died of ovarian cancer on Aprl 14, 2013; her book was published on June 20, 2013.
She was 65. The Silent Wife moved up to the #2 spot on the New York Times bestseller
list, between JK Rowling and Fifty Shades of Grey.
Her name was Susan Angela Ann Harrison, but she used the initials to disguise her gender.
The author worked on The Silent Wife for 10 years before finding a publisher. While her work
was repeatedly rejected by publishers, she told herself to "write better, Susan."
According to an article in Canada's Globe and Mail (May 2013):
"Susan Harrison felt that her life began at 18, when she left her childhood home in the
Toronto suburb of North York to attend the Ontario College of Art and immerse herself
in the downtown world of creative experimentation."
"...Ms. Harrison left art school after two years, became a performance artist, printer, writer
and editor, dabbled in journalism, art criticism and graphic design, developed a serious
interest in psychology, yoga, meditation and animal rights, before taking an unexpected
turn in her mid-50s toward genre fiction."
Susan Harrison wrote and published 4 nonfiction books before writing 2 cozy murder
mysteries featuring an animal rights activist who is a detective. She could not find a
publisher for them. Husband, visual artist John Massey, stated there was value in writing
them as "she taught herself what she actually wanted to do. She was fascinated
by psychology and she wanted a greater sense of that in her work."
It was her Canadian publisher that suggested a Chicago setting for the book if she
wanted a U.S. publisher. The author being unfamiliar with Chicago, did her research and
became familiar with Chicago's geography. Another publisher suggested
giving the main characters more back story and complexity; this she did and the novel was
picked up.
An excerpt from an email sent to her publisher Susan Haywood:
"Thanks for your faith in me and your patience. As it turns out, I'm actually
grateful that my hand was forced by the failure of the mystery series. It was
fun writing those books but ultimately I needed to move on, and -- I needed
to work on something more challenging. All through the writing of The Silent
Wife, I was pushing myself, finding ways to say things that I needed to say."
Susan Harrison told long time friend Susan Swan that she was going
to write about relationships because that was the best way to describe modern life.
What is the author trying to say, what is she trying to tell us?
About relationships? About modern life? About the unexamined life?
What do you think?
Book Discussion: November 2nd in the Community Room at 10 AM