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Allison Larkin

MENUMENU
  • Home
  • Books
    • Home of the American Circus
    • The People We Keep
    • Allie Larkin
  • TrueHearts Collective
  • Events
  • Writer Resources
  • Contact
    • Contact
    • Book Clubs
    • Press

Book Trailer Fridays – Randy Susan Meyers & The Murderer’s Daughters

February 5, 2011 Filed Under: book trailer fridays, books are awesome

The Murderer's Daughtersby Randy Susan Meyers has gotten rave reviews in hardcover.  It just came out in paperback this week and it's the most recent Target Club Pick, so I thought it would be a great choice for this week's book trailer.Here's the description:Lulu and Merry's childhood was never ideal, but on the day before Lulu's tenth birthday their father drives them into a nightmare. He's always hungered for the love of the girl's self-obsessed mother. After she throws him out, their troubles turn deadly.Lulu's mother warned her to never let him in, but when he shows up, he's impossible to … [Read more...]

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A Valentine’s Day Giveaway!

February 3, 2011 Filed Under: books are awesome, giveaways

Who couldn't use a little extra love for Valentine's Day?The lovely Kate Ledger, author of Remedies, sent me four copies of The Dogs' Book of Romance -- advice on love and relationships from our four-legged friends -- for a Valentine's Day giveaway!To sweeten the pot, I've put together a Valentine's gift bag (pictured above) for you and your favorite pup.  Three lucky readers will get a copy of The Dogs' Book of Romance and one lucky reader will get a copy of the book plus a gift bag filled with goodies!The gift bag includes:For you:A copy of The Dogs Book of RomanceThe Madelaine Chocolate Co. … [Read more...]

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Guest Post: How I Became a Daughter of the Witching Hill by Mary Sharratt

January 31, 2011 Filed Under: books are awesome, guest posts

In bleak midwinter 2002, I moved to rural Lancashire, in northern England, an incongruous place for an American expat. The first months were so oppressively dark, I felt I was trapped inside some claustrophobic gothic novel. But then came spring in a tide of bluebells and hawthorn. The wild Pennine landscape cast its spell on me.            I live at the foot of Pendle Hill, famous throughout the world as the place where George Fox received his vision that moved him to found the Quaker religion in 1652. But Pendle is also steeped in its legends of the Lancashire Witches.In 1612, seven women … [Read more...]

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Book Trailer Fridays – Juliette Fay & Deep Down True

January 29, 2011 Filed Under: book trailer fridays, books are awesome

I've been meaning to blog all week, but I've been completely lost in my manuscript. It's a good thing, but I get to the end of my writing day and I'm kind of shocked that I'm still me. It's a little disorienting. Like watching a movie that's completely engrossing and when it's suddenly over, walking through the doors of the movie theatre back to the normal world seems surprising. Or like the time The Other 1/4 watched the entire first season of Heroes around the same time that I did. She called and said, "You know, the only thing I didn't like about it --""--was when you stopped watching … [Read more...]

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Book Trailer Fridays – Kelly O’Connor McNees & The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott

January 22, 2011 Filed Under: book trailer fridays, books are awesome

I read Little Women in fourth grade, and was completely and totally mesmerized.  It was the first book that made me feel like I was living inside the story while I read it, because I was so emotionally invested in the characters.  I'd enjoyed reading up until then, but Little Women is the book that made me a reader, and it's still one of my all time favorites.Little Women was also the book that sparked my interested in writers.  The woman behind the Little Women is just as interesting as the book itself.  Louisa May Alcott was a student of several members of the Transcendental Club, an … [Read more...]

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Book Trailer Fridays – Tatjana Soli & The Lotus Eaters

January 14, 2011 Filed Under: book trailer fridays, books are awesome

I re-read The Things They Carried for book club a few months ago.  It is a stunning book, and I'm completely in awe of Tim O'Brien.  So, my TBR pile has gotten a little taller, since discovering that he had this to say about The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli:"Set amid the twin infernos of Cambodia and Vietnam in the early 1970's, The Lotus Eaters draws the reader into a haunting world of war, betrayal, courage, obsession, and love. Tatjana Soli's spare, lucid prose infuses this novel with a dramatic clarity that makes us eyewitnesses to the collapse of two civilizations. More than that, The … [Read more...]

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Book Trailer Fridays – Heidi W. Durrow & The Girl Who Fell From the Sky

January 7, 2011 Filed Under: books are awesome

The Girl Who Fell from the Sky is on my must read list.  And I love hearing stories about what inspires writers as they create characters, so Heidi W. Durrow's video about her grandmother, who shares a few similar traits with the grandmother in her novel is right up my alley.My Real Grandmother from Heidi Durrow on Vimeo.The Girl Who Fell From the Sky, a story of "Rachel, the daughter of a Danish mother and a black G.I. who becomes the sole survivor of a family tragedy," is the winner of the 2008 Bellwether Prize for Fiction. Here's what reviewers are saying about it:"The Girl Who Fell From … [Read more...]

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Book Trailer Fridays – Caroline Leavitt & Pictures of You

December 24, 2010 Filed Under: book trailer fridays, books are awesome

Hope you're all enjoying the holidays! I've been busy working on J's Christmas present like crazy this week. If I can manage to keep it a secret for another twelve hours or so, it may actually be the first year ever, that he hasn't found out about his gift before Christmas. Keep your fingers crossed for me!This week's book trailer is for Caroline Leavitt's book PICTURES OF YOU, which is currently at the top of my TBR pile. I love how eerie the trailer is!Here's what critics are saying about PICTURES OF YOU:"Caroline Leavitt plumbs the depths of grief and forgiveness in the lovely Pictures Of … [Read more...]

