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Jane Hamilton

(b.1957)

Jane Hamilton’s novels have won literary prizes, have been made into films, and have been international bestsellers, and two of them, The Book of Ruth and A Map of the World, were selections of Oprah’s Book Club. Her nonfiction has appeared in the New York Times; The Washington Post; Allure; O, The Oprah Magazine; Elle; and various anthologies. She lives on an apple farm in Wisconsin.

Awards: PEN (1989) see all

Genres: Literary Fiction

Novels

   The Book of Ruth (1988)
     aka The Frogs are Still Singing
   A Map of the World (1994)
   The Short History of a Prince (1998)
   Disobedience (2000)
   When Madeline Was Young (2006)
   Laura Rider's Masterpiece (2009)
   The Excellent Lombards (2016)
   The Phoebe Variations (2025)

Books containing stories by Jane Hamilton

Playing Games (2023)
edited by
Lawrence Block

The Darkling Halls of Ivy (2020)
edited by
Lawrence Block

From Sea to Stormy Sea (2019)
17 Stories Inspired by Great American Paintings
edited by
Lawrence Block

More books

Awards

1989 PEN/Hemingway Award : The Book of Ruth

Award nominations

	1999 Women's Prize For Fiction (nominee) : The Short History of a Prince
	1999 Oprah's Book Club Award (nominee) : A Map of the World
	1996 Oprah's Book Club Award (nominee) : The Book of Ruth

Jane Hamilton recommends

No Names (2025)
Greg Hewett
"Greg Hewett has created a magnificent, tender punk musician who has a little problem with violence, who is innocent in his experience; a boy/man whose music illuminates his passions, his passions fueling his music. The music and Hewett's terrific hero live on after the final page."

American Ending (2023)
Mary Kay Zuravleff
"Did Mary Kay Zuravleff time travel to write this book? It's as if she truly lived in the past - all the details so vivid, and real - to bring us a novel of the moment. It is the old and forever new story of immigration."

The Dog of the North (2023)
Elizabeth McKenzie
"The Dog of The North filled me with joy, a glorious feeling in these times. I laughed out loud on every page and underlined most of the book - passages to return to. The novel in several different dimensions is about caretaking, a role that most people stumble into, don't plan on, and suddenly, wham, there you are doing this task for which you may or may not be prepared. Each person in the book in her/his own way is taking care at some level, even if he/she is wrong headed (or insane) in the approach. Thank you, thank you, Elizabeth McKenzie!"

The Mysteries (2021)
Marisa Silver
"In The Mysteries Marisa Silver faces the big mystery and the lesser, among them the mystery of personality, with her trademark clarity, her gorgeous sentences, to savor and underline, and her all-around brilliance. A Silver novel is always cause for celebration."

The Book of V. (2020)
Anna Solomon
"The Book of V. is a marvel. It’s a testament to the enduring strength and flexibility of the novel form itself, and a testament to the wisdom, clarity, and boldness of Anna Solomon. She is a remarkable writer who has written an extraordinary book."

Paris by the Book (2018)
Liam Callanan
"This charming and poignant novel made me fall in love with Paris and all things French. Oh, to own a bookstore in any arrondissement! Within this love story there are reflections on the mystery of writing, the solace of reading, the ties that bind and those that don't, plus the joy of The Red Balloon, to name but a few of the pleasures of Paris by the Book."

The Maze at Windermere (2018)
Gregory Blake Smith
"The Maze at Windermere is thrilling. This novel restored my faith and made me laugh out loud. It’s rare that a novel comes along that is broad ranging, so very funny, profound, provocative, literary, and page-turning, and also word perfect. I went right back to the beginning when I’d finished, marveling again at the radiant mind of Gregory Blake Smith."

Wayward Saints (2012)
Suzzy Roche
"Not every dazzling musician has a novel in her, but Suzzy Roche, among all her other gifts, is a novelist, the genuine article. Wayward Saints is funny, smart, poignant, the prose so clear, so direct, so true. This book is a joy."

A Watch of Nightingales (2008)
Liza Wieland
"Liza Wieland understands down to the bone how loneliness and love compel her characters to make their impossible choices. Not only does she have a searing intelligence and wisdom, her prose is by turns graceful and astonishing."

Loving Frank (2007)
Nancy Horan
"It takes great courage to write a novel about historical people, and in particular to give voice to someone as mythic as Frank Lloyd Wright. This beautifully written novel about Mamah Cheney and Frank Lloyd Wright's love affair is vivid and intelligent, unsentimental and compassionate."

The Ladies' Man (1999)
Elinor Lipman
"Delicious and hilarious - the ladies' man and all his ladies are sublime."

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