ELIZABETH WRENN
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AROUND THE NEXT CORNER
(314 pages + Conversation Guide) ISBN: 0451994876 Pub date: 06/06/06 NAL/Penguin REVIEWS
"AROUND THE NEXT CORNER is the impressive debut of new talent Elizabeth Wrenn. Deena's tale touches the heart with its warmth and wit, and it is one that I certainly recommend."--Romance Reviews Today "Five blue ribbons out of five! I am so impressed with Elizabeth Wrenn’s writing. She alternately had me laughing and crying all the way through AROUND THE NEXT CORNER. It’s a poignantly sweet tale and many . . . women will be able to relate to Deena." --romancejunkie.com "Elizabeth Wrenn makes you laugh and cry in the same breath, and creates a community of friends you will be sad to leave behind at the last page. A wonderful debut novel from a talented author." --Karen Brichoux, author of The Girl She Left Behind and Separation Anxiety Hear an interview with Elizabeth at:
New Voices.com/Ladybuglive.com Guest Speaker testamonials:
"Elizabeth Wrenn was a model of what a touring author should be. Her reading was well-prepared, yet natural. She had chosen her passages to read with care and used her considerable writing skills to craft heartfelt and powerful messages for the audience in between readings. The packed audience was aglow and inspired by Elizabeth's wonderful reading. Her book sold out that night and made it to the top of the Boulder Bookstore's bestseller list. And, Around the Next Corner is a delightful and moving read. I'm inspired!" Cynthia Morris, Original Impulse, author of Creating Your Writing Life www.originalimpulse.com "Masterful work at the podium!" -- Leslie O'Kane, author of the Domestic Bliss mystery series and others. www.leslieokane.com Last night, Elizabeth Wrenn gave such a polished, relaxed, and interesting talk about writing her recent novel, AROUND THE NEXT CORNER, and her real-life experience of raising a sight dog. Elizabeth (is a)model for me of elegance and eloquence. Such poise and freshness she brings to her speaking . . . bravo!" Jody Berman, editor. SHORT BLURB: With her children almost grown and her marriage faltering, Deena Munger impulsively volunteers to raise a puppy for K-9 Eyes For The Blind, and a rambunctious yellow Lab helps her to find what she didn't even realize was missing in her life--herself. |
PRESS CONTACTS AND NEWS RELEASENo events scheduled at this time.
PRESS RELEASE For immediate release AROUND THE NEXT CORNER It happened quite suddenly. There she was, stuck in her kitchen cookware cabinet, poking at the obstinate family cat with her grout-scrubbing toothbrush in an effort to evict him from her wok, and Deena Munger realizes she's not just stuck in her cabinet, she's stuck in her life. Wife of nearly twenty-five years, full-time mother of three for twenty, Deena feels suddenly. . .invisible. The enormous, imperious cat Hairy suddenly symbolizes all that is wrong in Deena's life--her stale and eroding marriage, her obsessive need to clean, her undeniable urge to over-parent her teens, even as they run from her grasp. "I am a dog person trapped in a cat existence." She impulsively volunteers to raise a guide dog for a year for K-9 Eyes for the Blind, and with a sometimes wild and wayward yellow Labrador retriever puppy named Heloise, Deena steps out into the world again. Deena discovers that, with a dog by her side, she is anything but invisible and she begins to see a new path. The indomitable Heloise shows her that on the trail, and in life, there is always something great around the next corner. Elizabeth Wrenn's poignant and charming debut novel, Around the Next Corner will be published in trade paperback by NAL/Penguin, in bookstores June 6, 2006 (06/06/06!) According to the Chinese calendar, this is the Year of the Dog, and judging by the recent chart-topping success of books featuring a dog, and the billions spent annually by Americans on their pets, it may well be the Dog Millenium! And this charming debut novel is poised to be the next big dog book. In a warm and wise first-person voice, Elizabeth Wrenn explores with humor and grace the biology, circumstance and choice involved in contining a decades-long marriage, the pushme-pullyou of parenting teenagers, and the frustration and bliss of life with a dog. Wrenn has been a freelance writer for nearly thirty years, writing for both local and national newspapers, and publishing essays in diverse publications, from The Christian Science Monitor to Runner's World and more. She has written training brochures for Purina and formerly worked at a Humane Society as an adoption counselor. But it was as research for this novel that she volunteered to raise a guide dog puppy "It was by far the most demanding and rewarding research I've ever done for a writing project!" she says. "And as every dog owner knows, it is always a question as to who is training whom! I expected the training process to inform the novel, but it was amazing how writing the novel informed the training process. My relationship with Lucca [the dog Wrenn raised] became more than either research or volunteer work. As Lucca grew, changed, rebelled, learned, bonded and transformed, so did Deena, and so did I. It was a never-ending microcosm/macrocosm view of growth and change. It was a marvelous and edifying experience all around." (For addtional info and quotes on the writing of ATNC, please click the Newsletter page above.) AGENT/PUBLICITY Elizabeth Wrenn is represented by Marcy Posner of Sterling Lord Literistic, 65 Bleecker Street New York, NY 10012 phone: 212-780-6050 marcyposner@sll.com Publicity and interview requests should be sent to this website email: readermail@elizabethwrenn.com Please copy all requests to: jennifer.puma@us.penguingroup.com (both links are at top of this page) Mailing address: Jennifer Puma Penguin Publicity Dept. 375 Hudson St. New York, NY 10014 212.366.2423 |
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