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Sarah P. Blanchard

Goodreads Author

Born

Norwalk, Connecticut, The United States

Website

http://www.sarahpblanchard.com

Twitter

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Genre

Mystery, Thriller, Horror

Influences

Barbara Kingsolver, Joyce Carol Oates, Percival Everett, Jason Mott

Member Since

January 2024

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I've always been drawn toward flawed, compassionate characters who believe they must battle their demons alone; and complex antagonists who think they have nothing to lose.

My 2024 debut novel, Drawn from Life, reflects this theme, as does my latest release, the Amazon best-selling novel Grabtown (October, 2025).

I also love short fiction! Many of my short stories, poems, and essays have been published in magazines and journals. One story is a 2025 nominee for the Pushcart Prize; another won the 1993 Dorothy Daniels Writing Award (American PEN Women). I was also a finalist for the 2024 Porch Prize for Short Fiction (TN), and a finalist for the 2021 Doris Betts Fiction Prize (NC).

A dozen of my short stories are included in the anthology, Play ...more

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What’s your advice for aspiring writers?

Sarah P. Blanchard Spend more time learning the craft and don’t be so damned shy about asking for help. When I was young, I was told I had a talent for writing vivid ima…moreSpend more time learning the craft and don’t be so damned shy about asking for help. When I was young, I was told I had a talent for writing vivid imagery. I won a statewide writing contest at age twelve and thought I was hot stuff. I was also painfully shy; any criticism of my work was received as that clichéd dagger to the heart. As a result, it took me a long time for me to realize that although I could craft a vivid vignette, I didn’t have the tools to produce a story. I finally began to catch on after taking a weekend seminar in writing screenplays, and began learning about beats and breaths, character arcs, and story structure. Once I paid more attention to the tools of the craft, I became more confident—and also more comfortable about receiving helpful criticism. I just wish I’d learned all that about two decades earlier.(less)

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Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Sarah P. Blanchard The main themes—guilt, atonement, reconciling a moral injury—go way back. When I was in high school, a teenage friend disclosed that his mother had al…moreThe main themes—guilt, atonement, reconciling a moral injury—go way back. When I was in high school, a teenage friend disclosed that his mother had always blamed him for the serious injuries she’d suffered in a car crash. He’d been a few minutes late leaving an after-school event and she’d had to drive around the block a second time, looking for him, and that’s when another driver smashed into her car. My friend carried the tragic injustice of this blame into his adult life, emigrating to the other side of the world to escape her undeserved vitriol.
A misplaced belief in agency—that we, or someone close to us, has real control over what happens in our lives—can cause tremendous heartbreak. I wanted to create a story that addressed that, featuring a character who gets stuck in the “should-have” and the “if-only” of regret. That brought me to Alice Gregory’s article in The New Yorker (“The Shame and Sorrow of the Accidental Killer,” September 11, 2017).
I knew I’d found the core of my main character: an ethical, conscientious young woman burdened with the guilt of an accidental killer. Then I had to figure out how to get her unstuck from that. And I needed a worthy antagonist to propel the story forward. So I created her troublesome cousin.
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Sarah P. Blanchard’s books

Average rating: 4.25 · 238 ratings · 109 reviews · 6 distinct works • Similar authors

	Grabtown 4.27 avg rating — 141 ratings — 3 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
	Drawn from Life 4.19 avg rating — 96 ratings — 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
	Grabtown 4.75 avg rating — 4 ratings — published 2025 — 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
	Playing Chess with Bulls: stories 4.33 avg rating — 3 ratings — 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
	Stories to Go: Autumn 2021 -Short fiction from OLLI at UNC-Asheville College for Seniors Program 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 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
	river, horse, morning 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 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

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Sarah P. Blanchard's Blog

New Writers' Workshop in Webster, MA

Unleash the muses!

The Booklovers' Gourmet bookshop at 72 E. Main Street in Webster, Massachusetts, is hosting a new creative writing workshop for women writers beginning Wednesday, September 18, 2024 from 4:00 - 5:30 pm. The group will be cross-genre (fiction, poetry, nonfictiion/essay, memoir) and will be capped at eight members.

Sarah P. Blanchard will lead our group as facilitator and p

Sarah is Currently Reading

Sarah P Blanchard is currently reading

The Doll-Master: And Other Tales of Terror

by Joyce Carol Oates

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Feb 16, 2026 09:33AM

Sarah P Blanchard is currently reading

Out of the Woods: A Girl, a Killer, and a Lifelong Struggle to Find the Way Home

by Gregg Olsen (Goodreads Author)

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Jul 17, 2025 10:04AM

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The Best Short Stories 2024: The O. Henry Prize Winners

by Amor Towles (Goodreads Author)

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May 11, 2025 09:31AM

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Sarah’s Recent Updates

Sarah P Blanchard liked Wayne's review of Grabtown: "4.7"
Apr 13, 2026 05:45PM · see review
Sarah P Blanchard liked Mostly Murders's review of Grabtown: "" You know, a town gets set in its ways. When things are mostly working okay, it just goes humming along. People turn a blind eye to the parts that don't work so well." When estranged twins Cassie and Ana begin to clean up their late mother's home aft" Read more of this review »
Apr 13, 2026 05:45PM · see review
Sarah P Blanchard liked Zena's review of Grabtown: "Gripping Tale! This was an unforgetable, gripping tail of suspense and mystery and the story was so well written. Here we have the best voice acting and a fantastic story blended together to make this audiobook the ideal one for perfect entertainment a" Read more of this review »
Apr 13, 2026 05:44PM · see review
Sarah P Blanchard is now following Smith Lauren and Marie Rimer
Mar 22, 2026 06:11AM
Sarah P Blanchard is currently reading The Doll-Master: And Other Tales of Terror by Joyce Carol Oates	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
Feb 16, 2026 09:33AM · like
Sarah P Blanchard is now following Chris Carter Author of The Crucifix Killer (Robert Hunter, #1)
Jan 19, 2026 10:27AM · like
Sarah P Blanchard rated a book it was amazing An Accusing Finger: An Inspector Armitage Mystery by Richard E. Gower (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
This is a terrific whodunnit, with a sharply rendered in-depth look at police procedures and the inner workings of the mind of Inspector Matt Armitage of the Ottawa Police Service as he pursues a varied cast of criminals, including the wonderfully na ...more
Jan 13, 2026 08:38AM · 2 likes · like · see review
Sarah P Blanchard rated a book it was amazing A Celebration of Murder: A gripping historical mystery set in the aftermath of the Great War by Mary Ann Paul (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
I don't read a lot of historical fiction, but this one drew me in quickly and kept me turning pages. It opens in 1919, just after the Great War, with an op-close glimpse into the fascinating political maneuverings of the suffragettes working in Texas ...more
Jan 07, 2026 06:18AM · 1 like · like · see review
Sarah P Blanchard is now following B.G. Frees Author of From Within
Dec 14, 2025 07:23AM · like