Barbara Delinsky (Author of Not My Daughter)

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Barbara Delinsky

欧宝娱乐 Author

Born

The United States

Website

Twitter

Genre

Literature & Fiction

Influences

Much of my inspiration comes from current events, and I include in tha ...more

Member Since

October 2007

URL

/barbaradelinsky

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I was born and raised in suburban Boston. My mother鈥檚 death, when I was eight, was the defining event of a childhood that was otherwise ordinary. I took piano lessons and flute lessons. I took ballroom dancing lessons. I went to summer camp through my fifteenth year (in Maine, which explains the setting of so many of my stories), then spent my sixteenth summer learning to type and to drive (two skills that have served me better than all of my other high school courses combined). I earned a B.A. in Psychology at Tufts University and an M.A. in Sociology at Boston College. The motivation behind the M.A. was sheer greed. My husband was just starting law school. We needed the money.

Following graduate school, I worked as a researcher with the M I was born and raised in suburban Boston. My mother鈥檚 death, when I was eight, was the defining event of a childhood that was otherwise ordinary. I took piano lessons and flute lessons. I took ballroom dancing lessons. I went to summer camp through my fifteenth year (in Maine, which explains the setting of so many of my stories), then spent my sixteenth summer learning to type and to drive (two skills that have served me better than all of my other high school courses combined). I earned a B.A. in Psychology at Tufts University and an M.A. in Sociology at Boston College. The motivation behind the M.A. was sheer greed. My husband was just starting law school. We needed the money.

Following graduate school, I worked as a researcher with the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, and as a photographer and reporter for the Belmont Herald. I did the newspaper work after my first son was born. Since I was heavily into taking pictures of him, I worked for the paper to support that habit. Initially, I wrote only in a secondary capacity, to provide copy for the pictures I took. In time, I realized that I was better at writing than photography. I used both skills doing volunteer work for hospital groups, and have served on the Board of Directors of the Friends of the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and on the MGH鈥檚 Women鈥檚 Cancer Advisory Board.

I became an actual writer by fluke. My twins were four when, by chance, I happened on a newspaper article profiling three female writers. Intrigued, I spent three months researching, plotting, and writing my own book - and it sold.

My niche? I write about the emotional crises that we face in our lives. Readers identify with my characters. They know them. They are them. I'm an everyday woman writing about everyday people facing not-so-everyday challenges.

My novels are character-driven studies of marriage, parenthood, sibling rivalry, and friendship, and I鈥檝e been blessed in having readers who buy them eagerly enough to put them on the major bestseller lists. One of my latest, Sweet Salt Air, came out in 2013.聽 Blueprints, my second novel with St. Martin鈥檚 Press, became my 22nd New York Times bestselling novel soon after its release in June 2015.聽 Making Up, my work in progress, will be published in 2018.

2018? Yikes. I didn鈥檛 think I鈥檇 live that long. I thought I鈥檇 die of breast cancer back in the 1900's, like my mom. But I didn鈥檛. I was diagnosed nearly twenty years ago, had surgery and treatment, and here I am, stronger than ever and loving having authored yet another book, this one the non-fiction Uplift: Secrets From the Sisterhood of Breast Cancer Survivors. First published in 2001, Uplift is a handbook of practical tips and upbeat anecdotes that I compiled with the help of 350 breast cancer survivors, their families and friends. These survivors just ... blew me away! They gave me the book that I wish I鈥檇 had way back when I was diagnosed. There is no medical information here, nothing frightening, simply practical advice from friends who鈥檝e had breast cancer. The 10th Anniversary Volume of Uplift is now in print. And the money I鈥檝e made on the book? Every cent has gone to my charitable foundation, which funds an ongoing research fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital.

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Combine Editions
Barbara Delinsky鈥檚 books

Average rating: 3.85 · 253,582 ratings · 17,197 reviews · 275 distinct works 鈥� Similar authors

	Not My Daughter 3.78 avg rating — 20,859 ratings — published 2010 — 40 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	While My Sister Sleeps 3.87 avg rating — 16,844 ratings — published 2009 — 48 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Sweet Salt Air 3.92 avg rating — 14,655 ratings — published 2013 — 36 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Secret Between Us 3.73 avg rating — 15,162 ratings — published 2008 — 51 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Week at the Shore 3.92 avg rating — 12,167 ratings — published 2020 — 17 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Coast Road 4.07 avg rating — 11,250 ratings — published 1998 — 58 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Before and Again 3.85 avg rating — 11,819 ratings — published 2018 — 22 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Escape 3.67 avg rating — 11,307 ratings — published 2011 — 35 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Family Tree 3.62 avg rating — 10,611 ratings — published 2007 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Blueprints 3.78 avg rating — 8,400 ratings — published 2015 — 25 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Barbara Delinsky…

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Barbara Delinsky's Blog

What Zoom And Photography Have In Common

Have you ever looked at a family photo, really looked at it, and wondered why various members pose the way they do 鈥� where they stand vis 脿 vis the group, whether their arms are around others鈥� shoulders or around themselves, whether their heads are inclined toward their kin or away?

How we choose to stand says a lot. This is the psychology of photography.

I鈥檝e always been intrigued by it, and no won

Series by Barbara Delinsky

Blake Sisters (2 books)
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Barbara Delinsky (欧宝娱乐 Author)

3.93 avg rating — 10,185 ratings

Crosslyn Rise (3 books)
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Barbara Delinsky (欧宝娱乐 Author)

3.91 avg rating — 3,602 ratings

Victoria Lesser (3 books)
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Barbara Delinsky (欧宝娱乐 Author)

3.74 avg rating — 2,505 ratings

Matchmaker Trilogy (3 books)
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Barbara Delinsky (欧宝娱乐 Author)

3.77 avg rating — 1,949 ratings

Matchmaker Trilogy (1 book)
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Barbara Delinsky (欧宝娱乐 Author)

3.66 avg rating — 589 ratings

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Interview with Barbara Delinsky

In Sweet Salt Air, the New England author's latest romantic outing set on the coast of Maine, old secrets keep friends divided, even as they...

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Barbara鈥檚 Quotes

“The important part of growing older was the growing part. Resisting change meant forever standing still, which was a sad way to live.”
― Barbara Delinsky, Blueprints

tags: ageism, aging, blueprints, change, growing-older

9 likes

“So where does that leave me? I like hosting the show....It鈥檚 become my identity. If that鈥檚 gone, where am I?”
― Barbara Delinsky, Blueprints

tags: ageism, aging, discrimination, job, women, workplace

3 likes

“Every man wants love, if he can get past the fear of exposure.”
― Barbara Delinsky, Sweet Salt Air

tags: delinsky, love, love-quotes, love-story, romance

4 likes

“People don鈥檛 cry because they鈥檙e weak. They cry because they鈥檝e been strong for too long.”
― Barbara Delinsky, Before and Again

tags: relationships, women

85 likes