Synopsis:
I’m the daughter of murdered parents.
I’m the friend of a dead girl.
I’m the lover of my enemy.
And I will have my revenge.
In the wake of the devastating destruction of the luxury yacht Persephone, just three souls remain to tell its story—and two of them are lying. Only Frances Mace knows the terrifying truth, and she’ll stop at nothing to avenge the murders of everyone she held dear. Even if it means taking down the boy she loves and possibly losing herself in the process.
Sharp and incisive, Daughter of Deep Silence by bestselling author Carrie Ryan is a deliciously smart revenge thriller that examines perceptions of identity, love, and the lengths to which one girl is willing to go when she thinks she has nothing to lose.
Goodreads:
Review:
In the description of this book it says it all......
I’m the daughter of murdered parents.
I’m the friend of a dead girl.
I’m the lover of my enemy.
And I will have my revenge.
My God this book was one read I could not put down. I went shopping and I was reading because I could not believe what was going on. I want to say so much but I don't want to ruin it for the readers but I will say this think about multiple personalities, revenge, and love.
What happens when a girl washes up on shore and does not know who she is....... well you will have to read it to find out!
About The Author:
The Short Version...
Born and raised in Greenville, South Carolina, Carrie is a graduate of Williams College and Duke University School of Law. A former litigator, she now writes full time. She lives with her writer/lawyer husband, two fat cats and one large rescue mutt in Charlotte, North Carolina. They are not at all prepared for the zombie apocalypse. You can find her online at
www.carrieryan.com or
@CarrieRyan.
The Long Version...
Carrie was born and raised in Greenville, South Carolina. During her time in high school she was: vice president of her class, a cheerleader (no, seriously), captain of the field hockey team (one of only two teams in SC—her team was always state champs) and founder of the girls soccer team (she played on the boys team for a year until the school created the girls team, which, by the way, went from losing every game its first season to being ranked fourth in the state Carrie's senior year!). She also wrote her first short story, Crab Shell Angels, for Mrs. Carter's class on Southern Fiction.
On weekends she read. Everything from Sweet Valley High to Romance to Christopher Pike. As far as her parents know, she never threw a party while they were out of town (*cough*).
Deciding to try a different climate, Carrie went to Williams College (go Ephs!) home of the purple cows—no, seriously, that's their mascot. She played field hockey and lacrosse for a year before becoming involved in student government and other nefarious organizations. She also spearheaded a project to renovate and re-open the local student pub. She was an avid mountain biker and a member of the Williams Cycling Team (their jerseys were white with purple cow spots—they were easy to pick out of the peloton).
During the various summers Carrie hiked the Wind River Wilderness Mountains with NOLS, worked as an intern at the Greenville County Coroner's Office, worked on a Mayan archeological dig in El Peten, Guatemala, and taught SAT prep for The Princeton Review.
As it turns out, Massachusetts, while amazing, is cold much of the year. So after graduating and dabbling in an internet start-up (it was 2000, everyone was doing it) she moved to Middleburg, Virginia and worked at the Foxcroft School. That's where she finished her first book and wrote her second. She tried to convince agents that they really wanted a sensual western historical romance, but they were quite adamant that they did not. So she decided to write chick lit. Unfortunately, most chick lit showcased exciting city life and Carrie's life was pretty boring in the Virginia countryside. So she came up with the brilliant plan of going to law school and getting a job in a big city so she could have an exciting life to draw from.
And if that didn't work out, at least she'd still have the legal career to fall back on. It was at Duke Law School where she met her fiancé JP, a speculative fiction writer who taught her all about true love. JP is the one who convinced Carrie to go to that first zombie movie, which for the life of her she can't remember why—she must have still been trying to impress him because Carrie has disliked all horror movies since the Poltergeist incident of 1983. The remake of Dawn of the Dead fascinated Carrie and JP fanned the fires with more zombies movies and a timely gift of The Zombie Survival Guide (which he read out loud to her every night).
