I MEANT TO TELL YOU

by Fran Hawthorne

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Pub Date Nov 15 2022 | Archive Date Nov 04 2022

Stephen F. Austin State University Press

General Fiction (Adult) | Women's Fiction

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Description

When Miranda Isaacs’s fiancé, Russ Steinmann, is being vetted for his dream job in the U.S. attorney’s office, the couple joke about whether Miranda’s parents’ history as antiwar activists in the Sixties might jeopardize Russ’s security clearance. But as it turns out, the real threat emerges after Russ’s future employer discovers that Miranda was arrested for felony kidnapping seven years earlier – an arrest she’d never bothered to tell Russ about. Miranda tries to explain that she was only helping her best friend, Ronit, in the midst of a nasty divorce and custody battle, take her daughter to visit her parents in Israel. Russ doesn’t see it quite as innocently.

In a frantic search to persuade Russ that she’s not a criminal, Miranda either makes the situation worse or exposes other secrets and mysteries. Miranda’s stepfather – who has just revealed to her mother that he’s been having an affair—starts dropping cryptic hints about her biological father. On top of all that, Miranda is arrested again, this time for drunk driving.

With everything she thought she knew upended, Miranda must face the truth about her mother, herself, and her future marriage.

A Note From the Publisher

FRAN HAWTHORNE has been writing novels since she was four years old, although she was sidetracked for several decades by journalism. During that award-winning career, she wrote eight nonfiction books, mainly about consumer activism, the drug industry, and the financial world. ETHICAL CHIC (Beacon Press) was named one of the best business books of 2012 by Library Journal, and PENSION DUMPING (Bloomberg Press) was a Foreword magazine 2008 Book of the Year. She's also been an editor or regular contributor for The New York Times, Business Week, Fortune, and many other publications. But Fran never abandoned her true love: With the publication of her debut novel, THE HEIRS, in 2018 and now I MEANT TO TELL YOU, Fran is firmly committed to fiction. She’s at work on her next novel and also writes book reviews for the New York Journal of Books.

FRAN HAWTHORNE has been writing novels since she was four years old, although she was sidetracked for several decades by journalism. During that award-winning career, she wrote eight nonfiction...

Advance Praise

“Fran Hawthorne delivers a nuanced exploration of the connections among women – and how they can unravel when lies of omission are revealed. Told through the eyes of three women in different eras, I Meant to Tell You kept me turning the pages late into the night.”

—JENNIFER COBURN, USA Today best-selling author of Cradles of the Reich

“Fran Hawthorne has written a wise, kind, and above all compassionate novel about the secrets we keep and the judgments we make . . . . a big-hearted book that is sure to warm yours.”

—YONA ZELDIS MCDONOUGH, Fiction Editor of Lilith magazine

“I Meant to Tell You opens with a white lie, a small dishonesty. But it widens to reveal that the people we think we know may all be hiding behind convenient mistruths. In that way it is a compelling portrait of our times, stuffed with richly drawn characters and alive with sharp and glimmering prose . . . .”

—BRIAN CASTLEBERRY, author of Nine Shiny Objects (long-listed, PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction)

Available Editions

EDITION	Paperback
ISBN	9781622889341
PRICE	$22.00 (USD)

Additional Information

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Featured Reviews

Natalie L, Reviewer

Reading an author for the first time is always a surprise, this one was a good and charming one! Hawthorne has interwoven 2 generations in the same family., and shares their stories and secrets with the reader. The stories are both fascinating and the characters are likable.

Miranda has “forgotten “ to share a story of a long ago misdemeanor with her fiancé. Her reminder comes when he is being vetted by the FBI for a government job. As the story unfolds, she stumbles into keeping more secrets. The reader learns that secrets are in the DNA of her family when her own parental history is unfurled. Her mother, Judith, has kept quite big secrets as well. I loved both stories. Honestly, I related to Judith (my generation) even more than to Miranda. I loved all these family members and I would love to share their stories with my book groups.

I think that most of my readers and friends will enjoy this novel. In reading the acknowledgments, I noticed the name of a friend and colleague who has passed away. I was incredibly touched by the author’s recollection.

Thank you Netgalley for this delightful novel.