Ann Hood – författare

In Knitting Pearls, two-dozen writers write about the transformative and healing powers of knitting. Jodi Picoult remembers her grandmother and how through knitting she felt that everlasting love. Lily King remembers the year her family lived in Italy and a knitted hat that helped her daughter adjust to her new home. Laura Lippman explores how converting to Judaism changed not only Christmas but also her mother’s gift of a knitted stocking. And Bill Roorbach remembers his first year at college when knitting soothed his broken heart and helped him fall in love again. Other contributors include Steve Almond, Jane Hamilton, Ann Leary, Nick Flynn, Lee Woodruff and knitting rock stars Jared Flood of Brooklyn Tweed and the Yarn Whisperer, Clara Parks.

From childhood to singledom, raising a family, divorce and marriage to Michael Ruhlman, Ann Hood has long appreciated the power of a good meal. Growing up, she tasted love in her grandmother’s tomato sauce and dreamed of her mother’s Fancy Lady Sandwiches. Hood cooked roast pork to warm her first apartment, found hope in her daughter’s omelette and fell in love—with her husband and his chicken stock.Hood tracks her lifelong journey in the kitchen with twenty-seven essays, each accompanied by a recipe (or a few). In “Carbonara Quest”, searching for the perfect spaghetti helped her cope with lonely nights as a flight attendant. In the award-winning “The Golden Silver Palate”, she recounts the history of her fail-safe dinner party recipe for Chicken Marbella and how it failed her. Hood’s simple, comforting recipes include meatballs, Beef Stew, Fried Chicken, grilled cheese and a peach pie.

Looking at her characters as if through a pair of binoculars, Ann Hood captures the extraordinary in the ordinary. A pregnant woman left by her husband cooks obsessively to cope with her loss, but never tastes a morsel. In an attempt to stay sober, a young alcoholic seduces her priest and embarks on a tour of caverns with him. An adolescent girl picks up bird-watching as a hobby and, in her newfound habit of observing others, discovers a budding romance between her mother and her neighbor. These stories, many published in The Paris Review, Glimmer Train, Story, and The Colorado Review, are full of characters seeking an escape from their lives while uncovering small moments of understanding that often have huge implications and consequences. They discover that they can only find peace once they stop searching for a way out. Through diverse voices and lively storytelling, Hood creates authentic, personal, secret worlds full of eccentric detail.

After the loss of her only child, Mary Baxter finds herself unable to read or write, the activities that used to be her primary source of comfort. She reluctantly joins a knitting circle as a way to fill her lonely days—not knowing it will change her life. As they teach Mary new knitting techniques, the women in the circle also reveal their own secrets of loss, love, and hope. With time, Mary is finally able to tell her own story of grief, and in so doing finds the spark of life again.

In 1969, as Peter, Paul and Mary croon on the radio and poster paints splash the latest antiwar slogans, three young friends find love. Suzanne, a poet, lives in a Maine beach house awaiting the birth of a child she will call Sparrow. Claudia, who weds a farmer during college, plans to raise three strong sons. Elizabeth and her husband marry, organize protests, and try to rear two children with their hippie values. By 1985, things have changed: Suzanne, now with an MBA, calls Sparrow "Susan." Claudia spirals backward into her sixties world—and madness. And Elizabeth, fatally ill, watches despairingly as her children yearn for a split-level house and a gleaming station wagon. Somewhere Off the Coast of Maine is Ann Hood's stunning debut novel about the choices we make when we are young, and the changes brought about by the passing of time.

In 2002, Ann Hood’s five-year-old daughter Grace died suddenly from a virulent form of strep throat. Stunned and devastated, the family searched for comfort in a time when none seemed possible. Hood—an accomplished novelist—was unable to read or write. She could only reflect on her lost daughter—“the way she looked splashing in the bathtub ... the way we sang ‘Eight Days a Week.’” One day, a friend suggested she learn to knit. Knitting soothed her and gave her something to do. Eventually, she began to read and write again. A semblance of normalcy returned, but grief, in ever new and different forms, still held the family. What they could not know was that comfort would come, and in surprising ways. Hood traces her descent into grief and reveals how she found comfort and hope again—a journey to recovery that culminates with a newly adopted daughter.

