Suzanne Berne Books In Order
Book links take you to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate I earn money from qualifying purchases.Publication Order of Standalone Novels
A Crime in the Neighborhood | (1997) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
A Perfect Arrangement | (2001) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
The Ghost at the Table | (2006) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
The Dogs of Littlefield | (2013) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
The Blue Window | (2023) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books
Missing Lucile: Memories of the Grandmother I Never Knew | (2010) | Description / Buy at Amazon |
Publication Order of Shannon Ravenel Books
Winter Run | (2002) | Description / Buy at Amazon | ||
When It Was Our War | (2003) | Description / Buy at Amazon | ||
Solo | (2005) | Description / Buy at Amazon | ||
Missing Lucile | (2010) | Description / Buy at Amazon | ||
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Suzanne Berne is an American published author of fiction.
She was born on January 17, 1961, in Washington, D.C. She would spend her younger years growing up on a horse farm located in Warrenton, Virginia. After that, her family would move to Washington, D.C. There her father was a teacher, instructing students on courses in mythology at Georgetown University. Her mother would become a psychologist. She attended Georgetown Day School when she was younger.
She would enroll in Wesleyan University in Connecticut as a student, where she graduated with her bachelor’s degree in the field of English. She would later get her M.F>A. as part of the University of Iowa’s Writers Workshop.
After that she got the bug to roam, and Suzanne resided in the state of California for many years. There she had a variety of jobs that were everything from proofreading for The Hollywood Reporter to working as a hostess at a busy restaurant in San Francisco. At the time, she also wrote for various newspapers and was getting some success with having her short stories published.
She would make a jump from the west coast to the east coast in 1986, when she started teaching expository writing at Harvard University. At this time, she also found work doing reviews for the New York Times Book Review. She was also writing articles and essays for their travel section. She has had her essays published in various magazines such as Allure, Vogue, and Ploughshares, among others. Berne has also taught writing at Wellesley College and teaches at Boston College as an associate English professor.
Suzanne is married to her husband and shares two daughters with him. They reside in Boston, Massachusetts.
This American novelist is known for her character studies set in suburban settings deemed bucolic and unexpected drama within them, both domestic and psychological.
She has won prizes for her work, including the Orange Prize for Fiction in 1999 thanks to her debut novel A Crime in the Neighborhood.
A Crime in the Neighborhood was published in 1997. The novel is set in 1972 and is seen through the eyes of a young girl, the 10-year-old Marsha. The book is set in 1972. It is set in a quiet neighborhood in the suburbs of D.C. as the Watergate scandal is unfolding and focuses on the murder of a young boy.
If you are a fan of the works of Anne Tyler and Anne Lamott, this may be a good read for you to check out!
When a young boy of 12 years old is murdered and molested in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., it makes news. The scandal is so large that it makes headlines and no one in the area truly feels safe.
The year is 1973 when the boy is murdered, and fellow child and main character Martha is just 9 years old at the time. She can still recall those years when she is older as an adult. That summer was the time of upheaval. The murder presented a suburban upheaval, while her family was in the middle of upheaval as well.
Marsha feels like everyone is committing various crimes. Martha’s father has abandoned the family to go after Marsha’s mother’s sister, who is younger and apparently more desirable.
Her sister and brother, both older than her as teenagers, are smoking and spending their time shoplifting. She even sees her mother being flirtatious with their next-door neighbor Mr. Green. Then add in Watergate, and it feels like everyone’s a crook. Especially with the whole Watergate scandal being huge in the news, it seems like even the President of the United States is immune to scandal.
However, it seems that Marsha has her own thoughts about who murdered the boy, and it will have the town electric. But when fear runs rampant, will any of them get away from it untouched? Read A Crime in the Neighborhood to find out!
A Perfect Arrangement is a 2001 novel written by Suzanne Berne. If you like intriguing novels or have enjoyed Suzanne Berne’s other work, check out this book for yourself!
Main characters Mirella and Howard Cook-Goldman are married. It might seem like they have everything that the heart could want. They’ve both always been attractive and ambitious. Their lives look picture perfect from the outside. They both have good careers, they share two wonderful children, and they even have a pet golden retriever.
The family lives on the North Shore in Massachusetts in a beautiful colonial house. This is the couple that has it all, except for someone to reliably look after the children. That is the one thing that they need, and so Howard and Mirella decide to hire someone to look after their children.
There is where Randi Gill comes in. She was sent to them by Family Options Ltd., which focuses on Midwestern girls that are nothing but reliable and have good backgrounds. The girls have teaching aspirations, and the company guarantees that they do background checks for every employee.
At first glance, Randi seems to be the ideal childcare provider. She has great references. She is able to do everything from cooking to cleaning and sewing, and she even makes her Play-Doh from scratch for the kids to play with. The children really take a shine to Randi, and they like her maybe too much.
For Mirella, it’s tough to watch Randi get along with the children so well. Maybe it’s the natural chemistry Randi has with them, or the way that she is like a surrogate mother. However, she can’t deny that Randi has brought some order and a sense of peace to their home. But can anybody really be that perfect?
Eventually the cracks start to show. When Howard and Mirella have to show each other the secrets that they’ve been hiding, the nanny might just get the upper hand. But does she have secrets that she is also hiding? Pick up a copy of A Perfect Arrangement to find out what happens in the end!
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