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John Burnham Schwartz

Biography

John Burnham Schwartz

John Burnham Schwartz is the author of five acclaimed novels, including THE COMMONER, CLAIRE MARVEL, BICYCLE DAYS and RESERVATION ROAD, which was made into a motion picture based on his screenplay. His books have been translated into two dozen languages, and his writing has appeared in many publications, including The New Yorker and The New York Times. A winner of the Lyndhurst Foundation Award for mastery in the art of fiction, Schwartz has taught at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Harvard University and Sarah Lawrence College, and is currently literary director of the Sun Valley Writers’ Conference. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife, Aleksandra Crapanzano, and their son, Garrick.

John Burnham Schwartz

Books by John Burnham Schwartz

The Red Daughter
by John Burnham Schwartz - Fiction, Historical Fiction

In one of the most momentous events of the Cold War, Svetlana Alliluyeva, the only daughter of the Soviet despot Joseph Stalin, abruptly abandoned her life in Moscow in 1967, arriving in New York to throngs of reporters and a nation hungry to hear her story. By her side is Peter Horvath, a young lawyer sent by the CIA to smuggle Svetlana into America. One day, an invitation from the widow of the architect Frank Lloyd Wright arrives, and Svetlana impulsively joins her cultlike community at Taliesin West. When this dream ends in disillusionment, Svetlana reaches out to Peter, the one person who understands how the chains of her past still hold her prisoner. Their relationship changes and deepens, unfolding under the eyes of her CIA minders.

Northwest Corner
by John Burnham Schwartz - Fiction

NORTHWEST CORNER is about a splintered family --- characters from the acclaimed bestseller RESERVATION ROAD --- struggling to put itself back together after tragedy.

The Commoner
by John Burnham Schwartz - Fiction

In 1959, a young woman, Haruko, marries the Crown Prince of Japan. She is the first nonaristocratic woman to enter the mysterious, hermetic monarchy. Thirty years later, now Empress herself, she plays a crucial role in persuading another young woman to accept the marriage proposal of her son, with tragic consequences.