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| photo: Yvonne Wong Photography |
Susan Wiggs has been telling stories ever since she was old enough to talk, scribbling on paper while dictating dramatic narratives to her parents and siblings. She still scribbles on paper, writing each book in longhand, but eventually, the scribbles become novels that blend heart, history, and humanity with vivid settings and unforgettable characters who navigate love, loss, and the resilience of the human spirit. She's the author of more than 50 novels; Wayward Girls (Morrow, July 15, 2025) is a life-affirming novel based on a true story of six girls in a Catholic reform school in 1960s Buffalo, N.Y.
Handsell readers your book in about 25 words:
A wrenching but life-affirming novel based on a true story of when six girls from a Catholic reform school in 1960s Buffalo reunite decades later to seek justice.
On your nightstand now:
The new REI catalog, a Seabourn cruise brochure, a jar of Kanberra hand lotion, and an overflowing e-reader. Also, The Girls of Good Fortune by Kristina McMorris. It's brand new, and heartbreakingly wonderful--a harrowing but hopeful survival story of a half-Chinese woman who awakens in Portland's notorious Shanghai Tunnels, drugged and about to be shipped off as forced labor.
Favorite book when you were a child:
You Were Princess Last Time by Laura Fisher. Susie, nine years old and a tomboy, is taunted when she cuts off her long, beautiful braids. It struck fear into my heart, since I was a tomboy with long, beautiful braids.
Your top five authors:
Octavia Butler. Kindred was assigned reading in school, and I ended up devouring everything I could get my hands on for her unique takes on power, survival, race, and gender.
Jodi Picoult. She has a remarkable ability to capture authentic teenage voices without relying on stereotypes. She excels at portraying the intense emotional landscape of adolescence--social pressures, bullying, first love, parental conflicts, academic stress, and power dynamics. And she's fearless about tackling controversial topics.
Diane Ackerman. Her narrative nonfiction takes an interdisciplinary approach, no matter the topic. Her sensuous, deep curiosity and personal observations make her eminently readable, regardless of the topic.
E.B. White. A writer's writer who writes with clarity and simplicity, precision of language, gentle humor, and emotional depth.
Alice Walker. The sheer, stunning power of her prose knocked me over the first time I read her, and it still does. When I finish an Alice book, I often flip back to the beginning and read it all over again.
Book you've faked reading:
Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James. When it became a global phenomenon, I tried it, because I wanted to participate in conversations about the book. I ended up letting fans of the book fill me in on what I'd missed.
Book you're an evangelist for:
The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne is a classic saga that spans decades. It will make you laugh out loud. It will break your heart and piss you off as it explores homosexuality in Ireland, the influence of the Catholic Church, and the AIDS crisis. Ultimately, it will introduce you to Cyril, one of the most beloved characters you'll ever meet.
Book you've bought for the cover:
A 1970s-era paperback of The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, published before the movie came out. I bought it with my allowance at Shakespeare & Co. bookshop in Paris, where we lived, and I couldn't stop staring at those tough, brooding boys on the cover.
Book you hid from your parents:
None. Not a single one. My mom was a reader for the library acquisitions team, and she would often give us challenging books to read and report on, never worrying that we'd be harmed by a book. When I was nine or 10, she gave me a book which depicted two boys kissing, and when I asked her about it, she just said, "Oh. Must be a typo." And that was it. I figured it out on my own.
Book that changed your life:
The Diary of Anne Frank. I was 13 when I read it, and it showed me how one writer's authentic words can touch millions. I was already a writer, but that was the book that made me resolve to make writing my life.
Favorite line from a book:
" 'Where's Papa going with that ax?' said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast."
This is probably the most effortlessly effective opening of a novel I've ever read, because it encompasses the entire theme, trajectory, and drama of the novel--the power of friendship and family, the inevitability of mortality, and the transformative impact one individual can have on many. When I was in graduate school, I wrote an entire paper on the first 88 words of this novel. Can you guess the title? (Charlotte's Web by E.B. White.)
Five books you'll never part with:
The Four-Minute Mile by Sir Roger Bannister--he signed it when I met him. Lovely gentleman.
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle--autographed when she visited my classroom in the '80s. She was Meg in the flesh--brilliant, awkward, honest, and honorable.
The Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice--autographed with a special message to me.
The Silver Wolf by Alice Borchardt--Anne's older sister, who was one of my dearest friends.
Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury, which was initialed by my grandmother, my mom, me, and my daughter (we initial the books we've shared). I think it's the only book all four of us have read.
Book you most want to read again for the first time:
Here Be Dragons by Sharon Kay Penman. One of those books that you weep over and think about for days.
What made you tackle Wayward Girls, a novel that is markedly different from previous works?
When I posted a photo of a historic walled complex in Buffalo to a Facebook group called "Buffalore," I didn't expect the deluge of comments that flooded in with anecdotes about the notorious Good Shepherd Institute, where girls were sent to for "reform" by a strict order of nuns. I knew then that there were stories to be told, and I got to work on Wayward Girls.
As a child, I remember more than one babysitter who "went away," a euphemism for girls sent away when they became pregnant. Many were pressured against their will to surrender their parental rights. Others were told falsely that their babies didn't survive. Between 1945 and 1973, an estimated 1.5 million to 4 million women in the U.S. lost their children to irregular adoption.
The more I learned, the more deeply I felt the pain and rage of these young women. Their stories ignited my imagination, and Wayward Girls became one of my most personal and involving novels to date. I hope my passion for this topic touches readers' hearts, and I look forward to sharing it with the world.
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The bookstore, which is built from a 7×16 foot trailer, can be found six days per week at its regular location at 3726 E. Campus Dr.; it also makes pop-up appearances at other spots in the Eagle Mountain area. Owner Liz Moore sells general-interest titles, particularly in the romance, fantasy, and thriller genres, along with a variety of bookish gifts and merchandise.
Michael Ansara (center) signs his memoir, The Hard Work of Hope (Cornell University Press), at the launch event at 
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In June of 1985, a small private plane, a Piper Cub, crashed on its owner's property in northern Georgia. The pilot, Lamar Chester, was killed. His only passenger, his five-year-old daughter, AJ, sustained severe injuries but lived. In death, Lamar escaped prosecution as a marijuana smuggler. His widow, hoping to protect her child, removed the young AJ from the life she'd known, isolating them from family and friends who had been involved in the smuggling business. AJ grew up to be Artis Henderson (