Ann Weisgarber was born and raised in Kettering, Ohio. She has lived in Boston, Massachusetts, and Des Moines, Iowa. She is the author of The Promise and The Personal History of Rachel Dupree, which was longlisted for the Orange Prize and shortlisted for the Orange Prize for New Writers.Weisgarber's new novel is The Glovemaker.
From her Q&A with Deborah Kalb:
Q: How did you come up with the idea for The Glovemaker, and for your character Deborah?Visit Ann Weisgarber's website.
A: It started with a vacation in Utah’s Capitol Reef National Park and an apple. The park service maintains the orchards that were originally planted in the 1880s by white settlers, and allows visitors to pick fruit during harvest season. The apples were ripe when I was there a few years ago, and as I climbed a ladder to pick one, I thought about the people who planted the trees.
Who were they? What drove them to live is such an isolated and harsh landscape?
Haunted by these questions, I bought a few books at the Visitor Center. One of the settlers was a married woman who owned 20 acres in her own name. Doing more research, I discovered that she didn’t have children and her husband had disappeared from public records. This woman became...[read on]
My Book, The Movie: The Promise.
The Page 69 Test: The Glovemaker.
Writers Read: Ann Weisgarber.
--Marshal Zeringue