The Year of Fog - Michelle Richmond

and all the ships at sea

I wanted to share an interesting email I received last week from a reader:

I’m a Marine stationed over at Camp Pendleton in California. While I was on deployment, I found The Year Of Fog in the small ship library…I was a part of an expeditionary unit sitting off the coast of Burma last year after their country was ravaged by a natural disaster. I mean this in the greatest sincerity when I say that reading and finishing your story was truly all I looked forward to the 2 months I spent sitting on a ship, counting the days until I could come home. I’m not sure what it was, but I found myself very sympathetic and attached to the main character. I almost wish the story hadn’t ended. Or at least had ended the way I was expecting. Again, thank you for your story.

…

Michelle Richmond onstage at Heritage Theatre, Jan. 26

Join Michelle Richmond on January 26 at the Heritage Theatre in Campbell, California to kick off Silicon Valley Reads 2011. She will be interviewed by San Jose Mercury columnist Mike Cassidy. Music by the Leigh High School Jazz Ensemble.

Co-sponsored by Commonwealth Club Silicon Valley
Doors open 6:45 p.m. – First come, first seated
Program begins at 7:30 p.m., followed by a book signing

Day 49: The Missing Final Chapter of The Year of Fog

Now available as an ebook: the never-before-published original ending of THE YEAR OF FOG. (ISBN 978-1-4524-9639-9)

Spoiler alert: Do not sample this ebook unless you have already read THE YEAR OF FOG!

A note from Michelle: A few weeks before THE YEAR OF FOG went to press, I found myself agonizing over the ending . Was I saying too much? Too little? Should I tie up all the loose ends, or should I go with a more open-ended approach? After much deliberation, I decided to leave Chapter 82 on the editing room floor. I had never set out to write a traditional mystery or police procedural, but rather a book about relationships, guilt, and memory. My choice to cut Chapter 82 from the final version of the book was an attempt to honor this original intent. My hope was that readers would continue to think about Abby and Emma after the last page was turned, and that they would would form their own conclusions about the future of the novel’s heroine.

Since The Year of Fog was published in 2007, I’ve been fortunate to receive thousands of emails from readers, many of whom keep coming back to the same questions. I hope that Chapter 82 will satisfy their curiosity. For those who have asked if a sequel is in the works, I will say that, although I haven’t yet set pen to paper, I do find that Abby and Emma still haunt me. One day, I may yet return to the characters of The Year of Fog.

I’ve had the pleasure of visiting and speaking with dozens of book clubs in the past couple of years. One question is invariably asked at some point in the evening: where did you get the idea for The Year of Fog? In this ebook, you’ll also find a short essay entitled “Girl on the Beach,” which explains how a chance encounter with a young girl on San Francisco’s Ocean Beach nearly a decade ago inspired The Year of Fog.

Best books of 2010, London style

London’s News of the World has just published its list of the best books of the year for 2010. The list includes nine fiction titles, a memoir, and three children’s books.

I’m delighted that THE YEAR OF FOG, published this year by Ebury Press, made the cut. You need a subscription to view the page, but you can see the fiction list below:

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

The Pregnant Widow by Martin Amis

The Blasphemer by Nigel Farndale

The Kill Zone by Chris Ryan

Worth Dying For by Lee Child

The Death Instinct by Jed Rubenfeld

The Year of Fog by Michelle Richmond

My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares

The Last Letter from Your Lover by JoJo Moyes

The Guardian has also published its year-end list; you can see it here. And the Guardian’s fiction-only list appears here.

Thanks to my my fabulous editor at Ebury Press, Gillian Green, Ed Griffiths, and the whole Ebury team for giving The Year of Fog a second life across the pond!