Background
Spark, Debra A. was born on June 17, 1962 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Daughter of Richard Franklyn and Barbara Ellen Spark.
( A duppy, he explained, wouldn't enter a building withou...)
A duppy, he explained, wouldn't enter a building without first counting all the grains of sand at the door, and, math whiz or no, your average duppy couldn't do that before daybreak, the hour when all duppies are due back at their graves. But the ghost of Bridgetown-- apparently, he hadn't so much as flinched at the sand. He'd stepped right over the pile and into the bar. He'd ordered himself a beer and insisted, once again, that he'd never died. When Charlotte Lewin's grandfather offers to send her to Barbados on a special mission, he believes he is sending her on a much-needed vacation, following the death of Charlotte's sister. The mission seems simple enough: to return a long-forgotten, jewel-encrusted menorah to its rightful owner on the island. However, Charlotte soon finds herself navigating her way through unsettling racial tensions-- between white Jews, black Jews, and the native community. In the oppressive Barbados heat where the body can't hide its own discomfort, Charlotte ends up sitting side-by-side at a bar with the ghost of Bridgetown himself. And when the startling ramifications of a bizarre parachuting accident threaten to unravel the precarious peace, it is Charlotte who struggles to find the answers. Her emotional entanglement with the people of the island leads to a search, not just to find a home for the menorah, but also for her own place in the world. The Ghost of Bridgetown is a powerful second novel, a worthy offering to what the Boston Book Review calls Spark's "broad and devoted following of readers."
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008SMRFDM/?tag=2022091-20
(Fainting on the doorstep of a Puerto Rican bakery, Maria ...)
Fainting on the doorstep of a Puerto Rican bakery, Maria Elena is drawn into the family of widower Sandrofo Cordero Lucero and his identical triplet daughters, when she tries to learn why Lucero has never taken a new lover. Reprint. NYT.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0380726300/?tag=2022091-20
( Curious Attractions: Essays on Fiction Writing is a boo...)
Curious Attractions: Essays on Fiction Writing is a book about what makes fiction work. In nine entertaining and instructive essays, novelist and master teacher Debra Spark pursues key questions that face both aspiring and accomplished writers, including: How does a writer find inspiration? What makes a story's closing line resonate? How can a writer "get" style? Where should an author "stand" in relation to his or her characters? While the book will have immediate appeal for students of writing, it will also be of interest to general readers for its in-depth reading of contemporary fiction and for its take on important issues of the day: Should writers try to be more uplifting? How is emotion best conveyed in fiction? Why are serious writers in North America wedded to the realist tradition? When she was only twenty-three, Debra Spark's best-selling anthology 20 Under 30 introduced readers to some of today's best writers, including David Leavitt, Susan Minot, Lorrie Moore, Ann Patchett, and Mona Simpson. Almost twenty years later, Spark brings this same keen critical eye to Curious Attractions, discussing a broad range of authors from multiple genres and generations. A collection of essays in the belles-lettres tradition, Curious Attractions offers lively and instructive discussions of craft flavored with autobiographical reflections and commentary on world events. Throughout, Spark's voice is warm, articulate, and engaging as it provides valuable insights to readers and writers alike.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0472068970/?tag=2022091-20
Spark, Debra A. was born on June 17, 1962 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Daughter of Richard Franklyn and Barbara Ellen Spark.
Bachelor, Yale University, 1984. Master of Fine Arts, University Iowa, 1986.
Professor English Colby College, Waterville, Maine, since 1995. Instructor Warren Wilson College, Asheville, North Carolina, since 1996.
( A duppy, he explained, wouldn't enter a building withou...)
(Fainting on the doorstep of a Puerto Rican bakery, Maria ...)
( Curious Attractions: Essays on Fiction Writing is a boo...)
Married Garry John Mitchell.