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Lynne Hugo

Goodreads Author

Born

The United States

Website

http://www.lynnehugo.com/

Twitter

LynneHugo

Genre

Fiction, Nonfiction, Children's

Member Since

November 2009

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/goodreadscomlynne

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Lynne Hugo is an American author whose roots are in the northeast. A National Endowment For The Arts Fellowship recipient, she has also received repeat individual artists grants from the Ohio Arts Council and the Kentucky Foundation for Women. Her publications include eight novels, one volume of creative non-fiction, two books of poetry and a children’s book. She lives with her husband, a former Vice President for Academic Affairs of a liberal arts college and now a professional photographer, in the Midwest. They have two grown children, three grandchildren, and a yellow Labrador retriever.

Ms. Hugo has taught creative writing to hundreds of schoolchildren through the Ohio Arts Council’s renowned Arts in Education program. She holds a Bachel ...more

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Popular Answered Questions

What are you currently working on?

Lynne Hugo I am so sorry! Obviously I'm really late answering this question--I didn't see that it was there. I'll do better. I have a new novel coming out in the…moreI am so sorry! Obviously I'm really late answering this question--I didn't see that it was there. I'll do better. I have a new novel coming out in the Spring of 2016; the title is REMEMBER MY BEAUTIES. It's set on a small Kentucky horse farm and one of the themes--a favorite of mine--is the healing power of the human/animal relationship. In this novel I take a look at marriage, drug addiction, and the parent/child bond, too. I'll be working on the final edits for that this spring. But, in the meantime, I'm immersed in and having a wonderful time with the third draft of another novel. It's titled THE TESTAMENT OF HAROLD'S WIFE, and the elderly narrator is a spunky, funny widow. (Watch out for her! She'd never confide her plan to take up her husband's revenge scheme against a drunk driver to her son; her best friends and confidants are her cat and the chickens on her southeastern Indiana farm.)(less)

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

Lynne Hugo I have, all my life, spent lots of time on outer Cape Cod. But it wasn't until I happened, in the late 90's, to stay--during my annual writing retreat…moreI have, all my life, spent lots of time on outer Cape Cod. But it wasn't until I happened, in the late 90's, to stay--during my annual writing retreat-- right in a certain spot (the Indian Neck section of Wellfleet harbor) that I really saw oyster and clams being farmed in the shallows of beautiful Cape Cod bay. The racks and cages are only visible for an hour before and an hour after dead low tide. I was out walking the beach and became intrigued. Writers ask a lot of questions! I did, and was fascinated. I ended up making friends with some of the sea farmers (correctly called aquaculturists) and when I heard about a lawsuit to shut them down, of course I wanted to hear more. I became close to one of the women aquaculturists, and went back over a period of years, learning a lot about the life of the oystermen. I researched the lawsuit, which was filed by the owner of a vacation home who was there just six weeks a year and didn't want to look at the oyster cages at low tide. He said it spoiled his view. The outcome of the lawsuit was so bizarre, so unpredictable, so dramatic, that I knew I'd base my next novel on it.(less)

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Lynne Hugo’s books

Average rating: 3.85 · 1,804 ratings · 543 reviews · 18 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Testament of Harold's Wife 3.74 avg rating — 862 ratings — published 2018 — 8 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 Language of Kin: A Novel 4.39 avg rating — 200 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
	A Matter of Mercy 3.78 avg rating — 210 ratings — published 2014 — 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
	The Book of CarolSue 3.81 avg rating — 194 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
	Remember My Beauties (Switchgrass Books) 3.85 avg rating — 94 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
	Mothers of Fate 4.01 avg rating — 76 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
	Swimming Lessons by Lynne Hugo (Goodreads Author), Anna T. Villegas 3.63 avg rating — 71 ratings — published 1998 — 8 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
	A Matter of Mercy: 10th Anniversary Edition 4.21 avg rating — 39 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
	Where the Trail Grows Faint: A Year in the Life of a Therapy Dog Team (River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Prize) really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 25 ratings — published 2005 — 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
	The Unspoken Years 3.15 avg rating — 13 ratings — published 2006 — 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

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Lynne Hugo's Blog

Unfinished Stories

Nancy’s husband sent a picture two days before she died. In that one, she wore a white sleeveless nightgown. Her grown sons leaned over either side of her, a hospice tray with a cup of applesauce in the foreground. She was sleeping. Perhaps she’d slipped into the mercy of a coma.

