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 Up from the Blue (HarperCollins, September 2010) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
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Praise for UP FROM THE BLUE:
[An] elegant debut… Henderson’s fascinating novel fearlessly examines the complexities of depression, romantic and filial love, and motherhood. Beautiful, funny, sad, and complicated…. —Publishers Weekly, starred review @LitPark – I love ur book – almost done with it – would u like to come on my radio show? —@Rosie O’Donnell UP FROM THE BLUE, a debut novel by Susan Henderson, examines maternal love and tells the story, with unsettling grace and hope, of the relationship and love between mother and daughter. This is a compelling love story, but one that will continue to haunt you months after you finish reading it. —San Francisco Book Review [A]n unsettling, yet beautiful story you won’t soon forget. —NPR This is Susan Henderson’s first novel, but from the poise she brings to its wrenching subject matter you won’t be surprised to learn that she is already a published – and praised – poet and short story writer. Fierce and tender, [UP FROM THE BLUE] offers a child’s eye view of depression, with an unsolved mystery at its heart. —The Daily Mail UP FROM THE BLUE is a page-turner that will keep you up reading until 2 a.m. to find out what happens next. —The Erie Times Rapturous prose…. A triumphant debut. —Library Journal This is a story of the love between a mother and her daughter, of resilience and forgiveness. A story you will want to remember and talk about long after you finish the book. —Sacramento Book Review In the throes of delivering her first child, Tillie speaks across the years to her mother: “It wasn’t perfect, but I never needed perfect.” I hope that UP FROM THE BLUE reaches as wide an audience (including book clubs) as The Glass Castle and The Stone Carvers. —Chuck Erion, The Waterloo Region Record, Ontario, Canada The book takes the reader on an emotional roller coaster ride, but has more than one surprise hidden away in that old mansion. An even greater surprise is in the final wrap-up. —Bill Duncan, The News-Review An achingly real depiction of a family struggling with mental illness, UP FROM THE BLUE is a wrenching debut recalling the works of Lionel Shriver, Mark Haddon, and Emma Donoghue. —One World Publications This incredibly accomplished debut novel is part mystery, part coming-of-age, and totally enthralling. —Sarah-Kate Lynch, New Zealand Woman’s Weekly One of the most engrossing and sensitively written portraits of a family struggling with mental illness that I’ve read. —Nicky Pellegrino, New Zealand Herald Susan Henderson’s UP FROM THE BLUE is a wonderful, emotionally draining read from start to finish, telling the story of Tillie, a young girl growing up with a mentally ill mother… well worth the inevitable tears. —Otago Daily Times Inescapable sadness is threaded through with surprising moments of joy, in an intimate story that dispels the usual notions of victims and oppressors. —The Columbus Dispatch UP FROM THE BLUE is Susan Henderson’s haunting debut novel, a complex and surprising family drama set in the turbulent 1970s. Filled with unforgettable characters and Henderson’s elegant, gorgeous prose, the book is fast-paced and impossible to put down. —LargeHearted Boy Nothing in this book unfolds quite the way you would predict — but what you read will haunt you. And it will be the kind of book you want to talk about once it’s done. This is one of the strongest debut novels that I have read. …Don’t miss this brilliant paperback original that people are sure to be talking about. —BookReporter.com, “Bets On” pick Henderson shows remarkable compassion in her debut novel… —BookList Susan Henderson’s UP FROM THE BLUE deftly portrays a family with contradictions we can all relate to—it’s beautiful and maddening, hopeful and condemning, simple, yet like a knot that takes a lifetime to untangle. This is a book that you will love completely, even as it hurts you. It is a heartbreaking, rewarding story that still haunts me. I absolutely loved this book…gushingly, unequivocally, loved it. —Jamie Ford, New York Times bestselling author of HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET Susan Henderson masterfully weaves a story where family can both indelibly wound, and yet also redeem. Heartbreaking, compelling—ultimately beautiful. —Samantha Dunn, author of FAITH IN CARLOS GOMEZ Brilliant! UP FROM THE BLUE felt like a gorgeous gift to my heart. Susan Henderson has a genius for exposing the exquisite