Michelle Richmond
THE MARRIAGE PACT
The Sunday Times bestseller, available in 31 languages
“A smart, searing, frightening look at modern love.” Today.com
“Takes readers deep into the heart of a marriage and exposes some of the darker drives, such as possession and control, that can lurk within even the most harmonious of unions.” Booklist
“A gripping and intriguing read.” The Sunday Times
THE WONDER TEST
Richmond introduces a tough and spirited new protagonist, FBI Agent Lina Connerly, in this exhilarating race to save Silicon Valley teens from their own parents’ ambition and greed.
“A gripping blend of danger and sharp social commentary on high-stakes education, the 1%, and suburban tropes” Booklist, starred review
“The overlay of international spycraft on suburban California, whose shiny facade conceals the most heinous of sins and vanities, is surprisingly effective. …The plot is sound, the action exciting, and the characters resoundingly human.” Kirkus Reviews
Bookshop.org / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Goodreads
“A two-in-one winner: a gripping thriller set in a Stepford-esque California suburb, and a story of surviving loss and building family bonds.” — Library Journal, starred review
“A witty blend of satire and thriller, The Wonder Test targets the win-at-all-costs ethos of Silicon Valley education culture and the harm it does to kids.” Air Mail
About Michelle
Michelle Richmond is the New York Times bestselling author of six novels and two story collections, including The Marriage Pact, which has been published in 31 languages. Her stories and essays have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, The Telegraph, Boulevard, and elsewhere.
She is the recipient of the Truman Capote Prize for Alabama’s Distinguished Writer of the Short story, the Hall-Waters Prize for Excellence in Southern Writing, the Grace Paley Prize for Fiction, and the Catherine Doctorow Innovative Fiction Prize. In 2023 she was inducted into the Alabama Writers Hall of Fame.
Michelle graduated from the University of Alabama and holds an MFA from the University of Miami, where she was a James Michener Fellow. A native of Mobile, Alabama, she makes her home in Northern California. She has taught in the MFA programs in creative writing at the University of San Francisco, California College of the Arts, St. Mary’s College of Moraga, and elsewhere. Learn more.
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More Books by Michelle Richmond
Wonderings & Wanderings – Latest Posts
By the Time You Read This
a serial novella By the time you read this I will be unreachable. I will be on the other side. No—not that side. We are not talking about death. We are talking about something else altogether. Somewhere else. Hard to to describe, even harder to define, but I will try to do so in another missive. I would like…
Notes on a Marriage
by way of Joan Didion Not long ago I told my husband, “The book I want for Mother’s Day is You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith (not that Maggie Smith).” He said, “We could make this place beautiful.” I said, “We could, but first, more coffee…” Continue reading
Tenderest
an audio story, exclusive to subscribers I recently published an audio story for subscribers to my author newsletter. It’s called “Tenderest,” and it’s about love, labor, and New York City. You can listen to the story here.
Books by Genre
- Literary mysteries: The Year of Fog, No One You Know
- Psychological thriller: The Marriage Pact
- Series – Crime/FBI: The Wonder Test (first in a series)
- Family Drama/Novels about Divorce: Golden State, Dream of the Blue Room
- Short Story Collections: Hum, The Girl in the Fall-Away Dress
Books by Setting
- San Francisco: The Year of Fog, No One You Know, The Marriage Pact
- Silicon Valley: The Wonder Test
- China and Alabama: Dream of the Blue Room
- Alabama: The Girl in the Fall-Away Dress
Signing etc.
Signing THE WONDER TEST, Poisoned Pen’s Crime Book of the Month. Get a signed copy.
I love small, odd museums, so I was delighted to find the Eric Satie Museum in Honfleur, France. The final room of the museum, located in a little attic, holds just one work of art: a self-propelled merry-go-round that you can only experience by cycling.