Crowell, Jenn(ifer Lindsey) 1978-

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CROWELL, Jenn(ifer Lindsey) 1978-

(Jennifer Lindsey-Stevens)

PERSONAL: Born April 19, 1978, in Hershey, PA; name legally changed to Jennifer Lindsey-Stevens; daughter of Robert K. Crowell, Jr. and S. Jane Beck-Dettinger; married Scott Stevens (now Scott Lindsey-Stevens), April, 2001. Education: Goucher College, B.A. (English and women's studies), 1999; graduate coursework in women's studies. Politics: "Left of center/feminist." Hobbies and other interests: Graphic design, video production, women's health issues, midwifery.

ADDRESSES: Agent—Jane Gelfman, Gelfman Schneider Literary Agents, 250 W. 57th St., New York, NY 10107.

CAREER: Writer. Has also worked in marketing, design, advertising, and as an editor.

AWARDS, HONORS: Princeton University Poetry Prize, 1995; Isabelle Kellogg Thomas English Prize from Goucher College, 1996.

WRITINGS:

Necessary Madness (novel), Putnam (New York, NY), 1997.

Letting the Body Lead (novel), Putnam (New York, NY), 2002.

WORK IN PROGRESS: A sequel to Necessary Madness, tentatively titled Life Drawing.

SIDELIGHTS: Novelist Jenn Crowell attracted international attention with her first novel, Necessary Madness. Only seventeen when the manuscript was completed and accepted for publication by Putnam, Crowell pursued a dual degree in English and women's studies at Goucher College in Baltimore while working on her next fiction manuscript. In an interview with Jennifer Weiner for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Crowell revealed that she began working with the central character of the novel when she was fourteen and later developed the plot with an interest in "the whole concept of grief and how it impacts children."

In the novel, a thirty-year-old American widow living in London comes to terms with the loss of her husband and her doubts about single parenthood through a reconciliation with her estranged mother and a newfound friendship with a widower who had known her late husband. While Time reviewer Paul Gray appraised the novel as "a generic weeper with a happy ending," he also noted that "certain passages … suggest that Crowell is ready to break free of conventions and find her own way." Donna Seaman, writing in Booklist, called Necessary Madness "an impressive and promising debut," noting that any weakness in the text could be "forgotten in light of Crowell's fresh wit and keen psychology and her irresistible story's steady march toward catharsis." Adam Mazmanian, critiquing the novel for Library Journal, noted that despite the excessive amount of tragedy contained in the book, "Crowell never loses control of her material or tinctures it with sentiment." In the Philadelphia Inquirer Weiner commented, "The plot is a sturdy workhorse, the characters are well drawn, the structure is meticulous, and some of the writing is fresh and inventive."

Crowell's second novel, Letting the Body Lead, was also well received by critics. The story's protagonist, Isobel Sivulka, is a highly intelligent young woman who skipped a year of high school, earned a bachelor's degree in three years, and is now working on her doctorate in psychology. While heading a study of at-risk teen girls and preparing to defend her doctoral dissertation, Isobel becomes stressed to the point where she is in danger of a breakdown. She begins to doubt whether she even wants to complete her degree, has trouble sleeping, and begins hallucinating about a little girl who stands by her bed. Realizing she needs a break, Isobel takes a job as a house sitter in Reykjavik, Iceland, as a way to get away from it all. Here she meets a number of friendly women as well as a divorced man named Kjartan, who becomes her lover. Although Kjartan proves himself to be better in bed than Isobel's boyfriend in New York, his drinking problem leads her to break up with him. Nevertheless, her experiences with love and friendship in Iceland help her grow as a person, and she decides to return to America and complete her degree.

Although a Kirkus Reviews writer complained that some of Crowell's prose is "immature" and even "juvenile," many critics had good words for this second book. A Publishers Weekly reviewer called Letting the Body Lead "a subtle, moving portrait of a young woman struggling to live up to her own high expectations," while Elsa Gaztambide asserted in Booklist that "Crowell's infusion of intellect and sexuality superbly captures the process of growing toward womanhood in mind, body, and spirit."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

periodicals

Booklist, January 1-15, 1997, Donna Seaman, review of Necessary Madness, p. 778; April 15, 2002, Elsa Gaztambide, review of Letting the Body Lead, p. 1381.

Kirkus Reviews, March 1, 2002, review of Letting the Body Lead, p. 275.

Library Journal, January 1997, Adam Mazmanian, review of Necessary Madness, pp. 144-145; April 1, 2002, Judith Kicinski, review of Letting the Body Lead, p. 138.

Publishers Weekly, March 18, 2002, review of Letting the Body Lead, p. 74.

Time, March 3, 1997, Paul Gray, review of Necessary Madness, p. 78.