The Short History of a Novelist in Search of Her Place in the World

Miranda Beverly-Whittemore
6 min readFeb 8, 2022

My name is Miranda and I write novels. So far, each one has been about searching for one’s place in the world, which, when I think about it, is what I’ve been doing for most of my life.

My most recent novel is Fierce Little Thing, a New York Times’ Editor’s Pick; an Amazon Best Book of the Month, and an Amazon Editor’s Choice: Best of Mystery, Thriller, and Suspense. The book is about a group of friends who grew up together on a back-to-the-land commune in rural Maine. Although they were from different walks of life, they found identity and safety on the land, and when their lifestyle was threatened, they were willing to do anything to save it. Now in their middle age and scattered to the wind, they’re separately haunted by the horrific crime they committed in the name of preserving what they loved. But when threatening letters urge them back to Maine, they are forced back into each other’s lives. How far are they willing to go to keep their secret forever?

Based on the place where my husband spent his childhood summers, this novel draws so much on the strength of my friendships with a group of people I’ve known since I was ten (except, it should be said, we never committed the aforementioned crime!). The strengths of those bonds are so strong that I still dream about those friends on a regular basis…

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Miranda Beverly-Whittemore

She/her. New York Times bestseller / Author of five novels including: Fierce Little Thing, June, and Bittersweet. https://linktr.ee/MirandaBW