Jennifer S. Brown

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Jennifer S. Brown

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January 2008

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Jennifer S. Brown’s debut novel, Modern Girls , was a USA Today bestseller, a Massachusetts Book Award “Must Read,” and a 2016 Goodreads Choice semifinalist for Historical Fiction. Her writing has been published in Fiction Southeast, McSweeney’s, The Best Women’s Travel Writing, The Southeast Review, and Bellevue Literary Review, among other places. She teaches writing, both in-person in the Boston area and online through the Loft Literary Center. The Whisper Sister is her second novel. Jennifer lives with two beagles and a husband who pretends not to hear her when she says she wants to adopt more dogs.

She's happy to visit your book club via Zoom. You can reach her at jennifer@jennifersbrown.com.
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Jennifer S. Brown is currently not accepting new questions.

Popular Answered Questions

Jennifer S. Brown Besides drinking bourbon? (Actually, I'm not supposed to say that. The drinking references worry my mom. I'm fine, Mom!)

I'm a former runner who now is…more
Besides drinking bourbon? (Actually, I'm not supposed to say that. The drinking references worry my mom. I'm fine, Mom!)

I'm a former runner who now is a walker (knee issues. Boo!), which I rely on when I'm stuck on plot points. I find fresh air and movement gets the brain going and it's almost always while exercising that I've solved major novel problems. I've also recently discovered yoga, which is less for the brain and more for working out my sore shoulders after being hunched over the computer. I'm an avid amateur genealogist (which I also as research in my fiction and creative nonfiction) and I truly excel at wasting time on social media.

Oh, and I should probably mention caring for my kids, but as one's a tween and the other a teen, my main job for them these days is chauffeuring.

But most of my days I spend thinking about writing, avoiding writing, worrying about writing, and, every now and then, writing. :-)

Thanks for asking, Cynthia!!(less)
Jennifer S. Brown Hi Jon: I sympathize with you! As you are probably aware, book pricing is completely out of my control. However, I would like to make sure you know th…moreHi Jon: I sympathize with you! As you are probably aware, book pricing is completely out of my control. However, I would like to make sure you know that you can read the beginning of the book on Amazon's "Look Inside the Book" feature to see if it would interest you. Then, if it does, many libraries around the country are carrying MODERN GIRLS (to my delight!). If you'd like to read it, I'd suggest seeing if your local library carries it. If they don't, many libraries are open to requests from patrons. Book pricing can seem crazy--I don't understand all the nuances--and I wish it were something I could do something about. But I hope you will find another way to read and enjoy the book. (less)
Average rating: 4.04 · 6,692 ratings · 821 reviews · 2 distinct worksSimilar authors
Modern Girls

3.90 avg rating — 4,786 ratings — published 2016 — 10 editions
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The Whisper Sister

4.40 avg rating — 1,906 ratings — published 2024 — 5 editions
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* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more, click here.

Jennifer’s Recent Updates

The City by Lara Moreno
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There's no doubt that this is a powerful novel, but it's also unrelenting about three women whose lives intersect with a single apartment building. Olivia lives there with her abusive boyfriend, Max. Horia is an undocumented worker acting as the buil ...more
A Well-Trained Wife by Tia  Levings
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This memoir about a woman trapped in marriage by abuse and her patriarchal Christian upbringing shows another side to the Instagrammed "trad wife" phenomenon. Levings was raised believe she needed to submit to her husband. She lives much of the homes ...more
Ruins by Lily Brooks-Dalton
Ruins
by Lily Brooks-Dalton (Goodreads Author)
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Wow! It took me a bit to get into this novel, but once I did, I was absolutely hooked. Brooks-Dalton is a master of using description to reinforce a mood. The main character, Ember, is a doozy--so absorbed in her own world that she mistreats those ar ...more
The Award by Matthew Pearl
The Award
by Matthew Pearl (Goodreads Author)
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The Reservation by Rebecca Kauffman
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Novel takes place over a single day in a restaurant, a day in which John Grisham has a reservation and also the day that twenty-two steaks were stolen. Each chapter is told from a different character's POV, which worked but made it a little disjointe ...more
How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu
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An interesting collection of linked short stories, the first starting in the year 2030 and each moving ahead by years then millennia (and back again in a way). Stories about plague and climate crisis but more about the way the world responds rather t ...more
Look What You Made Me Do by John Lanchester
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I picked this up while in England and it was kismet because some of the book takes place in areas I was visiting. Another winner filled with unlikable characters (a good thing). Revenge thriller. Such a fun read.
I'm the Undertow by Eric Scot  Tryon
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Evensong by Stewart O'Nan
Evensong
by Stewart O'Nan (Goodreads Author)
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Beautiful writing but a meandering story. Very quiet. Not much happens.
Backstitch by Marian Mitchell Donahue
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The structure of this book alone makes it this an intriguing read. The book's POV shifts from Violet, Marigold, and their mother, Alice, who is an artist. The story takes place at a retrospective of Alice's work (Alice who has passed away). Each sect ...more
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Quotes by Jennifer S. Brown  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“It was possible, I found, to both mourn a loss and yet be grateful it happened.”
Jennifer S. Brown, Modern Girls

“slipped away fast, and so far I had nothing to show for it except a bigger debt”
Jennifer S. Brown, The Whisper Sister

“Shame is for the Old World,” Sylvia said. “Flappers do as they please.”
Jennifer S. Brown, The Whisper Sister

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“In the morning there was a big wind blowing and the waves were running high up on the beach and he was awake a long time before he remembered that his heart was broken.”
Ernest Hemingway, The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway

“People think they have to physically die before going to heaven or starting new lives, depending on their religions. The truth is that you can start a new life anytime you choose, as easily as waking from a dream.”
Holly Robinson, Folly Cove

“It seems like there is no way to just write your story without becoming someone's poster child. You are not just your own voice, your own history--rather you carry the expectations of both extremes.”
Lara Lillibridge, Girlish: Growing Up in a Lesbian Home

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