Nancy Johnson Pinard was her name. Is her name. She was a novelist. I know she also had many other roles–aren’t we all m

Lynne is Currently Reading

Lynne is currently reading

The Testament of Harold's Wife

by Lynne Hugo (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: wrote-this, currently-reading

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Sep 20, 2018 09:17PM

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Lynne’s Recent Updates

Lynne is now friends with Christine Hatfield
Jul 18, 2024 08:29AM · like
Lynne rated a book really liked it The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers by Samuel Burr (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 really enjoyed this unique and original novel by debut author Samuel Burr. The various characters--members of the Fellowship of Puzzlemakers--introduced early in the novel all emerge as distinctive individuals, readily recognizable as their persona ...more
Jan 19, 2024 10:17AM · like · see review

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Quotes by Lynne Hugo (?)

“We suffer the threat of breathing in water; we fight the nightmares that would drown us. And just as we feel the deceptive joy of floating, we flex our muscles and learn to kick, propelling ourselves into deeper waters where we can't see the bottom or touch the side.

There, in the deep, we stroke.

Then, surprising ourselves, saving ourselves, we swim. ”
― Lynne Hugo, Swimming Lessons

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“We know about this. People are going to say a lot of idiot things to you.” She meant I should remember what it was like when she had the stillbirth and her first husband left her seven months later. Her voice came sort over the phone. She still sounds like herself, hasn’t picked up that Georgia molasses accent. “Just give them the bereavement face and say, ‘Bless your heart.’ Down here they teach girls to say that instead of bullshit. This is one of those times when people crowd in, nothing anyone says is the least comfort, but no one has the sense to know to shut up.”
― Lynne Hugo , The Testament of Harold's Wife

tags: death-of-a-loved-one

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“Come Lord, and lift the fallen bird
Abandoned on the ground;
The soul bereft and longing so
To have the lost be found. The heart that cries—let it but hear
Its sweet love answering,
Or out of ether one faint note
Of living comfort wring. —Tom Merrill”
― Lynne Hugo, The Testament of Harold's Wife

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Polls

June Side Read Nominations ~ 1st Poll

Top 5 Books will move onto final poll

The Night Olivia Fell

by Christina McDonald

7 votes, 16.7%

One Day in December

by Josie Silver

6 votes, 14.3%

The Perfect Couple

by Elin Hilderbrand

5 votes, 11.9%

My Sister, the Serial Killer

by Oyinkan Braithwaite

5 votes, 11.9%

Final Girls

by Riley Sager

5 votes, 11.9%

Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster

by Jon Krakauer

4 votes, 9.5%

Rainbirds

by Clarissa Goenawan

3 votes, 7.1%

The Mothers

by Brit Bennett

3 votes, 7.1%

The Testament of Harold's Wife

by Lynne Hugo

2 votes, 4.8%

Peace Like a River

by Leif Enger

2 votes, 4.8%

42 total votes

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Topics Mentioning This Author

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Happily Ever Afte...: Over in a Flash - August, 2017	45	99	Aug 31, 2017 01:31PM
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Lynne’s Quotes

“Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.”
― Groucho Marx, The Essential Groucho: Writings For By And About Groucho Marx

tags: animals, books, dogs, friends, humor

37979 likes

“Always be a poet, even in prose.”
― Charles Baudelaire

tags: poetry, prose, writing

2792 likes

“I love writing. I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions.”
― James Michener

tags: writing

1339 likes

“I had already found that it was not good to be alone, and so made companionship with what there was around me, sometimes with the universe and sometimes with my own insignificant self; but my books were always my friends, let fail all else.”
― Joshua Slocum, Sailing Alone around the World

tags: alone, books, friends, solitude

3498 likes