flaws and beautiful frailties of her characters with such tenderness the reader can’t help but be uplifted. Yes, it’s that sublime. I fell in love with Tillie, I fell in love with this book. You will, too. —Ellen Meister, author of THE OTHER LIFE and THE SMART ONE In UP FROM THE BLUE Susan Henderson delivers a compelling, deeply felt tale about the complexities of family life. You’ll fall in love with young Tillie Harris, whose attempts to navigate her parents’ unruly world are portrayed with genuine warmth and tenderness. —Michelle Richmond, New York Times bestselling author of THE YEAR OF FOG A haunting tale of the terrible ways in which we fail each other; of the whys, the what ifs, and the what nows. This is not a book you’ll soon forget. —Sara Gruen, New York Times bestselling author of WATER FOR ELEPHANTS Through her gorgeous, perceptive debut, Susan Henderson reveals the truth–a family’s effort to hide its secrets and shame will break a child’s heart. UP FROM THE BLUE is an unflinching, emotionally honest novel, one of the most insightful stories I’ve ever read. —Ronlyn Domingue, author of THE MERCY OF THIN AIR A remarkable debut, not just for the uncanny accuracy and charm of eight-year-old Tillie’s narrative voice, but for the way the characters reveal unexpected angles of themselves that make them somehow realer than real. UP FROM THE BLUE lingers in the mind. Susan Henderson shows herself to be a writer of great skill and subtlety. —Mark Childress, author of CRAZY IN ALABAMA and ONE MISSISSIPPI UP FROM THE BLUE is a beautiful, haunting, spirited debut, charged with secrets and deep longing. Susan Henderson has written a moving love story, a portrait of that deep lasting love between mother and daughter. —Julianna Baggott, author of THE MADAM and WHICH BRINGS ME TO YOU UP FROM THE BLUE is a heart-wrenching, tender story with a mystery that kept my pulse racing. What a joy to discover Tillie Harris, the most memorable, charming and plucky narrator in fiction since Scout Finch. —Jessica Anya Blau, author of Today Show pick, THE SUMMER OF NAKED SWIM PARTIES Haunting and unsettling, UP FROM THE BLUE’s real alchemy is the way it uncovers the stories that alternately save us and keep us from our real truths. Incandescently written, this is a stunning debut with heart. —Caroline Leavitt, author of GIRLS IN TROUBLE and PICTURES OF YOU UP FROM THE BLUE is elegant and engrossing. Like a modern-day Scout, Henderson’s child narrator Tillie Harris is both tender and tough, charming and filled with wonder by the difficulties she must overcome. Henderson is a talent to watch. —Danielle Trussoni, author of ANGELOLOGY and FALLING THROUGH THE EARTH In this extraordinary first novel, a young girl forced to live within the regimented world of her military father discovers the darkness behind his austere existence. Her secret, nighttime life, spent inside a basement chamber straight out of Jung, conjures the no-man’s-land between madness and sanity. With its authentic and startling imagery, Henderson’s story glimpses the darkness of the heart as well as the rays of light that manage to shine through. —Kim Ponders, author of THE ART OF UNCONTROLLED FLIGHT and THE LAST BLUE MILE A luminous debut. Henderson explores the emotional tremors of a troubled military family in a story layered with shock, revelation–and hope. —Dylan Landis, author of NORMAL PEOPLE DON’T LIVE LIKE THIS Susan Henderson makes real the magic and terror of childhood with such vivid uncanny accuracy that I can almost imagine being a child again. She takes readers back into the world of children like no other writer today—without cloying sentimentality, and without the wild hysteria of memoir. Funny, smart, innocent, and wicked, her narrator is one of the most memorable voices to show up in fiction in ages. —Jim Daniels, Pushcart and Brittingham Prize winner, and author of NO PETS, DETROIT TALES, PLACES/EVERYONE, PUNCHING OUT M-80, BLESSING THIS HOUSE, BLUE JESUS, NIGHT WITH DRIVE-BY SHOOTING STARS, LETTERS TO AMERICA: CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN POETRY ON RACE UP FROM THE BLUE is a bejeweled tale of mother and daughter, longing and understanding, all ripe with the antics of a brilliantly imagined girl named Tillie. Dark and sweet like a wild cherry Lifesaver, Henderson’s prose makes our hearts pucker, while enchanting our minds long after the story is done. —Amy Wallen, Los Angeles Times bestselling author of MOONPIES AND MOVIE STARS Tillie Harris, Susan Henderson’s courageous young heroine, is vibrant and true. Her voice fills the pages of UP FROM THE BLUE with a