So here I am on the other side of the first round of book launch events. How do I feel? A trifle overwhelmed, fighting a cold that’s turned into bronchitis, and deeply touched by the honest and positive responses to my memoir. Always before, I’ve hidden behind my characters when voicing my feelings. Read More…
The Big Ask
Dear Friends and Fellow Readers, For months now, I’ve been entertaining you with stories from my upcoming memoir, Daughter of Spies. I’m hoping these have whetted your appetite for the book itself due out on October 25th, one week from today. That’s THE PUBLICATION DAY, the moment when the memoir finally becomes widely available in bookstores and online. I know many Read More…
Why I love to Talk to Book Clubs
I once took the Meyers Briggs personality test and although I can’t recall the exact results, I do remember that I landed right on the line between introvert and extrovert. I treasure my quiet creative time, but I also love to introduce my books to readers and hear their responses to the worlds I’ve created. In the Read More…
Book Clubs
Daughter of Spies: Wartime Secrets, Family Lies
The author’s mother never talked about her past when her children were growing up. Do you think this is usual for parents in general or is it particularly typical for people who have lived through a war? Have you experienced this with your own parents?
My Mother and the Queen
Although of course, it was expected, I was especially sad to learn of Queen Elizabeth’s death. She and my mother were born three weeks apart. My mother, a British war bride raised in Gibraltar, the child of a “crown colony,” revered the queen and the monarchy in general. In 1936, the whole family turned Read More…
A Wicked Child
Alice Roosevelt Longworth was the wild child of President Theodore Roosevelt and because we are distantly related and she loved a good gossip, I was often invited to have tea with her on Thursday afternoons. As a budding writer, I was an incurable eavesdropper.
What I Learned from My Father
In the early days of writing Daughter of Spies, my memoir that will be published in the fall, I was convinced that I could write equally about both my parents, but as I detailed in another blog post, the writer William Zinsser proved me wrong. When he told me that I had to choose Read More…
Naming My Brand
My publicist suggested to me recently that I identify my brand. The suggestion stumped me. Frankly, I associate the word “brand” with pet food or soup or cigarettes rather than with a person who writes books for a living. But I am catching up with all the lingo and with what it takes Read More…
Ian Barnard Hankey
Born Gibraltar November 20, 1921Died in Libya, Battle of Alam Halfa, August 31, 1942
When many years ago, I started writing what would turn into my upcoming memoir, Daughter of Spies: Wartime Secrets, Family Lies, I met with the well-known journalist and author, William Zinsserto discuss with him the Read More…
Polecat Park
On the Road to Polecat Park
Although I rail against the damage I believe the Internet and especially social media has done to our civil discourse, I must admit that I get wonderful surprises on a pretty regular basis when people track me down through my website. The most recent treat came Read More…
My Mother’s Childhood
Although I didn’t know how long it would take me to write a memoir about my mother and myself, I did begin researching my mother’s childhood in Gibraltar and England long before I actually started writing the book. While my mother was still alive, I traveled to Gibraltar or Gib, as she always Read More…
DAUGHTER OF SPIES: Wartime Secrets, Family Lies
After publishing over fifty works of fiction for both adults and children, I decided to tell my mother’s story in the form of a memoir. My father wrote his own memoir (Stay of Execution) and books and plays have been written about him and Joseph Alsop, his famous older brother. But nobody ever asked Read More…
DON’T KNOCK UNLESS YOU’RE BLEEDING: Growing Up in Cold War Washington
At the height of their fame, Joseph and Stewart Alsop were household names. Syndicated columnists who reached 25 million readers at a time, they dined with the power brokers in Cold War Washington, from Presidents to spies, all the while cranking out columns, investigative stories, books, speeches and hundreds of letters. In Washington, information is Read More…
