Novak, Karen 1958-

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NOVAK, Karen 1958-

PERSONAL: Born February 10, 1958, in Dallas, TX; married; two children. Education: Attended Whiteman College, 1976; Concordia University, B.S., 1979; Union Institute, B.A., 1994.

ADDRESSES: Home—Mason, OH. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Bloomsbury, 3rd Floor, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.

CAREER: Worked as a copywriter, translator, and technical writer.

AWARDS, HONORS: Honorable mention, Cincinnati Magazine, for short story "Jackpot."

WRITINGS:

Five Mile House, Bloomsbury (New York, NY), 2000.

Ordinary Monsters, Bloomsbury (New York, NY), 2002.

Innocence, Bloomsbury (New York, NY), 2003.

Author of short story "Jackpot."

SIDELIGHTS: Karen Novak's interest in writing began as a child, and she would spend her allowance money on paper and pencils. In Novak's debut novel, Five Mile House, detective Leslie Stone is unhappy in her job. After another person is arrested for murdering a child, Leslie becomes so angered that she kills the suspect, but is acquitted of the murder charge. Her husband moves her and their two daughters to the quiet New England town of Wellington, a town with a large population of Wiccans, after he accepts a job to refurbish an old home called Five Mile House. Soon Leslie hears the legend of the house, in which a century ago the owner, Eleanor, killed her seven children and then herself. Not believing that a woman would kill her own children, Leslie begins to research the story to find the truth. Book Browser contributor Harriet Klausner concluded, "Novak proves she is a terrific storyteller whose voice provides a fascinating cross-genre appeal."

Novak's second novel, Ordinary Monsters, is the story of Joyce, who leaves her Vermont town and her husband in search of her runaway seventeen-year-old son. She encounters a hitchhiker who claims to have seen her son in the Hoodoo bar in the small town of Lagrimas, California. In Lagrimas she meets many different people: Danny, an autistic boy; Duncan, a junkyard owner and the man who takes care of Danny; and T.J., the Hoodoo's friendly waitress. Joyce decides to buy the Hoodoo and begins a new life in Lagrimas as she waits for her son to show up there again.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, August, 2000, Connie Fletcher, review of Five Mile House, p. 2122.

Kirkus Reviews, August 15, 2000, review of Five Mile House, p. 1138; May 1, 2002, review of Ordinary Monsters, p. 606; April 15, 2003, review of Innocence, p. 564.

Publishers Weekly, September 11, 2000, review of Five Mile House, p. 73; May 20, 2002, review of Ordinary Monsters, p. 48.