On the landing she stopped and looked back into the shadowy hall. The bell chimed on the standing clock. Then a strange thing happened. She saw her father’s face. It was something she would never tell.

Acknowledgments

For their various help in making this book my many thanks go to Sam Lawrence, Camille Hykes, Sarah Burnes, Georges Borchardt, Cindy Klein, Carrie Bell and George Bell, Darryl Pinkney, Betsy Berne, George Minot, Dinah Hubley, Dorothy Gallagher and of course Davis.

As for Ben Sonnenberg, I don’t know what I’d do without him.

A Biography of Susan Minot

A Biography of Susan Minot

Susan Minot (b. 1956) is an award-winning novelist, short story writer, poet, and screenwriter. She is the author of the novels Monkeys, Folly, Evening, and Rapture, as well as the short story collection Lust & Other Stories and the poetry collection Poems 4 A.M. Minot is known for her powerful, minimalist writing and themes of love, family, and relationships.

Minot grew up in Manchester-by-the-Sea, on the North Shore of Boston, in a large household with six siblings. She went to Brown University and graduated in 1978 with a B.A. in painting and writing. During her senior year at Brown, Minot’s mother was killed in a car accident, a tragedy that she would later draw upon in her largely autobiographical debut novel, Monkeys. After earning an M.F.A. in creative writing at Columbia, Minot worked as an editorial assistant at the New York Review of Books in 1981 then as an assistant editor for Grand Street magazine until 1986. That same year, she published Monkeys to much critical acclaim and international success. The book won France’s Prix Femina Étranger in 1987.

Following the publication of Monkeys, Minot lived in New York City and traveled to France and Italy, where she wrote Lust & Other Stories (1989), a collection that centers on the struggles of young urban women looking for satisfying or lasting love. After returning to New York, Minot published her third novel, Folly (1992). Folly tells the story of a woman ensconced in Brahmin Boston society during the time between the World Wars who must choose between duty and passion when a former lover reenters her life.

In 1996, Minot wrote her first screenplay, Stealing Beauty, in collaboration with Bernardo Bertolucci. It was made into a film starring Liv Tyler. She followed the screenplay with the critically acclaimed novels Evening (1998) and Rapture (2002) and the poetry collection Poems 4 A.M. (2003). Minot, along with Michael Cunningham, also wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of Evening (2007), which starred Meryl Streep and Claire Danes. In addition, she has written personal essays and travel stories, earning a Best American Travel Writing Award in 2001, and her short fiction has won the O. Henry Prize and the Pushcart Prize. Susan’s love for storytelling extends to painting, and her vibrant watercolors have helped capture her journey as both an artist and a woman.