What is Megan Chance reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Megan Chance, author of A Dangerous Education.

Her entry begins:

The Whalebone Theater by Joanna Quinn

I picked this one up because I am a sucker for books about artists and actors, but also because I have a real soft spot for Europe after the first World War, and aristocratic families left with huge estates and no money, and though I don’t really love and in fact am growing really tired of books about WWII, and am unlikely to read one unless you’ve got something very new and unusual to add, there was enough in the description here, with theaters made of whalebone and intrepid missions and innocence lost, and again—actors and theater—that I decided to try it.

I was very glad I did. I knew from the first paragraphs that I was in the hands of a very good writer, and I ended up not being able to put it down. In fact, I loved this book, and it became my first favorite read of 2023. It was intricate, complicated, and emotional, with a complex family that is...[read on]

About A Dangerous Education, from the publisher:

A reformist teacher. A dangerous student clique. A powerful novel about secrets and redemption set in the shadows of McCarthy-era America.

Rosemary Chivers is haunted by the choices she made as a teenager―and by those made for her by a controlling mother. Now, in the Cold War era of conformity and suspicion, Rosemary is a modern new teacher at a school for troubled girls, where she challenges the narrow curriculum meant to tame restless young minds. She also keeps a devastating secret. She knows one of the students is the child she gave up. But which one?

Ignoring warnings, Rosemary forms an impenetrable bond with the three girls who are the right age: shrewd runaway Maisie, alcohol-indulging Sandra, and overly flirtatious Jean. But these are no ordinary girls, and what begins as an effort to bring closure to her own rebellious youth soon spirals dangerously out of control.

Rosemary is prepared to do anything to find her daughter. What she isn’t prepared for are the deadly consequences that come with discovery―or just how wicked wayward girls can be.

Visit Megan Chance's website.

My Book, The Movie: A Splendid Ruin.

The Page 69 Test: A Splendid Ruin.

Q&A with Megan Chance.

The Page 69 Test: A Dangerous Education.

My Book, The Movie: A Dangerous Education.

Writers Read: Megan Chance.

--Marshal Zeringue