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Elizabeth Crane

Born: in New York
Pen Name: None

Connection to Illinois: Elizabeth Crane lives in Chicago, Illinois.

Biography: Elizabeth Crane teaches writing at Northwestern's School of Continuing Studies and The University of Chicago. Her work has been featured in ''McSweeney's The Future Dictionary of America '' and ''The Best Underground Fiction''.


Awards:

Primary Audience(s): Adult readers

Email: mabyers18@aol.com
Website: http://www.elizabethcrane.com
Elizabeth Crane on WorldCat : http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=elizabeth++crane


Selected Titles

All this heavenly glory :
ISBN: 0316014214 OCLC: 54774810

Little, Brown, New York : ©2005.

Her life marked by such challenges as a best friend's betrayal, substance abuse, and the slow death of a parent, Charlotte Anne Byers navigates the turbulent waters of her career and the dating scene while working with an opera house children's choir.

All this heavenly glory :
ISBN: 9780316085175 OCLC: 608292966

Bay Back Books/Little, Brown, New York, NY : 2009.

The glittering new book from the author hailed by the Chicago Tribune as unique, intriguing, and often hilarious. Here are the events that make up a life: a junior high school fashion crisis, a best friend's betrayal, substance abuse, recovery, finding a satisfying career, dating fiascos, the perfect relationship, the illness and slow death of a parent. This is the life of Charlotte Anne Byers, told by Elizabeth Crane, whose debut, When the Messenger Is Hot, has been praised across the country for its humor and grace. From the time she moved to New York as a young girl, desperate to tame her ridiculed southern accent, Charlotte Anne Byers has struggled to fit in-even while her strong will makes her clash with everything and everyone around her. With her mother pursuing a career as an opera singer and her father returning to Iowa, Charlotte is caught in the divide between her parents' dreams. She finds a touchstone in Jenna, a friend who will be by Charlotte's side through the death of her mother, several failed career moves, even more failed romances, a detour into alcoholism, and finding true love. In her lifetime Charlotte finds hope and disappointment mingled with faith and desperation, laughter on the heels of weeping, and success assuaging the pain of the most embarrassing failures-her path both all her own and instantly familiar. All This Heavenly Glory confirms Elizabeth Crane's talents as the writer the San Francisco Chronicle called hilariously off kilter and utterly refreshing. With whimsy, skepticism, and undaunted emotional frankness, she paints a dazzling portrait of one woman's unique desires and heartbreaks.

We only know so much :
ISBN: 0062099477 OCLC: 792934857

Harper Perennial, New York : ©2012.

This unforgettable story, filled with empathy, humor and emotional wisdom, follows four generations of an American family living under one roof as they each look for meaning in all the wrong places.

When the messenger is hot /
ISBN: 0316608467 OCLC: 811489600

Dzanc Books, Westland, MI : 2013.

Through the female protagonists in When the Messenger is Hot, Elizabeth Crane examines life, often through slightly off-kilter situations, leading her reader through a series of witty, often close to monologues, and quirky events. In the end her characters experience love and loss in ways that are both uniquely theirs and universal.

You must be this happy to enter /
ISBN: 1933354437 OCLC: 154704114

Akashic ; New York : 2008.

The two most successful stories of Crane's third collection (following All This Heavenly Glory) are also the most intimate: The Most Everything in the World listens in on a husband and wife playing the what-would-you-take-to-a-deserted-island game, while Donovan's Closet, about a girl with a fetish involving her boyfriend's lemon-scented closet, turns into an optimistic tale of a seemingly doomed relationship's survival. Other characters in Crane's lineup include a suburban zombie turned reality TV star (Betty the Zombie), a time-traveling photographer who gets arrested for being happy (the title story) and a handful of other victims and survivors of not-so-everyday life. Because of Crane's repetitive narration the book is best read piecemeal rather than straight through: I don't mean literally everything. Literally most things, but not everything. In Promise, a story about a woman waiting for the arrival of her adopted child, which closes the collection, Crane quips, I will feed you sugar. And that might as well be Crane's promise for the collection as a whole. Whether breathlessly enthusiastic, serenely calm, or really concentrating right now on their personal zombie issues, Elizabeth Crane's happy cast explores the complexities behind personal satisfaction.

You must be this happy to enter :
ISBN: 9781617750564 OCLC: 881567353

Punk Planet Books, Chicago : ©2008.

Denial, God, dystopia, academia, and reality TV collide in acclaimed author Crane's third story collection.

 

 

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