The Penguin Speakers Bureau

Harriet Scott Chessman is the author of the acclaimed novels SOMEONE NOT REALLY HER MOTHER, LYDIA CASSATT READING THE MORNING PAPER, and OHIO ANGELS, as well as a scholarly book on Gertrude Stein. She taught modern literature and writing at Yale University for eleven years, and has since taught at Yale and Bread Loaf School of English.

Harriet’s second novel, LYDIA CASSATT READING THE MORNING PAPER, was the No. 1 Pick of Booksense in the winter of 2001. Set in nineteenth-century Paris, this book weaves a compelling story around five paintings Mary Cassatt created of her older sister Lydia, as Lydia became increasingly ill with Bright’s Disease. LYDIA has won praise from art historians and art lovers for its way of inhabiting and bringing to life these beautiful and significant paintings.

SOMEONE NOT REALLY HER MOTHER, Harriet’s third novel, also contains the landscape of France, through the memories of a seventy-five-year-old character living in Connecticut. After escaping Rouen in 1940 as a girl, Hannah Luce lived in London and then emigrated to the United States to raise her daughter Miranda. As Alzheimer’s starts to erase her memory of her American family and life, Hannah shows courage and generosity toward her daughters and granddaughters, in spite of her confusions about their identity. Through chapters containing different points of view, the reader pieces together the puzzle of Hannah’s history, until her whole story emerges with poignant clarity. SOMEONE NOT REALLY HER MOTHER became a “Read This!” pick on Good Morning America’s Book Club, through the nomination of Roxanne Coady of R.J. Julia Booksellers in Madison, Connecticut. It also won a place on the Booksense Reading Group Picks, and became one of The San Francisco Chronicle’s Best Books of 2004.

Subjects at the heart of Harriet’s fiction include: the force of love and courage in the face of grief; the creation and healing power of art, especially of poetry and the visual arts; the profound value of people’s stories and history; the necessity for compassion and understanding in an often overwhelming world. Harriet writes with grace and precision, and with a great love of form. She enjoys speaking to groups about fiction-writing, the writing life, and the ideas and questions at the heart of each of her novels. Her presentations include polished readings of her work, mingled with insights into her characters and into the discoveries she has made through her writing process. As a teacher of literature and writing for over 20 years, she especially enjoys question and answer sessions, and she’s always eager to talk with readers.

Harriet lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband Bryan J. Wolf, a professor of art history at Stanford University, and her three children. She is a member of Word of Mouth in the Bay Area, a group of women authors.

Check out Harriet’s website at www.harrietchessman.com.