“In China there is a belief that people who are destined to be together are connected by an invisible red thread. Who is at the end of your red thread?” After losing her infant daughter in a freak accident, Maya Lange opens The Red Thread, an adoption agency that specializes in placing baby girls from China with American families. Maya finds some comfort in her work, until a group of six couples share their personal stories of their desire for a child. Their painful and courageous journey toward adoption forces her to confront the lost daughter of her past. Brilliantly braiding together the stories of Chinese birth mothers who give up their daughters, Ann Hood writes a moving and beautifully told novel of fate and the red thread that binds these characters’ lives. Heartrending and wise, The Red Thread is a stirring portrait of unforgettable love and yearning for a baby.

On the day John F. Kennedy is inaugurated, Claire, obsessed with the glamour of Jackie O, struggles over the decision of whether to stay in a loveless marriage or follow the man she loves and whose baby she may be carrying. Decades earlier, in 1919, Vivien Lowe, an obituary writer, is searching for her lover who disappeared in the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. By telling the stories of the dead, Vivien not only helps others cope with their grief but also begins to understand the devastation of her own terrible loss. The surprising connection between Claire and Vivien will change the life of one of them in unexpected and extraordinary ways. Part literary mystery and part love story, The Obituary Writer examines expectations of marriage and love, the roles of wives and mothers, and the emotions of grief, regret and hope.

Knitting Yarns explores what is so magical about knitting and how it can inspire joy and help us get through life-changing events. Knitting occupies an important a place in the hearts of a number of writers. Ann Hood has collected twenty-seven original essays by, among others, Anita Shreve, Elizabeth Berg, Ann Patchett and Barbara Kingsolver. They tell stories about how knitting healed, challenged or helped them to grow. Andre Dubus III tells how knitting a Christmas present for his blind aunt helped him knit an understanding with his girlfriend. Kaylie Jones finds the woman who cared for her as a child by using knitting to heal old wounds. Sue Grafton writes about her passion for knitting. With five original patterns created by Helen Bingham, Knitting Yarns will delight knitting enthusiasts and lovers of literature alike.

An Italian Wife is the extraordinary story of Josephine Rimaldi—her joys, sorrows, and passions, spanning more than seven decades. The novel begins in turn-of-the-century Italy, when fourteen-year-old Josephine, sheltered and naïve, is forced into an arranged marriage to a man she doesn't know or love who is about to depart for America, where she later joins him. Bound by tradition, Josephine gives birth to seven children. The last, Valentina, is conceived in passion, born in secret, and given up for adoption.Josephine spends the rest of her life searching for her lost child, keeping her secret even as her other children go off to war, get married, and make their own mistakes. Her son suffers in World War One. One daughter struggles to assimilate in the new world of the 1950s American suburbs, while another, stranded in England, grieves for a lover lost in World War Two. Her granddaughters experiment with the sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll in the 1970s. Poignant, sensual, and deeply felt, An Italian Wife is a sweeping and evocative portrait of a family bound by love and heartbreak.

In Knitting Pearls, two-dozen writers write about the transformative and healing powers of knitting. Jodi Picoult remembers her grandmother and how through knitting she felt that everlasting love. Lily King remembers the year her family lived in Italy and a knitted hat that helped her daughter adjust to her new home. Laura Lippman explores how converting to Judaism changed not only Christmas but also her mother’s gift of a knitted stocking. And Bill Roorbach remembers his first year at college when knitting soothed his broken heart and helped him fall in love again. Other contributors include Steve Almond, Jane Hamilton, Ann Leary, Nick Flynn, Lee Woodruff and knitting rock stars Jared Flood of Brooklyn Tweed and the Yarn Whisperer, Clara Parks.

Ava’s twenty-five-year marriage has fallen apart, and her two grown children are pursuing their own lives outside of the country. Ava joins a book group, not only for her love of reading but also out of sheer desperation for companionship. The group’s goal throughout the year is for each member to present the book that matters most to them. Ava rediscovers a mysterious book from her childhood—one that helped her through the traumas of the untimely deaths of her sister and mother. Alternating with Ava’s story is that of her troubled daughter Maggie, who, living in Paris, descends into a destructive relationship with an older man. Ava’s mission to find that book and its enigmatic author takes her on a quest that unravels the secrets of her past and offers her and Maggie the chance to remake their lives.

