Background

Luanne Rice was born on September 25, 1955, in New Britain, Connecticut.

Education

Rice received a Bachelor in Humane Letters degree from Connecticut College in 1977.

Career

Luanne began her writing career by writing romance and fiction novels initially. But now, she has started trying her hand at writing young adult novels and her first novel in this genre is about to be published in the coming days of the month of February, 2016. She says that she is very excited about this new achievement in her writing career.

In the year 2002, she awarded an honorary degree by the Connecticut College and was also invited to donate her papers to the Special Collections Library of the college. Luanne has also received the honorary doctorate of the humane letters, which was awarded to her by the West Hartford of the St. Joseph College, Connecticut.

Some of the novels written by Luanne have been made into television for a variety of famous channels such as Crazy in Love, Blue Moon, SIlver Bells, Beach Girls, etc. The channels that they were broadcasted included TNT, CBS, Lifetime, etc. Other than the literary novels, author Luanne has also contributed with a monologue play called Motherhood Out Loud. This play was premiered at the Hartford Stage Company. It was also performed at the Geffen Playhouse and Off-Broadway in Los Angeles. Apart from being a famous novelist, author Luanne Rice is also a determined environmentalist. She even looks after the families which are affected by the ill effects of domestic violence as an advocate. Whenever she gets some free time from busy schedules and writing works, Luanne likes to spend them with her family. She often divides her time between her houses in Southern California and Connecticut.

One of the successful novel series written by author Luanne Rice is titled Hubbard’s Point/Black Hall series, which is comprised of a total of 6 books published between the years 2001 and 2014. Its first novel was published under the title Firefly Beach and was released in 2001 by the Bantam publishing house. The plot of the novel is set in the United States and revolves around the happening in the lives of the main characters, Joe Connor and Caroline Renwick. In the opening sequence of the plot of the novel, author Luanne has described a family of three sisters experiencing a crisis, who come to know about their past lives and try to find strength in each other’s courage to move on in life. Caroline Renwick is introduced as a cool and sophisticated lady on whom her sisters have always counted on. She and her sisters Skye and Clea gather on Firefly Hill, which is also their childhood house.

Thinking that they put their past lives behind, the sisters try to give a new beginning to their lives. However, a mysterious man comes into their lives at the end of the summer, who seems to bring back all the difficulties from their past in their lives again. Joe Connor was only six years old when his father had died at the Firefly Hill and the 5-year-old Caroline Renwick had become his friend and his pen pal. But when he grew up and came to know about how his father had died, he had gone away into darkness. Now, after being silent for many years, he has finally arrived again. Caroline seems to be in two minds on arrivals as she still feels the connection with him and at the same time, wonders whether Joe holds the key to the healing of her family crisis – or for its destruction. She also wonders whether she will be able to prevent her heart from falling for his charm in his presence or not.

The second novel of the series was published in the year 2002 by the Bantam publishing house and was titled Safe Harbor. It was set in Connecticut, United States, and revolved around the primary characters named Dana and Lily Underhill, Allie, and Quinn. In the opening sequence of the plot of the novel, Dana is described as having an artistic gift with the help of which she travels all over the world to search for new ocean-scapes. Her breathtaking canvases depict the romance and beauty of the seas that she has sailed over with her beloved sister Lily. But, after the death of Lily in a tragic event, Dana is forced to give up her nomadic way of life as an artist and become the mother of the daughters of her sister, Allie, and Quinn. The 12-year-old Quinn seems to a tough challenge for Dana.

Achievements

• Luanne Rice's major achievement is in becoming one of America's most famous author's who has more than thirty-five published novels, including The Geometry of Sisters, Last Kiss, Light of the Moon, What Matters Most, The Edge of Winter, Sandcastles, Summer of Roses, Summer’s Child, Silver Bells, and Beach Girls. She lives in New York City and Old Lyme, Connecticut.
  
  In 2002, Connecticut College awarded Rice an honorary degree and she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from St. Joseph College in West Hartford, Connecticut. In June 2014, she received the 2014 Connecticut Governor’s Arts Award for excellence and lifetime achievement as a literary artist. Christopher Plummer, actor, and Tim Prentice, sculptor, were also celebrated, and Rice was thrilled to share the moment with them.
  
  

Works

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  • What Matters Most

    (What if you could relive one time in your life? What woul...)

    2007
  • Silver Bells

    (On a quaint, snowy Chelsea street, librarian Catherine Ti...)

    2004
  • Cloud Nine

    (With Thanksgiving approaching, Sarah charters a small pla...)

    2008
  • Light of the Moon

    (Spurred by her mother’s dying wish, Susannah Connolly has...)

    2008
  • Sandcastles

    (Painter Honor Sullivan had the perfect love and the perfe...)

    2006
  • The Night Before

    (On the eve of a wedding by the edge of the sea, a once-in...)

