Jane Hamilton Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Anthologies

Jane Hamilton is a published American author.

She was born in Oak Park, Illinois, where she grew up. There were five children in her family, and she was the youngest. She would practice writing and entered contests in high school and college, winning prizes for her short stories and poetry. However, she was constantly told writing could not be a viable career. She didn’t think she would be a copy editor or an editor either due to her spelling skills.

In 1975 she graduated from high school. After college, she was an intern for Dell Publishing for Children. She went to New York to become an editor. Along the way, she stopped in Wisconsin to visit a friend with an apple orchard. She would meet a partner there in the operation, met her future husband, and would move to the farmhouse at the orchard not long after, giving her the opportunity to write during the harvesting off-season.

Jane applied to graduate programs and was rejected but kept writing. She wrote a short story called “My Own Earth” which launched her career in 1983 when it was picked up from a slush pile by an intern and passed on to Helen Rogan, the editor of Harper’s Magazine. The story was published and another story, “Aunt Marj’s Happy Ending”, was also published I the magazine in 1983 and would be featured in The Best American Short Stories 1984.

The author’s first novel was titled the Book of Ruth and was released in 1988. It would win the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award for first fiction, as well as the New Writers Award from the Great Lakes College Association, and the Banta Book Award from the Wisconsin Library Association. It was an Oprah’s Book Club pick in 1996 and would go on to be adapted in a television movie that aired in 2004.

Jane would follow this up with her book A Map of the World. The book was selected as a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times, and picked as one of the top ten books of the year by People, the Miami Herald, Publishers Weekly, and Entertainment Weekly, and was an Oprah’s Book Club pick. It was adapted into a movie in 1999.

She has since written other boos, including The Short History of a Prince, which was the Publishers Weekly Best Book of 1998 and was shortlisted for a 1999 Orange Prize. Other books include Disobedience, and her novel When Madeline Was Young, a Washington Post Best Book of 2006. She was named a Notable Wisconsin Author in 2000 by the Wisconsin Library Association.

Today, Jane continues to write in an orchard farmhouse, living and creating more stories in Wisconsin. She is married and has children with her partner. Her books are set mostly or in part in Wisconsin and is supported by her husband, who has encouraged her with her writing throughout the years.

The Book of Ruth is the first novel to come out from Jane Hamilton. It is a PEN/Hemingway Award recipient and the story of a woman who feels trapped within the structure of a family that is highly dysfunctional.

This is a story from the bestselling author who has graced the top charts of publications such as the New York Times and the debut that put Jane Hamilton on the literary map. It’s the emotional tale of a family disintegrating and falling apart slowly over time.

Follow along with the story of the main character Ruth Grey. She is a young woman growing up in a small farm town in Illinois. Her father was lost to her thanks to the second world war, and she has to deal with things in her everyday life that she would rather not– like the wrath of her mother, who is never happy.

She is also regularly ignored and her brother, who is a prodigy at math, receives what she feels is an unfair amount of attention. Ruth is lonely in her life but does what she can to find pleasure and joy wherever it lies. However, it remains to be seen whether she can keep this up against a world that seems determined to defeat her.

Can she escape the threshold of a lonely life? The story grows to a crescendo for an ending that you will have to witness yourself! Pick up a copy of Jane Hamilton’s mesmerizing debut to find out what happens!

A Map of the World is the second fictional book to come out from Jane Hamilton. If you loved the first book from Hamilton or have enjoyed other works from this author, you’ll be sure to enjoy this story as well.

Alice Goodwin is doing her best on a morning in June to try and keep her temper in check while also trying not to put the blame on herself as usual for the shortcomings of her family.

The Goodwins had a vision in mind when they took over Prairie Center’s last remaining dairy farm, seeing their home as a paradise that they created. But the oldest daughter Emma is experiencing random fits of rage, Alice’s husband doesn’t think she is a fit mother, and the tight suburban community in the small Midwestern town doesn’t really seem too fond of the hippies that believe they’re able to run the farm.

Alice has always been a loner. She’s caught between wanting solitude and her need to be the core of a family that is perfect. But on this day, things are going haywire. Emma’s throwing fits, little sister Claire is gobbling coins, and Alice has to watch her neighbor’s daughters and her own.

When she gets a minute to herself that stretches out to ten, it provides a window for a horrible accident to happen. Lizzy drowns in the pond, and now she is the target for the wrath of all those who are enraged about the passing of the neighbor’s little girl.

Meanwhile, a small incident from her past comes to light and gets even larger. Can the family come through this and remain intact, or will it all fall apart? Read this book from Jane Hamilton to find out!