Jill McCorkle

Jill McCorkle’s first two novels were released simultaneously when she was just out of college, and the New York Times called her “a born novelist.” Since then, she has published six novels and four collections of short stories. Her most recent novel, Life After Life, was a New York Times bestseller. She has written for the New York Times Book Review, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, Garden and Gun, the Atlantic, and other publications. In Hieroglyphics (Algonquin Books) McCorkle speaks to the burden of secrets carried across generations. Lil and Frank married young, launched into courtship when they bonded over how they both—suddenly, tragically— lost a parent when they were children. Now, having retired, Lil is determined to leave a history for their children, perhaps revealing more secrets than Frank wants their children to know. Hieroglyphics reveals the difficulty of ever really knowing the intentions and dreams and secrets of the people who raised you. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly called it “Engrossing . . . McCorkle finds an elegant mix of wistfulness and appreciation for life. […] This is a gem.”