Adrienne Brodeur Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Biographies & Memoirs

Publication Order of Anthologies

Adrienne Brodeur is an American author of fiction and memoirs. She has a bachelor of arts in urban studies from Columbia College and a Masters’s degree in Government Administration from the University of Pennsylvania. Even though Adrienne’s parents were writers, she never knew she would be a writer and often avoided the world of letters for as long as she can remember. Adrienne spent her childhood in Massachusetts and New York and summers on Cape Cod. After completing college, she moved to California, pursuing a career in politics and public policy. At first, she fell in love with her work, but after half a decade, she realized she would eventually become a bureaucrat, which wasn’t part of her life’s ambition. In addition, she wasn’t interested in politics but in literary works.

In 1994 she turned her life around, left her home in Mission Bay in San Diego, a well-paying job in county government, and relocated to a tiny studio apartment in New York City to start a career in writing. After a year of searching for paying gigs at literary magazines, she resolved to start her own from her tiny studio apartment. One year down the line, Zoetrope: All-Story was born. It was co-founded with Francis Ford Coppola, and Adrienne worked as an editor until 2002. During this period, the magazine won several prizes, one notable being National Magazine Award for Best Fiction in 2001.

In her bestselling memoir Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover and Me, Brodeur reflects upon her disjointed and complicated relationship with her mother, Malabar. Whether we are aware or not, we as parents tend to leave some fingerprints of our challenges and oddity in the minds of our children, as the author reveals to us that her mother opened this channel at full throttle.

At fourteen, we search through trial and error for the soft ground to place our feet upon the unsteady foundation of adolescence, and that’s precisely where the uneven relationship digs its head about Malabar and Adrienne (Rennie). One night, Rennie is awakened by her mother from a sound sleep with a bizarre story of being kissed by her husband’s best friend, Ben. This is something that a mother shouldn’t confine to her child. Rennie only wants the best for her mother, so she agrees to keep this forbidden affair a secret. She tags along with the couple as a cover-up for their hidden relationship having no idea what chaos her mother has set in motion.

The author opens the door to her early life, and the reader first sees the heavy impact of everything her mother did, which ultimately changes Rennie’s life forever. As readers, we also learn much about relationships between mother/son and father/daughter. Brodeur narrates this story in detail, showcasing how her mother’s life impacted her. Despite all this, we get to honor the author’s honesty in coming clean and retelling her heartbreaking youth leading to adulthood.

Through her, we also learn how her mother’s affair crippled her decision-making, how she had become under her mother’s influence, and how everything flawed and damaged her. Wild Game is a sad, beautiful, tragic, and hopeful story. Brodeur writes her story with tenderness transforming what would have been a sensual and resentful retelling into a remarkable, compelling, and satisfying tale.

Brodeur spent her childhood in Cape Cod and Boston. Her mother was a talented and famous cook who plays a major role in this story as the author describes her mother’s recipes in detail. Malabar was a food writer despite her shortcomings, and the kitchen was the family’s core.
Malabar was married to an older man. She entered into an affair with her husband’s best friend, Ben, who was married to Lily. Brodeur reveals to the reader that the couples were very close friends. But what would Malabar enlist the help of her daughter to hide the affair? What kind of mother does this?

The role of protector was left at the hands of Brodeur at a very young age. Ultimately, you will love how she overcomes her past, creates a healthy relationship, and emerges stronger. It’s been noted that the name of this memoir comes from a cookbook that Malabar and Ben had planned to pen down. It was also an excuse for the two couples to spend time together without anyone suspecting it. Unfortunately, the affair ends up having negative results. Through all the trauma imposed on her in her teenagerhood, Adrienne overcame it all and became one of the best-selling authors. This memoir is a perfect read for anyone who’s been through personal trauma, showcasing how one can turn their life around despite the challenges.

Little Monsters is the story of Ken and Abby Gardener, who are haunted by the memories of their mother, who died when they were small. Their father is a well-known oceanographer who raised the two alone in the tiny home on Cape Cod, where the attachment between Ken and his sister grew into something more complicated, and now as adults, their relationship is strained. Even years as adults, their lives are still entwined. Ken grew up to become a successful and prominent businessman with political ambitions and a well-knit family. On the other hand, Abby is a skilled visual artist who depends on her brother partly because he owns the studio where she works and lives.

As the book opens up, we meet Adam as he approaches his 70th birthday, reflecting on his life and staring down on his mortality and vanishing relevance. He has always controlled his bipolar behavior through medications. Still, he is determined to make one last scientific breakthrough, so Abby and Ken have secrets they won’t reveal. As Adam grows more accustomed to the frequencies of the sea and less to the people around him, the two siblings plan on the perfect gifts they will present his father on his birthday. The book reflects on the bible story of Cain and Abel, Little Monsters is an captivating family story by a writer well-versed in the ins and outs of Cape Cod and its darkest secrets.