After graduating, they moved to Charlotte and embarked on a plan to get serious about writing. Carrie tried to write her chick lit but that market was dead and she liked young adult books so much better. After a few false starts, JP convinced Carrie to write what she loved and she started writing about zombies. There are so many movies about the days and weeks after a zombie apocalypse, but Carrie wanted to know what happened much later—generations later.
The Forest of Hands and Teeth is her first published novel and she's excited to be writing even more novels set in the same world.
Carrie would love to hear from you: carrie@carrieryan.com
If you're interested in inviting Carrie to do an school or library visit in person, please contact Lisa McClatchy.
Carrie is also available for Skype visits for schools, libraries and book clubsemail her if you are interested!
If you're interested in ordering a personalized, autographed copy of Carrie's books or a bookplate, click
here for more information!
If you would like to contact Carrie about her books you can email or send snail mail to:
1235-E East Boulevard, PMB 191
Charlotte, NC 28203
A note from Carrie about emails: I still can't believe that I get to do my dream job—write—full time and it's all because of my amazing readers! Thank you, thank you thank you! Every email you send is so important to me and brightens my day more than I can say! Because of looming deadlines through 2012 and into 2013 I regret that I'm not currently able to respond to most emails though please know that I read and treasure every one! If you're emailing about interviews or visits and you don't hear from me within a reasonable time, please feel free to follow up! Thanks again!!
Representation...
Publicity: Email Carrie
Mailing List...
Join Carrie's mailing list! Mailing list members receive advance information about Carrie's new books and book signings and events. This mailing list is private... your e-mail address will not be shared.
Note that the company we use, VerticalResponse.com, is a no-spam email service. If you have a spam-blocker on your email account, you may need to putCarrie_Ryan@mail.vresp.com into your contacts or on your approved list in order to receive newsletters.
Email Address:
For the Press...
Need a copy of the book covers or a photograph of Carrie?
Below are digital images suitable for both print and electronic media. To download a high-resolution jpeg of the thumbnail images, click on it to get a larger version, then save the image from your browser. Or, right mouse click and select the "Save As..." option. Mac users, click on the image to see a larger image. Hold the Control key down and click on the image to see menu options, and choose "Save Image to the Desktop."
Photo by ©Darren Cassese
Photo by ©Whitney Gray Photography
Photo by ©Whitney Gray Photography
Photo by ©Darren Cassese
These are just a few of the questions I've been asked so far. Please feel free to
ask your own and I'll add them to the list!
Is there a sequel to The Forest of Hands and Teeth?
Is there going to be a movie of The Forest of Hands and Teeth?
Seven Star Pictures has picked up the movie rights for The Forest of Hands and Teeth but it's still too early to tell if they'll develop it into a movie. AsPublishers Weekly reports
here, "Supposedly Seven Star is developing the project for an-as-yet-unnamed A-list starlet, and fast-tracking the project with a first draft of the screenplay already in the works." More information on the Seven Star Pictures website
here.
How can I get an autographed copy of your books?
I've partnered with
Park Road Books, my local indie, to provide personalized, autographed copies of my books or you can also send me a SASE for a bookplate. click
here for my address and for more information.
Will your books be coming out in any other countries?
Are your books in any other formats?
German
Have you ever written any other books?
Before writing
The Forest of Hands and Teeth I'd finished two books and started scores of others. My first complete novel was a western historical romance that I started while in college. The second was a romantic comedy I wrote the year after. Then I concocted this odd long term plan to go to law school and move to a big city so that I could feel qualified to write chick lit. I started a few chick lit books and then on a lark started writing
The Forest of Hands and Teeth when my then boyfriend suggested that I write what I love.
How did you find an agent?
UK, Australia, New Zealand
First, I finished the book. Then I revised it a few times. After that, when I felt ready to submit (and while I was waiting for a few beta readers to get back to me) I did a lot of research. I read many articles and blogs about the process and asked questions of friends who'd been through the process before me. I also read a lot of agent blogs to see what each was interested in and to learn their styles and personalities. I looked at books that I thought were similar to mine and found out who their agents were and kept track of the recent deals on Publisher's Lunch Weekly to see which agents were selling books like mine. I learned how to write a query letter and then I asked my beta readers to help me boil down my book into a pitch paragraph (I highly recommend asking early readers to help you see the forest for the trees). Then I sent out the queries and waited!
