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Kim van Alkemade

Goodreads Author

Born

in New York, NY, The United States

Website

http://kimvanalkemade.com/

Genre

Fiction, Historical Fiction, Gay and Lesbian

Member Since

March 2013

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NYTimes bestselling author Kim van Alkemade was born in New York City and spent her childhood in suburban New Jersey. Her late father, an immigrant from the Netherlands, met her mother, a descendant of Eastern European Jewish immigrants, in the Empire State Building. She attended college in Wisconsin, earning a doctorate in English from UW-Milwaukee. For many years, she was an English professor at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania. Now a full-time writer, she lives in Saratoga Springs, NY, with her partner, their two rescue dogs, and three feisty backyard chickens.

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Popular Answered Questions

Hi! I just read your book Orphan #8 (finished it about an hour ago actually). I feel the impact of your novel has greatly changed the way I look at people of the LGBTQ+ community who are Jewish. I'm a leader of my school's Gender Sexuality Alliance (GSA). I was wondering if you'd be comfortable sharing your experience as a Jewish LGBTQ+ woman and as an author and how that has impacted you? Thank you so much!

Kim van Alkemade Hi Celeste, thanks so much for reading my novel! I'm not sure my personal experience is all that interesting or useful, but there are so many great re…moreHi Celeste, thanks so much for reading my novel! I'm not sure my personal experience is all that interesting or useful, but there are so many great resources through the American Library Associations LGBT Roundtable I'm sure you can find some great reading for your students. http://www.ala.org/rt/glbtrt
It is really important for me, though, to have LGBT characters in my historical fiction as I think it reclaims a historical space for us that is often invisible since so much was hushed up in the past. I'd also recommend that you check out the book Hidden From History: Reclaiming the Gay and Lesbian Past, it's a fantastic resource.(less)

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Hi Kim, are was there currently research that caused you make this a into a novel- is it a personal experience for you?

Kim van Alkemade Hi Velvet, I wrote an essay for the back of the novel, the PS section, called "True Stories" that really goes in depth in answer to your question. Aft…moreHi Velvet, I wrote an essay for the back of the novel, the PS section, called "True Stories" that really goes in depth in answer to your question. After you read it let me know if you have any other questions!(less)

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Combine Editions
Kim van Alkemade’s books

Average rating: 3.73 · 26,490 ratings · 2,791 reviews · 4 distinct works • Similar authors

	Orphan Number Eight 3.72 avg rating — 21,401 ratings — published 2015 — 31 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
	Bachelor Girl 3.65 avg rating — 3,684 ratings — published 2018 — 9 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
	Counting Lost Stars 4.08 avg rating — 1,405 ratings — published 2023 — 10 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
	The Upstate Dispatch: A Novel 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	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.

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Kim Alkemade rated a book it was amazing Whistler by Ann Patchett	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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Kim Alkemade finished reading A Little Less Broken: How an Autism Diagnosis Finally Made Me Whole by Marian Schembari (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
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Kim Alkemade finished reading Whistler by Ann Patchett	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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Kim Alkemade started reading Whistler by Ann Patchett	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
Dec 02, 2025 07:26PM · like
Kim Alkemade rated a book it was amazing Weyward by Emilia Hart (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
Dec 02, 2025 07:25PM · 2 likes · like
Kim Alkemade rated a book it was amazing A Murder Most Camp by Nicolas DiDomizio (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
Imagine a mystery set at an Adirondack summer camp with all the red herrings of an Agatha Christie infused with Andy Cohen's camp sensibility. A Murder Most Camp is bitchy fun from the very first page. Stick with our annoyingly privileged protagonist ...more
Nov 30, 2025 12:16PM · 1 like · like · see review
Kim Alkemade started reading Weyward by Emilia Hart (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
Nov 30, 2025 05:40AM · like
Kim Alkemade rated a book it was amazing A Murder Most Camp by Nicolas DiDomizio (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
Imagine a mystery set at an Adirondack summer camp with all the red herrings of an Agatha Christie infused with Andy Cohen's camp sensibility. A Murder Most Camp is bitchy fun from the very first page. Stick with our annoyingly privileged protagonist ...more
Nov 28, 2025 06:17PM · 1 like · like · see review
Kim Alkemade rated a book it was amazing Intrepid Girls: The Complicated History of the Girl Scouts of the USA by Amy Erdman Farrell	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
Nov 24, 2025 03:19PM · 1 like · like
Kim Alkemade rated a book it was amazing Villa Coco by Andrew Sean Greer	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 beautiful novel immersed me in the richly-drawn world of Baronessa Coco and her eclectic Italian villa stuffed with art and artifacts which a young American archivist has come to catalog. Thwarted by Coco's capricious whims and secret agendas, o ...more
Nov 24, 2025 03:18PM · 1 like · like · see review

More of Kim's books…

Quotes by Kim van Alkemade (?)

“I was so used to pretending to be something I wasn't, it shocked me to be seen for what I was.”
― Kim van Alkemade, Orphan Number Eight

tags: crying, kiss, lesbian, lgbtqia, librarian, loneliness, rachel, romance

5 likes

“What makes you think I ever got married? Married women work themselves to death, all their money goes to husbands who gamble it away. Why would I ever do that to myself?”
― Kim van Alkemade, Orphan Number Eight

tags: businesswoman, chinese-american, equal-pay, feminism, marriage, marriage-equality, mrs-hong, wig-maker

3 likes

“Sometimes I ask myself if there’s any limit to the harm people can do to each other.” “No,”
― Kim van Alkemade, Orphan Number Eight

3 likes

See all Kim van Alkemade's quotes »

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