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Lee Zacharias

Goodreads Author

Born

Chicago, The United States

Website

http://www,leezacharias.com/

Twitter

leezacharias

Genre

Fiction, Nonfiction, Memoir

Member Since

August 2012

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Lee Zacharias is the author of three novels, a collection of essays, and a book of short stories. She has published numerous essays, short stories, and photographs and has been reprinted in Best American Essays. She was the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the North Carolina Arts Council, and has taught at Princeton University and the University of North Carolina Greensboro.

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Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Lee Zacharias There's a whole essay here, so I'll try to keep it short. I grew up in the gray, industrial region at the south end of Lake Michigan, and when I first…moreThere's a whole essay here, so I'll try to keep it short. I grew up in the gray, industrial region at the south end of Lake Michigan, and when I first visited Frankfort, Michigan, just below Sleeping Bear Dune National Seashore, which was not then a national as a pubescent, I thought it was the most beautiful place I'd ever been. I began to imagine how different my life would be if I just lived there. I began a terrible pubescent sort of novel that I never committed to paper, likely because I didn't have paper or pen with me, but it outlasted all of the early efforts I committed to paper, likely because I never had to come up against the obstcles of plot and resolution. As silly and cliched as the notion of that novel was, I still think of Frankfort as the place where my imagination began, and when I visited it again some forty years later, for the first time since that childhood trip, I was blown away by how much I remembered, how much I recognized. I did some research, I wrote an essay, and still could not let the material go. I had to write a novel. There is not one autobiographical detail in this novel, and yet it became, of any the books I've written, the one I most had to write. I went on that journey. I became the narrator, even though she is a generation older than I am. It's astonishing to me to think it all began with a 3- day visit when I was twelve. That's what place will do.(less)

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What are you currently working on?

Lee Zacharias A memoir about my mother, who died in 2016 at the age of 98.
…moreA memoir about my mother, who died in 2016 at the age of 98.
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Lee Zacharias’s books

Average rating: 3.92 · 313 ratings · 94 reviews · 17 distinct works • Similar authors

	Across the Great Lake 3.76 avg rating — 207 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Only Sounds We Make 4.43 avg rating — 28 ratings — published 2014 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	What a Wonderful World This Could Be 4.61 avg rating — 23 ratings — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Lessons 3.67 avg rating — 15 ratings — published 1981 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	At Random 3.44 avg rating — 9 ratings — published 2013	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Helping Muriel make it through the night: Stories it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 1975 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	At Random it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Helping Muriel Make It Through the Night really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Lessons a Novel liked it 3.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	What a Wonderful World This Could Be 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2021	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Lee is Currently Reading

Lee is currently reading

Paris, 7 A.M.

by Liza Wieland (Goodreads Author)

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Sep 26, 2020 11:23AM

Lee is currently reading

Liberté: The Days of Rage 1990-2020

by Gary Floyd (Goodreads Author)

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Sep 26, 2020 11:22AM

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Lee rated a book it was amazing Island Endgame by Rebecca Hodge (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jan 14, 2026 08:16PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Island Endgame by Rebecca Hodge. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Island Endgame by Rebecca Hodge <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Lee rated a book it was amazing The Lover (The Lover #1) by Marguerite Duras	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Lee rated a book it was amazing Otherwise, I'm Fine: A Memoir by Barbara Presnell	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Lee has read A Freewheeling Time: A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the 60s by Suze Rotolo	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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Lee has read The Art of Her Life by Cynthia Newberry Martin (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
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New Books Network: Historical Fiction	88	35	Aug 09, 2019 10:38AM
Ancient & Medieva...: * What Are You Reading Right Now? ( Hwæt béon ðu bocrædung?)	10106	2145	Feb 18, 2026 06:47AM