In her admired works of fiction, Ann Hood explores the transformative power of literature. Now, with warmth and honesty, Hood reveals the personal story behind these works of fiction.Growing up in a household that didn’t foster the love of literature, Hood channelled her imagination and curiosity by devouring The Bell Jar, Marjorie Morningstar, The Harrad Experiment and other works. These titles introduced her to topics that could not be discussed at home: desire, fear, sexuality and madness. Later, Johnny Got His Gun and The Grapes of Wrath influenced her political thinking and Dr. Zhivago and Les Miserables stoked her ambition to travel the world. With characteristic insight and charm, Hood showcases the ways in which books gave her life and can transform–even save—our own.

From childhood to singledom, raising a family, divorce and marriage to Michael Ruhlman, Ann Hood has long appreciated the power of a good meal. Growing up, she tasted love in her grandmother’s tomato sauce and dreamed of her mother’s Fancy Lady Sandwiches. Hood cooked roast pork to warm her first apartment, found hope in her daughter’s omelette and fell in love—with her husband and his chicken stock.Hood tracks her lifelong journey in the kitchen with twenty-seven essays, each accompanied by a recipe (or a few). In “Carbonara Quest”, searching for the perfect spaghetti helped her cope with lonely nights as a flight attendant. In the award-winning “The Golden Silver Palate”, she recounts the history of her fail-safe dinner party recipe for Chicken Marbella and how it failed her. Hood’s simple, comforting recipes include meatballs, Beef Stew, Fried Chicken, grilled cheese and a peach pie.

For decades, Nick Burns has been haunted by a decision he made as a young soldier in World War I, when a French artist he’d befriended thrust both her paintings and her baby into his hands—and disappeared. In 1974, with only months left to live, Nick enlists Jenny, a college dropout desperate for adventure, to help him unravel the mystery. The journey leads them from Paris galleries and provincial towns to a surprising place: the Museum of Tears, the life’s work of a lonely Italian craftsman. Determined to find the baby and the artist, hopeless romantic Jenny and curmudgeonly Nick must reckon with regret, betrayal, and the lives they’ve left behind.With characteristic warmth and verve, Ann Hood captures a world of possibility and romance through the eyes of a young woman learning to claim her place in it. The Stolen Child is an engaging, timeless novel of secrets, love lost and found, and the nature of forgiveness.

In 1978, in the tailwind of the golden age of air travel, flight attendants were the epitome of glamor and sophistication. Fresh out of college and hungry to experience the world—and maybe, one day, write about it—Ann Hood joined their ranks. After a grueling job search, Hood survived TWA’s rigorous Breech Training Academy and learned to evacuate seven kinds of aircraft, deliver a baby, mix proper cocktails, administer oxygen, and stay calm no matter what the situation.In the air, Hood found both the adventure she’d dreamt of and the unexpected realities of life on the job. She carved chateaubriand in the first-class cabin and dined in front of the pyramids in Cairo, fended off passengers’ advances and found romance on layovers in London and Lisbon, and walked more than a million miles in high heels. She flew through the start of deregulation, an oil crisis, massive furloughs, and a labor strike.As the airline industry changed around her, Hood began to write—even drafting snatches of her first novel from the jump-seat. She reveals how the job empowered her, despite its roots in sexist standards. Packed with funny, moving, and shocking stories of life as a flight attendant, Fly Girl captures the nostalgia and magic of air travel at its height, and the thrill that remains with every takeoff.

In 1978, in the tailwind of the golden age of air travel, flight attendants were the epitome of glamour and sophistication. Fresh out of college and hungry to experience the world—and maybe, one day, write about it—Ann Hood joined their ranks. After a gruelling job search, Hood survived TWA’s rigorous Breech Training Academy and learned to evacuate seven kinds of aircraft, deliver a baby, mix proper cocktails, administer oxygen and stay calm no matter what the situation.In the air, Hood found both the adventure she’d dreamt of and the unexpected realities of life on the job. She carved chateaubriand in the first-class cabin and dined in front of the pyramids in Cairo, fended off passengers’ advances and found romance on layovers in London and Lisbon, and walked more than a million miles in high heels. She flew through the start of deregulation, an oil crisis, massive furloughs and a labour strike.As the airline industry changed around her, Hood began to write—even drafting snatches of her first novel from the jump-seat. She reveals how the job empowered her, despite its roots in sexist standards. Packed with funny, moving and shocking stories of life as a flight attendant, Fly Girl captures the nostalgia and magic of air travel at its height, and the thrill that remains with every take-off.

