When Elizabeth Caldwell planned a trip to Florence with her daughter, Marina, she secretly hoped for a warm, fuzzy bonding experience worthy of a Lifetime movie. But Marina - twenty-one, newly graduated, and close to her mum in many ways - has always been more the PBS type: dependable, practical, and completely in control. Elizabeth knows Marina wants to avoid the kind of 'stupid mistake' that left Elizabeth a single mother at twenty-two, and she's bitten her tongue as Marina settles for a wealthy fiance who gives. her everything she thinks she wants. After all, Elizabeth - unable to bring herself to fully commit to the man she has dated for years - is hardly an expert in romance.Still, a lot can happen on vacation, especially in Tuscany, where every scent borne on the warm breeze inspires delight, and every view makes the heart soar. There, on streets once walked by Dante and Michaelangelo, Marina is blindsided by a gorgeous Italian named Luca who shows her how gloriously unpredictable passion can be, and Elizabeth finally lets go of the role that has defined her for so long to embrace her own uncertain future...
live in Portland, Maine, with my husband Stephen (architect, photographer, and food writer) and our amazingly fabulous cats, Jack, Betty and Cyrus. When I'm not writing, I usually can be found with my head in a book. I try to read widely; still, I do play favorites with authors such as Peter Ackroyd and Patrick McGrath.
I was born and grew up in the Bronx and later lived in Brooklyn and Manhattan. I earned an undergraduate and graduate degree in English Literature at New York University before going on to work for about twelve years as an editor in publishing and packaging at Ballantine Books, Daniel Weiss Associates, Inc., and Kensington Publishing Corporation. Mostly I developed, acquired and edited projects, usually fiction, in Adult, Young Adult, and Middle Grade categories.
In 1996, I moved to Boston and began freelance editing, ghost writing, and reviewing manuscripts. I was a can-do wordsmith for hire, grinding out books on everything from the importance of shark liver oil in one's diet to feng shui for the amateur; I also worked on what seemed like a million Young Adult series installments. Eventually I decided I'd rather work on my own projects so I made a proposal to my old friend and colleague John Scognamiglio at Kensington. After a couple of false starts he signed me up to write "Living Single," which was published in 2002. Since then I've been writing one novel a year, and I've also contributed novellas to three collections John put together.
In terms of life outside reading and writing, Stephen and I recently updated an 1865 brick townhouse in downtown Portland and we love living in this old seaside town. We entertain a good bit -- Stephen cooks, I set a nice table and clean up afterwards. We're happy to live in an area so full of people who support the arts. Portland itself is alive with theatre and music, and it's the home of several museums, including the impressive Portland Museum of Art, and good independent bookstores catering to serious readers, such as Longfellow Books and Cunningham Used Books.
What's new? I'm working on another book set in Ogunquit, Maine. This story involves two women - Delphine from Ogunquit and Maggie "from away" - who met as children and became fast friends. But after college, well, very different lives beckoned and at the time we meet the women, they haven't seen each other in over twenty years. For a variety of reasons, Maggie is eager for a revival of their old friendship, but for a variety of other reasons, Delphine is not. What happens to these women over the course of the book? I'm finding out more each day!
