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Caroline C Woods

Born: 1980 in Wilmington, Deleware
Pen Name: Caroline Woods

Connection to Illinois: Woods lives near Chicago.

Biography: Caroline Woods holds an M.F.A. in fiction from Boston University. She is the author of the novels The Mesmerist, The Lunar Housewife, and Fräulein M., and she has taught fiction writing at Loyola University Chicago, Boston University, and the Boston Conservatory. Raised in Delaware, she now lives near Chicago with her husband and two daughters.


Awards:
  • The Mesmerist NPR Book of the Year, 2024

Primary Literary Genre(s): Fiction; Mystery

Primary Audience(s): Adult readers

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carolinewoodsauthor/
Web: https://www.carolinewoodswriter.com


Selected Titles

Fraulein M.
ISBN: 1507200226 OCLC: 953984969

Gallery Books 2017

In this multilayered historical novel that explores family secrets and hidden identities, "Woods skillfully captures the disorienting mixture of heady freedom and mounting fear characterizing 1930s Berlin, and the political and gender issues she raises add contemporary relevancy" (Publishers Weekly). Berlin, 1931: Sisters raised in a Catholic orphanage, Berni and Grete Metzger are each other's whole world. That is, until life propels them to opposite sides of seedy, splendid, and violent Weimar Berlin. Berni becomes a cigarette girl, a denizen of the cabaret scene alongside her transgender best friend, who is considering a risky gender reassignment surgery. Meanwhile Grete is hired as a maid to a Nazi family, and begins to form a complicated bond with their son. As Germany barrels toward the Third Reich and ruin, one of the sisters must make a devastating choice. South Carolina, 1970: With the recent death of her father, Janeen Moore yearns to know more about her family history, especially the closely guarded story of her mother's youth in Germany. One day she intercepts a letter intended for her mother: a confession written by a German woman, a plea for forgiveness. What role does Janeen's mother play in this story, and why does she seem so distressed by recent news that a former SS officer has resurfaced in America? An evocative tale about family ties, hard choices, and the weight of history in our lives, Fraulein M. shines light on a brilliant new voice.

Haunted Delaware: Delightfully Dreadful Legends of the First State
ISBN: 0741403455 OCLC: 43964580

Infinity Publishing Bryn Mawr, PA : 2000

Discover the ghostly past of America's first state, Delaware. Fact or fiction, these stories document a legendary relationship between the state and the other world. Just be sure all the lights in the house are turned on while reading!

The Lunar Housewife: A Novel
ISBN: 0385547838 OCLC: 1258040500

Doubleday 2022

A stylish and suspenseful historical page-turner following an up-and-coming journalist who stumbles onto a web of secrets, deceptions, and mysteries at a popular new literary magazine--inspired by the true story of CIA intervention in Cold War American arts and letters. "Sly and delightful . . . the book is the equivalent of a flinty, modern dame holding her own in a room full of condescending men." --The New York Times Book Review New York City, 1953: Louise Leithauser's star is on the rise. She's filed some of the best pieces at her boyfriend Joe's brand new literary magazine, Downtown (albeit under a male pseudonym), her relationship still makes her weak at the knees, and the science fiction romance she's writing on the side, "The Lunar Housewife," is going swimmingly. But when she overhears Joe and his business partner fighting about listening devices and death threats, Louise can't help but investigate, and she quickly finds herself wading into dangerous waters. As Louise pieces together rumors, hunches, and clues, the picture begins to come together--Downtown's strings are being pulled by someone powerful, and that someone doesn't want artists or writers criticizing Uncle Sam. Meanwhile, opportunities are falling in Louise's lap that she'd have to be crazy to refuse, including an interview with America's most famous living author, Ernest Hemingway. Can Louise stand by and let doors keep opening for her, while the establishment sells out and censors her fellow writers? As her suspicions and paranoia mount, Louise's own novel "The Lunar Housewife" changes shape, colored by her newfound knowledge. And when Louise is forced to consider her future sooner than she planned, she needs to decide whether she can trust Joe for the rest of her life. Peppered with cameos from real life luminaries such as Truman Capote and James Baldwin, and full of period detail and nail-biting tension, Caroline Woods channels 1950s New York glamour as Louise's investigation brings her face to face with shocking secrets, brutal sexism, and life or death consequences. Deeply researched and propulsive, The Lunar Housewife is a historical thriller rich with meaning for modern readers.

The Mesmerist: A Novel
ISBN: 0385550162 OCLC: 1402821485

Doubleday 2024

AN NPR BOOK OF THE YEAR • A tightly plotted page-turner ripped from the headlines of history, as three very different women must work together to stop a killer and save the truest home they've ever known.Before hypnotism, there was Mesmerism. And in 1894 Minneapolis, in the wake of a national financial crisis, spiritualism of every stripe is all the rage, and women are dying under mysterious circumstances. But until a new guest lands at the Bethany Home for Unwed Mothers, refusing to speak or explain her arrival, the sordid stories of unexplained deaths seem unconnected. Faith’s reticence is quickly interpreted as malevolence, setting the house abuzz with whispers of dark magic.Abby, a staunch Quaker, lifelong supporter of progressive causes, and the Bethany Home’s treasurer, thinks the rumors of mystical powers swirling around Faith are nonsense, but she recognizes the danger of a good story. Unwilling to allow the Home’s important mission to be clouded by scandal, Abby tasks Faith’s roommate, May, with tracing Faith’s path to the Bethany Home.May is desperate to end her year at Bethany Home engaged and on track to her happily-ever-after—even if her prince charming is Hal, a man she’s not sure she can trust. She uncovers a Minneapolis she never expected as she begins digging into Faith’s shadowy background, and her investigation brings her closer to polite society and Hal than she could have dreamed. The more May learns, the more she’s forced to question the motives of everyone around her, including Abby and Faith, and as more women turn up dead, May must reevaluate the future she wants, and which lies she’s willing to tell, for whom.Rich with tension, suspicion, and sharply observed characters, Caroline Woods reimagines a classic American genre through the eyes of three bold, unforgettable women.

 

 

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