Isabel Booth is the pen name of Karen Jewell, a former trial attorney and now a writer. She holds an undergraduate degree in English, a
Master’s in Business Administration, and a Juris Doctorate degree. When she’s not writing she loves to read, travel, and cook dinner for friends. She lives in Houston, Texas, with her husband.
Booth's new novel is
Then He Was Gone.
Recently I asked the author about what she was reading. Booth's reply:
I belong to two neighborhood book clubs. Both meet this week and I’ve been reading like mad the past few days to be prepared. When you see the first selection, you’ll understand why.
All the Colors of the Dark, by Chris Whitaker
595 pages! I found it engrossing to the end. This is a missing person mystery, a serial killer thriller, and a love story. Set in the small town of 
Monta Clare, Missouri, the novel centers around Joseph “Patch” Macauley and his friend Saint. Thirteen-year-old Patch, born with one eye and fancying himself a pirate, saves a girl from being kidnapped and he is taken instead. This sets off a complex, decades-long story of trauma and obsession, loss, hope, lasting friendships, and love. The ending is a treasure because it has twists and turns that I didn’t see coming but don’t feel contrived.
The Correspondent, by Virginia Evans
Sybil Van Antwerp is 72 when this novel begins, outspoken, intelligent, and set in her ways. She is a retired attorney, divorced and living alone, and has recently 
discovered that she is going blind. The story of her life is told through letters and emails she sends to, and the replies she receives from, family, friends, former colleagues, and literary icons. The correspondence explores themes of loss and regret, estrangement and forgiveness, and a lifetime of grief and guilt over the death of one of her sons at the age of eight. Those are always powerful themes, but what really made the novel work for me was its look at the possibility of change late in life, and the exchanges that reveal her prickly character that are sometimes laugh-out-loud funny.
Visit
Isabel Booth's website.
My Book, The Movie: Then He Was Gone.
Q&A with Isabel Booth.
The Page 69 Test: Then He Was Gone.
--Marshal Zeringue
Master’s in Business Administration, and a Juris Doctorate degree. When she’s not writing she loves to read, travel, and cook dinner for friends. She lives in Houston, Texas, with her husband.
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