Margot Livesey Archive
Obsession, loss of innocence, grief, forgiveness, belonging. Readers of Livesey’s impressive oeuvre will recognize these recurring themes; each one of her novels animates different variations on these experiences. Her ninth novel, out today, explores them, too, via a seamless kaleidoscopic narrative and artful suspense that propels the story along.
Whitney Terrell’s 2016 book The Good Lieutenant was selected as a best book of the year by the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, and Refinery 29. Terrell also happens to be my former student.
One of the pivotal moments in my writing career happened back in the early '90s when I read Margot Livesey's debut novel Homework. I was really struck by the unsettling tone of the book and by Jenny, the daughter of the hero's--Celia's--boyfriend, a seemingly awful little girl who tries