Suzanne Berne
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Suzanne Berne is an American novelist known for her foreboding character studies involving unexpected domestic and psychological drama in bucolic suburban settings. Her debut novel, A Crime in the Neighborhood, published in 1997 by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, won Great Britain's prestigious Orange Prize. Told through the eyes of a ten-year-old girl, the book chronicles a child's murder in a sleepy suburb of Washington, D.C. against the backdrop of the unfolding Watergate scandal. A Perfect Arrangement, published in 2001 by Algonquin Books, tells of the complex and increasingly disturbing relationship between a normal suburban family and their exceptionally perfect nanny. The Ghost at the Table, her third novel, was published in 2006, also by Algonquin Books. Here Berne explores the dramatic territory between two sisters' differing versions of their shared history.
Berne was born in Washington, D.C., where she attended Georgetown Day School. She was educated at Wesleyan University and the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and received a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship. She presently lives with her family near Boston and has taught at both Harvard University and Wellesley College. Beginning in the spring of 2007, Berne will serve as an associate English professor at Boston College.
