McMahon, Jennifer 1968–

PERSONAL:

Born 1968, in CT; partner's name Drea; children: Zella. Education: Goddard College, B.A., 1991.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Barre, VT. Agent—Dan Lazar, Writers House, 21 W. 26th St., New York, NY 10010. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Worked variously as a house painter, farmer worker, paste-up artist, pizza delivery person, homeless shelter staff member, and counselor to mentally ill adults and children; full-time writer, 2000—.

WRITINGS:

NOVELS

Promise Not to Tell, Harper (New York, NY), 2007.

Island of Lost Girls, Harper (New York, NY), 2008.

My Tiki Girl (young adult novel), Dutton Children's Books (New York, NY), 2008.

SIDELIGHTS:

Jennifer McMahon grew up in suburban Connecticut with her mother and grandmother in a house she was sure was haunted by a ghost. Her debut novel, Promise Not to Tell, similarly has supernatural overtones and spans thirty years. In 1971, narrator Kate Cypher is ten when her best friend, Del Griswold, is murdered in the Vermont woods. Del, called the Potato Girl, is a poor but spirited misfit, the brunt of ridicule by their classmates. As an adult Kate returns home, and another girl is killed in a very similar way. Suspects include Kate and her mother Jean, an Alzheimer's sufferer who is suspected of channeling the spirit of the long-dead Del. In fact, Jean may have the answers to both mysteries.

Entertainment Weekly contributor Anat Rosenberg described the novel as ‘above all a reflection on the haunting power of memory.’ ‘McMahon does a particularly good job of portraying the cruelty of school children,’ concluded a Publishers Weekly contributor.

In Island of Lost Girls, Rhonda Fair witnesses an abduction, which has a connection to the disappearance of her childhood best friend. McMahon, who is a lesbian, wrote her first young adult novel, My Tiki Girl, about teen girls discovering their sexuality and attraction to each other. She does not consider herself a lesbian writer but rather a writer who happens to be a lesbian. However, she told Amy Lilly in an interview for the Vermont Woman Web site, that this is ‘a book I would have loved to read at that age."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Entertainment Weekly, April 13, 2007, Anat Rosenberg, review of Promise Not to Tell, p. 79.

People, April 30, 2007, Caroline Leavitt, review of Promise Not to Tell, p. 49.

Publishers Weekly, February 5, 2007, review of Promise Not to Tell, p. 38.

ONLINE

Jennifer McMahon Home Page, http://www.jennifermcmahon.com (October 2, 2007).

Mia Musings, http://miaking.wordpress.com/ (April 3, 2007), Mia King, ‘All Hail Jennifer McMahon, Author of Promise Not to Tell,’ interview.

Vermont Woman Online,http://www.vermontwoman.com/ (October 2, 2007), Amy Lilly, ‘Jennifer McMahon Promises to Tell a Great Ghost Story,’ interview.