It's deeply interesting to talk to authors about their journey to publication. Some tell Cinderella stories: a pluck from obscurity by a gentle and insightful hand. Others will talk about the empty years of trying to flog the story of their heart. And then there is Megan Kelley Hall whose trip from here to there was fraught with hazards that would likely have derailed other would-be authors. The Boston writer says that her trip was made on a bumpy road. "Let's see," she says thoughtfully about her debut novel, "the book started off as adult fiction. Then I had a preemie - two-and-a-half pounds at birth -- who stayed at Mass General for 60 days." Hall was there with her daughter eight hours each day. But the road was still unwinding in front of her. "A few years later, I had series of mini-strokes, lost partial vision in one eye, had a carotid stent, discovered that my carotid arteries had aged from radiation therapy I received when I had childhood cancer and had to undergo open heart surgery and a sternotomy." And then the road moved her in ways that would blossom into authorship. "It was during my recovery period that I dusted off my manuscript, turned it into a YA, got an agent and sold it in a two book deal all within the same year."
That book was Sisters of Misery, published by Kensington in 2008. Hall says the book is "a modern-day retelling of the Salem Witch hunts. It has a sort of fairytale-esque Gothic appeal and it will keep you up at night due the spooky, supernatural events that take place."
Publishers Weekly agreed. "Hall maintains suspense until the very end," PW said when the book was first published. "This story's dark, sinister edge ... will satisfy those fascinated by witchcraft and premonitions. Setting up a sequel, Hall will leave readers eager to know what happens next in her standout addition to a popular YA genre."That sequel, The Lost Sister, is published this month by Kensington. The Lost Sister picks up where Sisters of Misery left off. "It shows what happens when someone is pushed too far," says Hall, "and when hazing pranks go wrong."
These issues of bullying interest the author deeply and the facts she's gathered writing two books about mean girls are at Hall's fingertips. "Almost six million kids -- nearly 30 percent of all children -- are either bullied or are doing the bullying in this country." The numbers are staggering and they don't sit well with Hall, the mother of a young daughter.
"Girls are not always sugar and spice," Hall says. "I've often found that the girls who are the most pleasant to adults and teachers are often the meanest of the bunch."
Though Sisters of Misery was Hall's fiction debut, she came to the work with an impressive list of writing credits, including freelance work for Glamour, Elle, Boston Magazine and others. She was also a founding partner in Kelley & Hall Book Publicity, "an independent literary publicity company (www.kelleyandhall.com) that I started with my mother and sister a few years ago." Impressively Kelley & Hall's clients have included two recent success stories: Brunonia Barry's The Lace Read and Lisa Genova's Still Alice. Hall feels that "having an amazing built-in publicity team," helped her immeasurably as a debut author. "I don't think I would have been able to secure coverage in USA Today for my first book if it weren't for Kelley & Hall Book Publicity."
While Hall says that she loves writing young adult novels, she may be close to "graduating to grown-up titles in the near future." In the meantime, she's reveling in the enjoyment readers have been getting from following Cordelia, Finn and Maddie's story in her first two novels, books Hall thinks are "something that both adults and teens can read and enjoy and will find suspenseful and scary. It also helps open doors to subjects that kids don't normally talk about with their parents."
Hall lives on Boston's North Shore with her husband, daughter and a Yorkie named Smudge.
Contributing editor Linda L. Richards
is also the editor of January Magazine and a contributor to The Rap
Sheet. Her fifth novel, DEATH WAS IN THE PICTURE, will be published
St. Martin's Minotaur/Thomas Dunne January 2009.
