Caroline Leavitt

Caroline Leavitt is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Is This Tomorrow, Pictures of You, Girls In Trouble, and other books.

Leavitt's new novel is Cruel Beautiful World.

From her Q&A with Deborah Kalb:

Q: How did you come up with the idea for Cruel Beautiful World?

A: When I was 17, I sat behind a girl who was engaged to a much older, controlling guy. I thought this was nuts. A year after I got out of high school, I heard the news. She had decided to break up with him, and he calmly stabbed her to death.

I was so haunted. I couldn't figure out how she wouldn't have known he was violent, or why she had stayed with someone controlling--not until 10 years later when I was in a controlling relationship of my own.

My fiancé had died suddenly and I was dying from grief. I went against the wishes of my mother, my friends and my grief therapist and threw myself in a relationship with a guy who didn't want me to eat (I was 100 pounds but he thought I was fat), didn't want me seeing my friends or even his friends, and very gently would criticize everything I did.

Why did I stay? Because I knew if I left, the grief would come back. I finally left when I found that he had deleted part of my novel and rewritten it--putting in a Groucho Marx joke!

Four years ago, I saw something online from the sister of my high school friend. She was still...[read on]

Learn more about the book and author at Caroline Leavitt's website and blog.

The Page 69 Test: Pictures of You.

My Book, the Movie: Pictures of You.

The Page 69 Test: Is This Tomorrow.

My Book, The Movie: Is This Tomorrow.

My Book, The Movie: Cruel Beautiful World.

The Page 69 Test: Cruel Beautiful World.

--Marshal Zeringue