A few websites I'd recommend for the process:
Agent Query —a database of agents, what they represent and how to query them
Preditors and Editors—a listing of scam and legitimate agents
Publishers Marketplace—their full services is $20 a month to search their database of sales. Or you can sign up for a weekly email of recent sales called Publishers Lunch Weekly.
Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Greenville, South Carolina.
Where did you go to high school?
I was a Cavalier at Christ Church Episcopal School.
Where did you go to college?
I was an English major at Williams College (go Ephs!). Our mascot was the purple cows! I was on the cycling team and our uniforms were white with purple cow spots—we were very easy to pick out of the peloton. I loved my time at Williams. I took creative writing with National Book Award nominee Jim Shepard and that's where I found my voice.
What did you do after college?
Right out of college a few friends and I started a dot.com business. It was in 2000 and everyone was joining the boom! Of course, with the crash we lost part of our funding and so I went to work as the assistant technology coordinator and resident relief at Foxcroft School in Middleburg, Virginia. It was an amazing experience on a gorgeous campus. Once I decided I wanted to go to law school I found a job as a real estate paralegal with a small firm back home in Greenville, South Carolina and worked there for a year while I applied to schools. Then I went to law school (Duke University School of Law) where I met and fell in love with my fiancé, JP! After law school I litigated for a few years before moving into trusts and estates where I worked before quitting to write fulltime.
Do you have any siblings?
I do! I have two sisters whom I adore. In fact, I started writing because as a teen I strived to emulate one of my sisters. Both my sisters are amazing role models and wonderfully supportive of me—I couldn't ask for better sisters and great friends! I also have two step-brothers who are incredibly passionate about life. One of them is an award winning soccer coach/math teacher and the other one is a fantastic chef (trust me, we eat very well when he's around).
Where do you get your inspiration?
Anything and everything. The first line of
The Forest of Hands and Teeth came to me after I read an article about the possibility of overfishing tuna. The issue of collective memory came to me when I realized how my memories of my grandmother have been slipping away and how I can't remember the details of the stories she used to tell over and over again.
Are the characters similar to anyone you know?
So far, none of the characters in my books are similar to anyone I know, though one of them is named after a friend of mine.
What scene from The Forest of Hands and Teeth was hardest to write?
SPOILER:
There were a lot of scenes that were very hard for me to write because I felt so sorry for Mary. But I think the one that was the hardest is when she first goes to see her mother infected and her mother puts her hands in her hair. Mary says: "If I could boil my life down to its essence, it would be this: my head in my mother's lap, her hands in my hair as we sit in front of the fire and she tells me stories handed down through the women of our family about life before the Return." This reminded me so much of my own mother and all the countless hours I've laid with my head in her lap, her playing with my hair. I couldn't bear to think of my mother dying and I tried to channel that fear and pain into that scene.
What is your writing process like?
I sit down and think: "what's the worst thing that can happen?" I don't outline and the most I ever plan ahead is to lounge about in bed and daydream about what could come next. My fiancé claims this is called napping and not working but I disagree!
Where do you write?
I tend to write on the couch in our office (which would be the living room if anyone other than two writers lived there). In the winter I turn the fire on and in the summer I open the windows.
How long did it take you to write The Forest of Hands and Teeth?
It took me four months to write the first draft of
The Forest of Hands and Teethand another four to revise it many times. I started writing it during National Novel Writing Month in 2006 and sold it in October 2007.
Who is your agent?
I'm represented by Merrilee Heifetz at Writers House.
What television shows do you watch?
Yes, I admit it, I watch a lot of reality TV. My favorites are Top Chef, America's Next Top Model and Whose Wedding is it Anyway? Recently, I've become addicted toNinja Warrier and Survivorman. I also follow Lost and Doctor Who. Dinnertime at our house would not be complete without The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.