bittersweet song of innocence and longing as she navigates her way through her perilous life—a life dominated by her mother’s desperate unhappiness and her father’s frustrations. I wanted to hold Tillie tight then release her with a smile, so I could watch her set the world on fire with her hard-won wisdom and sparkling energy. —Laura Benedict, author of ISABELLA MOON and CALLING MR. LONELY HEARTS UP FROM THE BLUE is a rare literary page-turner full of shocking discoveries and twists. Susan Henderson has created a remarkable narrator – as memorable for her feistiness as for her tenderness. UP FROM THE BLUE is going to be one of this year’s major debuts. —Josh Kilmer-Purcell, NY Times bestselling author of I AM NOT MYSELF THESE DAYS and THE BUCOLIC PLAGUE Here, finally, is a contemporary writer willing to embrace the pathos, the ache, the hunger of human life in fiction that’s luminous and moving and transformative. In the character of Tillie, Susan Henderson pursues the shadows of childhood without allowing herself to be obliterated by the potential, there, for darkness; her fictional creations are beautifully flawed and hence gorgeously human. For me, Susan Henderson is one of the most important writers to come along since Carson McCullers. Like McCullers, she turns her eye upon the sadness, the poignancy, and the grotesqueries of our world, evokes them with a keen and unswerving vision that is tempered only by understanding and love. A remarkable writer…and a brilliant one. —Terri Brown-Davidson, assistant editor at Zoetrope: All-Story and author of MARIE, MARIE, HOLD ON TIGHT Using perfect prose as a weapon, Sue Henderson’s UP FROM THE BLUE burrows into you, so that if you put the book down, you will soon feel compelled to pick it back up, and when you have read the final word, you realize that you will carry this story with you for the foreseeable future. —John Warner, editor of McSweeney’s Internet Tendency I would love to be able to talk about Susan Henderson’s book, UP FROM THE BLUE, without using the word “awesome.” But the truth is, I can’t do it. I’m in awe of the big-hearted love of a daughter for her mother. I’m in awe of the all-too-human Tillie with her brilliant imperfections, with her truth-telling, with her outrageous simplicity. I’m in awe of the breadth and scope of this book. I’m in awe of how Susan Henderson makes it seem as if there’s nothing small in the world. I know you’ll agree. UP FROM THE BLUE is no less than awesome. —Terry Bain, O. Henry award-winner and author of YOU ARE A DOG: LIFE THROUGH THE EYES OF MAN’S BEST FRIEND Susan Henderson deftly conjures that surreal kingdom known as childhood, a realm teeming with tactile mysteries, hourly epiphanies and ineffable longing. Tillie is as brave and winning a narrator as we could wish for, caught in a painful intimacy with her disturbed mother, but also embarking on the necessary adventure of defiance. UP FROM THE BLUE is a wonderful book, always evocative and often funny, fashioned with a delicate touch and a riddler’s humor. —M. Allen Cunningham, author of THE GREEN AGE OF ASHER WITHEROW Susan Henderson writes with the sort of honesty, clarity, and attention to detail that makes you forget for a moment that you are reading fiction or even reading at all. It is a sign of the greatest level of art: to erase the artifice that separates the reader from the experience. The stories in this book do this with admirable skill, creating a world of vivid sadness and beauty. —Grant Bailie, author of CLOUD 8 In luminous, economical prose, Susan Henderson tells the story of Tillie, a lonely child in a family of loners, doing her best to please her high-ranking Pentagon scientist father, her literary, unstable mother and her scornful older brother, all of whom have secrets she wants only to understand. She grows before our eyes in deft, layered chapters that are at once painful and funny. Neglected and demanded too much of, eager to please and rebellious in equal measure, Tillie embodies the very spirit of late twentieth-century America, and we can’t help but love her. Indeed, Henderson’s greatest gift to the reader—and there are many— is the evidence that love, though it surely does not conquer all, makes forgiveness possible and hope inevitable. —Maryanne Stahl, author of FORGIVE THE MOON and THE OPPOSITE SHORE |
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&lSchooling:
Carnegie Mellon University (B.A.) Vanderbilt University (M.Ed) Work:
Radio and podcasts:
Interview, NPR (KRCB):
Story reading, NPR (KRCB):
Interviews:
Some Past Readings:
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