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Beneath the Pines
A new novel by Janet Beard
September 2008
Beneath the Pines - official site for the book.
Born and raised in east Tennessee, Janet Beard moved to New York in 1997 to attend NYU's
Tisch School of the Arts, where she studied Dramatic Writing. She went on to write three
feature-length screenplays, as well as the script for a short film, One Night Stand,
which screened at film festivals around the country. In 2003, her focus shifted to fiction,
and she began work on an MFA in Creative Writing at The New School. Her thesis project became her
first novel, Beneath the Pines. She is at work on a collection of short stories.
Advance praise for Beneath the Pines:
"Janet Beard weaves a rich tale of family ties lost and rediscovered, hearts broken and
mended, and secrets with the power to imprison - or set her characters free. Beneath
the Pines is a thoroughly engaging read by an enormously gifted storyteller."
-Julie Mars
"A moving tale of love, loss, and the triumph of hope by a terrific young author with a great future."
-Chris Grey, author of Leonardo's Shadow
Synopsis:
Beneath the Pines examines a Southern family's conflicting values about
sex, religion, and the past.
In 1957, Mary Alice McDonnell was a rebellious teenager in love with a rich Yankee
boy, Michael Harrison, who had just moved to her small Virginia mountain town - much to the
chagrin of her strict, God-fearing mother, Lavinia.
By 2004, Mary Alice has become a sixty-three year old spinster Biology teacher who
hasn't spoken to her mother in over forty years.
When Lavinia dies, Mary Alice's graduate-student niece, Claire, inherits the family house
and moves to Virginia, bringing along a deep curiosity about her family's dark past, as well as
news of the long-lost Michael Harrison - and plenty of emotional baggage of her own.
News & Events:
*Monday, September 15 @ 7-- pm. McNally Jackson Booksellers @ 52 Prince Street in
Manhattan. Reading with Erotomania: A Romance author Francis Levy. Immediately
following the reading, there will be a book release party to celebrate the publication
of Beneath the Pines at Vig Bar.
McNally Jackson.
Vig Bar.
*Monday, September 22 @ 7-- pm. Davis-Kidd Bookstore in Nashville, TN.
Davis-Kidd.
Review copies:
If you are affiliated with a media review outlet and would like to receive an advance galley
copy of Beneath the Pines, contact Brian Obenauf at brian [at] twodollarradio.com.
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