Anne Tyler Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Picture Books

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Hogarth Shakespeare Books

Publication Order of Contemporary Literature and the Life of Faith Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Anne Tyler is a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist born in October 1941. With several dozen novels to her name, she has won numerous awards during her writing career, including the Sunday Times Award and the Ambassador Book Award in addition to the Pulitzer, which she won in 1989 for “Breathing Lessons.” Her works place special emphasis on family and marriage in America, and the various conflicts that surround these relationships.

Biography
Anne Tyler was born to Lloyd Parry Tyler (industrial chemist) and Phyllis Mahon Tyler (social worker) in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Tyler family lived in various Quaker communities before finally settling down in a commune in Celo, North Carolina. In her new home, Anne would spend several years of her young life caring for livestock; participating in organic farming; and partaking in educational activities such as carpentry, art, and cooking, among other subjects taught in a little schoolhouse, although it was not a part of the public school system.

Anne Tyler has often spoken of the first time she experienced the spark of storytelling, and the many hours she would spend under her bedcovers at the age of three, creating stories in her attempt to fall asleep. She has also spoken of being profoundly influenced by The Little House, a novel by Virginia Lee Burton that she read on numerous occasions due to her limited access to books, and whose contents shaped her understanding of people and life in general.

By the time Anne left Celo at the age of 11 along with her family, she found the world to be a very different and surprising place, this stemming from the fact that she had yet to attend public school and had never used a telephone in her life.

Settling down in Raleigh, North Carolina, provided Anne her first taste of the world outside the commune, allowing her the opportunity to finally attend public school. Even with her lack of formal education, Anne excelled among her classmates. Access to libraries allowed her to explore new worlds, where she would discover esteemed writers like Eudora Welty and Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Following her graduation from high school at the age of 16 (a feat that she credits to teachers like Phyllis Peacock who pushed her to succeed), it was Anne’s wish to attend Swarthmore College (founded by the Hicksite Branch of the Society of Friends in 1860). However, her parents urged her to take advantage of an AB Duke full scholarship to Duke University, because they also needed to fund the education of her three younger siblings.

At Duke, Anne Tyler met, studied under, and charmed Reynolds Price, who was particularly impressed by the young girl’s maturity. Anne also had the opportunity to work alongside future greats like Fred Chappell. Even under the guidance of minds like William Blackburn, she did not immediately determine to pursue writing, not when her passion for the visual arts was starting to bloom. Along with participating in various plays as a member of the drama society, she developed an interest in Russian literature.

She eventually graduated from Duke in 1961, immediately choosing to pursue a fellowship to graduate school at Columbia University in Slavic Studies. New York provided various new experiences, including the subway and train rides that she grew to love.

She found her mind drawn to the world of storytelling. Upon leaving Columbia University a year later (without completing her master’s thesis) she returned to Duke, taking up the position of Russian bibliographer in the library. It was there that she met and later married (in 1963) a resident in child psychiatry, Taghi Modarressi, who was himself a writer.

Writing Career
Anne Tyler’s first project of note was “Laura,” a short story that she published in the Duke literary journal, “Archive” (which won her the Anne Flexner Award for creative writing). She would go on to write numerous short stories while at Duke, one of which Reynolds Price called the most complete short story he had ever read. Price’s referrals put Anne in touch with his own agent, Diarmuid Russell, who also became her agent.

She began working on ‘If Morning Ever Comes’ while at the Duke Library. She published her first novel, “The Tin Can Tree,” in 1964 while living in Montreal, where they moved after her husband’s U.S. visa expired. She would, however, disown both “The Tin Can Tree” and “If Morning Ever Comes” in later years, disparaging them for their lack of proper character development.

Following a hiatus between the years of 1965 and 1970, choosing to devote that time to raising her children, Tyler did not receive true recognition for her writing until the 1970s, during which she produced works like “A Slipping-Down Life.” The fact that her children had entered school allowed her to focus more on her projects, producing novels that attracted praise from the likes of Gail Godwin and John Updike. Her literary career has only continued to grow, especially after she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1989.

Anne Tyler and her husband have two daughters, both of whom share her interest in the visual arts. Her work is credited for essentially celebrating the unremarkable lives of Americans.

If Morning Ever Comes
Ben Joe Hawkes spend a lot of his time worrying. Ben was raised by his mother and grandmother, and alongside a flock of sisters, he has always felt like an outsider. Upon learning of the upheaval facing her sister’s life, Ben decides to return home to face chaotic childhood memories and unforeseen love.

Anne Tyler’s first novel reflects her writing style. Ostensibly, while the plot is hardly visible, the characters manage to remain engaging, especially the voices of Shelley and Gram. The novel works to present a very realistic picture of its characters within a story that doesn’t completely impress or intrigue.

The Tin Can Tree
The accidental death of 6-year-old Janie Rose leaves the lives of the Pike family in the small town of Larksville hopelessly out of step with the daily routines of life. Mrs. Pike blames herself for the accident and barely speaks, while Mr. Pike finally comes out of his long silence. Ten-year-old Simon cannot quite understand why he no longer has a baby sitter and where she has gone. Those close to the Pike family will have to push past their own private grief to comfort the family, bringing hope into a world that is suddenly so dark.

The second of Anne Tyler’s novels, the plot of the Tin Can Tree is rather sad, and like Anne’s previous novel, it does not involve much of a plot in the first place. However, the lives of the characters are interesting enough to make the Tin Can Tree an interesting read, one that allows an intimate look into the lives of characters you will grow to love.