21 ratings | 15 reviews | avg rating:4.29

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Jane Ward

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April 2013

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What books are on your summer reading list this year?

Jane Ward I always re-read at least one Laurie Colwin novel each summer. Her titles have been reissued this year, and I’m starting with the first to be reissued…moreI always re-read at least one Laurie Colwin novel each summer. Her titles have been reissued this year, and I’m starting with the first to be reissued: Happy All the Time.

Also in the to-be-read stack: Palace of the Drowned by Christine Mangan and The Sum of Us by Heather McGee. I have four books to read in preparation for a Friends of the Library event we’re planning for September. The event theme is Seeking Sanctuary, and the three novels and one memoir are: Wild Boar in the Canefield, Guesthouse for Ganesha, Purple Lotus, and Finding Venerable Mother.(less)

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How do you deal with writer’s block?

Jane Ward We can feel a great deal of internal pressure when struggling with a piece of writing or a deficit of ideas, and it's very easy to become frustrated w…moreWe can feel a great deal of internal pressure when struggling with a piece of writing or a deficit of ideas, and it's very easy to become frustrated when the work isn't flowing. I try to remember a college writing instructor's advice in those moments. He said, "If you're thinking about characters, even ones you know you will set aside, you're writing. If you're taking notes about what you observe around you, you're writing. If you're sharpening pencils for those notes, you're writing." He meant, of course, that a lot of writing is preparing to write, by thinking and observing and noting. When he said that, I felt a lot of the burden to prove productivity through a growing page count lift off my shoulders. It was a liberating message. (less)

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Combine Editions
Jane Ward’s books

Average rating: 4.06 · 247 ratings · 93 reviews · 4 distinct works • Similar authors

	Should Have Told You Sooner: A Novel 4.02 avg rating — 132 ratings — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	In the Aftermath 4.11 avg rating — 79 ratings — published 2021	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Mosaic Artist 4.24 avg rating — 21 ratings — published 2011 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Hunger 3.93 avg rating — 15 ratings — published 2001 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more, click here.

20 posts
Jane Ward's Blog

The Folk Tale That Wouldn’t Let Go

Image courtesy of Goodreads

A few years back, while browsing shelves at a used bookstore, I picked up a book of Welsh folk tales. One Moonlit Night, written by T. Llew Jones and translated into English by Gillian Clarke, is a children’s book, full of lovely illustrations among the simplified stories, perfectly written for the young or the newbie to traditional Welsh tales, or anyone, really,

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Jane’s Recent Updates

Jane Ward wrote a new blog post Defining Characters Through Works of Art Writing about the three main characters, Noel, Bryn, and Henry, in Should Have Told You Sooner, whose lives intersect in the world of art, art history Read more of this blog post »
May 06, 2026 06:24AM · like
Jane Ward entered a giveaway The Forty-Year Grudge (Merritt & Blunt Mysteries #2) by Liza Tully (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Mar 09, 2026 09:09AM · like · see giveaway
Jane Ward rated a book it was amazing Ducks on the Pond: A Novel by Amy Klinger (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
What a touching novel! It hits all the right notes - funny at the right times without veering into slapstick, heartfelt without a trace of sentimentality, complex and well-written but completely approachable. The setting represents small town, rural ...more
Mar 09, 2026 06:43AM · 1 like · like · see review
Jane Ward voted for Jane Austen's Bookshelf: A Rare Book Collector's Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend as Readers' Favorite History & Biography in the Final Round of the 2025 Goodreads Choice Awards. Cast Your Vote
Nov 28, 2025 04:39AM · like
Jane Ward and 4 other people liked Peter Simonds's review of The Double Standard Sporting House: A Novel: "Double Standard Sporting House is a thinking historical fiction reader's dream: vivid, authentic, gripping, heartbreaking and enlightening. Set amidst the churn of post-Civil War Manhattan, it's a story of women navigating narrow pathways to agency a" Read more of this review »
Nov 21, 2025 03:43AM · see review
Jane Ward rated a book it was amazing Butterfly Games by Kelly Scarborough (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Kelly Scarborough’s Butterfly Games is an assured debut novel that transports readers into Napoleonic-area Sweden through meticulous attention to historic detail and scene-by-scene action-packed palace intrigues. At the tender age of 14, countess Jacq ...more
Aug 11, 2025 06:57AM · 2 likes · like · see review
Jane Ward rated a book it was amazing The Double Standard Sporting House: A Novel by Nancy Bernhard (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
"My day had seen a knotty birth, a giant prolapse, and rampant syphilis," relates Nell "Doc" Hastings at the opening of this powerful debut fiction by Nancy Bernhard. It is September 1868. The corrupt political machine of Boss Tweed's Tammany Hall ru ...more
Aug 08, 2025 08:21AM · 6 likes · like · see review
Jane Ward rated a book it was amazing The Glassmaker by Tracy Chevalier (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Oct 02, 2024 03:55AM · like
Jane Ward rated a book it was amazing Her Best Self by Mindy Friddle (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Janelle Wolf’s birthday celebration is approaching, Charles Wolf’s business is going through a rebrand, and their daughter–Mira–is planning her wedding. On the surface, it appears the Wolf family leads a rather ordinary life. But award-winning author ...more
Jun 28, 2024 04:21AM · 1 like · like · see review