Saturday, April 27, 2019

What is Claire Needell reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Claire Needell, author of The First True Thing.

Her entry begins:
About a month ago, I found myself telling everyone in my writers’ group to read Iris Murdoch. I hadn’t actually read Murdoch in years, but in my late twenties I read pretty much everything she wrote. Her books stuck in my mind as novels that have a bit of Everything—interesting historical detail, incisive philosophical ponderings, viciously motivated narcissists. Sex, suspense, flawless pacing and a sense of the absurd. This is the impossible mix that is an Iris Murdoch novel.

Having heard myself say this over and over again for weeks (and noting the nodding tolerance of my audience), I decided to go back to an early Murdoch novel The Flight from the Enchanter, a lovely edition of which I happened to...[read on]
About The First True Thing, from the publisher:
Claire Needell’s evocative novel, perfect for fans of The Girl on the Train, explores the risks of substance abuse as well as what it means to take control of your life when it seems like the only path forward is the one that will take all of your courage.

Marcelle is clean and sober, attending a tough-love version of after-school rehab, and barely hanging out with her user friends. But one night she gets a text from her best friend, Hannah, asking Marcelle to cover for her.

The next morning, Hannah is missing. Marcelle was the last one to hear from her...and now she’s lying to everyone—about the text, and more.

How long can Marcelle go on before she admits to herself what she has to do? If she comes clean, can she save Hannah?
Visit Claire Needell's website.

Writers Read: Claire Needell.

--Marshal Zeringue