Background
Jacquelyn Mitchard was born on December 10, 1956 in Chicago, Illinois, United States. She is the daughter of Robert G. and Mary M. Dvorak.
(A naive teenage girl in south Texas falls in love with he...)
A naive teenage girl in south Texas falls in love with her prison pen pal. The object of her affection--a charming, dangerously handsome young felon who romances her through his letters to her. After a love affair that defies all conventions, they marry and have a child while the father is still imprisoned. But when he escapes prison to claim his wife and child, what started as a passionate romance turns into a terrifying ordeal of obsession and desire. The young girls only hope is a fiercely dedicated public aid lawyer who is more of a mother figure than the girl has ever known, and the only one who can avert disaster for mother and child!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0670878847/?tag=2022091-20
1998
("Masterful...A big story about human connection and emoti...)
"Masterful...A big story about human connection and emotional survival" - Los Angeles Times The first book ever chosen by Oprah's Book Club Few first novels receive the kind of attention and acclaim showered on this powerful story—a nationwide bestseller, a critical success, and the first title chosen for Oprah's Book Club. Both highly suspenseful and deeply moving, The Deep End of the Ocean imagines every mother's worst nightmare—the disappearance of a child—as it explores a family's struggle to endure, even against extraordinary odds. Filled with compassion, humor, and brilliant observations about the texture of real life, here is a story of rare power, one that will touch readers' hearts and make them celebrate the emotions that make us all one.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0140286276/?tag=2022091-20
1999
(Jacquelyn Mitchard is one of America's best-loved storyte...)
Jacquelyn Mitchard is one of America's best-loved storytellers. Fans adore her novels for their exquisite, gripping stories about family bonds. Now this master of the drama of daily life offers readers a different kind of boy-meets-girl tale, by turns frank and playful, that ponders the question: Can love conquer marriage? It is True Dickinson's forty-third birthday, and her best friends have gathered on this snowy night in Cape Cod at a trendy neighborhood restaurant to celebrate. True has never felt more alone. It's been eight years since the death of her husband, a pilot who, ironically, died in a car crash, leaving her to raise their son on her own. Both her son and her small business are thriving, and True's life is full. The success of her company, the love of her friends, and the proximity of her mother (for better and for worse) leave her with very little time for reflection, but if not now, when? Coming up on forty-three makes True realize that there is an empty space in her life that friends and family cannot fill. She feels her youth and beauty slipping away, and the possibility for romance has never seemed more remote. But everything will change the moment True and her beloved assistant, Isabelle, slide into a snow-filled ditch on the drive home. Saved by a young man she met earlier at the restaurant, True comes face-to- face with the opportunity to let love back into her life -- that is, if she can overcome her own fears, and if these two spirits can find a way to tame each other's wild hearts and to curb their supremely independent natures. Twelve Times Blessed is the story of one year of transformation in a woman's life, and an unforgettable tale of the perils and pleasures of love in the modern age.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0066214750/?tag=2022091-20
2003
(An advice columnist for a local newspaper, Julieanne Gill...)
An advice columnist for a local newspaper, Julieanne Gillis dispenses wisdom to her readers, but somehow missed the signs that something was amiss in her own home. Devoted to being a good mother and keeping her twenty-year marriage fresh and exciting, she is shocked by her husband's surprise announcement that he needs a “sabbatical” from their life together—and devastated when he disappears, leaving Julie with no funds to raise two teenagers and a small daughter alone. But it is the discovery that Julieanne suffers from a serious illness that truly crumbles her family's foundation—setting her children on a dangerous, quixotic journey to locate their missing father before it's too late.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0061374520/?tag=2022091-20
2008
(The New York Times bestselling author of returns with a b...)
The New York Times bestselling author of returns with a breathtaking tale of suspense and high adventure. In high school, Olivia, Tracy and Holly had been known as The Godmothers, and their friendship has endured throughout the ensuing decades. Now, with the death of Olivia's husband, a wealthy Italian Count, and her return to America, the friends decide to reunite on a luxury cruise in the Caribbean. Along with Tracy's college-aged daughter and a two-man crew, they begin their journey uneventfully, enjoying the sun and the warm, clear waters of the Caribbean. Then, a series of devastating events unfolds, leaving the women crewless, starving and terrified. Almost overnight, what was meant to be a blissful vacation devolves into a desperate fight for survival, as they soon find themselves battling the elements, a horrifying attack by drug traffickers, and their own frailties. It is at once a story about the bonds of friendship, the love between mothers and their children, and the strengths we don't know we possess until we are faced with our own mortality.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0446696730/?tag=2022091-20
2008
(“[An] astonishing pleasure.” —Seattle Times “A graceful...)