    2014
  • Last Day

    (Years ago, Beth Lathrop and her sister Kate suffered what...)

    2020
  • The Edge of Winter

    (Neve Halloran and her daughter have shared a fierce love ...)

    2007
  • The Geometry of Sisters

    (The storm off Mackinac Island that engulfed Maura Shaw’s ...)

    2009
  • Little Night

    (Clare Burke’s life took a devastating turn when she tried...)

    2012
  • Home Fires

    (Anne Davis has returned to the house where she grew up, t...)

    2005
  • Dance with Me

    (Jane Porter left the apple orchards of rural Twin Rivers,...)

    2004
  • Summer of Roses

    (On the windswept coast of Nova Scotia, two friends and th...)

    2005
  • Firefly Beach

    (Coolly sophisticated and steadfastly single, Caroline Ren...)

    2006
  • Follow the Stars Home

    (For Dianne Robbins, being a devoted single mother has res...)

    2009
  • The Secret Language of Sisters

    (When Ruth Ann (Roo) McCabe responds to a text message whi...)

    2016
  • Summer Light

    (May Taylor works as a wedding planner, passing on the tim...)

    2006
  • Safe Harbor

    (After every storm, there is a place to return to - if you...)

    2003
  • Summer's Child

    (On the first day of summer, Mara Jameson went out to wate...)

    2005
  • Beach Girls

    (Beach Girls explores the complex and contradictory territ...)

    2004
  • The Perfect Summer

    (Bay McCabe relishes life’s simple pleasures, her children...)

    2003
  • True Blue

    (Schoolteacher Rumer Larkin never felt the need to stray f...)

    2009
  • The Secret Hour

    (Beneath his controlled demeanor, attorney John O’Rourke i...)

    2003
  • Dream Country

    (Daisy Tucker must have had with her teenage daughter, Sag...)

    2004
  • The Silver Boat

    (Three far-flung sisters come home to Martha's Vineyard on...)

    2011
  • Last Kiss

    (A face on a poster, a name in the news, an inexplicable t...)

    2008
  • Secrets of Paris

    (Lydie McBride has always embraced life to the fullest. Bu...)

    2011
  • The Lemon Orchard

    (It’s been five years since Julia’s daughter died. When sh...)

    2014
  • Pretend She's Here

    (Emily Lonergan's best friend died last year. And Emily ha...)

    2019

Views

In her bestselling novels, Luanne Rice captures the complexity of human relationships and the triumphs and challenges of everyday life.

Quotations: "I still prefer to do my research in a good reference room. I find a carroll, if there are carrolls in the library, or sit at a reference table and pour through the materials that are there. I find it much deeper and more satisfying then just Googling something. And I feel as if the research I do at the library stays with me longer."

"I realized as I was writing that I was very much writing about my own experience. When asked whether that means she identifies most with Susan, Rice demurs. All the characters in the book are aspects of people I have known and loved, or they reflect the experiences that I've had."

"I believe that children have this natural innocence and openness that enables them to see the truth. And it's impossible for them not to see the truth. They haven't built any walls, especially at six: at her age. That's something that happens as life goes on. We build up defense mechanisms, but she's at that really shimmering age where she can just see straight into a person's heart and that's why she is so critical to the story: because she helps Martin, who is the opposite. Martin is somebody who has become so well defended over his lifetime that he is completely shut down and completely walled in and has been, for a long time, unable to give love or receive love. Kylie sees that so purely and she helps him to open up. I think she knows that his sort of closed-off-ness comes from a great deal of hurt that has to do with losing his daughter and, in a sense, losing his father. His father, I think, is an interesting character because he's a decent man who did a bad thing and who kind of took the wrong path. I don't know, in my books my characters are a lot wiser than I am. They can find redemption and I think they do."

Connections

Friend:

Bailey Chase

Chase is known for his role as Butch Ada in the television series, Saving Grace, a starring role as Graham Miller in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and roles as Christopher "Chris" Robert Hughes (from 2003–2005) in the soap opera, As the World Turns , Beckett 'Becks' Scott in Ugly Betty, Sean Everett in Damages, and Deputy Branch Connally in A&E's crime thriller, Longmire.

Chase has also starred in the thriller, Summoned, alongside Cuba Gooding, Jr.; Tao of Surfing; Sex, Death, & Bowling; and No Beast So Fierce.

Sister:

Maureen Rice Onorato

Friend:

Cynthia McFadden

born May 27, 1956, she is an American television journalist who is currently the senior legal and investigative correspondent for NBC News. She was an anchor and correspondent for ABC News who co-anchored Nightline, and occasionally appeared on ABC News special Primetime. She was with ABC News from 1994 to 2014 and joined NBC News in March 2014.

husband:

Robert Rice

Friend:

William Pullman

References

• Author's Luanne Rice Official Website