Sunday, May 25, 2014

What is Lisa O'Donnell reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Lisa O'Donnell, author of Closed Doors.

Her entry begins:
I just finished The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I haven’t seen the movie yet and was advised by a friend to read the book first. It’s told in the first person and Death is the narrator. He takes an interest in a little girl called Liesel Meminger, or The Book Thief because she steals book even though she can’t read in the beginning. Anyway an opportunist, Death saves her journal and tells us the story of her childhood. It’s...[read on]
About Closed Doors, from the publisher:
In this tense and brilliant tale from the national bestselling author of The Death of Bees, a young boy on a small Scottish island, where everyone knows everything about everyone else, discovers that a secret can be a dangerous thing.

Eleven-year-old Michael Murray is the best at two things: hacky sack and keeping secrets. His family thinks he's too young to hear grown-up stuff, but he listens at doors—it's the only way to find out anything. And Michael's heard a secret, one that may explain the bruises on his mother's face.

When the whispers at home and on the street become too loud to ignore, Michael begins to wonder if there is an even bigger secret he doesn't know about. Scared of what might happen if anyone finds out, and desperate for life to return to normal, Michael sets out to piece together the truth. But he also has to prepare for the upcoming talent show, keep an eye out for Dirty Alice—his archnemesis from down the street—and avoid eating Granny's watery stew.

Closed Doors is the startling new novel from Lisa O'Donnell, the acclaimed author of The Death of Bees. It is a vivid evocation of the fears and freedoms of childhood and a powerful tale of love, of the loss of innocence, and of the importance of family in difficult times.
Learn more about the book and author at Lisa O'Donnell's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Death of Bees.

Writers Read: Lisa O'Donnell (December 2012).

Writers Read: Lisa O'Donnell.

--Marshal Zeringue