Fast-talking, warm-hearted, and endlessly rewatchable, Gilmore Girls has bonded real-life mothers and daughters since 2000, when its iconic pilot introduced us to Lorelai, Rory, and their idyllic Connecticut town of Stars Hollow. More than twenty years later, it has become one of the most-streamed TV shows, ever.In an anthology as intimate and quick-witted as Gilmore Girls itself, best-selling author Ann Hood invites fifteen writers to investigate their personal relationships to the show. (“It’s a show? It’s a lifestyle. It’s a religion.”) Joanna Rakoff considers how Emily Gilmore helped her understand her own mother; Sanjena Sathian sees herself—and Asian American defiance—in Lane Kim; Freya North connects with her son through the show; Francesco Sedita discovers an antidote to pandemic loneliness; Nina de Gramont offers a comic ode to the unreality of Stars Hollow. For anyone who identifies as Team Logan, Team Jess, or even Team Dean, Life’s Short, Talk Fast reveals what Gilmore Girls tells us about ourselves—and why it matters. This publication has not been prepared, approved, or licensed by Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc.; Warner Bros Television; or any other entity or individual associated with the creation or production of Gilmore Girls.

For decades, Nick Burns has been haunted by a decision he made as a young soldier in World War I, when a French artist he’d befriended thrust both her paintings and her baby into his hands—and disappeared. In 1974, with only months left to live, Nick enlists Jenny, a college dropout desperate for adventure, to help him unravel the mystery. The journey leads them from Paris galleries and provincial towns to a surprising place: the Museum of Tears, the life’s work of a lonely Italian craftsman. Determined to find the baby and the artist, hopeless romantic Jenny and curmudgeonly Nick must reckon with regret, betrayal, and the lives they’ve left behind.With characteristic warmth and verve, Ann Hood captures a world of possibility and romance through the eyes of a young woman learning to claim her place in it. The Stolen Child is an engaging, timeless novel of secrets, love lost and found, and the nature of forgiveness.

Gilmore Girls hit our screens in 2000 and has been our autumn obsession ever since. There's a reason that Vogue calls it 'the quintessential autumn girl show' and that, years later, we're still head over heels with Stars Hollow.Fast-talking, warm-hearted, and endlessly rewatchable, Gilmore Girls has bonded real-life mothers and daughters since 2000, when its iconic pilot introduced us to Lorelai, Rory, and their idyllic town of Stars Hollow. More than twenty years later, it has become one of the most-streamed TV shows, ever.In an anthology as intimate and quick-witted as Gilmore Girls itself, bestselling author Ann Hood invites fifteen writers to investigate their personal relationships to the show. ('It's a show? It's a lifestyle. It's a religion.') Joanna Rakoff considers how Emily Gilmore helped her understand her own mother; Freya North connects with her son through the show; Nina de Gramont offers a comic ode to the unreality of Stars Hollow, Yassmin Abdel-Magied writes about why being a daughter is a permanent state. For anyone who identifies as Team Logan, Team Jess, or even Team Dean, Life's Short, Talk Fast reveals what Gilmore Girls tells us about ourselves - and why it matters.This autumn, get cosy and curl up with Life's Short, Talk Fast, where fifteen leading writers explore what Gilmore Girls means to them in this delightful celebration of a contemporary TV classic.

