Gail Godwin



Gail Godwin

Gail Godwin

Read my new Welcome Letter
New: Read Southern Literary Review essay on Old Lovegood Girls

“Ok, novel recco: forthcoming: Gail Godwin, Old Lovegood Girls @Bloomsbury. If you remember the 50s, here they are! Plus a looong winding female friendship taking us through the (can it be 6?) decades since. As always, wry, beady-eyed, acute. You think you think; but think again.”
Margaret Atwood

10 Top Summer Reads in Fiction - Kirkus Reviews
Old Lovegood Girls by Gail Godwin: Our review called it “intelligent, reflective, satisfying fiction from an old master”: Godwin’s 16th novel follows the half century of friendship between two very different women who rarely meet in person over the decades after spending one semester as college roommates.

“In this powerful, moving, and perfectly crafted novel, Gail Godwin's virtuoso dialogue and masterful handling of the passage of time illuminate the lifelong friendship of two women, college roommates who become writers—what they tell each other and what they leave unsaid, their loved ones, their dreams, their ghosts.” — John Irving

Old Lovegood Girls — Now Available!

Old Lovegood Girls

Old Lovegood Girls

Now Available!

". . . she’s still challenging herself and us. Her latest book, “Old Lovegood Girls,” is a richly layered novel based on a lifetime of reflection on friendship and storytelling. In a culture obsessed with youth, it’s a welcome reminder that age and wisdom can confer certain advantages, too".
The Washington Post

From the bestselling, award-winning author of Flora and Evensong comes the story of two remarkable women and the complex friendship between them that spans decades. 

When the dean of Lovegood Junior College for Girls decides to pair Feron Hood with Merry Jellicoe as roommates in 1958, she has no way of knowing the far-reaching consequences of the match. Feron, who has narrowly escaped from a dark past, instantly takes to Merry and her composed personality. Surrounded by the traditions and four-story Doric columns of Lovegood, the girls—and their friendship—begin to thrive. But underneath their fierce friendship is a stronger, stranger bond, one comprised of secrets, rivalry, and influence... Read More

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"Literary treasure Godwin's shimmeringly alive new novel follows a True North female friendship through 41 years of shifting connections, love, tragedy, and the deep drama of a changing world, but it's also about so much more, like the secrets that can make or break us, and how stories can virtually save our souls, leading us to something we never realized that we needed to know...
Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of PICTURES OF YOU and CRUEL BEAUTIFUL WORLD

Gail Godwin is a three-time National Book Award finalist and the bestselling author of more
than a dozen critically acclaimed books, including Publishing, a memoir, and the novels Flora,
Father Melancholy's Daughter, and Evensong. | Learn More

Gail's Books

  • Old Lovegood Girls
  • Grief Cottage
  • Publishing
  • Flora
  • Making of a Writer Volume 2
  • Unfinished Desires
  • Queen of the Underworld
  • Making of a Writer
  • Evenings at Five
  • Heart
  • Evensong
  • Good Husband
  • Father Melancholy's Daughter
  • Southern Family
  • Finishing School
  • Mr. Bedford and the Muses
  • Mother and Two Daughters
  • Violet Clay
  • Dream Children
  • Odd Woman
  • Glass People
  • Perfectionists