Author Talk: Alexandra Andrews, Ashley Audrain, & Wendy Walker

 

Today I was lucky enough to virtually join Darien Library and Barrett Bookstore to welcome authors Alexandra Andrews and Ashley Audrain as they discuss their new books with author Wendy Walker. Andrews and Audrain both have captivating debut novels that readers won't be able to put down. We'll be reading The Push and Don't Look For Me. So I'm excited to learn more about all of these for Shelf Indulgence Book Club. 

About Who is Maud Dixon?

Florence Darrow is a low-level publishing employee who believes that she's destined to be a famous writer. When she stumbles into a job as writer’s assistant to Maud Dixon, a world-famous, enigmatic novelist whose true identity is a secret, Florence believes that the universe is finally providing her big chance.

The arrangement seems perfect. Maud Dixon (whose real name, Florence discovers, is Helen Wilcox) can be prickly, but she is full of pointed wisdom — not only on how to write, but also on how to live. Helen even invites Florence along on a research trip to Morocco, where her new novel is set. Florence hopes this trip will be the first of many. And maybe, finally, she will experience something exciting to write about herself.

But when Florence wakes up in the hospital after a terrible car accident, with no memory of the previous night — and no sign of Helen — she wonders if she should take a shortcut. Instead of hiding in Helen’s shadow, why not upgrade into Helen's life? As well as her bestselling pseudonym, Maud Dixon . . .

Taut, twisty, and unpredictable, Who is Maud Dixon? is a shocking psychological thriller about how far into the darkness you’re willing to go to claim the life you always wanted.

About Alexandra Andrews

Alexandra Andrews has worked as a journalist, editor and copywriter in New York and Paris. Who Is Maud Dixon? is her first novel. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and children.

About The Push

The Push follows Blythe Connor, a woman whose traumatic upbringing has left her uneasy about parenthood, and eager not to repeat the mistakes of the past. Blythe is determined to be the warm, comforting mother that she herself never had, but all her worries come to the surface when her daughter Violet is born. She can’t let go of a disturbing, nagging thought: Violet is not like other children. She’s distant, stubborn, antisocial, angry. She might even be dangerous. Bad things happen around her, and it can’t all be in Blythe’s imagination. But the more Blythe tries to love and understand her daughter (and make excuses for her unusual behavior), the more she gets pushed away.

Blythe’s husband, Fox, says she’s imagining things. He refuses to see what is increasingly clear to Blythe, and the conflict cracks their marriage open, revealing what the stresses of parenthood can do to a partnership. As Fox dismisses her concerns, Blythe—isolated and ignored—begins to question her own perceptions, and even her sanity. But when her worst nightmare becomes reality, and everything she fears about Violet crystallizes into one tragic moment, she must reckon with the repercussions – and with the unsettling notion that she may have been right all along.

The Push is an utterly unputdownable novel that asks: What would you do if the unthinkable happened, and you were the only one who saw it? Would anyone believe you? Would you believe yourself?

About Ashley Audrain

Ashley Audrain previously worked as the publicity director of Penguin Books Canada. Prior to Penguin, she worked in public relations. She lives in Toronto, where she and her partner are raising their two young children. The Push is her first novel.

About Wendy Walker

Wendy Walker is the bestselling author of All Is Not Forgotten, Emma In the Night, The Night Before, Don’t Look for Me, and Hold Your Breath with rights sold in twenty-three foreign languages as well as options for film and television. Prior to writing, she worked as a family lawyer and an investment banker. She is currently at work on her next thriller at her home in Connecticut.