Eileen Goudge Books

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Eileen Goudge is an American author that writes women’s fiction and novels in the mystery genre. Born in 1950, she was one of six children. Her large family has drastically influenced the author’s work.

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She writes a lot about sisterhood and family; the people she met, things she saw, and the events she encountered are always bleeding into her stories. Goudge would like to think that her successful writing career is the result of the tenacity the hardships of life ingrained in her.

She never finished college, having dropped out at the age of eighteen to marry the man she thought she loved. Their relationship ended in disaster. Within what felt like the blink of an eye, Eileen Goudge was divorced and broke, factors that were made harder by the child she was now expected to care for on her own.

It was during this period that she borrowed a typewriter and started writing, with her short stories and articles appearing in publications like Reader’s Digest and McCall’s. Her biggest break came in the 1980s when she joined the ‘Sweet Valley High’ writing team.

The young adult series was a massive hit and it created a semblance of stability for the writer. Goudge was hardly the established author she wanted to be but she knew that she was making steady progress.

In the years that followed, she moved from California to New York, wrote several novels in the young adult fiction genre, branched out into adult fiction, and then experimented with mystery. Hers has been a rags-to-riches story.

The success Goudge enjoys is hardwon. It took great courage for her to move to New York with two children in toe at a time when she had no consistent source of income. The many rejection slips she accrued from publishers should have discouraged her from pursuing a career as a writer.

But she never stopped chasing her dreams. She was a starving artist for many years, surviving on welfare, her writing barely generating the income she needed to feed her children. But she also found that she did not have to fight that hard to find inspiration for her novels.

Once people started reading her work, they could not ignore the dose of reality in her stories. As a successful author, Goudge enjoys the support of Sandy Kenyon, her husband, a TV reporter she met when she phoned in as a guest on his show.

Even more critical to her success were the many colleagues in the publishing field that she got to know. Goudge took a ‘marketing for freelance writers’ night class that got her started. She also remembers the school teacher who told her that she was waiting with bated breath for the book Goudge would eventually publish.

The encouragement went a long way in giving the author the impetus she needed to keep persevering during the hard times. But for Goudge, the author friends she made, later on, were just as important.

They gave her a support system, providing shoulders to cry on, critiquing her books when she needed it, and even helping her resolve certain contractual issues. This is why she supports the use of social media where publishing is concerned. She believes that it connects authors to like-minded people.

Best Eileen Goudge Books

Goudge imputes her success to her ability to set concrete goals and her willingness to work hard to achieve them; some of the best titles in her bibliography include:

The Diary: Elizabeth suffered a massive stroke that left her mute and on the edge of death. She is in no position to answer the questions that haunt her grown daughters. When they found their mother’s diary, the women were shocked to learn that their father was not Elizabeth’s true love. This compelled them to go on a journey to uncover the identity of the man that had captured their mother’s heart long ago.

Garden of Lies: Rachel and Rose couldn’t be more different. Rachel was raised with all the luxuries Manhattan could offer and she couldn’t wait to become a doctor. Rose’s time in the slums of New York, on the other hand, nurtured in her a passionate attitude. Rachel and Rose are forced to adjust their perceptions when they fall for the same person.

When Does The Next Eileen Goudge book come out?

Eileen Goudge doesn't seem to have an upcoming book. Their newest book is All They Need to Know and was released on September, 24th 2024. It is the newest book in the Margaret Barlow Series.

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