I'll be on the Road and All the Winters After will be on the March Indie Next List!

As of yesterday, All the Winters After is now officially out of the nest, flapping its pages. I woke up to a really lovely review from the New York Journal of Books, which called it, "A winner read that should appeal to a variety of literary and genre tastes." And these lines revved up my heart even before my first cup of coffee: "All novelists strive for what all readers want: that moment when you open a book and it grabs you by the throat and pulls you in to another place and time, another person's reality. Thus opens All the Winters After, and it keeps you pinioned inside the covers until it's over and you emerge blinking and shaking your head."

I was the one blinking and shaking my head when I heard that All the Winters After is included on the American Booksellers Association Indie Next List for March. The Indie Next List! I am so honored. I love independent bookstores. The list includes writers I've admired for years, including Ethan Canin, Joshilyn Jackson, and Joyce Maynard. Here's the link to the ABA's full list, and here's what they had to say about All the Winters After:

"This is the compelling story of a damaged young woman, Nadia, who has taken refuge in a cabin in the Alaskan woods for the last 10 years after escaping an abusive marriage. Kachemak Winkel, the cabin's owner, returns to Alaska after a long absence, still mourning for his parents and older brother who lost their lives in a plane crash 20 years earlier. Two young, damaged souls are at the heart of this beautifully written novel, and the wild and dangerous beauty of Alaska is present throughout. Perfect for book groups!"--Patricia Worth, River Reader Books, Lexington, MO

Speaking of book groups, I've already started scheduling visits, either by phone or Skype (or in person if you live close by), so contact me through my website if you'd like to chat. And I'll be heading out soon to visit bookstores. Check out the tour schedule above. If I'm going to be in your neck of the woods, I'd love to see you!

All the Winters After Goodreads Give-Away and Publication Day in Germany

All the Winters After just came out in Germany! The title is Das Haus der gefrorenen Träume, or The House of Frozen Dreams. It's fun to see their cover design, so different from the US edition, but lovely in its own right. Those colors! Gorgeous.

My German publisher has done such a wonderful job with both Die Andere Seite des Glucks, which was a bestseller, and Das Haus der gefrorenen Träume. I feel very thankful to my editor Tanja Seelbach and all the hardworking people at Fischer Verlage. So let me just say, Danke. "Just" because Danke is about all I know in German, other than Ich liebe diche, which means I love you and is a good phrase to know in any language. Thank goodness for the translator, Helga Augustin, or this edition of the novel, though full of gratitude and love, would have been very short.

If you, like me, don't understand German but would like to get your hands on a US copy of All the Winters After before the pub date on February 16th, Goodreads is giving away ten advance readers copies. You can enter the give-away here.

Ich hoffe, du gewinnst! That means "I hope you win!" According to Google Translate. I sincerely apologize if I've just insulted your dog.

This Winter and All the Winters After

Happy New Year to you. The holidays here in our little house in the woods were sweet and busy and full of people I love. There was a lot of getting ready, which I actually enjoyed this year, and then the house came alive with light, with warmth, with too much good food and lots of games (we even dug out our 1985 edition of Pictionary) and then...whoosh...done. Just like that. 

The house feels a bit hollow. I feel a bit full. In other words, it's January.

But! Now that I've finally managed to pack up the 15,000 Christmas ornaments and seven miles of light strings, there's a lot to look forward to this winter: My second novel, All the Winters After, will be published by Sourcebooks in the US on February 16th!

I'm really, really excited to share this story with you. Here it is, ready to go out into the world. I absolutely love this cover. I love the little cabin, the trees, the mountains, the type. The hint of northern lights on the horizon. And that wonderful endorsement from the extremely talented Sarah McCoy, novelist extraordinaire.

The early reviews have been great, which is, of course, a big relief. You can find more information on my website and links if you'd like to pre-order. (Pre-orders make all the difference in helping a book get off to a good start. They're extremely important and so appreciated.) I plan to write here regularly (can she really blog more than once a year?) so please check back. 

In the meantime, wishing you much happiness in 2016 and in all the winters--along with all the springs, summers, and falls--after.