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“Oh, I can gather all the news I need from the weather report…”

December 15, 2010 Filed Under: addictive tv shows, books are awesome, lists

Well, I still haven't made it to Ithaca to see Marty. Stupid weather!It snowed, then it rained, then it all iced up and snowed some more.  Since hearing about the drivers who got stuck in their cars outside of Buffalo for TWELVE HOURS, I've become a big huge wimp about traveling in this weather. I'm done being intrepid. Wimpy is fine by me. Cold temps, no food, small bladder, and the lack of bathrooms aside, the idea of being stuck with myself in a car that's not moving for twelve hours is terrifying! I don't do sitting in the car well. I've loaded up the crapmobile with books and a … [Read more...]

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Book Fairs and German Shepherds and Bigfoot, oh my!

August 8, 2010 Filed Under: Bigfoot, Book Tour, books are awesome, German Shepherds, Ladies

Well, I didn't mean to vlog and disappear like that!I've spent the past week playing catch up on all the things that didn't get done while I was away. I'm starting to think that I need to find a way to be comfortable in the realm of not caught up, because I am always falling short of grabbing the "all caught up" brass ring. Is that just a normal state of life, or do you find that you have actual leisure time where everything that needs to be done is just done and you can sit around reading, or watching tv, or go play mini-golf without everything else hanging over your head? Or do you have … [Read more...]

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Allison Larkin

allielarkinwrites

Internationally bestselling author of three novels as Allie Larkin and THE PEOPLE WE KEEP. Look for HOME OF THE AMERICAN CIRCUS @gallerybooks May 2025

“Larkin abandons the typical story arc in favor “Larkin abandons the typical story arc in favor of a more naturally flowing up-and-down journey that basks in beautiful moments like a slice-of-life story. Whether it’s banter at the bar Freya’s working or a leaking roof that is simply one more thing than she can possibly handle right now, the characters and their experiences are so real and pure that their joys and sorrows are amplified tenfold.” 

So honored by this AP review of Home of the American Circus! 

https://apnews.com/article/home-american-circus-allison-larkin-book-review-79ea3d1fdb69ef16232a8dfb7d148ad6

#homeoftheamericancircus #booksbooksbooks
I’ve seen a bunch of references to Home of the A I’ve seen a bunch of references to Home of the American Circus as my second novel. It’s actually my 5th! Before The People We Keep, under the name Allie Larkin, I wrote three books: Stay, Why Can’t I Be You, and Swimming for Sunlight. Here they are in their various editions with some of their translations! (And @justjuliawhelan also narrated Stay and Why Can’t I Be You, if you’d like to listen!)

Fun fact: That gorgeous dog on the hardcover of Stay was actually our dog Argo, and I took that photo of him when @duttonbooks couldn’t find the perfect photo of a black German Shepherd. #booksbooksbooks #bookstagram
Pub Day Part One. The thing is, it’s really hard Pub Day Part One. The thing is, it’s really hard to be a creative person in the world, and the blessing, the salvation, the joy of it is the community around art: the writers who will call an emergency novel Zoom meeting when you’re stuck on a draft, the ones who roll up their sleeves and make sure your words are saying what you intend to say, the one who writes an interview to promote your book in the local paper, the reader who captures pictures of the event and makes a reel, the bookstore saints who plan a meal based on the story and serve blue and yellow cupcakes and sing happy birthday to your book on launch day, the readers who show up and get books signed and ask great questions and tell stories about their lives. That’s book magic. And thanks to @townecenterbks (especially Judy and Stacey although I know there are bookstore saints behind the scenes too) and @reneewritesnovels and @woolfmania and @cassandra.a.dunn and @lindalattelessons @aneedleinmybookstack and everyone who showed up to Read it and Eat, I will never ever forget the pub day for Home of the American Circus. You all made it so special. Thank you! I love you. I’m so grateful to be part of the community of writers and readers. ❤️🐘
@deborahblakeauthor RIGHT BACK AT YOU! ❤️❤️❤️
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I will be back on Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I will be back on the grid tomorrow! I love you all so much and I’m so grateful for your support! 😘😘😘 #homeoftheamericancircus
Well, here we are on the eve of Pub Day for Home o Well, here we are on the eve of Pub Day for Home of the American Circus! 

You know that classic bit of writing advice about how you’re supposed to write the book that scares you? Well, for a long time the thought of actually writing and sharing Home of the American Circus scared the heck out of me. I spent many many years collecting ideas for this book, terrified by the thought of how deep I’d have to dig to tell this story the right way. The book is firmly fiction, and the characters are all my imaginary friends, but the setting and themes are literally and figuratively close to home for me. Freya’s story isn’t mine, we have different life events and demographics, but I understand her sense of grief and loss and floundering and hope on a cellular level. And of all the characters I’ve ever written, the way her mind works is the closest to how I think and feel. It takes place in the town where I grew up. And I think when you read this book, you won’t know my life story, but you will know the tenor of my heart. I grew up as a kid with undiagnosed ADHD in a place where I didn’t fit, frantically trying to look normal, believing it was the only way anyone would love me. Always falling short, terrified of failure. And then in my early twenties, I dropped out of college and worked at a biker bar and made such a huge mess of my life that I was forced to build myself up again brick by brick—this time knowing that failure isn’t the worst thing that can happen to a person. That as long as you can find the strength to try again in one way or another, falling flat on your face is not the end of the world. And I learned that the only way to truly feel loved is to be yourself and see who’s up for loving you in your natural form. The people I keep taught me that. And even though it scared me, this was a book I needed to write, it’s the work I’m most proud of, with characters I love the most. So sharing it doesn’t feel like the end of the world at all. Just the end of the world where I have not shared this novel set in ny hometown with a character who has a heart like mine. #misheardlyrics #rem #homeoftheamericancircus #awkwardguitar #itstheendoftheworldasweknowitandifeelfine
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