Alice McDermott, October 9
McDermott's newest novel is an intimate and revealing portrait of Marie, an Irish Catholic girl who grows to adulthood in Brooklyn in the 1930s. McDermott is the author of six previous novels, including "After This," "Child of My Heart" and "At Weddings and Wakes." She has been nominated for a Pulitzer three times. She lives with her family outside of Washington, D.C.