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Allegra Goodman

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Allegra Goodman

Goodreads Author


Born
in Brooklyn, NY, The United States
Website

Genre

Influences
George Eliot, George Orwell, Jane Austen, Cynthia Ozick, Leo Tolstoy, ...more

Member Since
May 2017


Hello, Good Readers!

My new book "This Is Not About Us" will be published in February! You can order it here.

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/bo...

My novel "Isola" is now in paperback. This is a historical novel based on the true story of a young woman who sails from France to the New World in 1542 and is marooned on an island in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.

I am also the author of several other books including, "Sam," a novel about a young girl's exuberance, wonder, and ambition as she comes of age.

Jenna Bush Hager picked "Sam" for her Today Show book club and said, "Sam is about as perfect of a coming-of-age story as I have ever read."

About me: I was born in Brooklyn, but I grew up in Honolulu where I did not have to wear shoes in schoo
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Popular Answered Questions

Allegra Goodman My best advice is to watch, listen, and read. Watch the people around you, observe the weather, be that person, on whom nothing is lost. Listen to the…moreMy best advice is to watch, listen, and read. Watch the people around you, observe the weather, be that person, on whom nothing is lost. Listen to the way people talk; really listen to their voices so that you can write dialog that sounds real. Read widely--not just in your own genre but in others. Fall in love with your public library. Read poetry, read history, read published diaries and letters. Read books old and new. (less)
Allegra Goodman Writer's block means difficulty writing. Some people think (despairingly) that they can't write because they have nothing to say, or because they aren…moreWriter's block means difficulty writing. Some people think (despairingly) that they can't write because they have nothing to say, or because they aren't "good enough." I prefer to think of writer's block as growing pains. I've definitely experienced times when I just didn't have it in me to write another sentence--and looking back, I see that those times came when I was confused or uncertain. I had to figure out what to do next. In other words, I had to grow--to stop writing and learn something new. You remember the aches and pains you had when you were shooting up as a kid. Writer's block is like that too. Don't think of it as a malady. Think of it as sign of a growth spurt. Don't force yourself to write through it. Stop writing for a day or a week or even a month and read and think instead. Then try again after this respite, and see what happens. (less)
Average rating: 3.86 · 165,225 ratings · 20,148 reviews · 22 distinct worksSimilar authors
Isola

really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 104,462 ratings — published 2025 — 21 editions
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Sam

3.77 avg rating — 16,025 ratings — published 2023 — 7 editions
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The Cookbook Collector

3.34 avg rating — 13,492 ratings — published 2010 — 22 editions
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This Is Not About Us

3.68 avg rating — 7,592 ratings — published 2026 — 7 editions
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The Other Side of the Island

3.69 avg rating — 5,057 ratings — published 2008 — 3 editions
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Intuition

3.34 avg rating — 4,315 ratings — published 2006 — 29 editions
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Kaaterskill Falls

3.70 avg rating — 3,114 ratings — published 1999 — 17 editions
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The Chalk Artist

3.43 avg rating — 2,438 ratings — published 2017 — 11 editions
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The Family Markowitz

by
3.44 avg rating — 988 ratings — published 1996 — 16 editions
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Paradise Park

3.23 avg rating — 546 ratings — published 2001 — 13 editions
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More books by Allegra Goodman…

By the Book

I'm doing the "By the Book" Q&A in "The New York Times Book Review" this summer. These questions are so much fun. Watch for me . . .
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Published on May 29, 2017 05:29

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Allegra’s Recent Updates

Allegra Goodman rated a book it was amazing
When We See You Again by Rachel Goldberg-Polin
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Like everyone else, I've seen and heard Rachel Goldberg-Polin and her husband speak out about their captive son and all the hostages of October 7th. I could hear Rachel Goldberg-Polin's voice as I read this book. It's not an artful memoir. It's a raw ...more
Allegra Goodman rated a book it was amazing
The Oak and the Larch by Sophie Pinkham
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I thought this would be interesting. I didn't expect to be a page turner as well. Pinkham hooked me from the first page where she describes the vast forests and the forest people of prehistoric Russia. This is a history of Russia through an environme ...more
Allegra Goodman rated a book it was amazing
Frog by Anne Fadiman
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A collection of exquisite essays by the astute and witty Anne Fadiman. This book is a delight. A pet frog. A printer. A "lesser poet." Each subject provides a jumping off point for Fadiman. If you love the essay you will love this book. If you want t ...more
Allegra Goodman rated a book it was amazing
Frog by Anne Fadiman
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A collection of exquisite essays by the astute and witty Anne Fadiman. This book is a delight. A pet frog. A printer. A "lesser poet." Each subject provides a jumping off point for Fadiman. If you love the essay you will love this book. If you want t ...more
Allegra Goodman rated a book it was amazing
Jane Austen in 41 Objects by Kathryn Sutherland
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This book is both gorgeous and erudite. Sutherland spotlights 41 objects important to Jane Austen's life and work. Objects she touched like her little writing table, letters she wrote, a pelisse she wore, an unfinished manuscript, the grate where she ...more
Allegra Goodman rated a book it was amazing
Jane Austen in 41 Objects by Kathryn Sutherland
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This book is both gorgeous and erudite. Sutherland spotlights 41 objects important to Jane Austen's life and work. Objects she touched like her little writing table, letters she wrote, a pelisse she wore, an unfinished manuscript, the grate where she ...more
Allegra Goodman rated a book it was amazing
Dickens the Enchanter by Peter Conrad
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There's an old joke about a jokers' convention. The people there don't actually tell jokes. They know the jokes already so they just tell the joke number and start laughing. This book is a little like that. It's not for everyone. It's not even for ev ...more
Allegra Goodman made a comment on their review of Hamnet
Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
" Okay, I'm going! ...more "
Allegra Goodman rated a book it was amazing
Small Rain by Garth Greenwell
Small Rain
by Garth Greenwell (Goodreads Author)
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In this lyrical novel, the narrator has a serious health-scare and comes to terms with his mortality. That makes the book sound simpler and flatter than it really is. I can't capture the book in a few sentences--just as I can't summarize a poem witho ...more
Allegra Goodman rated a book it was amazing
Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
Hamnet
by Maggie O'Farrell (Goodreads Author)
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Do you ever read a book you love so much that you don't want to see the movie? That's "Hamnet" for me. It's a dreamlike, evocative, and psychologically powerful tale of love, loss, and creativity. ...more
More of Allegra's books…
Quotes by Allegra Goodman  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“How sad, he thought, that desire found new objects but did not abate, that when it came to longing there was no end.”
Allegra Goodman, The Cookbook Collector

“People ask every day, "Why was I put on earth?" As if there is perhaps one reason. The truth is that there are too many reasons to count, and each reason and each soul connects to every other,”
Allegra Goodman, The Cookbook Collector

“I myself was now an island. Solitary. Brambles and five-petalled flowers were my garden. Rocks my furniture. Ocean waves my lessons. Sadness overwhelmed me and sank back. Then, like the tide, joy crept in on me again.”
Allegra Goodman, Isola

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