“[An] astonishing pleasure.” —Seattle Times “A graceful, moving, and compelling novel. Jacquelyn Mitchard at her finest.” —Scott Turow, author of Innocent A poignant and unforgettable novel from Jacquelyn Mitchard, author of the monumental New York Times bestsellers The Deep End of the Ocean and The Most Wanted, A Theory of Relativity is a powerful tale that explores the emotional dynamics and dramas of two families fighting for custody of a young child. The very first author selected by the Oprah Book Club, Mitchard is a matchless, wise, and warm chronicler of families and their human foibles—and A Theory of Relativity is contemporary women’s fiction at its best, a must-read for fans of Sue Miller, Jane Hamilton, and Elizabeth Berg.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060836938/?tag=2022091-20
2011
(From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Deep...)
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Deep End of the Ocean comes this heartwarming Christmas story of a family who comes together during the holiday season as they learn a powerful lesson about love and to live each year of their lives as if it were their last. A fourteenth wedding anniversary is nothing to sneeze at, Elliott Banner knows, but it's not exactly a landmark year—like fifteen, or twenty, when he plans to take his wife, Laura, to Paris. But when a headache on the drive home from their anniversary date—two days before Christmas—turns out to be more than a migraine, he wishes he had celebrated every year as though it were their last. In this poignant, touching, uplifting story, a woman calmly gathers her family around her during the Christmas holiday to celebrate their lives together—both past and future—and to truly count their blessings. A family history unfolds in a single night in this deeply affecting story that speaks volumes about love, trust, and letting go—a perfect holiday read that underscores the true meaning of the season. “Mitchard’s gift is her ability to present her characters in a compassionate light, even when revealing them at their weakest moments.”—Us Weekly
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060565586/?tag=2022091-20
2017
(From Jacquelyn Mitchard, the #1 New York Times bestsellin...)
From Jacquelyn Mitchard, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Deep End of the Ocean, the “suspenseful, otherwordly, and nearly impossible to put down” (People) story about an unlikely hero whose life is transformed when he rescues a boy with an extraordinary gift. Just hours after his wife and her entire family perish in the Christmas Eve tsunami, former police officer Frank Mercy pulls a little boy from a submerged car. Not quite knowing why, Frank doesn’t turn Ian over to the Red Cross. Instead he makes up a story about where the boy came from and takes him home, where Frank realizes that Ian has an otherworldly gift—an extraordinary ability to transform lives beyond anything he’d ever imagined. Awed and confused, Frank confesses Ian’s secret to Claudia, a beautiful champion rider who is training for the Olympics. They join together to fight the sinister forces gathering to take Ian back. In a final confrontation, Frank and Claudia will risk everything—their love, their family, their very lives—to save this boy they now love as their own son.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1501115588/?tag=2022091-20
(Twenty-two years have passed since Beth Cappadora’s three...)
Twenty-two years have passed since Beth Cappadora’s three-year-old son, Ben, was abducted. By some miracle he returned nine years later, and the family began to pick up the pieces of their lives. Now, in this sequel to Mitchard’s beloved bestseller The Deep End of the Ocean, the Cappadora children are grown: Ben is married and has a baby girl, Kerry is studying to be an opera singer, and ne’er-do-well older son Vincent is a fledgling filmmaker. His new documentary—focusing on five families caught in the torturous web of never knowing the fate of their abducted children—shakes his parents to the core. As Vincent’s film earns greater and greater acclaim and Beth tries to stave off a torrent of long-submerged emotions, the Cappadoras’ world is rocked as Beth’s greatest fear becomes reality. The family is soon drawn precipitously into the past, revisiting the worst moment of their lives—this time with only hours to find the truth that can save a life. A spellbinding novel about family loyalty and love pushed to the limits of endurance, No Time to Wave Goodbye is Jacquelyn Mitchard at her best.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0812979575/?tag=2022091-20
(For Hope Shay the entire world is a stage. Really. Acting...)
