Irish-American writer Tana French is the author of seven previous books, including In the Woods, The Likeness, and The Witch Elm, which have inspired “cultic devotion in readers” (The New Yorker). French, who was born in the United States, attended Trinity College, and settled in Dublin in 1990.
Tana French and Ruth Ware will be in conversation in an online-only event. Please note: this event has been pre-recorded to account for timezone differences.
If you have trouble accessing the video stream or have any tech-related questions, such as how to stream this event on your television, please see our troubleshooting guide before contacting the SAL Box Office.
All ticket holders (except Student/25&Under and complimentary tickets) will get a copy of The Searcher, shipped straight to their homes by Elliott Bay Book Company, our partner bookstore for this evening, after the event. You should receive your book about two weeks after the event. If you have not received your book by the end of October, please email boxoffice@lectures.org. Thank you for your patience as the process of mailing books and the mail itself are slower than normal.
Praised for their ability to tear down the distinction between crime-fiction and literary fiction, most of French’s books are set in Dublin, and six of them form the loosely connected Dublin Murder Squad series. French’s novels have sold over three million copies and won numerous awards, including the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity and Barry Awards, the Los Angeles Times Award for Best Mystery/Thriller, and the Irish Book Award for Crime Fiction.
French’s latest book, The Searcher, follows Cal Hooper, who thought a fixer-upper in a bucolic Irish village would be the perfect escape. After twenty-five years in the Chicago police force and a bruising divorce, he just wants to build a new life in a pretty spot with a good pub where nothing much happens. But when a local kid whose brother has gone missing arm-twists him into investigating, Cal uncovers layers of darkness beneath his picturesque retreat, and starts to realize that even small towns shelter dangerous secrets. The Searcher is a gripping novel from a singular writer who was called “incandescent” by Stephen King in the New York Times and “absolutely mesmerizing” by Gillian Flynn.
Tana French lives in Dublin with her family.
Ruth Ware, our moderator for the evening, worked as a waitress, a bookseller, a teacher of English as a foreign language, and a press officer before settling down as a full-time writer. She now lives with her family in Sussex, on the south coast of England. She is the #1 New York Times and Globe and Mail (Toronto) bestselling author of In a Dark, Dark Wood, The Woman in Cabin 10, The Lying Game, The Death of Mrs. Westaway, The Turn of the Key, and, most recently, One By One. Visit her at RuthWare.com or follow her on Twitter @RuthWareWriter.