Gilmore Girls hit our screens in 2000 and has been our autumn obsession ever since. There's a reason that Vogue calls it 'the quintessential autumn girl show' and that, years later, we're still head over heels with Stars Hollow.Fast-talking, warm-hearted, and endlessly rewatchable, Gilmore Girls has bonded real-life mothers and daughters since 2000, when its iconic pilot introduced us to Lorelai, Rory, and their idyllic town of Stars Hollow. More than twenty years later, it has become one of the most-streamed TV shows, ever.In an anthology as intimate and quick-witted as Gilmore Girls itself, bestselling author Ann Hood invites fifteen writers to investigate their personal relationships to the show. ('It's a show? It's a lifestyle. It's a religion.') Joanna Rakoff considers how Emily Gilmore helped her understand her own mother; Freya North connects with her son through the show; Nina de Gramont offers a comic ode to the unreality of Stars Hollow, Yassmin Abdel-Magied writes about why being a daughter is a permanent state. For anyone who identifies as Team Logan, Team Jess, or even Team Dean, Life's Short, Talk Fast reveals what Gilmore Girls tells us about ourselves - and why it matters.This autumn, get cosy and curl up with Life's Short, Talk Fast, where fifteen leading writers explore what Gilmore Girls means to them in this delightful celebration of a contemporary TV classic.

Gilmore Girls hit our screens in 2000 and has been our autumn obsession ever since. There's a reason that Vogue calls it 'the quintessential autumn girl show' and that, years later, we're still head over heels with Stars Hollow.Fast-talking, warm-hearted, and endlessly rewatchable, Gilmore Girls has bonded real-life mothers and daughters since 2000, when its iconic pilot introduced us to Lorelai, Rory, and their idyllic town of Stars Hollow. More than twenty years later, it has become one of the most-streamed TV shows, ever.In an anthology as intimate and quick-witted as Gilmore Girls itself, bestselling author Ann Hood invites fifteen writers to investigate their personal relationships to the show. ('It's a show? It's a lifestyle. It's a religion.') Joanna Rakoff considers how Emily Gilmore helped her understand her own mother; Freya North connects with her son through the show; Nina de Gramont offers a comic ode to the unreality of Stars Hollow, Yassmin Abdel-Magied writes about why being a daughter is a permanent state. For anyone who identifies as Team Logan, Team Jess, or even Team Dean, Life's Short, Talk Fast reveals what Gilmore Girls tells us about ourselves - and why it matters.This autumn, get cosy and curl up with Life's Short, Talk Fast, where fifteen leading writers explore what Gilmore Girls means to them in this delightful celebration of a contemporary TV classic.

Come on in and join the knitting circle – it might just save your life…Spinning yarns, weaving tales, mending lives…Every Wednesday a group of women gathers at Alice's Sit and Knit. Little do they know that they will learn so much more than patterns…Grieving Mary needs to fill the empty days after the death of her only child.Glamorous Scarlet is the life and soul of any party. But beneath her trademark red hair and beaming smile lurks heartache.Sculptor Lulu seems too cool to live in the suburbs. Why has she fled New York's bright lights?Model housewife Beth never has a hair out of place. But her perfect world is about to fall apart….Irish-born Ellen wears the weight of the world on her shoulders but not her heart on her sleeve. What is she hiding?As the weeks go by, under mysterious Alice's watchful eye, an unlikely friendship forms. Secrets are revealed and pacts made. Then tragedy strikes, and each woman must learn to face her own past in order to move on… This heartbreaking and uplifting novel is the perfect book club read, for fans of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine and The Keeper of Lost Things Praise for Ann Hood ‘A heartbreaker’ Vanity Fair‘An engrossing storyteller … [This book] works its magic.’ Sue Monk Kidd, author of The Secret Life of Bees‘What a gift for Ann Hood, who suffered a loss nearly identical to Mary Baxter's, to have made of her grief.’ Newsday‘Memorably stirring and authentic.’ Los Angeles Times Book Review‘Ann Hood writes with the ease of a born storyteller.’ Chicago Tribune‘Just like a woolly jumper, this book is cosy and perfect for long winter nights! … truly heartwarming.’ Closer

Piggy and his human have been inseparable since his human was a baby. As best friends, they do everything together: from sleeping to eating to playing. But as the years go by, and many washing machine baths later, Piggy goes from a plump, perky, and pink plush toy to a well-beloved, worn-in treasure.From bestselling author Ann Hood and illustrated by Anna Quaranta, this charming picture book celebrates the everlasting friendship between human and stuffed animal.