For Hope Shay the entire world is a stage. Really. Acting has been her dream for as long as she can remember. She will do anything, anything, to get a leading role. Okay, maybe faking her own abduction was extreme. But a true actress suffers for her art. And Hope is a born actress if ever there was one.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001RS8KXS/?tag=2022091-20
Jacquelyn Mitchard was born on December 10, 1956 in Chicago, Illinois, United States. She is the daughter of Robert G. and Mary M. Dvorak.
Mitchard studied creative writing for three semesters at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She attended Rockford College (now Rockford University), earning her Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature from it in 1973.
Mitchard began her career working as a High school English teacher. She held that position for 2 years from 1974. After that she quited her teaching activity to become a managing editor and reporter for Pioneer Press in Chicago, she served there until 1979. That same year she started to work at The Capital Times. Then she moved to Milwaukee Journal, holding a post of metro reporter and columnist. Also she was a speechwriter for Donna Shalala for a year from 1989, as well as the author of nationally syndicated column “The Rest of Us” (Tribune Media Services).
Mitchard is a contributing editor for More (magazine) and is featured regularly in Reader's Digest, Good Housekeeping, Hallmark, Real Simple and other publications.
Her nonfiction work includes the 1986 memoir 'Mother Less Child' (WW Norton) and essays in more than 30 anthologies.
Heralded as a first-rate storyteller, Jacquelyn Mitchard sold her 1996 book The Deep End of the Ocean after writing a mere one hundred pages for a two-book contract worth five hundred thousand dollars.
In 1993, when her husband, journalist Dan Allegretti, died of cancer, Mitchard was determined to keep freelancing. She used her competence as a reporter and columnist to write “everything for anybody to pay the bills.
The success of The Deep End of the Ocean has provided financial security for Mitchard and her five children. The novel was the first selection for Oprah Winfrey’s television book club and went on to become a number one New York Times bestseller.
In 2004 Mitchard published her first book for children and young adults.
Her first Young Adult novel, Now You See Her, was published in 2007 by HarperTeen.
Hoping to create a place for women and men in disadvantaged circumstances created by divorce or widowhood, Mitchard founded One Writer's Place, a residence dedicated to healing through creativity, in 2007. One Writer's Place was closed in the spring of 2011, though it was a successful attempt.
Mitchard's novel The Deep End of the Ocean was sold close to 3 million copies by May 1998. It has been Mitchard's only #1 New York Times Bestseller, on the list for 29 weeks, including 13 weeks at number 1.
Jacquelyn received several awards for her writing activity. She won Maggie Award for public service for magazine journalism, both in 1993 and 1994. Three years later Mitchard received Parenting Network Public Awareness Award.
Also in 1997 she was awarded with Milwaukee Press Club Headliner Award for exceptional service to the community.
In addition, she received Anne Powers Award from the Council of Wisconsin Writers in 1997 as well, for book of fiction.
(From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Deep...)
2017(From Jacquelyn Mitchard, the #1 New York Times bestsellin...)
(An advice columnist for a local newspaper, Julieanne Gill...)
2008(The New York Times bestselling author of returns with a b...)
2008(Twenty-two years have passed since Beth Cappadora’s three...)
(A naive teenage girl in south Texas falls in love with he...)
1998(Jacquelyn Mitchard is one of America's best-loved storyte...)
2003(For Hope Shay the entire world is a stage. Really. Acting...)
(“[An] astonishing pleasure.” —Seattle Times “A graceful...)
2011("Masterful...A big story about human connection and emoti...)
1999Mitchard had a strong desire to have children. Her nearly fatal tubal pregnancy and efforts to cope with her inability to conceive and overcome the emotional and psychological aspects of infertility compelled Mitchard to write one of her novel, Mother Less Child.
Mitchard married Dan Allegretti, a journalist, in 1981. Unfortunately, he died in 1993. Jacquelyn has 5 children from that marriage. She was married again to Christopher Brent, they live in Brewster, Massachusetts on Cape Cod with eight of their nine children.
