Amandine (13 page)

Even now when I think back on her, it is hard for me to put together a final judgment. I go back and forth. I pick up blame and put it down again. Perhaps none of it would have happened if I had not been as shy, or as eager, or as ready to believe in Amandine. Or if there really had been an Ethan, leading me in the right direction, soaking up some of the attention, releasing the pressure.

Then I wonder how much choice I’d ever really had, once Amandine turned her flat gray eyes on me, once she had me all picked out. And then I think that maybe I had no choice at all. Because if someone offers you a glimpse of their Ugliest Thing, what are the chances that you aren’t going to look?

I was born in 1970 in my mother’s hometown of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I was the oldest of three children, and spent my early childhood as a “military brat,” moving between bases in North Carolina, California, Panama, and Rhode Island. I returned to Pennsylvania for high school, and then attended college at the University of Pennsylvania. After earning a bachelor of arts and sciences degree in 1993, I eagerly answered a “help wanted” ad in the
New York Times
and an “apartment rentals” ad in the
Village Voice
. That same week, I secured both my first job and my first apartment. I began working for Macmillan Children’s Books as an editorial assistant; living two blocks away from the office ensured that I didn’t get lost on my commute.

While balancing days working in the editorial department with nights writing fiction, I discovered my abiding love of New York City, and knew that I would want to live there for the long haul. At Macmillan, and later Hyperion Books for Children, I read old favorites and new favorite fiction for younger readers, and in doing so rediscovered classic stories that had been so riveting in my youth. I was particularly enthralled to connect with Robert Cormier, an author whose work I idolized when I was a child—years later, I got to spend a day with him at Simmons College. It wasn’t long before I completed my first novel,
Rainy Season
(1996), which was accepted by Houghton Mifflin & Co. A semi-autobiographical account of family life on an army base in Panama, the book was recommended by
Publishers Weekly
as a “Flying Start” notable debut. My second book,
Split Just Right
(1997), told the story of a bohemian single mother raising her daughter. My third book,
Sons of Liberty
, a drama set in New England that addressed child abuse, was nominated for the National Book Award in 1997. I followed this novel with a contemporary supernatural story,
The Other Shepards
(1998), and then
Dive
(1999), a novel that grappled with the real-life unexpected death of my stepbrother, Jason.

Turning to more lighthearted fare, I created a middle-grade series, Witch Twins, about identical twins living in Philadelphia (based on my nieces) who work to become “five-star” witches—with some help from their eccentric, spell-casting grandmother. The four-book series includes
Witch Twins
,
Witch Twins at Camp Bliss
,
Witch Twins and Melody Malady
, and
Witch Twins and the Ghost of Glenn Bly
. I also completed
Amandine
(2001), a novel loosely based on Lillian Hellman’s chilling play
The Children’s Hour
. Themes of friendship, deceit, and betrayal surfaced again in my next book,
Overnight
(2003), about a sleepover that goes horribly wrong.

In
Hannah, Divided
(2002), I tried my hand at historical fiction, crafting a story of a young math prodigy living in 1930s rural Pennsylvania, who then wins a scholarship to study in Philadelphia. In 2010, I returned to the genre with
Picture the Dead
, collaborating with my friend Lisa Brown, an author and illustrator, on an illustrated novel about Spiritualist photographers in the Civil War era.

In 2005, I received another National Book Award nomination for
Where I Want to Be
, a family-centered psychological drama with paranormal elements. The following year, I published a light, young adult romance titled
My Almost Epic Summer
. I also launched another middle grade series; this one, Vampire Island Stories, is about a family of vegan vampires living in New York City.

Family plays an important role in my fiction, and while I don’t consider myself a fantasy writer, I do enjoy adding a measure of the supernatural to otherwise realistic fiction. This blend runs through a number of my books, namely
The Other Shepards
,
Where I Want to Be, Picture the Dead
, and
Tighter
. I write stories that emphasize our lasting connections to those we have lost, and how our families—past and present—inform our everyday life in ways that can be both startling and steadfast.

In 2007, my husband, Erich, and I traded Manhattan for Brooklyn, where we live very happily with our two young children—a daughter, Priscilla, and a son, Hastings—as well as a ten-pound shih tzu named Edith. Parenthood has inspired me to write for a younger audience, and to that end, I teamed up with the author Courtney Sheinmel to create an early-reader series called Agnes and Clarabelle, forthcoming from Bloomsbury Press, about a pair of two differently anxious friends.

My husband and I both avidly support nonprofit organizations such as the MacDowell Colony, Prep for Prep, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, buildOn, and 826NYC, an after-school tutoring and creative writing center for high school youth, where I sit on the board of directors. I am also a member of the PEN American Center and the Writers Guild of America. Visit me at
www.adelegriffin.com
and on Twitter at @adelegriffin.

My brother Robert and me in Maine in 1976, when I was six years old. Our mother was born in Maine and our grandparents returned there, to the Rangeley Lakes, most summers.

Me in Rhode Island with my brother Geoff in 1981. I was eleven years old and in my Agatha Christie phase. I would read Christie or nothing.

My contribution to my high school arts magazine. I loved to make collages, considering them the highest form of art. I also emulated Victorian gothic romance, and loved historical costumes. Many of my illustrations were wacky, inadvertent mash-ups of period clothing spanning multiple centuries.

My two best friends and me at our high school graduation in 1989. From left to right: Holly, Stephanie, and me.

Even as an adult, I was interested in princess costumes. I made crowns to celebrate Princess Diana’s televised BBC interview in 1995, which my family watched after taking this photo. From left to right: me, my grandmother, my aunt Elena, my niece Kate, my mother, and my aunt Barbara.

A photograph of me with my soon-to-be husband, Erich, on the morning of our wedding, August 16, 1997.

Me with Robert Cormier in 1998. Cormier was my childhood idol, and his novel
I Am the Cheese
is one of my favorite books of all time.