Chris Bohjalian Books

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Chris Bohjalian is an Armenian-American author whose books have been published in over thirty languages. He was born in 1962 in White Plains, New York to a Swedish mother and an Armenian father.

A former student at Amherst College, Borjalian’s mother was an avid reader. He believes that she inspired him to become a novelist. The author’s childhood wasn’t necessarily tragic. But he heard and witnessed quite a number of loud arguments between his parents. This aspect of his life eventually inspired some of his characters.

While things at home were hardly perfect for young Chris Bohjalian, he still remembers his mother fondly because she showed no real interest in rebuking him whenever he used his crayons to draw and write in the older novels she had collected.

Libraries have an important place in the author’s heart. He loves his office not only because of the view it offers him but also because of all the books surrounding him. Bohjalian remembers leaving New York for Miami at 13.

At the time, he had an orthodontist who forced him to wear uncomfortable headgear for at least four hours a day while he was awake. The author couldn’t take the headgear to school. But wearing it after school also prevented him from venturing out and making friends with the kids in his new neighborhood.

To pass the time, he read everything from ‘Jaws’ to ‘The Exorcist’ at the Hialeah Miami Lake Public Library. He also spent a lot of time reading in the den of their new home. It was during those early years that the author started to master the craft of storytelling.

Of course, it took a while before he finally published his first novel. Bohjalian started by writing for newspapers and magazines. One particular column was designed to chronicle the life of a small town. He kept it running from 1992 to 2015, winning the ‘Best Lifestyle Column’ Award.

His fans also followed the articles he wrote for publications like The New York Times, Reader’s Digest and Cosmopolitan.

‘A Killing in the Real World’ was his first novel. It came out in 1988. He released more novels in the years that followed, attracting critical acclaim, winning awards, receiving the recognition of his peers and having the honor of watching some of his novels become movies and TV shows.

The author does a lot of extensive research for his books. This includes interviewing people that were intimately involved with the events that inspired his novels. He doesn’t work with outlines. He never knows how his novels will end.

He treats each writing session as a journey. He is always excited to sit down and write because he is discovering his own story as he goes along, waiting to see where his characters will lead him.

He starts each novel by creating a basic premise and figuring out the point of view he intends to use. He tries to write at least a thousand words a day. But most of his energy goes into editing. It is during this stage that the novel takes shape.

Chris Bohjalian Awards

The author was nominated for the Eliot Rosewater Indiana High School Award. He has won the ANCA Arts and Letters Award, the New England Society Book Award, the Soglasie Award, and a selection for Oprah’s Book Club, to mention but a few.

Chris Bohjalian Books into Movies

‘Midwives’ became a Lifetime Television film. Sissy Spacek played the lead role. ‘Past the Bleachers’ became a Hallmark Channel TV Movie. ‘Secrets of Eden’ became a Lifetime TV movie.

Best Chris Bohjalian Books

The author writes character-driven stories that tackle specific issues like animal rights, with some of the best books in his bibliography including:

Midwives: Sibyl was a dedicated midwife that spent her days helping the sick and the helpless in a rural Vermont community. All the goodwill she thought she had accumulated went out the window when she performed a cesarean section on a woman who had seemingly died in labor.

Sibyl was motivated by a determination to save the baby’s life. But now her assistant claims that the patient wasn’t yet dead when Sibyl cut into her. She believes that Sibyl killed the woman.

The Flight Attendant: Cassandra is a flight attendant that spends too much time drinking too much alcohol in strange cities. She knows she has a problem but she can’t stop. Her life takes a less than fortunate turn when she blacks out after a night of partying and then wakes up the next morning in a Dubai hotel room next to a dead man.

When Does The Next Chris Bohjalian book come out?

The next book by Chris Bohjalian is The Jackal's Mistress and will be released on March, 11th 2025.

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