Tonight my friend Jean and I met for dinner at Joseph-Beth Bookstore and stayed for the book reading by bestselling author Tracy Chevalier.  I just recently read Girl with a Pearl Earring and loved it, so I was excited to hear her speak. Her first question to the 30-40 of us who were there was ‘who likes Jane Austen’?  Well, with a start like that you knew it was going to be good.  She chose 3 different passages from her new book, Remarkable Creatures (just realeased January 5th), and spent half an hour reading to us.  She was wonderful. 

Then she opened it up to questions.  Here are a few things I learned…

*It took her 2 1/2 years from beginning research to completion to finish Remarkable Creatures.  As part of her research she looked for fossils and brought a few that she had found to the signing.

*Margaret Atwood is the living writer that she respects the most.

*She went to an Ohio college, Oberlin.  One of her professors was sitting in the front row.

*She chose to not be directly involved with the making of the movie, Girl with a Pearl Earring.  She thinks a movie should respect the book, but not be a slave to it or the movie will fall flat.  She was able to visit the set and loved it.

*Her next book is set in Ohio.  Woo Hoo for the Buckeye State!

It was a wonderful way to spend a Thursday evening with a friend.  So, when it was my turn to have my book signed I had her sign two. 

So, is this your book she’s signing?  Could be.  Leave a comment with your email address and you’ll be entered to win this autographed hardcover copy of Remarkable Creatures.  You have a chance to earn extra entries by participating in my Tuesday quizzes.  Open internationally and I’ll draw a winner on February 1st.