother. Now, in the Cold War era of conformity and suspicion, Rosemary is a modern new teacher at a school for troubled girls, where she challenges the narrow curriculum meant to tame restless young minds. She also keeps a devastating secret. She knows one of the students is the child she gave up. But which one?
Ignoring warnings, Rosemary forms an impenetrable bond with the three girls who are the right age: shrewd runaway Maisie, alcohol-indulging Sandra, and overly flirtatious Jean. But these are no ordinary girls, and what begins as an effort to bring closure to her own rebellious youth soon spirals dangerously out of control.
Rosemary is prepared to do anything to find her daughter. What she isn’t prepared for are the deadly consequences that come with discovery—or just how wicked wayward girls can be.
“A powerful and thought-provoking story that is impossible to put down.”
—Kristin Hannah, New York Times bestselling author of The Four Winds and The Nightingale
A spellbinding novel of dark family secrets and a young woman’s rise and revenge set against the backdrop of the devastating 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
The eve of destruction. After her mother’s death, penniless May Kimble lives a lonely life until an aunt she didn’t know existed summons her to San Francisco. There she’s welcomed into the wealthy Sullivan family and their social circle.
Initially overwhelmed by the opulence of her new life, May soon senses that dark mysteries lurk in the shadows of the Sullivan mansion. Her glamorous cousin often disappears in the night. Her aunt wanders about in a laudanum fog. And a maid keeps hinting that May is in danger. Trapped by betrayal, madness, and murder, May stands to lose everything, including her freedom, at the hands of those she trusts most.
Then, on an early April morning, San Francisco comes tumbling down. Out of the smoldering ruins, May embarks on a harrowing road to reclaim what is hers. This tragic twist of fate, along with the help of an intrepid and charismatic journalist, puts vengeance within May’s reach. But will she take it?
“A thoroughly enjoyable read highly recommended for fans of Suzanne Rindell, Melanie Benjamin, and Greer MacAllister.”
—Library Journal (starred review)
Penniless and disgraced, Adelaide Wentworth is feeling rather desperate. With nothing left to lose, she and her sister, Louisa, flee to Lake Geneva with Adelaide's lover, the infamous poet Julian Estes. There, Louisa hopes to persuade Bayard Sonnier—celebrated writer and her former lover—to advance Julian's career. He is their last hope for salvation.
At the Villa Diodati—the place that inspired the writing of Frankenstein sixty years earlier—Louisa plots to rekindle her affair with Bayard, while Adelaide hopes to restore her fading love for Julian by being the muse he needs.
But soon, secrets are revealed, passions ignited, and hidden talents discovered. Adelaide begins to imagine a different life. Confused, she turns to Giovanni Calina—Bayard's assistant and a man with his own secrets and deep resentments—and the two form a dangerous alliance. No one leaves unscathed in this richly imagined, emotionally nuanced tale of passion, ambition, inspiration, and redemption.
"Chance gets better with each book, and this look at the dynamic between inspiration, desperation, and creation makes for a breathtaking tale."
—Publishers Weekly
